The 10 phases for starting a Reverse Mentoring programme

There is no single approach to deal with the wave of change. There is, instead, sound methodology such as reverse mentoring. It is a process by which young people – with highly developed digital skills – help senior staff – with a lot of work experience – to become familiar with the technology. We are in a time of extraordinary change in relation to different organisational aspects the digital transformation that all companies are facing is one of the factors of this change: organisations are having to upgrade the digital skills of all their resources and at the same time making junior staff capable of becoming future leaders, able to guide the future challenges of the business. The goal of the process is a mutual exchange of experience, knowledge and skills. Below are the10 phase for starting a reverse mentoring programme:

1. define a digital competences model that is specific to the company
2. set the minimum digital skills standard that all resources must achieve
3. select the senior and junior staff to be involved in the programme
4. assess internal digital skills levels through an assessment
5. assign each junior up to 3 senior staff to train and coach
6. agree on the objectives of each pair on the basis of personal needs, business strategies and the results of assessments
7. train junior staff on the basics of technical mentoring and the e-skills model, involving senior staff with a dedicated event
8. provide junior staff with valid tools to create a development programme for senior staff
9. start the reverse mentoring programme with a minimum of 4 meetings
10. re-evaluate the progress and experience of both junior and senior staff.

There are three main benefits that an organise can receive from this methodology.

• Digitization: the young can transfer numerous digital skills to senior staff.
• Leadership Development: senior staff can enhance the leadership and managerial skills of junior staff, ensuring faster and organic growth.
• Encouragement of an innovation culture: the point of view of junior staff can help the organisation to be successful and update some established practices.

This topic was addressed in posterLab no. 23: “reverse mentoring” Federico Amicucci