Companies turning to ‘reverse mentoring’
Tap into millennials’ knowledge of social media to help older workers
MINNEAPOLIS — Mentorship is getting turned on its head in today’s multi-generational workplace. Technology has flipped traditional roles, and the younger workers now have a thing or two to teach the veterans.
“Reverse mentoring” is taking root as baby boomer leaders seek out millennials to help them understand the latest in technology, social media and the fast-changing marketplace.
“It’s not that older generations aren’t using technology — of course they’re texting and on Facebook,” said Debra Arbit, CEO of workplace consultant BridgeWorks. “But the fact that I got my first iPhone when I was a teenager is a very different thing than my mom, who learned how to text when she was 54.”
Boomer bosses also want to hang on to these younger workers, whose sense of worklife balance and loyalty don’t match up with their own.
Health care giant UnitedHealth Group sees value in turning the tables. The company, headquartered in suburban Minneapolis, rolled out a reverse mentoring program this summer that paired eight senior executives in its insurance division with eight millennials seen as “emerging leaders.” The average age gap is 25 years.
“For many of our leaders — outstanding thought leaders in their own right — their connection to the millennial generation is largely through their parenting skills,” said Pete Church, vice-president of human capital at UnitedHealth. “This becomes a fundamentally different kind of experience.”
UnitedHealth’s insurance business is perceived as less innovative than its fast-growing health IT division, Optum. A reverse mentoring program could help executives see the business with fresh eyes, but also shape a workplace that reflects the contrasting needs of the next generation.
“We’re switching roles because we have this business problem we’re trying to solve,” Church said.
The concept of reverse mentoring has been kicking around a handful of Fortune 500 circles for some time, but it has been slow to gain momentum. Credit for bringing the practice to the United States often goes to retired General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who returned from an overseas trip in 1999 and ordered his top leaders to find a junior-level mentor to teach them computer skills.
Now there’s power in numbers. Millennials recently overtook baby boomers as the largest generation at work, and by 2020 they’ll be more than half of America’s workforce. Companies are taking a renewed interest in reverse mentorship as a business strategy.
Cisco and Procter & Gamble are among the believers. Facebook, along with several nonprofits such as the National 4-H Council, have joined AARP’s “Mentor Up” program.
At Deloitte — where a reverse mentoring initiative began with young workers teaching older employees how to use email — the benefits flow both ways.
Baby boomers rose in the ranks of a hierarchical workplace, where they were told what to do. Millennials have been shaped by social networks, where everyone is equal.
They’re comfortable giving advice, having been raised by boomer parents who consulted them on everything from how to set up the Wii console to what to eat for dinner and where to go on vacation, said BridgeWorks’ Arbit, whose company helps businesses manage the generational divide.
“Millennials have always been counsellors at home,” Arbit said. “And then they get to the workplace and they’re never asked their opinion? It’s such an immediate way to disengage this generation.”
It seemed to make a difference for Amanda Daeges, an attorney at U.S. Bank in Minneapolis. A few years ago, Daeges was tapped to join a group of millennials inside the bank known as the “Dynamic Dozen.” Launched in 2009, the initiative draws workers in their 20s and 30s to tackle a year-long project of their choosing aimed at serving millennial customers and younger employees.
The project culminates with a formal presentation in the executive boardroom and a private lunch with U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis. So was it stressful?
“Of course!” said Daeges, now 37 and a vice-president in the Minneapolis-based bank’s legal department. “But they were very interested, and I felt like our opinion was valued and considered by them. When we finished our presentation, one senior leader said, ‘That’s so simple. Why aren’t we doing this?’ And we were just trying to contain the grins on our faces.”