Is your idea of mentoring the traditional one -- a senior employee coaching a younger, less-experienced colleague? That's no longer the case in many offices.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in an attempt to train senior executives in technology and social media, many businesses are pairing upper management with younger employees. The practice, known as reverse mentoring, is an attempt to not only school upper-level employees on tech, but also to reduce turnover among younger employees, "who not only gain a sense of purpose but also a rare glimpse into the world of management and access to top-level brass," the article states.
The reverse mentoring concept was first introduced by former General Electric Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch, who ordered 500 top-level executives to reach out to younger employees to learn how to use the Internet. Now, companies like Hewlett-Packard and Cisco have started reverse mentoring programs to gain input on issues like social media, telework, office design and work-life balance.
The challenge, however, is getting older workers to buy in to the idea, the article states. My thought is that most federal agencies would face the same challenges.
Could reverse mentoring prove beneficial to your agency? Would you and/or your manager embrace it?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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