In business mentoring is regarded as a relationship in which one person (the mentor) - usually someone more experienced, often more senior in an organisation - helps another (the learner or mentee) to discover more about themselves, their potential and their capability.

Recently, mentoring has taken on many other forms such as peer and group mentoring. The latest form of mentoring is reverse mentoring or 'mentor up' as it is also known. With this a younger or less experienced person helps a more senior manager gain insight into areas, such as computers and changing IT technology, changing mindsets and expectations of the younger generation, new business concepts, etc. The traditional one-way street becomes a two-way thoroughfare where employees of all ages can learn from each other.

The concept of reverse mentoring began when Jack Welch the CEO of General Electric realized he and his management team had much to learn about the Internet and technology applications,. Welch required 600 top executives, including himself, to find younger mentors who were knowledgeable about the internet. Most of the mentors were in their 20's and 30's.

This lead to a transformation of General Electric as a technology driven organization, using the power of the internet to integrate the many components of production, suppliers, sales, marketing and customers. For example, a manager with 20 years of experience may seek a mentor to teach her about new technologies and computer skills, an area of expertise recent graduates often have because of the new educational standards they must meet. Consequently, this manager may ask her mentor to teach her about technologies with which she is unfamiliar.

Alternatively a newly hired or recently transferred executive needs to understand the corporate culture, flow of work and decision-making protocol at his new company. Who better to be his mentor than an administrative assistant who has worked for the company for 15 years and is well respected for their wealth of knowledge.

The Benefits of Reverse Mentoring

Some of the areas where a well thought out, planned and implemented reverse mentoring program can help are:

“The most powerful stimulus for changing minds is not a chemical or a baseball bat, it is a word.”    George A Miller

Who will benefit: Both Junior and Senior Staff

Duration: 1 day

By the end of the mentoring training course delegates will be able to...

• appreciate the benefits of reverse mentoring
• understand the role and practice the skills of an effective mentor
• demonstrate the difference between a coach and a mentor
• build rapport and create a development environment
• define preferred learning styles - understand how people learn
• assess individual needs
• avoid barriers to learning
• give appropriate feedback
• handle resistance to constructive criticism
• use effective probing and questioning
• practice reflective listening
• get the trainee to review themselves objectively
• set effective action plans
• develop the performance of individuals

Elite Training European Limited is a leading UK provider of supervisory skills training courses. We are based in Suffolk - within easy travelling distance of Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, London, Hertfordshire, Kent, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Surrey and Sussex. We will be pleased to arrange a course anywhere in the UK or Europe.

Our courses consist of 'In-Company' training; we visit companies’ premises or hotels and run courses according to company and staff needs.

We do not run training courses for people from different companies to attend. However, we do run courses consisting of one or two delegates. This enables us to move at the pace of the delegates (as fast or slow as necessary; as deep into the subject as appropriate, and with as much development as possible).

To see why other companies choose us, and for examples of costs, availability, course trainers, etc., please visit our >> Home Page        Select Another Course

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