Reverse Mentoring : An Empirical study in India

Reverse Mentoring : An Empirical study in India

Reverse Mentoring finds earliest references  in GE ( 1997) & thereafter several organisations across the globe  have adopted the concept to fulfill varied  purposes under different business context. Used variously as enablers of technology & enhancing digital sensibilities, it is also emerging as a powerful tool for diversity management, employee engagement, managing an Inter-generational workforce etc.There are limited academic & scholarly literature on Reverse Mentoring & fewer still, empirical studies undertaken to test some of the underlying assumptions, particularly in the Indian cultural context. While the relationship between Reverse Mentoring & Technological Innovation may be universally applicable  , some nuances particularly with respect to employee perception & readiness to learn from juniors, may be culturally in congruent.

It was decided to elicit responses from set of business organisation located in the same city in Eastern India , but having employees from different Industry verticals like retail, hospitality, manufacturing, banking, consumer goods etc. A 10 item questionnaire on 5 point Likert scale was distributed across different verticals. As there was no formal Reverse mentoring program in the organisations, the concept was explained by the survey administrators to each respondent. Some of the organisations were already having the traditional form of mentoring & hence they had no difficulty in understanding the concept. We present below some of the findings of the preliminary exploratory survey. 10 companies across different verticals participated & the total number of respondents were 205.

• More than 50% of the respondents strongly agreed that Reverse Mentoring would greatly benefit their organisation
• Regarding personal benefits accruing out of such a program 25% respondents were neutral, but the remaining 75% respondents were quite upbeat about it.
• On mutual benefits derived by the Mentor- Men tee pairs about 30% were unsure of the same, but the balance agreed that both mentors & men tees would benefit from such a program.
• Younger mentors seemed to have more faith on the capability to provide mentoring rather than the senior men tees, which reflected the confidence levels of Gen Y
• Only 29% seemed to confirm that paucity of time may prevent the program from being successful. Remaining 71% did not view time as a deterrent towards success of the program, This may be due to the potential of social media platforms.
• Only 12 % were neutral on the subject of need for training. The remaining 88% expressed need to be provided with training
• Incidentally 90 % of the respondents were of the view that maximum development comes from on the job - experience & exposure & only 10% through education in the class-room.

While we began the survey we were under the assumption  that respondents may not appreciate the concept & the readiness towards acceptance of this reletively new concept would be low. On the contrary the exploratory survey indicated that there is high degree of adaptability to mutual learning between diverse generations, within the organisations. It may be due to the fact that being an Industrial township, the level of general education is quite high & respondents were exposed to various management concepts & theories.As this was only an exploratory study, a more in- depth study is called for across the country & different sectors of the economy.that may help us arrive at a more generalizable conclusion The author is grateful to students of Xavier Institute of Tribal Education ( XITE) for the help in Survey administration.

Reverse Mentoring : A harbinger of organisational change ?

Reverse Mentoring : A harbinger of organisational change ?

Today's workforce is a confluence of  multiple generations & widespread diversity. There is an inevitable "digital divide" that calls for rapid response, as we move towards a new world economic order of  "digital democratization". Before the onset of the fourth Industrial revolution - the Digital Revolution, knowledge flowed from the more experienced senior to the young novice & its accumulation was  directly proportional to time expressed in terms of human experience .
With digital transformation a  new world of possibilities has engulfed the muti- generational workforce. The real challenge is with both the adoption as well as adaptation of new technology.The veterans, baby boomers & Gen X called the Digital Immigrants are  encountering  the new generation workforce the Gen Y millennial & Gen Z s or Digital Natives. who are tech savvy & possessing the "digital edge" . Almost every business idea today needs a digital application to beat  the economies of scale. The sponsors of the business ideas in terms of funding decisions however is  the Gen xers who may not know the "how" of  the digital technology if not the "what". Thus the need for the whole process of Reverse education, gently termed Reverse Mentoring. The flow of tide has reversed. The young mentors - who  far from being a professional mentor has an onerous task of incubating & implementing digital initiatives of the organisation.

So the key question is what are the challenges organisations are likely to face & what therefore are structural & design issues need to be taken into consideration to launch the Reverse Mentoring process in the organisation

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