The millennial generation is projected to make up 50% of the global workforce by 2020. Popular opinion often paints this generation in a less than flattering light, but are these stereotypes accurate?
For businesses around the world, understanding what this generation wants is crucial, both in terms of securing future leadership and helping senior leaders understand how to target the needs of younger customers.
So how can we challenge these common assumptions and find out more about this generation? It’s simple: ask them, and don’t assume anything. Be open to hearing what they have to say and above all, learn from them.
One way to give senior leaders exposure to junior staff is by flipping the traditional mentor programme. Known as “reverse mentoring”, a senior team member is paired with a more junior employee who provides insights into her or his working life. This offers younger team members good visibility and the chance to share their hopes and aspirations, as well as to teach senior leaders new skills.
Global brand Kimberly-Clark uses reverse mentoring in its UK office. Donna McPherson, vice-president, EMEA for Kimberly-Clark Professional, had a reverse mentor: a young male team member who was in the company’s Top Talent” group.
“Having a reverse mentor has helped me to navigate the millennial mindset and has given me a real insight into how he and his peer group perceive Kimberly-Clark,” says McPherson. “For example, it’s made me reassess my team communications and use faster, real-time methods, including using instant messaging instead of email, and video communications instead of an emailed newsletter. The fact that my mentor is male has also given me some insights into gender balance, as well as making me realise that my language should be as gender neutral as possible. Craig [my mentor] is a Brit, while I’m American, so that’s made me more conscious of eliminating American idioms as well as those awful sports analogies.”
If you think a reverse mentoring programme could benefit your company, here are a few words of advice to get started.
- Always introduce a well-structured programme.
- Communicate the process and desired outcomes.
- Screen your mentors and mentees carefully, as they will be representatives of the programme.
- Select particular issues or challenges; choose one at a time.
- Stick to the mentorship goals and timeframes. Run the programme for a finite period.
- Arrange for rigorous formal and informal feedback and analysis. Compile a report detailing what has been learnt.
“When companies are competing for the best talent,” McPherson says, “the ability to find out what differentiates you from your competitors is extremely valuable. My mentee has told me, for instance, that the fact that Kimberly-Clark gives him, and his equivalent peer group, stretch assignments is a real differentiator from their other university friends’ experiences.”
Reverse mentoring allows an organisation to learn from another demographic group. It is a valuable looking glass into an organisation’s talent pool and ensures that senior management don’t lose touch with up and coming talent. It also encourages a circle of learning that can be highly beneficial to the organisation, and sends out a message that diverse insight is valued at the top, regardless of the demographic group or level.
