With the market improving and organisations investing in Learning and Development again, there are some quick wins that can be implemented without draining resources and also ticking the employee engagement box. Reverse mentoring is where the staff teach the leaders or where (as an example) the Gen Y’s help the less technical savvy folk understand the functionality, impact and trends of social media and technology.
With pressure on organisations to be competitive and agile, its leaders can’t put their heads in sand when it comes to things like technology and social media. Given that 80% of the jobs that students today will have in the future don’t even exist yet, ignorance to change is no excuse. Simply put, you’ll be left behind and unfortunately, twitter isn’t going away. To have someone else do it and not understand it yourself seems no longer acceptable or practical.
To have your new and engaged employee’s join a program where they can mentor someone in a more senior position has to be a major win. This could be employee engagement at its most simplest? And if employee engagement is at the top of your agenda, there are some low budget ways the staff can drive it for you. With the increasing functionality of the intranet and video conferencing, employees can share information with others internally on a particular topic. For example a well-known tech company runs different courses at lunchtime utilising employees skills – for example, one teaches a yoga class at lunchtime in a breakout area which is broadcast to the other office, another runs a baking masterclass in the kitchen on icing cakes.
The most interesting thing about reverse mentoring as a concept is that it turns ‘traditional’ on its head and looks at things from a different perspective. It’s not hard or expensive to implement, it just requires some creativity and flexibility.