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Linklaters has recently completed the pilot of its reverse mentoring scheme. Nick Marshall, a Managing Associate in the Employment team, talks about the benefits to business of reverse mentoring, and his experiences of mentoring a member of Linklaters’ Partnership Board as part of the pilot.
Reverse mentoring programs involve a junior staff member mentoring a senior manager. It was brought into the mainstream in 1999 by the former CEO of General Electric, who used it to pair senior executives with junior employees so the latter could teach the former how to use the internet.
Since then, the aim of such schemes has broadened, and they often involve wider discussions about the experiences (both inside and outside of work) of employees who are just starting their careers, particularly those who are part of minority groups.
The business benefits of reverse mentoring are huge, and the benefits of broadening out decision-making beyond a narrow group who have similar life experiences is well-known.
On an individual level, the scheme encourages participants to think about solutions to complex problems, and to discuss issues which they might otherwise avoid. For mentors in particular, it is empowering to have the opportunity to influence policy by speaking directly to someone “in charge”. Mentees also benefit by being exposed to fresh ideas about problems they might be aware of, but are not sure how to deal with.
Linklaters chose to focus its pilot reverse mentoring program on three diversity strands: BAME, LGBT and social mobility. Junior employees (both lawyers and colleagues in our business teams) who had a close connection to one of the strands were invited to apply for the scheme, and those who were successful (the mentors) were paired with senior partners and managers (the mentees) within the Firm.
The intention was to have about eight hours of contact time over six to nine months, during which the junior colleague would mentor the partner on issues relevant diversity strand(s), whether inside or outside of the business. The pairings would then consider what action Linklaters could take to help address these issues.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the program was getting the opportunity to talk candidly about issues I am passionate about, with someone senior within the Firm who has the power to make a difference.
There were two big challenges:
21 January 2019
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