Reverse mentoring at work: Fostering cross‐generational learning and developing millennial leaders

• Author: Wendy Marcinkus Murphy
• Date: 01 July 2012
• Published date: 01 July 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21489

REVERSE MENTORING AT WORK:

FOSTERING CROSS-

GENERATIONAL LEARNING

AND DEVELOPING MILLENNIAL

LEADERS

WENDY MARCINKUS MURPHY

Reverse mentoring is an innovative way to encourage learning and facilitate

cross-generational relationships. It involves the pairing of a younger, junior

employee acting as mentor to share expertise with an older, senior colleague

as mentee. The purpose is knowledge sharing, with the mentee focused on

learning from the mentor’s updated subject or technological expertise and

generational perspective. In addition, there is an emphasis on the leader ship

development of the mentors. Reverse mentoring is situated in the mentor-

ing literature as an alternati ve form of mentoring, with unique characteris-

tics and support functions exchanged that distinguish it from other develop-

mental relationships. A model is developed that focuses on k ey variables to

consider and how reverse mentoring may benefi t individuals and organiza-

tions. Generational differences are also presented, and the ways in which

reverse mentoring capitalizes on millennial capabilities and preferences are

highlighted throughout. Finally, theoretical and practical contributions

are discussed, including essential components for creating a reverse mentor-

ing program. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: reverse mentoring, mentoring, developmental relationships,

millennials, generations, leadership development

Introduction

Executives are beginning to realize that

knowledge isn’t a one-way street. It’s in

everyone’s best interest to share expertise.

(Greengard, 2002) T his article introduces reverse mentor-

ing as an opportunity for human re-

sources practitioners to facilitate

cross-generational knowledge sharing

and builds a theoretical foundation

Correspondence to: Wendy Marcinkus Murphy, Babson College, Management Division, Tomasso Hall 126,

Babson Park, MA 02457-0310, Phone: 781.239.4539, E-mail: wmurphy@babson.edu

Human Resource Management,

Human Resource Management, July–August 2012, Vol. 51, No. 4. Pp. 549–574

© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21489

550 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, JULY–AUGUST 2012

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Reverse mentoring

is an innovative

and cost-effective

professional

development tool

that capitalizes

on building

bridges between

generations.

Stillman, 2005; Smola & Sutton, 2002).

Millennials and the baby boomers are each

roughly twice the size of Generation X, and

both groups rank high-quality colleagues as

the most important reward for their work,

beyond compensation (Hewlett, Sherbin, &

Sumberg, 2009a). Since these two generations

will emerge as a large majority of the work-

force when the economy recovers, finding

ways to develop relationships between these

groups should be a top priority for organiza-

tions. Reverse mentoring is an innovative

and cost-effective professional development

tool that capitalizes on building bridges be-

tween generations (Harvey & Buckley, 2002;

Hewlett et al., 2009b; Meister & Willyerd,

2010).

While reverse mentoring has clear practi-

cal application, there has been little academic

interest and no empirical work on reverse

mentoring in the management field (for edu-

cational studies, see Cotugna & Vickery,

1998; Leh, 2005). This article begins to fill

this gap by creating a theoretical basis for

conceptualizing reverse mentoring, how it is

similar to and different from traditional men-

toring, and the potential benefits and chal-

lenges of reverse mentoring relationships for

individuals and organizations. The frame-

work for understanding how these relation-

ships can thrive is developed drawing on the

literatures on mentoring, social exchange

theory, high-quality connections, and work-

based learning. Reverse mentoring character-

istics are presented and a model developed

highlighting key antecedents and conse-

quences of this process to assist HR practition-

ers in designing programs. In practice, while

reverse mentoring is not new, it holds par-

ticular promise for fostering cross-generational

learning and the leadership development of

millennial employees, who will be critical to

the future success of organizations. Finally, the

discussion includes theoretical contributions

and actionable steps for creating a successful

reverse mentoring program.

Theoretical Background

Research and interest in mentoring and

developmental relationships has steadily

for academic studies. Research has established

that mentoring is beneficial for both individu-

als and organizations (Allen & Eby, 2007; Allen,

Eby, Poteet, Lentz, & Lima, 2004; Ragins &

Kram, 2007). Traditionally, mentoring rela-

tionships have consisted of an older, senior

executive providing advice and counsel to

a younger, junior colleague (Kram, 1985).

Reverse mentoring turns this formula on

its head.

Reverse mentoring is defined as the pair-

ing of a younger, junior employee acting as

mentor to share expertise with an older, se-

nior colleague as the mentee. General Elec-

tric’s former CEO, Jack Welch, is generally

credited with introducing a

formal reverse mentoring pro-

gram in 1999 when he or-

dered 500 of his top managers

to find young employees who

could teach them about the

Internet (Greengard, 2002).

Since then, reverse mentoring

has become a “best practice”

among several large corpora-

tions, including Dell (Harvey

& Buckley, 2002), Procter &

Gamble (Greengard, 2002),

and Time Warner (Hewlett,

Sherbin, & Sumberg, 2009b).

For organizations, tapping

into the expertise and tech-

nology savvy of young work-

ers is a clear benefit of reverse mentoring.

However, reverse mentoring also holds prom-

ise for building the leadership pipeline, fos-

tering better intergenerational relationships,

enhancing diversity initiatives, and driving

innovation. For individuals, reverse mentor-

ing is an opportunity for learning by both

participants and a creative way to engage mil-

lennial employees.

As the youngest cohort of workers, mem-

bers of the Millennial Generation, born from

1978 through 1999, currently constitute 76

million employees and comprise the fastest-

growing segment of the workforce. The other

three generations are generally defined as: vet-

erans, or the “Greatest Generation,” born be-

fore 1945; baby boomers, born 1946–1964; and

Generation X, born 1965–1978 (Lancaster &