Generation Z brings to the workforce a tool that it simultaneously depends on and distrusts. Though Gen Z uses generative AI far more than other generations, it’s also suspicious about the product. Sixty-two percent of high school students worry about AI arrogating jobs, according to the National Society of High School Scholars, and 59 percent expect AI to impact society negatively.
Embedded within these competing views is an opportunity to learn. Gen Z could seek guidance from veteran, experienced and, yes, older co-workers who navigated change in their careers. Meanwhile, those business sages can avail themselves of Gen Z to learn just what ChatGPT is and why I should use it. This is mutual mentorship, and it represents a unique perspective on the mentor-mentee relationship.
Mentoring largely follows a hierarchical model, in which a leader helps younger team members shape their burgeoning careers. Similarly, many organizations have embraced the concept of reverse mentorship, in which younger employees help their elders with tools (often technological) and cultural shifts they don’t understand.
With mutual mentorship, however, partnership is the centerpiece. Each participant teaches and learns simultaneously. Give aligns with take. The idea exchange flows in multiple directions, generating new connections and perspectives. To be successful, both sides must be willing to be open, expert, and vulnerable.
Those who embrace this sort of mentorship can grow on multiple levels. Let’s approach it together.
The benefits of mentorship
Mentoring works in the workplace. According to mentorcliQ, 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies sponsor mentoring programs, and those that do are about twice as profitable as those that don’t. Mentoring programs encourage engagement and retention, develop new leaders, and advance careers through networking. They also further a company’s vision through generations.
Mentorship comes in many forms, from person-to-person relationships to group-focused activities to specific, short-term counseling sessions. Primarily, though, leaders mentor younger workers. In 1999, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch brought the term “reverse mentorship” into the mainstream. He asked younger employees to mentor senior associates in using technology, thus inverting the mentoring process.
“We tipped the organization upside down,” Welch said in an interview. “We now have the youngest and brightest teaching the oldest.”
Today, organizations encourage senior members to embrace the “reverse mentoring” process and seek specific guidance from younger employees about far more than technology. Leaders learn about their team’s vision of a diverse, flexible workplace and are receptive to innovative ideas. They tap into new expertise, actualized by employees raised in the digital age.
This is where mentorship meets its new road in a mutually beneficial environment.
Embracing the concept of mutual mentorship
Generations view work and success differently. Purdue University compiled a fascinating glimpse at these differences. While “company, loyalty, teamwork, and duty” motivate Baby Boomers, Gen Z finds inspiration from “diversity, personalization, individuality, and creativity.” Those perspectives inherently conflict and might create workplace misunderstanding, division, and separation. Leaders can help bridge this gap by being open to mutual mentorship.
Perhaps “mentorship” isn’t the most precise term regarding leaders. It suggests learning from an individual, which is the foundation of a mentor-mentee relationship. However, leaders must broaden their options for continuing education and be open to learning from multiple people inside and outside their organizations.
Coaching might work better. Coaches oversee large teams. Likewise, they can learn from coaches and players on their teams and others, so long as they are open to education. That’s the fundamental component of embracing mutual mentorship: The leader must be willing to learn as well as teach.
The Harvard Business Review recently assembled a how-to guide for young employees in mentoring senior co-workers. One line of the piece should resonate with those being mentored: “Many leaders don’t recognize how intimidating they and their surroundings can be.”
To benefit from learning, leaders must open themselves to it, no matter where the information is sourced.
Be eager to be mentored
Leaders who love learning are willing to learn from people younger than their kids. If the coaches are subject matter experts (SMEs), communicate effectively, and are passionate about the subject, ages and titles shouldn’t matter. Those who allow them to matter aren’t effective learners or leaders.
Leaders too often retreat to their silos. “We’ve always done it this way,” they respond to potentially fresh ideas. Thus, they risk losing the idea to another team or, worse, another organization.
“One key thing for employers is intergenerational awareness, as we may view things differently because of the societies we grew up in,” Jim Berry, director of the MBA program at University College London, told the BBC. “Starting these conversations allows us to break down some of these barriers.”
To be mentored (or coached) effectively, leaders must leave those silos, seek information, and embrace their vulnerability. They must listen with the same intent they use to speak. Just as Gen Z might worry about being replaced by AI, leaders likely fear being replaced by Gen Z. We can lower these barriers by sharing what we know. How have older generations navigated previous headwinds of change? How might younger generations potentially use technology to welcome that change?
As the world changes, so do the tools of success and the people using those tools. What motivates leaders of one generation isn’t motivating future leaders of generations behind them. So, leaders, go ahead and ask a younger employee how to set up a TikTok channel or what “mindful” means. Experiences are mutually beneficial. Mentorship should be as well.
