By Thomas Davis, DNAP, MAE, CRNA
Josh has been a solid frontline healthcare worker for 4
years, he is respected by colleagues and has developed a comfortable
workflow. His boss seems to be a little
aloof and although Josh does his job well, he is stagnant in his work and does
not sense an opportunity for professional growth or promotion. The corporation is at risk of losing a
qualified and productive worker.
Marsha is in her 50s, Josh’s supervisor, and is the
perioperative administrator in a busy 10 room suite of operating rooms. She skillfully moves workers like pieces on a
checkerboard to cover the hour by hour needs of the unit. Many of the workers on her team are in their
20s/30s, and Marsha does not understand why they complain about their
work. She believes that younger workers
lack the work ethic that she grew up with.
This workplace
has a toxic disconnect between management and workers which is taking a toll on
morale and productivity.
Harvard
Business Review tackled the question of why people quit their job and
offered these three primary reasons; 1) they don’t like the boss, 2) lack of
professional development or opportunity for promotion, 3) the offer of a better
gig elsewhere. In this case, Josh did
not sense a connection with the boss and experienced a void regarding
professional development. Suddenly, the
pop-up recruiting messages on his phone started to catch his eye and he noted
that others in his profession were not only making more money but also enjoyed
jobs that included professional development.
Two months later, josh submitted his resignation and moved on.
In contrast, Marsha was so driven by production pressure and
so focused on the immediate task at hand that she did not know or understand
the personal challenges of younger workers, nor did she have a concern about
their professional development.
Culture change
with a focus on professional development will convert this toxic environment
into a preferred workplace.
Professional development is one of the three key pillars of
a preferred workplace, the other two being emotional intelligence and
values-based leadership. Professional
development can be achieved externally through the effort of the individual
worker. However, in a preferred workplace, the leader ensures that
opportunities for professional growth are offered and encouraged within the
organization. An effective
mentoring/reverse mentoring program is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to
connect individuals, develop young workers, and enlighten older workers to both
new technologies and the personal needs of the younger generation.
The advantages of mentoring are well documented. Author Nicola Cronin lists
benefits to the mentee to include:
- Increased self-confidence
- A sense of being valued
- Increased self-awareness
- Improved communication skills
- Developing a personal network
- Becoming a good listener
- Exposure to new and different perspectives
- Increased emotional intelligence
- Reduced level of anxiety
- Increased chance for promotion
- Increased job satisfaction.
In the scenario above, an ongoing mentoring program would
have given Josh a support system and connection to a trusted person who was
committed to developing Josh’s talents and helping him to advance in the
organization. Josh would have developed
new skills and more importantly, he would have felt connected to the workplace
and loyal to his supervisor.
Reverse mentoring is equally important.
Mentoring is most thought of as a top-down sharing of
knowledge/skills from an older experienced person to a neophyte worker. Reverse mentoring is equally important and
often overlooked. Simply stated, reverse
mentoring is when a junior employee mentors someone more senior to them in the
organization. What can the apprentice
possibly offer to an executive that would improve the functioning of the
organization?
The modern workplace tends to be multigenerational and
multicultural. It is not unusual for the
executive suite to be filled with baby boomers while millennials shoulder the
burden of the frontline work. To further
complicate things, Gen Z workers are graduating from college and enter the
workplace with skills and expectations that are foreign to the Boomers in the
front office. Reverse mentoring closes
the generational gap, teaches the latest technology to high level executives,
and gives them a first-hand glimpse into issues that are important to young
workers. In contrast, young workers have
face time with executives and gain insight into the C-Suite and plans for
moving the company forward. In the
process, the junior employee feels valued and develops a sense of loyalty to
the organization.
Legendary leader Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric,
was one of the first to promote reverse mentoring. In the 1990s, the internet was a new technology,
and the use of personal computers proved to be a challenge to upper-level
executives. Jack noted that new college
graduates were all experts on computer use and quickly set up a reverse
mentoring program connecting entry level workers with upper executives to help
the elders understand and become comfortable with the new technology. It was a win/win for GE.
Similarly, the modern healthcare workplace is a melting pot
where new technology updates and replaces older techniques and, as Jack Welch
noted in the 90s, the new graduate, junior employees, are the experts. The use of ultrasound in the practice of
anesthesia is but one example. As noted
by one of my colleagues, “anyone who has been out of school for over 10 years
needs to be taught how to use ultrasound to assess gastric volume, new
graduates know how and routinely use the technique…they are the best teachers.”
Senior workers who
openly seek mentoring from junior workers learn new skills and make personal
connections which promote increased emotional intelligence.
Published in the online
blog, Together, author Matthew Reeves identifies benefits for the senior
workers that arise from reverse mentoring.
- Closing the generational gap. Each generation was raised at a different
time and grew up with different life experiences. For example, there is no way that a baby
boomer can fully appreciate the life experiences of those who used computerized
home schooling during the COVID crisis, nor do they fully appreciate the impact
of social media on the younger generation.
Learning is about sharing new knowledge that transcends top-down
teaching. With reverse mentoring, senior
employees learn new skills while junior workers gain a wealth of information
based on the experiences of the senior worker.
- Supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Marian Wright Edelman said, “If you can’t see
it, you can’t be it.” The corporate
world has made a commitment to increasing diversity in upper-level positions
and reverse mentoring affords the opportunity for minority junior workers to
have one on one time with executives.
While learning new technology skills, senior workers become aware of
cultural challenges while junior workers are introduced to life in the front
office.
- Millennial retention. Millennials (age 29-43) make up almost 40% of
the workforce in the United States and recently an increasing number of them
have negative feelings about their employers.
Workflow changed with COVID as did the expectations of the workers. Reverse mentoring re-connects millennials
with leadership, improves communication and aligns the company with post-covid
worker and customer needs.
- Enhancing creativity, open-mindedness, and
innovation. Connecting with and
learning from a person of a different generation promotes learning about new
technologies as well as becoming sensitive to their cultural needs. Artificial intelligence is a concept to baby
boomers however it is an everyday reality for new graduates. AI and other technology are fertile ground
for senior managers to learn from junior employees.
- Empowering emerging leaders. Young workers receive knowledge and technical
skills that did not exist when the Boomers were in school, yet the youngsters
are often intimidated by senior people who are high on the corporate ladder. Reverse mentoring allows the junior employee
to develop communication skills and self-confidence by mentoring senior leaders
in the organization. Once they realize
the value that they bring to the job, junior workers become eager to expand and
take on new and more challenging roles.
Mentoring is an essential component of a preferred workplace,
and the most successful workgroups view it as a two-way process. TED
talk speaker and author Chip Conley notes the value of merging the
knowledge of the young worker with the wisdom of older person when creating
solutions to modern problems. Regardless
of your position in the organization, the first step in mentoring is opening
your mind to the reality that others have something of value to share with
you. Seek them out, identify their
strengths, and actively listen with the intent to learn as they share their
knowledge with you. You will grow
professionally, and the other person will feel valued, which creates common
ground for trust in one another. Both
parties in the relationship will walk away feeling empowered…a win/win
situation for all.
Tom is an
experienced leader, educator, author, and requested speaker. Click here for a
video introduction to Tom’s talk topics.
