Reciprocal Mentoring

Overview

While mentoring has undoubtedly made an impact in diversity and inclusion, traditional hierarchical approaches and reverse mentoring both have limited impact. Both focus on changing the mindsets of individuals, but don’t impact the systems, which create inequality and hidden discrimination. They may even reinforce existing systems, by creating examples of people, who have “worked the system”, as if that were the answer.

Reciprocal mentoring aims to change those systems. It brings together senior and junior employees in co-learning partnerships, which identify barriers to equality and diversity. The pairs come together to address those barriers at an organisational level, bringing about change from both above and below.

This unique Reciprocal Mentoring approach, trialled in organisations in England, educates senior and junior co-learners to work together to stimulate deep and lasting change both for themselves and for the organisation. Topics covered include how to manage power distance in the relationship, how to recognise and illuminate systemic barriers and how to bring about collaborative change. Participants also gain an extensive toolkit of advanced mentoring practice.

We currently offer two distinct products:

Bespoke programme creation and management for organisations looking to implement Reciprocal Mentoring Programmes as an effective vehicle for meaningful change. We can support programme creation, selection and matching of participants, training of both senior and junior Mentors with extensive materials, workshops and programme evaluation. We would typically aim to support your organisation in building a cost effective and self sustaining programme by training your programme managers and trainers to run and train additional cohorts under license.

For those organisations already running a programme (or seriously planning one this year), David runs a free invite only forum to share experiences, establish international best practice and create some original research (see blue box below).