A guide for mentors: Teach Up
How to mentor someone more senior than you, and learn from it.
What this guide covers
What this guide covers
What this guide covers
What reverse mentoring is
This time, you are the mentor
A junior colleague shares newer skills and views with a senior one.
- You bring tools, new skills, how your generation works
- They bring the business, decisions, people
- Both of you learn, and know each other’s side
Confidentiality both ways
Agree confidentiality both ways first
You will see their gaps, and they will hear your view of the company.
- Stays between us what you do not know yet
- Stays between us what I say about the company
- We share the topics we covered, if we both agree
Their own reason
Start from what they want to do
Older learners built digital skills mainly when they wanted to learn for themselves.
The first question
Ask about a real task
A task from their own week makes every lesson useful at once.
- What would you like to do yourself in three months? Gives you a goal.
- Where did you get stuck last week? Gives you the first lesson.
Hands on
Show once, then let them try
They learn by doing it on their own work while you watch.
- Show once one step, slowly
- They try on their own task, their own laptop
- Point one thing not five
- They do it again without you
Say what you see
Say what you see, with an example
They asked for your view, so give it plainly and politely.
- Customers my age do not open our newsletter. This is what they read. A view plus an example.
- Maybe it is just me, but… Hides the point.
Their side
Ask how it fits their work
They know the business, so ask where the new skill would help.
- How would this work in your team? Their answer is your next lesson.
- How was this decision made? Now you learn their side.
What you gain
You learn to lead, too
Reverse mentoring is also meant to develop the junior mentor as a leader.
- Explaining clearly to senior people
- Seeing how decisions are made
- A senior colleague who knows your work
Mentornity in Claude and ChatGPT
Use Mentornity from Claude or ChatGPT
Ask in your own words; your assistant plans meetings, fills in tools and drafts messages.
Connect it once
Add Mentornity in Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP app, then sign in.
Ask in your own words
Plan meetings, fill in a tool or form, find a mentor, reply.
A preview before every change
The assistant shows what will happen; nothing changes until you say yes.
Disconnect any time
It sees only what you see; Settings shows what it did recently.
Connect it once
Add Mentornity in Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP app, then sign in.
Ask in your own words
Plan meetings, fill in a tool or form, find a mentor, reply.
A preview before every change
The assistant shows what will happen; nothing changes until you say yes.
Disconnect any time
It sees only what you see; Settings shows what it did recently.
Your goals and the Academy
Set goals, learn, earn a badge
Track your goals in My development and learn in Mentornity Academy, in your language.
Set your goals
Write what you want to reach and rate it at each check-in.
Badge courses for mentors
Seven skills with short practice, then a 20-question exam.
Guides for mentors and mentees
Research-based guides, a deck for every tool, and decks for your program.
Add your badge to LinkedIn
Pass the exam and share the badge page, valid for two years.
Set your goals
Write what you want to reach and rate it at each check-in.
Badge courses for mentors
Seven skills with short practice, then a 20-question exam.
Guides for mentors and mentees
Research-based guides, a deck for every tool, and decks for your program.
Add your badge to LinkedIn
Pass the exam and share the badge page, valid for two years.
Sources
The research behind this presentation
- Murphy, W. M. (2012) Reverse mentoring at work: Fostering cross-generational learning and developing millennial leaders Human Resource Management, 51(4), 549-573
- Chaudhuri, S. & Ghosh, R. (2012) Reverse mentoring: A social exchange tool for keeping the boomers engaged and millennials committed Human Resource Development Review, 11(1), 55-76
- Kaše, R., Saksida, T. & Mihelič, K. K. (2019) Skill development in reverse mentoring: Motivational processes of mentors and learners Human Resource Management, 58(1), 57-69
Ask one question in your first meeting
What would you like to be able to do yourself in three months?