High praise for Aeon’s Reverse Mentoring pilot programme

Supporting the Aeon Network’s ethos of development opportunities for all individuals regardless of age, we’ve recently piloted a reverse mentoring programme.

Traditional mentoring can be an extremely valuable tool for personal development. However, the younger person in the relationship usually gains more as they learn from their senior colleagues’ past experiences. Reverse mentoring flips this discussion around and ensures that both parties reap the rewards from the relationship in equal measure. The younger person can share and mentor their senior colleague on topics they find beneficial while senior colleagues gain invaluable insights into the younger generations’ perspectives.

In the recent pilot scheme, we paired colleagues across the business to take part as the reversed roles of a mentor and mentee.  As relationships matured over the course of the scheme, it was clear that conversations began to grow organically to discuss a wide variety of subjects from social media, work-life balance to what gets us up in the morning.

Caroline Ramsay, Chief Risk Officer – Mentee commented “Don’t underestimate the network that the graduates and younger mentors can offer. It’s not always about going upward or outside of the company.  There are some great things happening at grass roots, and our graduates and younger colleagues have a first-class network”.

Will D’Arcy, Account Manager – Mentor said “It was great to speak to someone from a completely different section of the business with whom I might not have otherwise  spoken to.”

Following the hugely positive feedback from pilot scheme participants, we’re making improvements to the programme and will be looking for candidates to take part in this fantastic learning opportunity in the upcoming months.