What is it, why leaders are using it and how it works in the workplace
Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock is one of the most powerful people in the country, facing intense scrutiny from politicians, journalists and everyday Australians. She is also one of the last people most would suspect as being in need of a mentor – least of all one who is newer to the bank.
This month, the boss of the institution in charge of setting the country’s interest rates revealed she had a “reverse mentor”: a more junior employee given a role traditionally reserved for those more senior in their careers.
Asked during a press conference about how she was using AI in her work, Bullock said she was learning how to use the technology from a younger employee.
“I’m not great with [AI],” she said. “I have a reverse mentor who’s helping me.”
A spokesperson for the Reserve Bank said it was piloting a reverse mentoring initiative for members of its executive committee.
“The governor has said she has found the experience valuable in building her understanding of how AI is being used and the opportunities and challenges it may present for organisations,” the spokesperson said. “The pilot gives senior leaders an opportunity to learn directly from colleagues with practical experience using these technologies.”
Bullock is not the only high-powered leader known to participate in reverse mentoring. The practice has been in use since at least 1999, when General Electric chief executive Jack Welch told executives to pair up with junior staff to learn about the internet.
Reverse mentoring is a way in which organisations are bridging generational gaps in understanding between employees and improving the breadth of skills and perspectives among staff – including keeping more senior workers up to date with emerging technologies and practices.
Big four professional services firm KPMG had the first cohort of its reverse mentoring program begin in May this year. About 30 partners in the tax division partnered with reverse mentors, who they meet at least twice a month over three months.
Linda Aulbach, a manager in AI and digital solutions at KPMG, had no tax knowledge when she joined the firm last year, having mostly worked in academia and tech start-ups.
So when she met KPMG global mobility partner Jackie Shelton for the first time, Aulbach said she was a bit nervous.
“Meeting a partner is obviously a bit nerve-racking,” she said. “I didn’t have a proper presentation or agenda that I had to walk through, and I remember wondering how I was meant to fill up 30 minutes.”
But the meeting and conversation about AI unfolded very naturally, said the duo, who have been catching up weekly for the past two months.
“Linda books a room, and we usually have a 30-minute or one-hour session, which generally goes over time because I have so many questions,” Shelton said.
Shelton, who had been looking for better ways to use AI in the business, said the reverse mentoring had helped her gain a better understanding of which tools to use.
“I sat there and went, ‘Why are we not using the latest and brightest version of this?’ and Linda would be like, ‘You’re only doing a simple task,’” Shelton said. “It was really beneficial to understand that for something that’s very straightforward, we can use a much cheaper AI version or no AI at all.”
Shelton and Aulbach also said it helped them to learn how to communicate their technical expertise in a “broader language” that could be understood by people outside their specialised areas, which also helped them to challenge each other and other parts of the business and spark ideas for new projects that otherwise would not have happened.
For Shelton, the reverse mentoring experience made it easier for her to seek advice.
“Linda’s not a partner, not my senior, so I didn’t feel like if I asked a stupid question, I was going to get judged,” she said. “I was able to just ask questions that, for me, might sound dumb if I were to ask them in a room full of people.”
The reverse mentoring relationship also came with benefits for Aulbach, who said it had helped to increase her confidence and how she viewed her work.
“I got to see how Jackie thinks about the business from a leadership perspective rather than just from the perspective of one little person in a little team,” Aulbach said.
Shelton advises those thinking about starting a reverse mentoring relationship to “just do it” and not worry too much about structure or presentations.
“You can have one or two slides in your back pocket in case you need it to start a conversation or trigger something, but I think the free-flowing conversation has actually been the best part of it,” she said. “Where Linda thought we were going to finish every week has generally not been anywhere near [where we did end up].”
Aulbach said it was also a personalised experience. “It’s not an hour-long AI talk you may or may not understand,” she said. “We go step by step. You can ask questions, and it’s such a free-flowing thing. Originally, it was meant to be for a few months, but I don’t think either of us wants to stop this.”
Forrest Research Foundation director and cultural researcher James Arvanitakis said reverse mentoring was a practice all businesses should implement.
“Ideally, all mentoring should have a reverse element, but that does not often happen because of the power dynamics of a senior staff member and someone junior,” he said. “By naming it ‘reverse mentoring’ you are clearly saying, ‘I want to learn from you’.”
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Millie Muroi is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age covering workplace and economics. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra’s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X or email.