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With a fluctuating workforce with varying degrees of digital proficiency between younger and older workers, employers are finding that the traditional structure of workplace relationships and mentorship is not cutting it. Senior executives with years of experience have valuable advice for junior employees – but their decades-younger colleagues also have lots to teach their higher-ups, too.
随着年轻员工越来越熟练地运用数字技术，雇主发现传统的职场关系和师徒关系无法消弭年轻职员和职场老人们的技术鸿沟。老练的高管可以为初级员工提供宝贵的建议，但年轻的同事也有很多可以教给上级的东西。
That's the idea behind ‘reverse mentoring’, a technique first developed in the 1990s to share technology skills. Now, in the pandemic era, the practice has fresh potential to help companies overcome the new challenges of hybrid working, diversity and inclusion, and unpick stereotypes that underpin generational divides.
这就是“反向指导”的由来，上世纪九十年代，这一概念最初被用来推广新技术的使用技巧。现在，在疫情中，“反向指导”潜力十足，不仅可以帮助企业克服线上线下工作步调不一致带来的问题，还可以丰富公司的多样性和包容性，打破僵硬的职场代际刻板印象。
“You’re sharing experiences, offering guidance and giving advice,” says Jennifer Jordan, professor of leadership and organisational culture at the Institute for Management Development, Switzerland.
瑞士国际管理发展学院领导力和组织文化教授珍妮弗·乔丹表示：“进行反向指导时，你在分享经验、提供指导和建议。”
Reverse mentoring pairs staff across generational divides, encouraging a bottom-up flow of information. "Reverse mentoring is when we shift those roles and the senior person has something they can learn from the junior person," says Jim Berry, director of the MBA program at University College London.
反向指导使员工跨越代际鸿沟，鼓励了自下而上的信息流动。伦敦大学学院MBA项目主任吉姆·贝里表示：“反向指导能让我们转换角色，资深员工可以从年轻员工身上学到一些东西。”
Formal reverse mentoring programmes aren't new: famed CEO Jack Welch first used the idea at General Electric in 1999, telling executives to pair up with junior staff to learn about the internet. "It was for getting senior executives to start using technology that younger generations were more native to and more comfortable using," says Jordan.
反向指导计划在商界早已投入使用：著名的首席执行官杰克·韦尔奇于1999年在美国通用电气公司首次运用了这一理念，让高管们与基层员工组队学习互联网。乔丹说：“这是为了让高管们能与时俱进地使用年轻一代更熟悉、更顺手的技术。”
But now, beyond generational nuances in technology, gaps remain in other areas, such as cultural issues and work trends. Current workplaces have the widest generational spread of employees: as Gen Zers begin to enter the workforce, four generations are now working together – a phenomenon we haven't seen before this decade.
但现在，除了技术上的代际差异，其他领域的差距依然存在，比如文化观念和工作趋势。现在的工作场所有着最广泛的员工代际分布：随着Z时代开始进入职场，四代人同时在一起工作——这是十年前从未有过的现象。
And that's why so many companies have turned to reverse mentoring to address cultural shifts. Reverse mentoring can help expand diversity of thinking in the workplace – an increased priority, especially as social issues and employer values are becoming more urgent issues among employees, increasingly inextricable from work.
因此，许多公司采用反向指导来解决文化观念变化的问题。当社会问题和雇主价值观在员工中越来越受到关注并与工作密不可分时，反向指导的重要性愈发突出有助于拓宽职场上思维的多样性。
Practically, this can mean corporate executives can learn from a wider variety of people across their workforce. That could be talking to younger generations simply to understand what they value, or it could be seeking out minority groups from that wider workforce to figure out what practical changes need to happen. For example, P&G's reverse mentoring program has taught senior staff how younger people shop online.
实际上，这意味着企业高管可以从更多的员工身上学习。他们可以与年轻一代交流以简单了解他们的价值观，也可以从广大员工中寻找少数群体，以判断公司需要做出哪些实际改变。例如，宝洁的反向指导计划教会了年长员工如何进行网购。
Reverse mentoring can spark conversations that help address organisational challenges and changes. In Jordan’s study of the technique, she found it could help both parties learn new skills and boost the careers of younger participants on an individual level.
反向指导还可以激发有助于应对组织性挑战和变化的对话。在乔丹对这项技术的研究中，她发现反向指导可以帮助双方学习新技能，并在个人层面上促进年轻参与者的职业生涯。
Reverse mentoring schemes should be a two-way conversation, to help groups learn from each other (Credit: Getty Images)
反向指导计划应该是一种双向对话，以帮助团队之间互相学习
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Attrition has been a major issue for companies in the past few years, as one in five US millennialschanged jobs in the past year – three times as often as other generations.
在过去几年里，人员流失一直是企业面临的主要问题之一，因为在过去一年里，五分之一的美国零零后换了工作，这一比例是其他年龄层的三倍。
There’s likely never been a more opportune time to use reverse mentoring to shake up the way corporate culture is built. Work is changing dramatically, particularly around flexible hours and hybrid work. Executives can't make unilateral decisions around these issues with a solely top-down approach – at least not if they want to retain staff. Listening to all employees is necessary to build the future of work and avoid post-pandemic resignations.
现在可能是利用反向指导来改变企业文化构建方式的最佳时机。工作方式正在发生巨大变化，特别是在弹性工作时间和混合工作方面。如果高管们想留住员工的话，就不能用自上而下的方式就这些问题做出单方面的决定。倾听所有员工的意见对于构建工作的未来、规避疫情后的辞职潮来说很重要。
Reverse mentoring schemes can make younger staff feel listened to and welcome in offices, helping reduce employment churn; research suggests half of millennials andGen Z workers will quit within five years if they don't feel heard on issues they prioritise, which include the environment and climate change, workplace mental health and equality.
反向指导制度可以让年轻的员工在职场上感觉自己受到了欢迎和重视，有助于减少就业流失。研究表明，如果自己优先考虑的问题没有被重视，千禧一代和Z世代的员工有一半会在五年内离职，这些问题包括环境和气候变化，职场心理健康和平等。
"It's important for retention to hear younger voices and encourage that exchange of information between the youngest people in an organization and the most senior talent." Jordan said.
乔丹指出：“留住年轻人的关键，是倾听年轻人的声音，并鼓励团队里老少成员之间的交流。”
Additionally, Gen Z is slated to be the most diverse and outspoken employee generation to date. Older employees will find themselves working alongside a lot of employees that don't look like them, have lived different experiences than them and have certain expectations from their workplace. Pairing a younger employee with an older employee can help guide that shift in culture at work.
此外，Z世代还被认为是迄今为止最多样、也最直言不讳的一代员工。年长的员工会发现身边有许多和自己截然不同员工，他们有着不同的人生经历，并对职场有一定的期望。让年轻的员工和年长的员工“结对子”，可以帮助双方适应职场文化的改变。
Gen Z and millennials may complain that it's not easy to convince Baby Boomers to listen, while they and their Gen X colleagues may believe younger counterparts demand too much change and flexibility despite their inexperience. Reverse mentoring can help overcome such assumptions as well as stereotypes about older people struggling to get to grips with technology and cultural changes, and younger staff lacking focus and dedication at work.
Z世代和千禧一代可能会抱怨说，要说服婴儿潮一代的人去听从他们的意见并不容易，而X世代可能会认为他们年轻的同事太过求新求变，即使自己并没有什么经验。反向指导可以消除这些隐忧，并且打破年长的人难以应付新技术和文化变化，年轻人在工作中缺乏专注力和奉献精神的刻板印象。
Baby boomer：指美国1946年到1964年的一个生育高峰期,其间有近8000万人出生,这期间出生的人被称为“婴儿潮”。
Generation X：1965年至1980年间出生的一代美国人，紧随婴儿潮一代，先于千禧一代。
And, says Berry, a mentoring relationship “should be a two-way street”, with information flowing between both parties. Respect must be mutual and reciprocal: "The programs that we saw that weren't successful, the number one reason was that senior executives just didn't take it seriously," says Jordan. "Very rarely did millennial or younger people not take it seriously."
而且，贝里还提到，这种指导关系应是“一条双行道”，其间信息双向流动，尊重也必须是双向的。乔丹说道：“如我们所见，很多项目之所以失败，大多是因为高管们没有把它们当回事。而千禧一代或者更年轻一点的人很少不把它们当回事。”
Reverse mentorship may have evolved to address complex modern work challenges, but it's really about old-fashioned ideas of mutual understanding and respect — and they'll make any workplace better.
反向指导也许已经逐渐成为了应对现代复杂职场的一种对策，但要改善职场，归根结底靠得还是最传统的理念：互相理解、互相尊重。
原文链接：
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20221110-reverse-mentorship-how-young-workers-are-teaching-bosses
https://www.benefitnews.com/news/the-benefits-reverse-mentoring-can-create-at-your-company
编译 | 翟芸 侯倩 殷奕蕊 陈宇嘉
排版 | 殷奕蕊
