IBM and Reverse Mentoring, presentation for Odense Kommun, May 10th 2010

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ibmReverse Mentoring – Leaders on a Smart Planet

Reverse Mentoring for Business Leaders and

Executives

Leaders on a Smart Planet

Christian CarlssonDigital Marketing StrategistSocial Software Evangelist

ibm

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Introduction

+Reverse Mentoring

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About Reverse Mentoring

”Alan Webber, co-founder of Fast Company describes reverse mentoring: "It’s a situation where

the ‘old fogies’ in an organization realize that by the time you’re in your forties and fifties, you’re not in touch with the future the same way the young twenty-something’s. They come

with fresh eyes, open minds, and instant links to the technology of our future". Jack Welch, Chairman of GE, has ordered his top 600 managers to reach down into their ranks for Internet

junkies and become their students.”

Source: Matt M. Starcevich, Ph.D. http://www.coachingandmentoring.com

”Based on old paradigm mentoring where a more senior person (in terms of age, position or experience) mentors a junior, reverse mentoring places the more junior person as the mentor. Usually

used when executives need to understand operations or technology that can be shared by shop floor,

front-line or tech-savvy employees. The key to success in reverse mentoring is the ability to create and maintain an attitude of openness to the experience and dissolve the barriers of status, power and

position.

Source: Ann Rolfe, Mentoring Works, http://mentoring-works.com/reverse_mentoring.html

”Reverse mentoring relationships are developed to gain technical expertise and a different perspective.”

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Why for the mentee?

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True, executives use the web, but speed of

change is quicker than fast!

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Office Traditionalists vs. Generation Collaborative

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Source: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Politik/2010/05/08/222907.htm

Bombarded in media…

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Global competition….

Source: http://registrarism.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/globe-europe.jpg

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Personal Branding

Source: Jane Scandurra, April, 2010 “Putting your strengths and personal branding to work in a socially connected world”

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Why for the mentor?

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Personal Branding

Source: Jane Scandurra, April, 2010 “Putting your strengths and personal branding to work in a socially connected world”

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ibm

Source: Rob Key, Converseon

“The connections in social media is like ‘dark matter’ in the universe –we know it’s out there but we can’t quite see it all yet”

IBM

Learn to formulate business value

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ibm

Reverse Mentoring in IBM

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Challenge

The business leader, executive

Recognizes the needs to be in touch with ‘new’ ways of

working and using technology in a business

setting.

Is this private or

business?

Is Facebook

really for

me?

How about

LinkedIn? I get so many requests all

the time!

How do I communicate

effectively with my team?

Should I use Lotus

Connections, Cattail, Wiki, or....?

How can I keep up with all new

technologies? Should I? Must I?

If so, what?

How do I

select my information

sources?

The front-line, tech savvy employee

Passionate front-line or tech savvy employees who daily uses technology (like social software) in a private and business setting.

How can I more effectively help

change the way we work in IBM?

Why are we not better at

using technology in a

business setting?

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To be addressed by Reversed Mentoring

Information is exploding and it is in silosHow can we take advantage of the wealth of information available real-time from a multitude of sources to make more intelligent choices?

Everything is moving fasterHow does one keep up with the development of technology, and its usage in business? How do we make our organizations and systems just as dynamic as today's business climate?

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Proposed process, high level

Mentees and Mentor pairing

Reversed Mentoring Agreement

Scheduling of monthly meetings (or more often if agreed)

Mentoring meetings take place. To do’s, discussion

topics, follow-up, etc. are collected and worked on using

Lotus Connections Activities (taking our own medicine).

Between each meeting the mentee should then try out or use

the discussed tools or concepts. Evaluate progress based on

Agreement.

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Hints and Tips

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1. Read up on Mentoring

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2. Have a Contract

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Mentoring AgreementThe following agreement outlines the mentoring partnership between

____________________ (mentee) and __________________ (mentor)

This agreement will begin ______________. Estimated completion

date______________.

General ObjectivesThis mentor/mentee relationship falls into the Expert/Skills transfer

category, and we call it "Leaders on a Smart Planet". The objective is to

leverage of the mentors insight into internet technologies and modern

communication, networking, marketing/sales tools, etc. The objective for

the mentee, a business leader, is to quickly get skills and practice in using

new technologies and tools and taking these into use. Questions to be

addressed are

Information is exploding and it is in silos - how can we take advantage of

the wealth of information available real-time from a multitude of sources to

make more intelligent choices?

Everything is moving faster - how do we make our organizations and

systems just as dynamic as today's business climate?

It will be a mutual benefit for the mentor and the mentee to get a better

understanding of how new innovations can be used effectively in a

business environment.

Skills ObjectivesMentee skills to be developed:

• Use of Web 2.0 tools - understand feasibility, benefits and risks

• Use IBM internal productivity tools- understand feasibility, benefits

and risks

• Establish a working habit, where new tools and developments are

quickly evaluated and taken into use, if relevant.

• Build and manage personal network

• Act as role model/pilot for other leaders

Roles and ResponsibilitiesThe primary role of the mentor is to inspire and coach the mentee. Also

practical advise on how to get started with new tools are expected.

The primary role of the mentee is to execute actions as agreed on

meetings and documented in the action plan.

Measuring SuccessSuccess will be measured by the following:

• Mentor/mentee has created and published an article regarding the

mentor relationship and outcome on w3 in _____.

• Mentee has a clear plan for how to evaluate and embrace future new

technologies.

• Mentor has at least one more Executive Manager as mentee by the

end of ____.

MeetingsThe mentee will schedule regular meetings (monthly)

RelationshipThe relationship must be build on openness and trust. The relationship

can be stopped at anytime by both parties by stating the reason for this.

The relationship will be determined as "off track" if i.e.

• Mentee/mentor does not execute agreed actions

• Mentee neglect to book next meetings or cancels booked meetings

without a reschedule

• Mentor/mentee finds outcome of the meetings unsatisfactory

Reverse Mentoring Agreement

Source: Professionally prepared and kindly provided

by Kirsten Thygesen, 2008

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2. Have a Contract

3. Focus on their challenges

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Focus on business challenges, something they

can relate to and find valuable; research

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2. Have a Contract


4. Experiment

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Source: FredCavazza.net from http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredcavazza/3428921418/

It is very personal

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2. Have a Contract


4. Experiment

5. Use what you teach

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Use what you teach in between meetings

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2. Have a Contract


4. Experiment


6. Use all free stuff

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Source: http://www.slideshare.net/juntajoe/twitter-basics-for-business

Use all free, good stuff!

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2. Have a Contract


4. Experiment



7. Track progress

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Track progress

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2. Have a Contract


4. Experiment



7. Track progress

8. Mentor or Consultant?

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Mentor or Consultant?

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contact | [email protected]/in/christiancarlsson

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Back-up, appendices

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In the spring of 2005, IBMers used a wiki to create a

set of guidelines for all IBMers who wanted to blog.

These guidelines aimed to provide helpful, practical

advice—and also to protect both IBM bloggers and

IBM itself, as the company sought to embrace the

blogosphere. Since then, many new forms of social

media have emerged. So we turned to IBMers again

to re-examine our guidelines and determine what

needed to be modified. The effort has broadened the

scope of the existing guidelines to include all forms

of social computing.

Below are the current and official "IBM Social

Computing Guidelines," which continue to evolve as

new technologies and social networking tools

become available.

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

IBM social computing guidelines

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Alan Webber, co-founder of Fast Company describes

reverse mentoring: "It’s a situation where the ‘old fogies’in an organization realize that by the time you’re in your forties and fifties, you’re not in touch with the future the same way the young twenty-something’s. They come with fresh eyes, open minds, and instant links to the

technology of our future". Jack Welch, Chairman of GE, has ordered his top 600 managers to reach down into their ranks for Internet junkies and become their students. What if anything is unique about a reverse mentoring relationships? Fifty-nine people responded to

an on-line survey during the first quarter of 2001. Thirty-seven were mentors (the person doing the mentoring) and twenty-two were partners (the person being mentored). They were from such diverse organizations as Government, Consulting, and Financial Services.

Only 9% were Executives while 40% were Middle Managers, 25% First Level Managers and 26% Individual Contributors. The results are based on the limitation that this was a voluntary survey, with no attempt to obtain a representative sample. Although we

did not control for gender or racial differences no respondents chose as the biggest challenge in making a reverse mentoring relationship productive, "getting over our gender differences" and only one chose "getting

over our racial differences". Subsequent inquires from journalists about the survey results suggests that there may be some challenges in these areas and worthy of further study.

Is it a young to old thing?No, fifty percent of both the mentors and partners were 26-35 years of age with none over age 55. For this group reverse mentoring appears to be a peer-to-peer relationship not one for the ‘old fogies’.

A larger number of executives responding to the survey could change this conclusion. It is interesting to speculate why so few executives responded to the survey, since this is the target population. Are they not

engaged in reverse mentoring relationships; don’t have time to complete surveys; or, don’t surf the internet?

What is the purpose of a reverse mentoring

relationship?Forty-one percent selected "To gain technical expertise" and 25% selected "To gain a younger perspective". This supports the notion of capitalizing on the technical knowledge base and younger perspective of the mentor.

An intense relationship is indicated by fifty-two percent stating they met once a week with an additional forty-one percent meeting once a month. Although twenty-five percent expect the relationship to last 1-5 months and twenty-percent expect it to last longer than a year.

What is the satisfaction level with the reverse mentoring relationship?There were two groups of people, twenty percent said they were "very dissatisfied" and sixty-eight percent said

they were either "satisfied" or "very satisfied". Did how the reverse mentoring relationship occur affect their satisfaction? No, although fifty-two percent were assigned while forty-eight percent sought out either the mentor or partner—being assigned or freely choosing a

mentor or partner did not make a difference in the satisfaction level of the respondents.

What would make the reverse mentoring

relationship more satisfying?Fifty-three percent-said "a clear game plan" while twenty-two percent felt "clear rules of engagement". Clarity on what we will accomplish, our commitment, how we will go about it and how we will relate to one

another emerge as clear indicators of a satisfying mentoring relationships. This conclusion is supported by answers to other questions in the survey:

Thirty-three percent felt "finding time to meet", twenty-eight percent "opening up and

considering different ideas/perspectives" and twenty-five percent "listening without forming judgments" were the biggest challenges in making the reverse mentoring relationship productive.

If they could start anew, fifty-two percent stated that "having a game plan and goal" would be what they would do differently to improve the reverse mentoring relationship.

The advice they would give the younger mentor: twenty-eight percent said both "patience" and "being open to your partner". The advice they would give the older partner:

forty-one percent said "have an open mind and attitude". Thirty-three percents said "listen and learn".

SummaryReverse mentoring relationships are developed to gain technical expertise and a different perspective. They are not a younger to older person thing for this group it was more a peer-to-peer relationship where both people

have a lot to teach and lot to learn. In line with our earlier survey, planning and management of the relationship are critical. A commitment of time, having a game plan/goal and rules of engagement as well as listening, being open minded and patient seem to be

central ingredients for any mentoring relationship not just a reverse relationship. These results indicate that there is nothing unique about reverse mentoring. These same challenges need to be managed in any mentoring relationship. The operative word is mentoring.

(http://coachingandmentoring.com/mentsurvey.htm)

About the AuthorMatt M. Starcevich, Ph.D. CEO, Center for Coaching &

Mentoring has over twenty years experience in training and organization development, as an internal change agent and external consultant. For comments or additional information email Matt from the selection

below.

Internet Survey Results:

What is Unique about Reverse Mentoring, Survey Results

Matt M. Starcevich, Ph.D. (2001)

http://www.coachingan

dmentoring.com/revers

ementoringresults.htm

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IBM and Reverse Mentoring, presentation for Odense Kommun, May 10th 2010

Technology