Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring: diversity as an opportunity for growth and competence development

A leading insurance Italian group has set the goal to change its positioning on the market and attract younger customers who are mindful of flexible and innovative solutions.
Thus, the new commercial proposition is set in its guidelines, along with an engaging communication campaign on sustainability and inclusion. The organization itself has undergone a radical transformation to meet evolving external needs.

The challenge

The challenge is to bring change to the organization, its internal mechanisms, which are often weighed down by consolidated processes and procedures. A low level of turnover is likely to drive a wedge between senior management and younger teams (under 35), which requires new management systems to contribute to building a new model.

In a world where technical competencies and experience are paramount, the risk is to deplete new employees’ potential.

The solution

We have started from the observation that many managers and team supervisors have trouble managing emerging complexity linked to intergenerational varieties' coexistence, which carry different values, cultures, motivational, and leadership styles.

We have decided to enhance these differences and turn them into opportunities for growth and development in a new shared organizational culture.

These processes of knowledge sharing have not been delegated to the goodwill of the individual.

VisionMind has set up a process of Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring using an approach to make the most out of Mentoring and Coaching. The result is the realization of a 2-year high-level ambitious path, thanks to the General Director's strong commitment.

The tailormade project has been designed through TalkActive^® in group sessions, a structured and interactive methodology of peer mentoring, encouraging the sharing of experiences and approaches among participants, and identifying solutions to complex challenges.

The project was split into three phases:

• first, the participants were trained on how to use the tool, they chose the areas and challenges to work on in pair group sessions, and laid the foundation of the work with the Mentor/Mentee they had been paired with;
• in the second phase, the Mentor/Mentee pairs have worked independently, liaising with the Development team who had promoted the initiative and VisionMind's facilitator for any methodological support;
• in the third stage, a collective sharing, much like the launch phase, participants have collected Best Practices and drawn conclusions on the initiative.

Result

Choosing a standard methodological tool has provided teams with a guide to working autonomously, therefore reinforcing the sharing of different approaches, backgrounds, and competencies, and fostering an exchange that has driven the path itself of mentoring and reverse mentoring.

In a nutshell, the tool has allowed to:

• reflect the competencies of participants, fully bring them to life, and develop them;
• activate and catalyze a shared process of exploration and planning of innovative solutions;
• focus on future and change, encouraging practical actions and the search for strategic and pertinent solutions.

The different generations involved in this project have had the opportunity to get to know each other better, promoting trust and listening, and speeding up the integration process among resources which is fundamental within an organization.