Inclusive Mentoring – Co-Mentoring

Course Introduction

Co-mentoring is a popular intervention to support Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Typically, a senior leader in the organisation is paired with a (usually more junior) diverse member of staff who has a different background and career journey to their own. They mentor each other over an agreed period, with each sharing their lived experience of the organisational culture. Together they discuss their careers, day-to-day work and solutions to real business problems, as well as exploring how to create a more diverse and inclusive culture. Insights gained help to inform EDI policy and approaches in the organisation. They can also help the junior member of staff understand how to make an even greater contribution in their current role as well as progress to more senior roles.

Find out more

The first step is to identify and pair up your mentors and mentees, and we can provide consultancy support if required, to help you make the best possible matches. We know that participants value practical support to enable them to create the conditions for effective reverse-mentoring relationships. Our package provides greater understanding on aspects such as how to create psychological safety. It gives practical tips so participants can set themselves up for success, navigate common pitfalls and achieve personal and organisational outcomes.

Co-Mentoring development package

Step One: 30-minute pre-work in the form of a 15-minute narrated PowerPoint and accompanied by a worksheet for personal reflection. This provides an understanding and practical advice about how to approach and prepare for reverse mentoring.

Topics include:
What is mentoring?
What is reverse mentoring?
Why do organisations have reverse mentoring programmes?
What is important to us about our programme?
Roles, responsibilities and expectations
Your personal goals as a reverse-mentor/mentee
Discussion topics
Skills of the best mentors
Prepare for your first meeting
Create a safe and confidential space for your discussions
What are you fearful of?
How to avoid key pitfallsThe pre-work includes a PDF worksheet where the mentors/mentees can capture their thoughts and learning from the presentation.
Your next steps

Step Two: 90-minute interactive virtual workshop that has participants working together to explore and develop some of the pre-work themes such as:

Contracting and practical tips to create a safe psychological space
What could go wrong (linked to ‘fears’ from the pre-work)
Speaking truth to power – considerations
How to plan for the first meeting
What are you taking away?

Step Three: Take-away toolkit featuring key slides, models and tools from the training.

More junior reverse-mentors often have little or no experience of mentoring or being mentored. We walk them through a three-step process which equips them to prepare for and sustain a fruitful mentoring relationship.

Working with
Inclusive Group

Inclusive Group will work with you to understand the context for your Reverse-Mentoring programme. This involves a 20-minute discovery call where we explore:

The background and ‘cultural norms’ of this topic in your organisation

An overview of the participant group(s)

Scenarios or examples relevant to your organisation that we can use during the programme

Anything else pertaining to the successful delivery of Reverse-Mentoring

Details

Virtual delivery via Inclusive Group Zoom or your own platform

In-person delivery at your office or offsite venue (travel expenses will apply)

Suitable for up to 26 participants

Customisation of workshop content is available (design fee will apply)

Please contact us to discuss how this workshop will complement your current EDI activity

Follow-Up

Talk to us about our additional learning tools, such as nudges, videos and podcasts, to deepen and extend your participants’ understanding and application of this topic.