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.
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Topics include:
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What is mentoring?
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What is reverse mentoring?
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Why do organisations have reverse mentoring programmes?
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What is important to us about our programme?
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Roles, responsibilities and expectations
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Your personal goals as a reverse-mentor/mentee
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Discussion topics
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Skills of the best mentors
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Prepare for your first meeting
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Create a safe and confidential space for your discussions
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What are you fearful of?
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How to avoid key pitfallsThe pre-work includes a PDF worksheet where the mentors/mentees can capture their thoughts and learning from the presentation.
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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:
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Contracting and practical tips to create a safe psychological space
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What could go wrong (linked to ‘fears’ from the pre-work)
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Speaking truth to power – considerations
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How to plan for the first meeting
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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.