Your Digital Mentor Podcast

Bonus Episode - Reverse mentoring

Episode Summary

Short description: Reverse mentorship is effective in promoting diversity, equity and positive culture in a research organisation. Host: Alice Matimba Guest: Martin Dougherty Episode description In this episode we discuss outcomes of a diversity reverse mentoring approach aimed at building awareness about the underlying impact of racism and microaggressions on black people and minority ethnic groups. We highlight benefits for the mentee in understanding their role in addressing these issues, while boosting confidence of the mentor to engage with people who can drive the necessary changes. Finally we advocate for wider roll-out of such a programme which can play a key role in promoting positive organisational and research culture.

Episode Notes

Takeaways from today's episode:

In reverse mentoring, find someone who is different from you, has a different background and has different perspectives.

Aim to build a mutual connection as mentor and mentee, firstly creating a sense of psychological safety which enables open and honest dialogue

Reverse mentorship approach empowers people with skills to effectively engage in sensitive topics such as racism and facilitates discussions with the right audiences who have the power to do something about it.

A mentor supports the organisation through the person they are mentoring, bringing awareness to unspoken nuances which could help to refine organisational initiatives and policies for promoting positive behaviours and culture.

Reverse mentoring is a rewarding experience to learn, educate and feed forward. If you get a reverse mentorship opportunity - go for it!

Resources

Creating better leaders by Patrice Gordon

https://www.ted.com/talks/patrice_gordon_how_reverse_mentorship_can_help_create_better_leaders

Impact of reverse mentoring - NHS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaoN8JV4LKA&feature=emb_logo

Value of reverse mentoring

https://www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/reverse-mentoring-delivers-real-value/7025222.article

Reverse mentoring for senior NHS leaders: a new type of relationship. Future Healthc J. 2020 Feb;7(1):94-96. doi: 10.7861/fhj.2019-0028.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7032576/

Reverse mentoring for equitable workplaces

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/how_reverse_mentoring_can_lead_to_more_equitable_workplaces

Reverse mentoring framework

https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/policies/equality-diversity-inclusion/reverse-mentoring-framework

Host and guest information

Dr. Alice Matimba is the Senior Producer of YDMP. In her role at the Wellcome Genome Campus, she manages the organisation, development and delivery of genomics courses for researchers and healthcare professionals in Africa, Asia and Latin America as part of the ACSC programme. Her expertise is in biomedical sciences, pharmacogenomics, health research and education, and capacity building for LMICs. Connect with Alice on Twitter @alicepn

Dr. Martin Dougherty is the Chief Operating Officer at Wellcome Sanger Institute and have the pleasure of working with our senior operational leadership team across all areas of our organisation. He is also a Special Constable and combat organised crime gangs and dealing with their victims and he quotes - “This keeps my feet firmly on the ground”. Connect with Martin on https://www.linkedin.com/in/martindougherty

Acknowledgements

Editing by Mariana Vaz, https://www.marianacpvaz.com/

Research: Alice Matimba

Producers: Alice Matimba (Senior Producer), Isabela Malta (Producer), Christine Boinett (Creator and Executive producer), Emmanuela Oppong (Producer)

Host: Alice Matimba

Media and Marketing: Catherine Holmes

Music: https://freesound.org/s/477388/