A reverse mentoring program to promote cultural competence, broaden perspectives and enhance academic leadership capacity
Building relationships, diversifying perspectives and appreciating differences all serve to promote cultural competence, inclusion and belonging. Yet, programming to enhance cultural competency and inclusive leadership skills in the workplace often involves workshops, seminars or other group-based didactic offerings. While helpful, these options are often not set up for engaging in robust individual exploration and self-reflection — both critical aspects of developing cultural competence and academic leadership capacity. Reverse mentoring leverages the often more diverse composition of the greater workplace to help broaden leadership perspectives through honest, personal and reflective discourse. If approached with curiosity, humility and openness, reverse mentoring can be a powerful tool to enhance cultural competency and promote self-efficacy, belonging and engagement.
Forward Mentoring is a new initiative here at Indiana University School of Medicine that creates intentional spaces for conversations between trainees/junior staff (mentors) with more senior staff/faculty/leaders (mentees) that emphasize “who we are” versus “what we do.” This type of discourse invites participants to explore commonalities and differences — all to broaden perspectives and increase diversity of thought. Open communication along with building community, cultural humility and trust are essential factors in the cultivation of more inclusive and welcoming workplace environments in academic medicine and science.
Key program objectives:
- Broaden perspectives through relationship building
- Enhance leadership capacity through open and honest discussions
- Increase confidence and self-efficacy through practical skill application and reflection