Role reversal

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What is the background to the reverse-mentoring programme and what are its aims?

The black heritage reverse-mentoring programme involves more senior employees gaining insights and understanding from more junior employees about their experiences and day-to-day life at KPMG.

A pilot kicked off in 2017 with a smaller subset group, based on feedback from our Afro-Caribbean network and our employees about their experiences, and how we could better engage the partner community to help us build a more inclusive culture. We got lots of really positive feedback, so we started the formal version of the programme in March 2018.

I was the first mentor on the pilot programme, mentoring the firm’s then managing partner – and, now, global chief operating officer – Philip Davidson, on what it was like being a black colleague at KPMG. I was responsible for co-leading the pilot programme, along with the Afro-Caribbean employee network.

As the feedback was really positive, we required more resource to roll it out more broadly and make sure we were engaging with as many people as possible across the firm. So, we partnered with the inclusion and diversity team and our UK learning team to look at how we could better structure the programme, make sure we had sufficient budget, and publicise it, to get more people on board. My vision was to see 100 partners being mentored by 100 ethnic minorities across the UK firm – and I’m glad to say we achieved above and beyond this.

What role did research and data play in your contribution to the programme?

I did a lot of research, collecting data and informally interviewing black and minority ethnic colleagues and friends about their experiences in the workplace. Through internal and external research, I identified a number of potential issues, including unconscious bias, a lack of senior black role models, the difficulty of being ‘heard’ at work, and too few opportunities to get picked for high-profile assignments – issues that can be hard for leaders to see because they get ‘translated’ as they go up the chain. This gave me a solid foundation to understand the barriers to career progression and discuss with my mentee, and the firm’s leadership, what they can do to remove these.

How was your experience of the process?

In the past few years, I have had the chance, through the programme, to talk to senior partners and colleagues, take on public speaking engagements and presentations, and represent the firm at the One Young World conference in Colombia and the Netherlands. The programme has been life-changing, and I’ve grown in confidence. Now I know that people want to hear what I have to say, I feel a lot more comfortable to be myself. I have really reflected on what it is I want to be doing within the organisation – I have changed teams and roles. Reverse mentoring has also increased my network and exposure within the firm.

I interviewed Philip Davidson about our reverse-mentoring experience, and how it had helped his view on diversity, for my podcast, Not Your Everyday Podcast.

How can companies make sure employees’ experiences and voices are not being lost?

Reverse mentoring enabled junior employees to feel more of a sense of belonging to the organisation, and as if their voices are being heard – it also helped build a sense of community. As a firm, we understand that some of our diverse colleagues in the organisation don’t have as much direct exposure to partners on a day-to-day basis, and we realised there could be a disconnect between what partners think the culture is like and the experience of those at more junior levels.

We wanted to focus on how we can bridge that gap and create a culture of inclusion. We realised that a better way to do this would be for senior staff to just hear directly from those colleagues in a way that will build a sustained relationship over time.

One of the key benefits was that it put junior colleagues in contact with quite senior people with whom they may not have worked previously. This additional exposure has proven beneficial, not just to their day-to-day jobs, but also with regards to specific skills needed on individual projects. So, it was also a way of creating a form of traditional mentors or sponsors.

Can reverse-mentoring schemes help organisations become more accountable?

Reverse mentoring often challenges the hierarchy and power relationships within an organisation. For a lot of people, it’s the first time somebody more junior is driving the relationship. It also has a positive impact on wellbeing, because it allows more junior employees to feel that their voices are being heard, giving them more power to affect change.

For more senior employees, I think it enables an increased connection with how the firm is working on the ground. Things you maybe take for granted in terms of the culture must be reviewed continuously, so this type of engagement has a really positive impact in terms of accountability for change.

What advice would you give other businesses thinking of establishing similar initiatives?

First, listen to black employees about what their experiences have been in the organisation and then take action to address issues that arise. To promote an inclusive culture, you need to take a real, honest look into what your organisational data tells you about your colleagues’ experiences and progression, and prioritise what needs to be done to reverse negative trends or improve the pace of positive trends.

This article was first published in the October 2020 issue of Impact.