The benefits of landing a mentor – and thus getting access to all sorts of work-related wisdom and guidance – are well known. Career progression, access to new opportunities and fresh skills are all on offer if you track down a great mentor. So it’s no wonder that so many of us are so keen to find such a person, as we regularly search for ’how to find a mentor’ and keep a watchful eye out for anyone senior to us who might be up for chatting. But what we probably aren’t considering as frequently is the opposite: imparting our knowledge and experience upwards, to someone who might be higher up the work ladder (or lattice) than we are.

This is reverse mentoring, and it’s an underappreciated tool that can have a big impact.

“In the dynamic landscape of the modern workplace, reverse mentoring emerges as a revolutionary tool,” Patrice Gordon, the founder of Eminere and the author of Reverse Mentoring: Removing Barriers And Building Belonging In The Workplace, tells Stylist. “Reverse mentoring flips the traditional mentor-mentee relationship, encouraging knowledge exchange where under-represented individuals mentor senior counterparts.

“This approach, especially in diverse and inclusive workplaces, fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation of different perspectives, breaking down hierarchical and generational barriers.”

How reverse mentoring could help you tackle imposter syndrome at work