As we close National Mentoring Month, we must remember mentoring is a year-round commitment by mentors and mentees. But we must also think about the concept of reverse mentoring.

Reverse mentoring is a concept that was first introduced by former General Electric Chairman Jack Welsh more than a decade ago. With the advent of rapidly increasing social technologies, the practice of reverse mentoring is becoming more popular at organizations. Just as new professionals in the industry have a lot to learn and should align themselves with a mentor, more seasoned practitioners can learn a lot from the socially savvy new professional.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article companies like HP and Cisco as well as PR agencies like Ogilvy have launched formal reverse mentoring programs. The beauty of a reverse mentoring relationship is that it shares nearly the same principles of a traditional mentoring relationship, such as building mutual trust, formalizing the relationship and being open to new ideas. However, the difference lies within the benefits of a reverse mentoring relationship or program and the sustained growth, retention and innovation it can have on the company and the industry.

Here are some tips for selecting a mentor or reverse mentor to help you on your professional path.

• Finding the right match: Forging an effective mentoring relationship falls into the hands of the mentee. When looking for a mentor, take into consideration your goals and where you see your career path going before you make the ask of a seasoned professional.
• Shorten the learning curve: For reverse mentoring, if you want to sharpen your social media skills or get basic education on a particular social channel (let’s not boil the ocean), ask someone who has a particular skill set around the social channel so they can share lessons learned. Or if you want to apply a social media plan to crisis communications, consider those in your organization or network who are very comfortable with leveraging multiple social networks.
• One is never enough: Think you need just one mentor? Think again. Young professionals should consider two to three mentors who are at different stages of their career, including mid-level to a seasoned veteran in another field who can give you an outside perspective without bias.
• Build morale and increase productivity: For reverse mentoring, people enjoy being asked for their opinion, especially new professionals. When new professionals are asked for their knowledge and input by a valued senior practitioner or management professional, they are motivated and inspired to do better work. Practitioners can help use their knowledge to drive the return on influence from social networks.
• Driver’s seat: As a mentee, you are in charge. Mentors are kind enough to dedicate time and effort to helping you succeed. Take advantage of this and be mindful of their time, meaning scheduling convenient locations and times to talk, thanking them for their efforts and making the conversation as efficient as possible. Come prepared with questions, concerns and ideas to get the most out of your relationship.
• Increasing retention: Reverse mentoring allows the seasoned practitioner to set their comfort level for the relationship, while also allowing the new professional to learn the long-term goals of the company, fostering collaboration between multi-generational employees in the workplace. This relationship also reveals to future leaders within the company to the seasoned professional.
• Mentoring goes both ways: We all learn from each other. Just because someone might have more work experience does not mean they can’t listen to great perspective and advice from a young professional. If the sharing of knowledge goes both ways, the mentoring relationship will thrive.

Stay tuned for big news on the PRSA New Pros Mentoring Initiative! Feel free to share your ideas about mentoring below. Have you had a great mentor in your life? Have you ever participated in reverse mentoring? We would love to hear about it!

Brandi Boatner and Kate Enos are the PRSA New Professionals Section mentorship chairs.