UK Dell’s Brilliance: Women Mentoring Men
I just saw this mentioned on twitter* and because it is such a brilliant program, I was compelled to post right away. Dell is taking a step, starting with the UK apparently, to do a sort of reverse gender, reverse role mentoring program. As described in a recent issue of PeopleManagement.com (with UK spellings):
The reverse mentoring programme, which was piloted for six months in the EMEA region last year, aims to give male bosses an insight into the challenges women face in the workplace, helping more women into senior roles. Participants in the pilot met at least once a month, usually off-site to allow both sides to be more objective.
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My advice? Read the article and get ideas for doing the same in your organization or corporation. If helping more women into senior roles isn’t a compelling enough reason (!), what about helping the participating senior male executives learn a bit more about how women think, process and make decisions in order to give them fresh perspective on their core consumers?
Believe me. There’s a wealth of information and insight into how women buy within the workplace thought processes of your female colleagues – and it doesn’t involve hiring a research firm!
Dell’s UK program sounds like it should set up a great environment for men and women to make strides in workplace gender relations. The bonus: their teams, men and women, mid-level and senior together, will very likely make better marketing decisions, as well.
Note to Dell – I’d love to hear the results, and help tell the positive stories when the results can be measured!
*Thanks to TheNextWomen for the twitter tip.
