Is Mentoring a one-way street?

The traditional definition of mentoring is that it is a partnership between a Mentor who possesses great skills, knowledge, and experience and a Mentee who is looking to increase his or her skills, knowledge, and experience. The typical mentoring relationship involves a more senior employee and a junior employee with the senior employee taking on the role of teacher and coach. Most senior employees approach the relationship as an opportunity to leave a legacy, or as payback for support received from others in their past.

Do most mentors enter the mentoring relationship expecting it to be a reciprocal learning relationship? I don’t think that the more senior member of the mentoring team often considers that they will be learning from their protégé, however; that is exactly what should be taking place. The younger generation or “digital natives” have much to teach the older generation of “digital immigrants”. Generation Y’s comfort with technology and ability to connect so quickly and easily are skills that could benefit older employees.