By Kerensa Hodge
I felt honoured, and truth be told, extremely excited to attend and co facilitate a celebration of staff networks and sponsors who came together in good spirits to share their lived experience of the reverse mentoring expertise. From the discussions and interactions with the attendees, I knew it was going to be an afternoon of inspiration – even a “masterclass in reverse mentoring” from those who had walked the talk and emerged with stories of transformation. The room buzzed with energy as mentors shared insights about growth, lessons learned, and the power of reverse mentoring to spark disruptive conversations that had in many ways shifted organisational cultures.
Assisted by the gentle prod of our CSO Stacy Johnson and our ‘food for thought’ Reverse Mentoring practitioners (shout out to Adam and Ruby our Reverse Mentoring practitioners and consultants) – the room was encouraged to unite in the spirit of ‘Ubuntu’.
Table by table their stories painted a compelling picture of their Reverse Mentoring experiences. The CEO and sponsors for inclusion spoke candidly about how raw, unfiltered questions from their colleagues made them reassess their leadership styles. Team dynamics changed. Silos started to crack. Progress was not just incremental – it was disruptive. Staff network members spoke of ‘unfinished businesses, and the need to continue as a key to sustainability, the first moment they felt heard or misheard.
But then, as the dialogue in the room reflected a textbook example of how mentoring should be done, and just after our networking a tea break involving a friendly round of bingo, a colleague in the room compared Reverse Mentoring to dung. Yes, dung (I am not mentioning any names, but it was a mentee).
Shocked, I braced myself for cynicism, expecting everyone to agree with this statement but instead, the metaphor unlocked an entirely new perspective – one rooted in collaboration, adaptability, and humility. Most importantly, after smiles and sharing, the room managed to tie reverse mentoring to the ideals of forward-thinking but culturally humble leadership and the empowerment of employees to initiate the transformative ‘superpower’ of disruptive conversations.
So, in the words of Ruby, here is one translation:
This concept can help form the connection between Reverse Mentoring experiences and dung beetles’ strength and conviction.
Dung beetles can roll dung balls up hills because they are strong and use the sun to navigate. This can refer to courage of reverse mentors- and how that courage then translated into using the opportunity and resources (leaders/programme) to speak their truth.
Strength & Navigation
Dung beetles can roll dung balls that are up to 50 times their own body weight. There is courage, bravery and strength to push the work up the hill, but they need the team to help them on the journey to get it over the peak.
Dung beetles use the sun to navigate and roll their dung balls in a straight line away from the dung hill, whereas reverse mentoring is not a linear journey. It requires perseverance, support and help. Whilst dung beetles have a straight path, for our EDI colleagues, sometimes it isn’t all that linear.
Kerensa’s Bonus Lesson: From Dung to Growth
So, when our brave UKRI mentee compared reverse mentoring to dung, they weren’t dismissing it, they were celebrating their contributions to the success of the program.
Again, dung isn’t waste; it’s a resource. It’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s also essential. Reverse mentoring is the same. It disrupts. It challenges. It requires humility, and as it continues to transform, is only when the organisation will realise together that they are now in the ideal position to create something extraordinary, something special, but most importantly works.