Two Years On: How Reverse Mentoring has developed at AXA

Alice Pellerin is now in charge of this training program and she’s been speaking to us about how the initiative has been helping to contribute to AXA’s digital transformation.

Can you remind us briefly what reverse mentoring is all about?

In 2014, AXA embarked on digital reverse mentoring with a double objective:

• Firstly to bring digital to the attention of our top managers and help them gain a deeper understanding
• Secondly to enable them to be able to spread this digital transformation and mind-set throughout our business
  

Digital reverse mentoring is a training program which reverses the model of mentoring and breaks the traditional codes. During a one-hour session a digital native (mentor) and a senior executive (mentee) meet to exchange about various digital topics.
Built in five modules, the training course consists of six one-to-one sessions with a recurring theme: practicing in an atmosphere of goodwill. The program is flexible and is made to adapt to the needs of each mentee. Twitter, LinkedIn and Pocket are the subjects that have the most success. Subjects dealing with innovation and security of personal data are also very popular.

So, what are the results two years on?

After two years we can say that reverse mentoring is a great success and the results speak for themselves:
Among the mentors and mentees interviewed at the end of the six sessions, 97% of them would recommend the program. These are very positive and encouraging results for this young project.

How do you see the program evolving?

Well, we are only just starting to see the effects of mentoring on our global digital transformation, so we need to continue and of course the program must move forward.
Our priorities for this year include extending the program to a broader audience, continuing to enrich the content and ensure it is kept up-to-date and working on tracking the impact of the sessions.