Being Mentored by Someone You Manage

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:00:00 -0600

Setting up a reverse mentorship can seem easy. Pick a skill gap and someone ahead of you on it and put time on the calendar. What most coaches and leaders miss is what it feels like to sit across from someone whose review you write and admit, out loud, that they know something you don’t. If not positioned correctly, it can be terrifying for both sides of the table.

I’ve had versions of that conversation more than once, a younger engineer or product person walking me through a tool or a workflow I hadn’t caught up on yet. The information transfer itself is never the hard part. What’s harder is staying present, knowing the person taking notes on my gaps is also someone I evaluate and being comfortable with not knowing.

Mentoring on David R. Longnecker - Converting Coffee to Code

Being Mentored by Someone You Manage