Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about disruptive technologies and the need to prepare knowledge workers as their jobs are automated. According to the 2014 Deloitte Millennial Survey, by 2025, 75% of the workforce will be millennials. Two-thirds of the millennials surveyed said they would want to work for company offering good mentorship opportunities, and would be willing to work for less in order to do so. The 2019 Deloitte Millennial Survey shows Millennials valuing experience, and wanting learning and development opportunities and they want a relational approach (Zimmerman, 2016). In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, mentoring that focuses on knowledge transfer can be the key differential for retaining satisfied Millennials (Gwoke, 2019). Preparing millennials for the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous conditions presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution changes the traditional model and modality of mentoring (Rodriguez & Rodrigues, 2015). It is essential for organizations to understand the why and how of mentoring the millennials who will comprise the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s workforce. The mentor’s primary goal remains to facilitate positive development of the mentee’s leadership strengths, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and team engagement (Santin, Hollywood, & Bloom, 2020), but now includes ensuring tacit and explicit personal and organizational knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer mentoring could encompass different modalities in addition to one-on-one mentoring, including group and team mentoring (Vella, 2017). The mentoring framework of Blaess, Hollywood, Santin, and Bloom’s (2015) holistic mentoring model is suggested upon which to build competencies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution knowledge workers.

Presenters

Claudia Santin
Professor of Leadership, College of Business, Concordia University Chicago, Illinois, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Focused Discussion

Theme

Organizations as Knowledge Makers

KEYWORDS

Fourth Industrial Revolution, Millennial Mentoring, Developing Human Resources

Digital Media

Videos

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