The reverse mentoring program

Our organization is founded by students, we work for students and we want to develop together with students, therefore students’ thoughts and ideas are important to us. We know that students know best about how our housing should be developed in the right direction. To get their help, we have therefore involved them on a whole new level in the reverse mentoring program.

The students help us in our development

In the reverse mentoring program, we have turned upside down what a mentoring program usually is. The program is based on one of our employees getting a student as a mentor, because we want the opportunity to take part in the students’ competence. The students get the opportunity to influence their housing situation in this way and we can at the same time take part in their new thinking and fresh knowledge in their respective field of study. The mentor’s role in the program is thus to help us on our development journey by contributing commitment and perspective to support and challenge our mentees.

We have now received great help from our mentors for two years and look forward to more successful collaborations!

The mentor program’s structure

Five people in senior positions: CEO, CFO, head of administration, sustainability and quality strategist and project and technology manager each receive a student as a mentor. The program runs between March and December with continuous meetings, both in pairs but also in whole groups so that everyone can take part in each other’s experiences and perspectives. In addition to the physical meetings, the couples can also keep in touch via other channels.

Winner of international award

The students have not only contributed with new perspectives and energy, their commitment and participation has also contributed to the initiative receiving international attention. In November 2019, we participated in the international housing congress Class of 2020 in Berlin and we competed in the category Best visionary leadership, an award we won when we included the students in an innovative way with the goal of improving their student housing.

The mentor program 2019