The recession has thrown into question the whole way business operates. It has certainly made some hard-hit countries such as Iceland tear up the rulebook and start again.

As everything is turned on its head, one question being asked is: should the students be learning from their teachers or vice versa? "Reverse mentoring" is in fashion, with younger, tech-savvy executives mentoring their elders who feel they have lost touch with parts of their workforce and wider society. As one leader quipped: "I've now got friends in low places."

Computer maker Dell last month announced that its women middle managers would mentor their older male bosses, with the aim of educating the men about the challenges these women face in making it up the ranks of the organisation.

Jacey Graham, who runs global diversity and inclusion consulting company Brook Graham in Britain and is also a visiting fellow at the Cranfield School of Management, points out the incentives for Dell's male bosses.

"The senior Dell men will also get the opportunity to understand about differences in male-female approaches, communication and leadership styles at work and gain insight into the ways these 'female styles' are often mistakenly judged and perceived by those in power."

Graham says reverse mentoring programmes usually deliver on four levels: senior leaders learn how to broaden their range of behaviour, language and approach, and incorporate this learning into everyday business activities; they become more aware of ways to include more diverse talent; they understand how to engage different groups of people and provide stronger signals to them that they are valued; and the programmes develop greater insight into how HR can help the company become more diverse and inclusive.

Professor David Clutterbuck, a British mentoring expert and author of Everyone Needs a Mentor, says reverse mentoring has been used successfully in companies including GE, Procter & Gamble, BT and BP.

Senior managers are often very out of touch with key areas such as new technology or customer concerns, and reverse mentoring can address this, he says. That knowledge is usually held by people at relatively junior levels. Reverse mentoring provides a way to bypass the normal communication channels, which tend to sanitise knowledge, says Clutterbuck.

Reverse mentoring is an opportunity for a reality check at the top of the organisations, he writes. "The more junior (usually younger) employees have an opportunity to observe and learn from management thinking, to influence organisational policy and to become more at ease dealing with people of substantially greater hierarchical authority."