If you're anywhere past the point of entry-level jobs, Kathryn Bockman has a leadership tactic for you: Reverse mentoring. It's an effective way to build relationships and encourage communication in the workplace, says Bockman, assistant vice president of revenue operations at telecommunications giant AT&T. At its core, the idea is simple — ask your younger colleagues about the strategies they use to do their jobs. Bockman didn't create the idea or coin the term, but she learned its value firsthand when her son Greg — now a senior production manager — was hired by AT&T as an entry-level sales consultant in 2016. The more they talked about work, the more she realized her son was gaining skills and perspectives that she didn't have.

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Persons: Kathryn Bockman, It's, Bockman, Greg —, —, Greg, Ahmed Mazhari, Pryor Organizations: AT, CNBC, Harvard, Microsoft