Mentoring has been a best practice in business for decades, as soon as researchers proved that employees with mentors were more successful at work than those without. Their findings were: A mentor helps their mentee gain clarity on career goals, develop leadership skills, clarify values and leverage their talents.
The Metaverse is a powerful new virtual medium with the potential to enhance the mentor/mentee relationship. Recent innovations like augmented reality, virtual reality and digital identities, along with best practices from social media, create spaces for rich user interactions that mimic the real world. With the right application, the Metaverse can have a transformative effect on the mentor and mentee.
Trust blossoms in the Metaverse
Trust is the foundation of any mentor-mentee relationship. The Metaverse is an ideal safe space to build trust — to form emotional bonds, develop a sense of belonging, share and be vulnerable. When a relationship is built on trust, mentees can confide their most cherished aspirations, share their deepest concerns and explore different solutions and ways of thinking with their mentor.
Research shows that 80 percent of people feel more included in the Metaverse than in real life. This is no small coincidence, as the workplace is rife with prejudice and unconscious biases. According to Glassdoor, 61 percent of employees have witnessed or experienced workplace bias.
Up to 75 percent of employees report that they identity cover — hide something about themselves at work for fear of negative consequences. How exactly does the Metaverse help with this? It diminishes fears of being judged by allowing individuals to modify their avatar’s physical appearance. It gives people the ability to create an identity they are comfortable with — and to show their authentic selves.
Empathy in the Metaverse
Displaying empathy is one of the most important behaviors within a mentorship, and is a prerequisite for a good mentor/mentee relationship. A good mentor puts themselves in the mentee’s shoes to understand their hopes and fears.
The use of an avatar contributes to a more empathetic relationship. Researchers have proven that an avatar lets others “step into someone else’s shoes.” This happens because of “embodiment” — a psychological state where an individual feels the avatar is part of them. This allows mentors to understand, in a visceral way, the challenges a mentee may face such as gender bias, racial discrimination, ageism and more.
The Stanford University research project, Being Homeless, was one example of how embodiment (and empathy) works. The goal of the study was to see if participants could experience empathy and positive attitudes toward the homeless. Participants completed a seven-minute VR experience in which they lost their job and had to suffer the consequences. Afterward, researchers assessed the participants’ feelings about the situation. The results showed that participants of the VR experience became more empathetic toward the homeless than non-participants.
Researcher Fernanda Herrera observed: “Taking the perspective of others in VR produces more empathy and prosocial behaviors in people immediately after going through the experience and over time, in comparison to just imagining what it would be like to be in someone else’s shoes.” The virtual experience made all the difference.
Mediums to deepen relationships and drive performance
The Metaverse gives mentors and mentees access to a suite of virtual mediums and tools — ones they might not typically have. They can explore famous landmarks together, do a choose-your-own adventure experience or watch an interactive documentary and reflect on it afterwards. They can create a sculpture together, play tennis or a board game, video chat and so much more — all virtual tools that facilitate meaningful human interactions. The impressive variety of mediums allows mentors to select what works best in that moment for the mentee, no matter where they are physically located.
Mentoring in the Metaverse promotes virtual collaboration. For example, Meta’s virtually infinite whiteboard lets users to simultaneously collaborate on a virtual whiteboard, which can be downloaded and saved. As many mentees will have experience working virtually, adoption of these mediums should be automatic.
A growth opportunity: The Metaverse and people with disabilities
Mentoring in the Metaverse holds great promise for people with disabilities. It has the potential to provide the same opportunities and access, no matter someone’s abilities.
What can this look like in the future? Here are a few of the possibilities:
- People with physical limitations can be “virtually mobile” and have experiences they otherwise couldn’t have. Beyond experiencing physical movement in VR, sensory enhancements are being developed, such as haptic feedback wearables, AR-enhanced hearing aids, 3D audio echolocation and visual improvement technologies.
- Those who are neurodivergent,or process information or learn differently than others, can have a difficult time assimilating and acting on what they learned. The Metaverse offers remote learning and experiences that support these needs. For example, Mind Gym allows neurodivergent users to complete exercises that allow them to build and practice skills that would be extremely challenging for them to do in face-to-face situations.
- Individuals with invisible disabilities (e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD) are often overlooked with no accessibility accommodations made for them. They may find it difficult to navigate social systems and relationships. The Metaverse offers tools like VOISS, a VR experience that uses social situations and scenarios to teach social skills. A VOISS advisor supports teacher professional learning.
Digital accessibility is still in its infancy in the Metaverse, and there’s much work to be done before it can fully support the needs of people with disabilities. But it holds the revolutionary potential as a tool and space for all to use — including mentors and their mentees.
Looking ahead
The Metaverse is an exceptional medium for mentoring. This technology promotes trust, builds empathy, and can create equality within diverse groups. It allows mentees to find the right mentor anywhere in the world, regardless of location. In the Metaverse a mentor/mentee relationship opens new doors of opportunity, allowing people to discover their own potential and reach their professional goals quickly. It is our belief that organizations around the world will soon be making mentoring in the Metaverse a best practice.
