In my industry formal sponsorship programmes are still not the norm. However, it is believed the sponsorship is a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to diversifying the top leadership positions.
However, research in the US has shown that sponsors do not understand their role as sponsors and not know how to do it well with many acting more like mentors.
What is sponsorship? How is different from Mentoring?
Like a mentor, a sponsor can advise you, but their primary role is to develop you and prime you for promotion by helping you develop the skills you need. Sponsors take positive action and help you up the ladder opening doors to opportunities. Simply put: to be a sponsor you need to be actively advocating for your protégé.
A sponsor has three main responsibilities:
- to believe in and go out on a limb for their protégé;
- to use the opportunities that their place in the organisation offers (both publicly and behind closed doors) to push for their protégé’s promotion / for them to be put forward for opportunities;
and to stand up / speak up for their protégé or otherwise support them when they are pushing boundaries and taking risks.
So while often confused with “mentorship” it is quite different. Also while a a mentor can be a senior mentor within your business they do not have to be. A sponsor, to perform their role properly, should be.
Sponsorship programmes where used, need to ensure that the sponsor is properly fulfilling their role as a sponsor (and are not just acting as a senior mentor). I personally think this is why we see lots of mentoring programmes, but less formal sponsorship programmes. After all, to truly want to put your career/reputation on the line for someone else and endorse them properly this will be rooted in your individual relationship with them and your belief that they deserve it.
However, this does present another issue. If you are self-selecting your protégé. You are likely to choose someone who reminds you of yourself. Therefore this can due to these unconscious bias mean that we don’t truly diversify. Therefore it is important that we try to resist these unconscious biases and look to prioritise unique and different skillsets.
What are the benefits of a Sponsorship relationship?
The “sponsorship” relationship can be beneficial to both parties. The benefits of sponsorship are the same as mentoring relationships. However, in addition to this, a sponsor relationship can be a meaningful and deep working relationship. As you are likely to share values or have respect/trust for each other than means that you can give and take honest feedback.
Sponsorship can also improve employee retention and develop talent as well as help prepare people for the next step and form part of
Therefore there are lots of benefits to investing time in a sponsorship relationship. Particularly, as the more junior member in the equation. So you really should be thinking about having both a sponsor and a mentor if you haven’t already got these.