The Role of Sponsorship in Career Advancement

What does good sponsorship look like? In a previous post, I wrote that sponsors use their influence to create opportunities for you, elevate your visibility to senior leadership and influence organizational decisions to your benefit. But exactly does that look like and what differentiates effective versus perhaps less effective (or perhaps counterproductive) sponsorship? Effective sponsors are ‘super mentors’ who collaboratively shape your journey in a deliberate manner. Their insights into future possibilities allow them to guide you in a more efficient manner and prepare you for roles that are several positions into the future. They help you achieve a good balance between optionality and focus turning one path into several. Those same sponsors use their access with other leaders to make you visible. They can speak at length about your strengths, areas for development and how certain roles could help your growth but also the business. Rather than it just being about you, it becomes about what could benefit the team as well. Ideally, they incentivize other leaders to want to know you and perhaps also become mentor/sponsors. They influence their team/organization to give you developmental assignments and consider you for future roles. I liken this approach to opening a door to another room – what the individual does next is on them. However, they do not get you that job or advocate on your behalf when it doesn’t make sense for you or the team. Admittedly it is a bit of a tricky balance for sponsors and those being sponsored. They want what is best for you and for you to succeed. But it must be done in the right way. The worst thing that could happen is if you, your sponsor or worse yet the organization believes you achieved ‘success’ through advocacy alone. You deserve the right to be considered on your own merits. If you did not ‘earn’ that promotion or that new role, you are likely to be less well prepared and likely branded as achieving success through favoritism. Over time, you will be seen as that person who rose through the ranks due to factors outside of your abilities. Less effective sponsorship comes when the sponsor loses objectivity about their protégé, perhaps ignoring feedback from teammates or other leaders. Their advocacy becomes an exercise in organizational power, usually stiffening resistance from other leaders. Even worse if they insert themselves into the decision-making process or become the final decision maker. The process and the candidate become suspect as a result, and no one wins. Similarly, ineffective (or excessive) sponsorship comes when your candidacy is pushed in the face of superior candidates. Your sponsor will lose credibility and you lose their help and are likely to suffer from somewhat of a negative perception by other leaders. Ideally, great sponsors create opportunities for you to be considered but then step back to let others weigh in and decide. Your qualities should speak for themselves.

As former Head of Global Executive Talent at Cisco, I frequently gave the same advice to our rising talent: Build a broad network of sponsors across the organization. The reason for this was simple: When leadership changes, your key supporters are at risk of leaving, and you can suddenly find yourself without the backing you once relied on. Aspiring leaders, you will benefit from ensuring your sponsorship is not concentrated in just a few individuals. You should accumulate a diverse range of advocates up, down, and sideways within the organization. This way, if one sponsor exits, you still have others to carry your career forward. The strength of your reputation within the company and the breadth of your followership will sustain you through transitions. The more people who are invested in your growth and success, the better positioned you will be to weather leadership changes or organizational shifts. Leaders should always think about their support system: cultivating relationships at all levels, across functions to ensure they have a wide range of sponsors invested in their growth. This network, more than any single individual, will be the true foundation of career longevity.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀? . . . 📈Sponsors, mentors, and coaches are vital for your professional development. Each of them brings special strengths and attributes to your cause. ❓While you have heard about all of them, and probably even built relationships with some, can you clearly distinguish who is who? 🔷The differences between a sponsor, mentor, or coach can seem hard to define, but in fact they all have different roles. It is crucial to know what you need before you ask for their assistance. 💡A common — albeit extremely simplified — description of the difference is: “𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.” 🔷While coaches and mentors receive a lot of attention, sponsors are equally invaluable when sought out. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of “Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor”, writes that the three primary responsibilities of a sponsor is: 1️⃣ to believe in and go out on a limb for you, 2️⃣ to use their organizational capital, both publicly and behind closed doors, to push for your promotion and advocacy, and 3️⃣ to provide you with “air cover” for risk-taking. 🔷Sponsors promote you directly, using influencing power and networking to connect you with good jobs, the right people, and special assignments. 🔷A sponsor takes an interest in your career not out of altruism or like-mindedness but because this is an investment in their own career, organization, or vision.   🔷Although sponsorship initiatives are increasingly popular these days, few sponsors are given any guidance about how best to work with the people they’ve been asked to work with, and as a result the relationships often don’t develop as productively as they should. 👇Here are a few tips: ✔ Show up for interactions with sponsees consistently. ✔ Be patient and withhold judgement. ✔ Be proactive outside the one-on-one meetings with sponsees. ✔ Seek out relevant information on the sponsee, transparently. ✔ Offer candid feedback and provide psychological safety. ✔ Build a culture of sponsorship within an organization. 🌟Sponsors leverage a vibrant mix of connection and action to advance high performers into leadership. Done right, sponsorship can help companies and organizations deliver on recruitment and hiring investments. With authentic connection — the fundamental, animating force of these relationships —presence, candor, and psychological safety will make all the difference!