By Tracy Tsai, PCC, CPC
As a leader in your organization, you may be approached by a colleague to be their sponsor at work. It’s flattering to be asked, but it’s also important to understand what being a sponsor entails before you jump in, as this is an opportunity to make a significant impact on an individual’s career journey.
What does it mean to be a sponsor? In her TED Talk on the importance of sponsorship, Carla Harris, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and renowned author and speaker, described sponsorship as “a relationship where someone is advocating for you behind closed doors, promoting your work, and positioning you for greater visibility and opportunities.”
Sponsorship Versus Mentorship
Sponsorship is often confused with mentorship, but they are not the same. Here are the key differences:
- A mentor is someone who uses their knowledge and experience to support you by listening to your career vision, offering feedback and giving advice.
- A sponsor is a senior-level executive who uses their position and power to advance your career by advocating for you to receive key assignments and promotions.
Both are important, but sponsorship can have a bigger impact and usually comes with higher stakes. As a sponsor, you are actively invested in facilitating your protégé’s advancement and championing their success. To do this, you need to become familiar enough with their accomplishments to believe in their potential so that you can effectively advocate for them. While it may be daunting to put your reputation on the line, the benefits far outweigh the challenges.
The Importance of Sponsorship in Women’s Career Development
Women outnumber men at almost every educational level and hold over half of all professional-level jobs, yet they make up only 31% of senior management roles and just 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
In an environment where white men hold the majority of senior-level executive positions, women – especially women of color – often face the barrier of being excluded from critical networks. This means they have fewer meaningful interactions with senior leaders and are more often overlooked for high-impact assignments. This is why sponsorship for women leaders is so important. According to research by Catalyst, women start out behind men in the talent pipeline and tend to remain there, even with mentoring. However, when women have sponsors, they’re just as likely as men to be promoted.
Sponsorship becomes even more important for women in leadership seeking to make it to the executive level. While women in more junior roles may progress by doing exceptional work, as they move up the ladder and the number of spots for senior roles gets smaller, having someone with a seat at the decision-making table to actively advocate on their behalf is critical.
How Sponsorship Benefits the Overall Organization
Sponsorship benefits not only the individual, but the organization as a whole. At HNS, we find that when we help women connect to senior leaders in their organizations during our Fast Track program, they get reassurance that they are valued and have opportunities for growth. As a result, they tend to stay with the organization.
Research by Catalyst supports this, as they found that:
How to Avoid Common Sponsorship Mistakes
Here are the five top mistakes that sponsors tend to make, and how to avoid them:| COMMON MISTAKE | TIPS TO AVOID MAKING MISTAKE |
| Overlooking Diversity and Inclusion |
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| Not Setting Clear Expectations |
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| Thinking “There’s Nothing in it for Me” |
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| Undervaluing Their Potential Impact |
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| Lack of Commitment |
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1. Overlooking Diversity and Inclusion
Sponsors may unconsciously gravitate toward protégés who remind them of themselves, or who share similar backgrounds. This implicit bias causes relationships to form along lines of similarity, and ends up perpetuating gender and racial disparity. Research from Coqual (formerly the Center for Talent Innovation) found that 71% of sponsors have protégés whose gender and race match their own.
The “like me” bias perpetuates the status quo and keeps those who need the most support from getting it. For example, McKinsey’s 2022 Women in the Workplace report showed that Asian and Black women are less likely than white women to say that senior colleagues have taken important sponsorship actions on their behalf, such as publicly praising their skills or advocating for a raise.
By acknowledging that this bias exists, potential sponsors can leverage this awareness to actively seek out and support a diverse range of protégés, rather than only those who are similar to them.
2. Not Setting Clear Expectations
When entering a sponsorship relationship, the sponsor and protégé may each have a different understanding of what the sponsorship entails. This can lead to misaligned goals and priorities, and can leave the protégé feeling frustrated when it seems like little progress is being made.
That’s why it’s important to align on expectations upfront. This may include:
- Defining the goals of the sponsorship relationship
- Agreeing on desired outcomes
- Understanding time commitment and level of involvement
- Setting guidelines for communication (e.g., regular check-ins, ongoing dialogue)
Sponsors should be careful not to over-promise what they can deliver to their protégés to prevent erosion of trust if results aren’t attained quickly.
3. Thinking “There’s Nothing in it for Me”
Because sponsorship requires spending one’s reputational currency, some leaders may hesitate to take the risk. However, there are many benefits that make sponsorship an investment with worthwhile returns–not only for the protégé, but also for the sponsor.
- Sponsoring someone provides an opportunity to develop leadership skills. Sponsors can practice their communication and coaching skills while guiding and supporting their protégés.
- When sponsors introduce their protégés to their network, they may also establish new connections for themselves, as new opportunities could arise through these introductions.
- Sponsoring someone from a different background or area of expertise provides a valuable learning experience, exposing the sponsor to unique perspectives and skillsets.
In addition, research shows that successful sponsors are more highly regarded within their organizations, due to their demonstrated commitment to recognizing and developing talent. In Sylvia Ann Hewitt’s book, “The Sponsor Effect: How to Be a Better Leader by Investing in Others,” she notes that:
Research by Coqual also shows that those who are sponsors are more satisfied with their own rates of advancement than non-sponsors. These sponsors report being more satisfied with their bench of talent and are more in tune with what’s going on with their junior employees.
4. Undervaluing Their Potential Impact
Sponsors are expected to utilize their networks, influence, and resources to help their protégés advance their careers. However, some individuals may feel like they don’t have the resources or influence to do this successfully, and may pull back from the sponsorship relationship. For example, sponsors with smaller or less diverse networks may worry that their network isn’t robust enough to provide meaningful introductions. Others may feel they lack the title or seniority to create opportunities for their protégés.
These limiting beliefs can prevent a sponsor from fully embracing the sponsorship role and can result in missed opportunities for their protégés. Before throwing in the towel, take a moment to challenge those limitations. For example:
- Sponsors with smaller networks can team up and collaborate with other sponsors in their organization or industry. By joining forces with those who have different strengths and connections, they can expand their collective resources and networks to benefit their protégés even more. For example, they can pool their connections, make introductions to each other’s networks, and collectively advocate for their protégés’ advancements.
- Effective sponsorship isn’t just about seniority or title. It’s about the sponsor’s ability to actively advocate for their protégé and champion their growth within the organization. Sponsors at various levels can do this by finding ways to raise the visibility of their protégés’ work and accomplishments, advocating for their protégés to be involved in high-impact projects, and providing opportunities for them to gain exposure to senior management. This support can help protégés build their reputations and open doors for further opportunities.
5. Lack of Commitment
Sometimes, sponsors can fail to follow through on their commitments or become disengaged over time because they aren’t truly sold on the capabilities of their protégés. This puts both parties in a bind, with protégés feeling unsupported and sponsors unsure how to proceed. This is a particular risk when the pairing of sponsors and protégés happens as a result of a company initiative.
One way sponsors can increase commitment is to make a real effort to get to know their protégés. Having regular check-ins to find out about their accomplishments helps. It’s also valuable to look for opportunities to see them in action as well as solicit feedback from others about their capabilities and potential. Getting more validation increases a sponsor’s willingness to go to bat for this person and spend their own relationship capital.
As a sponsor, you can have a profound impact on the growth and success of your protégés, especially women leaders and those in other underrepresented groups. By understanding and avoiding these five common mistakes, you can enhance the effectiveness of your sponsorship, ensure those who need advocacy the most receive it, and demonstrate your commitment to the future of your organization.
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