Imagine your next business or job opportunity were to be determined by a game show. You submit your credentials and get accepted into a large pool of contestants. You conduct research, plan your approach, and prepare to answer any question that comes at you during the competition. You are sure of your value proposition and passionate about the cause. Now, you just need to be selected as a finalist so you can demonstrate your qualifications. You cross your fingers, close your eyes, and hope for the chance to create a win.
In a game show, that might be a perfect approach. With an important career opportunity, not so much. But that’s basically what we do when we fail to enlist supporters to champion our efforts to thrive at work.
The problem with a performance focus
Every high achiever knows that being successful requires earnest effort and quality work. Done! But breakthrough success–the kind that shapes our careers and lives–requires creativity, planning, and (hardest of all) other people.
If you’re fortunate, other people already notice your performance and proactively look for ways to support your success. They may even keep you top of mind and seek your services when in need. (Score!) But steering your professional fortune on your terms means enlisting sponsors and empowering them to help you achieve your goals.
In areas needing more diversity, equity, and inclusion, sponsorship is a critical component of women’s leadership development and business success. It’s a way to shake up the status quo and elevate women toward higher level opportunities.
The sponsor solution
A sponsor is an influential leader who uses their political capital to advocate on your behalf. Tenshy CEO Maggie Chan Jones, who recently published a book on sponsorship, says that sponsors don’t just open doors for advancing careers–they kick them open. She credits her sponsors with helping her become the first female CMO of SAP, the world’s largest enterprise application software company, where she was named one of Forbes’ Top 20 World’s Most Influential CMOs. I work with Maggie to implement formal sponsorship programs directed at high-potential under-represented leaders. That work consistently validates the power of sponsorship.
In her 2018 TED Talk, Wall Street veteran Carla Harris describes a sponsor as “carrying your paper” into the room where decisions are made. She reminds us that we are often evaluated without our participation. It serves us well to know who can best represent us.
Whether door kickers or paper carriers, sponsors often serve as a winning advantage in high-stakes opportunities. And who wouldn’t want to be sponsored? Someone will use their influence to promote my value and advance my success? Yes, please!
So why do so few of us actually have sponsors?
Sounds great, but. . .
Sponsorship combines two things that many professionals–especially women–find difficult: self-promotion and asking for help. After ten years of coaching, I continue to see this struggle among even the most capable, successful, and outwardly confident leaders.
For the reluctant promoter, self promotion comes with concerns about image. Worried they will come across as “bragging” and “self-centered”, many leaders–especially women–will give in to their discomfort and minimize sharing their strengths and successes.
Similarly, asking for help can feel like a weakness. As a high achiever, you may convince yourself that you can do it on your own. And the chance to work smarter gives way to the habit of working harder.
When we steer away from recruiting and empowering others for sponsoring our career success, everyone loses. We opt out of exercising courage, focusing on goals, and enlisting supporters. Potential sponsors miss out on easily learning our value, receiving recognition, and using their influence.
So many relationships, so many rewards
We’ve all heard it’s “who you know” that fuels career growth, but that’s a half truth (at best). The real power is in how you leverage those key relationships for mutual gain.
When it comes to sponsorship, the potential gains for sponsees are significant. Breaking into a new market, securing your first executive role, winning a large contract, finding an investor. . . . And that potential grows exponentially with each new relationship you establish–and leverage–through sponsorship.
For sponsors, the opportunities are equally valuable. One of the rewarding things I get to do in the sponsorship programs I implement with Tenshey is talk with sponsors. Believe me when I tell you they get a lot out of the process. In addition to the chance to give back in a meaningful way, sponsors get to fuel succession plans, enhance culture, learn new perspectives, and serve as heroic connectors and influencers.
Sign me up
If you’re convinced it’s time to find your first (or next) sponsor, here are some key steps to get started.
- Get clear on your objectives–both long-term career goals and what you want from your sponsor. Are you looking for someone to expand your network? Accelerate a promotion? Identify new opportunities?
- Be prepared to pitch your value and the “what’s in it for me?” for the person who sponsors you.
- Identify potential sponsors with powerful influence. As an employee, sponsors can be skip level managers, internal customers, or former colleagues. As an entrepreneur, it may look like a raving fan, a collaborator, or a former or current mentor.
- Reach out and ask for a meeting. Explain that it’s an exploratory conversation with no further commitment yet.
- Meet, clearly stating your objectives and expectations, including how much time you are requesting.
- Decide, with your sponsor, if this is a good fit with the potential for mutual benefit.
- Finalize meeting logistics and document your final agreement (what you will accomplish and how).
If kicking off a sponsorship feels important but overwhelming, think it through. While it shouldn’t become a time intensive endeavor, finding and preparing a sponsor does require some planning and focus. Make sure you can allocate enough of both to put your best self forward before you reach out to any prospects.
If you’re at a place in your career where recruiting a sponsor doesn’t feel worth the effort, perhaps it’s the time to become one. Consider who you know or would like to know for the purpose of propelling their professional success. Pay special attention to women’s leadership development and the needs of underrepresented groups–if not for your values, for the fact that diversity has been positively correlated with financial performance and innovation.
Whatever your sponsorship approach, congratulations on what are sure to be some big wins!
