Sponsorship as Allyship

Sponsorship is one of the most powerful allyship actions, especially for women and women of color. Having a sponsor can open up opportunities that you never would’ve had alone. While having a mentor helps determine your career path and gives you excellent advice, a sponsor can actively change your career and make a true impact on your path.

Let’s be clear on what exactly sponsorship and mentorship are:

Sponsorship: Sponsors deploy relationship capital on behalf of their protege, it's a form of intermediated impression management.

• Sponsors act as brand managers and publicists for their proteges.
• Sponsorship is done in public.
• Sponsors talk about their proteges when they aren’t in the room.
• A sponsor is someone in your organization.

 Mentorship: a mentor can provide the support you need to reach your goals, such as guidance, advice, feedback on skills, navigating the organization, and learnings based on experience and coaching. 

• Mentorship is usually done in private.
• Mentors can be someone at any level of experience.
• Mentors can be inside or outside of your organization.

What this looks like in action:

Sponsorship is more. Sponsorship is a way of ascending in your career, and it’s particularly essential for women of color. Harvard Business Review has shown that Black workers who received sponsors said sponsorship “opened doors to worlds they couldn’t reach on their own,” spoke up for them “in rooms where they were not present,” and had their back so that they could “reach for risky goals without fear of being fired.” Sponsorship also protected them against many microaggressions in the workplace.

In the Coqual report on The Sponsor Dividend, over 3,000 full-time white-collar workers in the US were asked about their satisfaction with their career advancement. As you can see below, having a sponsor has a critical impact on career satisfaction.

Key takeaway for career advancement - A sponsor is a critical relationship you need to ascend in your career. Don’t miss this key tool in your toolkit for your career development.

Key takeaway for leaders - As a leader in your field, consider taking a protege of color who has potential for more.

In Part 2 of this series, I will share how to find a sponsor.

In Part 3 of this series, I will share how to be a sponsor and tips to create a sponsorship plan.

“Whether you are on the giving or receiving end of some hard-earned wisdom, success will come easier with others to guide you.” - Katharine Mobley

READ

Read time - 9 minutes

Mentor vs. sponsor: Why having both is key for your career

The confusion between mentorship and sponsorship, what successful mentorship and sponsorship looks like, and the impact on diversity in the workplace.

READ

Read time - 3 min

20% of White Employees Have Sponsors. Only 5% of Black Employees Do.

Executive sponsorship is by far the most effective intervention a company can make to advance Black talent, but only 5% of up-and-coming Black employees succeed in winning sponsorship. Black managers cannot look to senior Black colleagues for sponsorship, and white executives don’t tend to advocate for them either. Creating more access to sponsorship is not going to happen organically.

Does your organization need Allyship is Leadership training? In my new program, learn how to close the gap between intention and action and about the impact that allyship can have. Message me on LinkedIn or email me at salima@unleashforward.com to learn more!