In fast-paced, high-performing organisations, your talent at all levels may look to benefit from informal sponsorship. Trust me, I’ve been there. I have needed informal sponsorship and also as a leader, I have actively sponsored colleagues. Colleagues who are less senior than you may wish to build their visibility and they may need your support with this. Informal sponsorship is valuable for everyone in their careers. Can you remember a time when you benefited from informal sponsorship or someone championed you in your career?
One of the examples in my own legal sector career was when a Managing Partner of a leading law firm informally sponsored me by putting me forward for an opportunity to deliver a talk in-person at the firm’s first Partners’ Conference post-lockdown. I was up against another potential speaker, one who was more well-known at the firm. At the time, I didn’t expect this informal sponsorship but he knew that I was keen to share my insights raise my profile as a specialist at the law firm. However, I know that not everyone has been able to benefit from informal sponsorship.
Informal sponsorship is different to mentoring
One way I describe this difference is that a mentor talks with you or shares guidance with you; a sponsor talks about you, in the rooms where work allocation or opportunities are discussed and where decisions are made. Mentoring builds capability and confidence through guidance, reflection and friendly challenge. Sponsorship, even at an informal level, builds opportunity and positive exposure. It puts the sponsor's reputation and social capital behind a colleague’s role or career progression at an organisation.
Another difference which I have noticed in my own career is that mentoring may be about private and developmental conversations; sponsorship is public and visible with the sponsor happy to champion the colleague. Both matter, but sponsorship can directly impact who gets noticed, stretched and even promoted at an organisation.
How can informal sponsorship show up?
I wanted to share some small informal sponsorship actions.
Mentioning a colleague’s name in the right room. Let your leadership or decision-maker peers know about the colleague. You can champion them during team-wide talent discussions, promotion or succession conversations or project opportunities come up. Mention their name when you’re talking about key developments or team impact with your senior peers.
Passing on opportunities. If you or someone you know is unable to take up an opportunity, who else can this opportunity be shared with? The colleague put forward for this may need relevant guidance or on-the-job support to deliver this.
Crediting their work publicly. Attribute ideas and results to them in senior meetings, emails and if relevant team-wide updates. Remember that not all colleagues have advanced self-advocacy skills. Colleagues also rely on their senior colleagues and leaders to recognise their work and contributions.
Making introductions. A two or three-line email connecting a colleague to an influential colleague or a senior colleague they wouldn’t normally access can open doors for different opportunities at your organisation. It may also benefit the senior colleague you’re connecting them with. This is something I have enjoyed doing in my career. Author Malcolm Gladwell would probably describe me as a “connector”.
Inviting them into strategic conversations. If appropriate, invite colleagues to meetings they may not normally be a part of. You could invite them to attend a brief slot at a senior meeting, share their insights at strategy session or join an external event as an observer or contributor. My top tip is to mutually agree how they can best contribute to these conversations to put them in the best light.
Endorsing applications for promotions or sideway moves. Act as a referee for your colleague, or let hiring managers in the business know you would recommend them due to their role achievements, skills or potential. This is key for retaining top talent. Some organisations have more formal sponsorship programmes for top talent, or those on track for leadership roles.
Share the unwritten rules. I have delivered a number of workshops and keynote talks about the corporate unwritten rules. Many of us will spot these as we become more established in our careers. Share the unwritten rules you have come across in your own career and remind them who also needs to know about their contributions.
Defending them when they're not in the room. This isn’t always easy, but spot opportunities to challenge any unfair assumptions made about a colleague’s performance or qualities.
Sunita’s other top tips to be an effective informal sponsor
Learn more about their aims. Sponsorship works when it support their career aspirations and aims, not assumptions about them and their career paths.
Work examples. You can only advocate credibly for what you've seen or know about, so if relevant ask them for a short update on their key contributions.
Build informal sponsorship into existing meetings. Use one-to-ones, leadership meetings and talent discussions to champion talent which peers may not always hear about. Is there a meeting coming up where you could informally sponsor a colleague peers do not normally hear about?
Check your sponsorship habits. Notice who you naturally champion. Notice who you don’t tend to champion or talk about. Affinity bias means we may sponsor people like us.
Let them know about your actions. Tell them when you've put them forward, or championed them and if appropriate, share honest feedback on how decision-makers responded or share any follow up actions to support their careers at your organisation.
Be specific. Describing a colleague as just “great" can easily be forgetten. Instead, describe what they did and the impact this had on the team, client, the firm or the colleague’s reputation so this is more memorable. This is something I often talk about in my workshops on giving effective feedback for high-performing teams.
Informal sponsorship is one of the most powerful levers leaders have for building and maintaining high-performing teams. Which informal sponsorship action will you deliver to benefit others’ careers at your organisation?