What is sponsorship?

Put simply, sponsorship is when a senior person leverages their power and reputation to advance a less experienced or more junior person in the workplace.

Sponsors advocate, defend and open opportunities for the person, giving greater visibility and recognition for their leadership and career advancement.

“Sponsorship is critical, as without sponsors, people with potential would never get the opportunities or the visibility to reach higher leadership goals. Mentoring, coaching and training help the individual grow, while sponsoring opens the organisational barriers to let them keep growing.”

Sponsorship increases the likelihood of career advancement [7]

for people who are sponsored

for people who sponsor

53%

21%

But not everyone has immediate or easy access

Leadership development, talent management and diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging (DEIB) initiatives can only go so far because studies show that…

Women are

over-mentored

&

under-sponsored.

This gaps widens in advancing to executive ranks. 

And the challenge is even more acute for intersectional women and other historically marginalised groups.

  • 1 in 5 white men, 1 in 8 women and 1 in 12 people of colour are sponsored [8]

  • Men receive 15% more promotions, despite 83% of women and 76% of men having at least one mentor. [9]

  • Only 5% of up-and-coming Black employees succeed in winning sponsorship compared to 20% of their white peers [10]

  • Trans and non-binary employees are less likely to be sponsored compared to their cis counterparts - 21% versus 32% [11]

"It is immensely valuable to anyone to have sponsorship, but particularly for women where we have not fully tipped the scale of gender bias and we have so many forces working against us.

You need that trusted voice to vouch for you and push back on all the reasons that are being used to say that you are still not ready." 

“Sponsorship is critical. Corporates will lose their talent. There is also ESG* - they are being monitored on this.”

* ESG - environmental, social, governance

Sponsorship approaches are not created equal. Interventions often default to ‘how to find a sponsor’ tips and leaders being asked to ‘cold’ sponsor someone they do not know.

Helen’s ground-breaking research reveals the underlying dynamics of sponsorship, generating a new, robust definition and a model for positive change.

A different lens on sponsorship

Sponsorship

/ ˈspɒn sər ʃɪp / - the definition

Intentional, co-created and mutually beneficial relationship to leverage a more senior person’s power and reputational capital for diverse talent advancement and systemic leadership transformation.

Sponsorship Power Up Rings (SPUR) model

3 rings of people and
9 zones of influence

Want to POWER UP?

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