Is Sponsorship the new Mentorship?
Outcome vs. Empowerment
The almost imperceptible ebb of Mentorship programs, and the corresponding rise of Sponsorship initiatives in corporate circles, perhaps warrants a look at their underlying differences:
Much like Mentorship, the concept of Sponsorship has been around forever! While Mentorship is the disinterested effort of a Mentor to identify, understand, engage and enable full Mentee potential (standing free of outcomes), Sponsorship is the focused effort of the Sponsor to ensure an individual achieves identified career goals.
For Mentorship and Sponsorship to work efficiently … serving both individual and corporate interest … establishing a distinct fit well in advance of any pro-action is critical! This is even more important for the success of a sponsorship initiative, as the Sponsor has a vested interested in the end result!
The emergence of industry driven Sponsorship programs tends to indicate that something of a hybrid mentorship/sponsorship deal has evolved. Influential industry leaders are paired with/assigned individuals of promise with the mandate to:
- Introduce/network
- Identify/facilitate opportunities
- Strategize, plan, intercede, act …. Etc.
Under the benign aegis of a Sponsor, an individual will be under the spotlight, opportunities will be uncovered, obstacles removed and positions secured:
Positive Benefits of Corporate Sponsorship Initiatives
- Fast-tracking a deserving individual to a position that will best serve individual aspiration and corporate requirement
- The process will save time, allowing the fullest contribution to be made with the least delay
- Efficient due diligence will ensure a competency, ethic and value driven fit that will serve the organization for years to come
- Potential talent loss to the competition is alleviated
Potential Pitfalls of Corporate Sponsorship Initiatives
- The process provides the opportunity for nepotism and/or preferential treatment to undeserving candidates; distinct possibility of flying in the face of organizational accountability/transparency obligations;
- Optically sends a message that without sponsorship, advancement is not possible
- Inaccurate/partial candidate assessment might result in misguided sponsor choice – Potential for fall-out; perceived lack of judgement; loss of team confidence;
- Sponsorship becomes confused with professional development, and is seen as a replacement for career counselling, coaching that will empower individuals to act on their own behalf
The greater part of my professional life, lived out on three continents over 3 decades has been spent ensuring, wherever possible, that true excellence is recognized, understood and fully utilized. This has been in the context of recruitment, leadership strategizing/training, promotion committees, foreign posting panels, coaching, mentorship, orientation & succession planning initiatives et al.
I have long realized that it is delusional to pretend that subjective preference does not enter the equation. To insist that total objectivity is possible, for me, is to deny our very humanity. That said, to best ensure ethical, value driven and focused motivation for any intercession I might make on someone’s behalf, I have developed a checklist that, by and large, serves me well:
- Why am I involved? What is my personal interest?
- What outcome am I looking for?
- How objectively fair, given the subjective nature/circumstances, would my intervention be….?
- Have I been sufficiently thorough/holistic in my research, analysis, fact finding … and objective setting … using all information at my disposition… to intercede on this person’s behalf?
- Have I considered the risk failure/error and its potential impact in the bigger picture?
Other Posts by Rodger Harding
Is Corporate Mentorship Passé?
How to break-up with a Mentor!
About Rodger Harding
Rodger is a dynamic, free thinking, Business Leadership Consultant. His fierce belief in who/what people are, rather than who/what they are expected to be, has resulted in a consistent demand for his career transition and mentorship expertise from a diverse client base.
His thriving Toronto based practice draws on an extensive business, legal, diplomatic and military experience accumulated internationally over two decades. His fields of expertise are Leadership, Career Transition, Corporate Intelligence Awareness and Conflict Management/Mediation.
Rodger is proud of his ability to access individual contribution within the larger framework of business objectives. His ability to interact effectively with people from all walks of life derives from an interesting career evolution that has ranged from the sophisticated diplomatic lifestyle of Paris, France, to the survival of death threats from mercenaries in the Indian Ocean, as well as the management of multi-million dollar aid projects.
At all times, he highlights the unique role of the individual to contribute to the ongoing evolution of good business.
To find out more about his successful Toronto based consultancy, visit www.HardingIntl.com