Bulletproof Blueprint for Career Success: Enlisting Sponsorship
Some people look at the road they have or will travel to career success as daunting, unattainable, inaccessible, and every other negative word in the dictionary. However, they look to the person on their left and right and think “Wow! They are so lucky! I wish opportunities fell in my lap the way they fall into theirs.” Well, I’m here to let you in on a little secret. You may be absolutely right about the blessings that rain on others, but it is absolutely attainable for you!
There are 5 best kept secrets on how to get your career, product, goals, etc. to the next level and I call them the bulletproof blueprint for career success. The same way that law enforcement officers ensure that their bulletproof vests are secure and construction workers don’t break ground without their handy blueprint, is the same way that we all should be prepared to achieve the career success that we rightfully deserve.
Each step will be published on Sundays and Wednesdays at 3PM EST beginning November 28th, 2021 through December 12th, 2021. By the time you’re finished with these informative reads and apply this knowledge to your day-to-day life, you’re going to be an unstoppable powerhouse to be reckoned with in your profession.
If you haven’t check out Step 2: Telling and Selling Your Value yet, please do before reading this blog. I promise you won’t regret it!
Step 3: Enlisting Sponsorship
After you tackled the art of building trust through informal networking and the art of selling your value(s) through storytelling, you must form a strategic partnership with the right individuals who have a seat at the table that you currently don’t have access to. Unfortunately, this is the piece of the puzzle that a lot of people get wrong because they immediately assume that they need to partner with a mentor. The truth is that they really need to find a sponsor.
After you understand the difference of a sponsor and a mentor, you then need to ask yourself how many you need. My philosophy is that you need at least 3 sponsors (at least 2 within your current organization and at least 1 from outside of your current organization) and as many mentors as your heart desires. However, you must recognize that both are a continued relationship that must be nurtured to bear any fruit.
So, the next set of questions you may have are: “How do I find a sponsor? ”and “How do I ask them to be my sponsor?” The following bulletproof blueprint to obtaining sponsorship will answer all your questions and more:
I. Figure out what you want to be sponsored for? – Is it a promotion to a new job, higher pay, job transfer, introduction to another sponsor, access to better clients or accounts, etc.?
II. Identify who can influence the key decision. – Leverage the relationships you have been building trust with and the individuals you have been selling your value(s)to.
III. Do you have visibility and credibility with those people? – Have they seen the quality of your work yet? Has someone you trust endorsed you? Are you comfortable selling your track record and asking them for advocacy? What other ways can you increase your visibility with this individual?
IV. Schedule a meeting with potential sponsor(s). – Treat this meeting like an interview. They will probably have a ton of questions for you but be prepared to learn more about them through question asking, as well.
V. Do your homework.– Do your homework BEFORE the meeting. Research them on the web, LinkedIn, etc. Ask others who work closely with them for advice/insight. Try to understand the problems they face and how you can be an asset to them. Leverage the 7 C’s for building trust with this individual during the meeting.
VI. In the meeting, ask for specific advocacy.– Don’t just ask them to be your sponsor or ask them for vague career advice. Ask them what you specifically want them to advocate for.
VII. Avoid common traps. – Don’t aim too low or assume that they will advocate for you without being asked. Make sure that you follow-up after the meeting and keep the discussion going.
Checkout these additional resources on sponsorship:
Carla Harris, one of the highest-ranking Black professionals on Wall Street, defines a sponsor in her book Expect to Win.
Listen to Carla Harris’s TEDxTalk on How to Find The Person Who Can Help You Get Ahead at Work.
Keith Wyche, an African American male, serves as a division president at a Fortune 500 company and refers to sponsorship as “Letting someone else wear your T-shirt!” in his book Good is Not Enough.
Andrés Tapia discusses the importance of engaging sponsors who don’t look like you in his book Auténtico.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett has an entire book on sponsorship called Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor.
Bonnie St. John also has an interview series called Straight Up with Bonnie St. John: Real Talk About Climbing The Corporate Ladder, where she dives into this exact topic with leaders from around the world.
Upon completion of this blog check out Step 4: Strategic Networking (after 3PM EST on December 8th, 2021) for further guidance on how to take your career to the next level of success.
