Sponsorship is one of the keys to advancing your career.

Sponsors commit to their protege, introduce them to higher-ups in the company and the field, actively endorse their protege’s work, defend them and their work to superiors, and ultimately line them up for promotions. This is a way of elevating your career, and it’s particularly essential for women of color.

I often get asked by my clients, "How do I actually find a sponsor??"

Finding a sponsor can be a challenge, especially when you don’t have any idea of where to start. This is especially true for people of color. Why? Because of biases in the workplace, it’s hard for employees of color to secure sponsorship no matter who they’re looking to. White superiors tend not to sponsor employees of color because of these biases, and black superiors describe that “a fervent desire to pay their gains forward and vigorously champion young Black talent clashes with very real risks to their own careers if they go to bat for another Black man or woman.”

While it can be hard, it’s definitely possible and something that is critical to moving forward in your career. To begin, Carla Harris recommends cultivating performance currency and relationship currency at work.

So what this means is, performance currency is “the currency that is generated by your delivering that which was asked of you and a little bit extra.” When you perform above people's expectations, you generate performance currency.

Performance currency will:

Get you noticed
Create a reputation for you
Get you paid and promoted very early on in your career
It may attract a sponsor!

Relationship currency is "the currency that is generated by the investments that you make in the people in your environment.”

To develop relationship currency:

Make time to connect with and engage people in your environment, especially superiors
Let people know you as a person and an employee, if they know you they’re more likely to say yes to being a sponsor

How do you approach a sponsor?

Start by turning them into a mentor. By having your potential sponsor as a mentor, they will get exposure to your work and your career goals, and they’ll get to know you on a personal level. When approaching them, instead of asking, “Will you be my mentor?” try asking them out for coffee to learn more about their position and responsibilities, or ask if you can run something by them about a project you’re working on.

As you move from mentorship to asking for sponsorship, here’s a script that Carla Harris recommends, and if you have both performance currency and relationship currency with the person, you’re on a great track to getting a ‘yes!’

'Jim, I'm really interested in getting promoted this year. I've had an amazing year and I cannot show this organization anything else to prove my worthiness or my readiness for this promotion, but I am aware that somebody has to be behind closed doors arguing on my behalf and pounding the table. You know me, you know my work and you are aware of the client feedback, and I hope that you will feel comfortable arguing on my behalf.'

Tips for Finding a Sponsor

Go above and beyond in your role to earn your sponsorship, sponsors need to see you, believe in and see potential in their protege for a sponsor to put their reputation on the line. Consider putting your hand up for a stretch project.
Look beyond finding a sponsor from the same background as you, instead focusing on picking a sponsor that has a place at the leadership table and can speak about you when promotions or opportunities come up.
Pick a sponsor candidate in a leadership role in your company, such as a senior manager or an executive.
Some leaders are more outspoken about complimenting junior employees’ work or giving opportunities so employees can prove themselves, see if there’s someone like this in your company that may be more open to being a sponsor.
If you have identified someone you want as a sponsor, volunteer to work on projects that they’re involved in or join professional groups they may be in so they can see your work.
Declare and share your career goals with your leaders so that they know what your goals are.
Places to look for a sponsor: an executive / senior leader who has complimented the quality of your work, works in a similar division, someone who has clout, and someone who would benefit from you moving up.
And lastly, remember that the sponsor picks you, and not the other way around. So while you may have an idea for who you want your sponsor to be, be open to making connections with anyone in your leadership team; you never know when it might help you out!

“I don’t need to know people socially to feel comfortable sponsoring them. But I do need to know they stand for the same things that I do.” - Horacio Rozanski, CEO of Booze Allen Hamilton, from the Coqual Report

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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. Contact me or email me at salima@unleashforward.com to learn more!