How to get authentic workplace sponsorship right
Professor Herminia Ibarra explores what authentic sponsorship looks like and how to avoid the tripwires that stop it developing
In 30 Seconds
- Even when organisations try to democratise access to sponsorship, they often end up stripping relationships bare of authenticity
- Effective sponsorship consists of a spectrum of behaviours and approaches that allows for various types of commitment and different kinds and degrees of support
- It is a two-way process that only works when each party fully shares their thoughts and perspectives and makes themselves open to those of the other
Five diversity tripwires in authentic sponsorship and what to do about them
1. The “like me” bias
Like it or not, we all gravitate towards people who are like us. We’re hardwired to do so. When you match people who are different – senior white male executives with juniors from underrepresented groups, for instance – there will be a slew of surface dissimilarities to negotiate and overcome: seniority; generation; power and influence; gender, race or ethnicity; social class; and sexual orientation, to cite a few. To develop an authentic relationship, people need to be able to unearth the similarities and find the deeper things they have in common that connect them. This takes time and energy and a commitment to really get to know each other. How do you do this? The simple solution is to meet more frequently and to come to meetings well prepared in advance. Both parties need to be ready to ask open-ended questions in order to discover the other’s background, perspectives, values, interests and goals. And both parties must be prepared to listen. This is the most effective way to find the common ground that will be the foundation of an authentic relationship.
2. Authenticity dilemmas
Authenticity dilemmas arise when people feel they must choose between being true to themselves and doing what it takes to succeed. Juniors from underrepresented groups often face authenticity dilemmas in the workplace because they are more apt to feel stylistically different from senior role models. It’s critical that senior sponsors do not misread authenticity dilemmas as confidence or commitment issues. Doing so can make the problem worse as juniors may feel an increasing need to suppress their values or identities. To avoid this, senior sponsors should find ways to be open and to engage junior colleagues about their stylistic dilemmas with empathy, openness and, above all, a willingness to learn. For their part, juniors should understand that growing professionally also means trying out new approaches, styles and behaviours that may sit outside their comfort zone, but this is not the same as being inauthentic. This is easier to do if they feel understood and supported by a sponsor and see new behaviours as an opportunity to learn and grow.
3. Feedback gaps
Giving and receiving feedback can be difficult; all the more so when there is difference within a developmental relationship. Sponsors may be hesitant or self-censoring in their feedback to avoid causing offence or being seen as sexist or racist. But constructive feedback is critical to growth and professional (as well as business) outcomes. There are simple ways that sponsors can overcome feedback gaps, even if they are not directly responsible for giving it themselves. One way is to help junior colleagues interpret feedback to make better sense of the information. Another is to bring in line managers or HR representatives at different junctures to ensure there is consensus and alignment about developmental goals. Senior sponsors can also engage with their own peers; sharing feedback on protégés to boost their visibility and even address bias or stereotyped thinking should they encounter it. Juniors also have a role to play in being proactive about their need for feedback and its role in their advancement. And they can empower themselves by becoming aware of the risks of bias or stereotyped thinking seeping into developmental feedback – and how to counter these effects.
4. The “bring-your-whole-self-to- work” paradox
To build stronger relationships, senior and junior executives need to be able to share elements of life outside work to find the deeper areas of similarity. But bringing your whole self to work requires a degree of personal disclosure that can feel risky for people from underrepresented groups. For women and minority executives, sharing private information may feel akin to highlighting differences and making them more salient. Sponsors can counteract this by being proactively open about their own lives in some way; perhaps by revealing something atypical or different about themselves or a challenge they have had in the past and the steps they took to overcome it. Without “over-sharing”, both parties can bring unique experiences and interests to the relationship to deepen the bond.
5. The confidence conundrum
Confidence at work has traditionally been mistaken as a proxy for competence. Research shows that women have long been on the receiving end of this mistaken thinking: when they don’t express enough confidence they are seen as lacking competence; when they do show confidence, they may be seen as arrogant or unlikeable. It’s a hard line to walk. In my experience, protégés attribute a great deal of value to the confidence expressed by a sponsor in their abilities, especially when they’re going for a stretch role. Yet, many sponsors withhold support from junior colleagues until they see sufficient evidence of self-confidence. This can create a cycle of inauthenticity that blocks the deeper relationship from evolving. The solution is awareness. For juniors, it’s the awareness that sponsors may be looking for signals of self-belief and finding ways to express confidence that feels authentic. For sponsors, it’s key to understand that confidence does not automatically equate to competence. As they build towards greater relational authenticity with their protégé through open communication and sharing, they create the space and opportunity for real confidence to develop and grow.
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Over the last 10 years or so I’ve worked with many organisations looking to harness the magic of sponsorship and mentoring, and I’ve dedicated a lot of time to researching these kinds of developmental relationships. In my teaching I’ve directed private and public leadership programmes to help high-potential employees from underrepresented groups connect and leverage relationships with senior sponsors in their organisations.
What I’ve learned in the last decade is that, despite their best intentions in scaling up developmental relationships – even when organisations are tireless in trying to democratise access to sponsorship – they all too often end up stripping these relationships bare of a critical and defining quality: authenticity. For any human connection to work, there needs to be relational authenticity: that two-way process in which each party fully shares their thoughts and perspectives and makes themselves open to those of the other.
Relational authenticity: the lynchpin
In sponsorship, relational authenticity is the lynchpin that makes it possible for juniors to feel trusted to grow in ambition and take on new challenges, and for seniors to feel comfortable in putting their reputation on the line. Where there is authenticity, relationships become multifaceted, transformational and deeply rewarding. Where there isn’t, they remain superficial. But building authenticity isn’t automatic; nor is it immediate or necessarily easy.
All too often, organisations looking for a magic formula for sponsorship and mentoring will enact mandatory programmes. They may match seniors and juniors in onboarding initiatives in their effort to impart organisational culture, or schemes to help newcomers advance in their functional speciality. But these initiatives often miss the mark in helping juniors achieve their potential in such a way that both parties can learn and grow.
"Sponsorship is only ever truly effective if both parties come into it with relational authenticity"
How can you compel senior employees to expend personal capital on junior employees whom they don’t yet know or care about and whose promise they aren’t yet sure of? Sponsorship is only ever truly effective if both parties come into it with relational authenticity. That is to say, it only really works if both sponsor and protégé genuinely put their hearts (and minds) into it. So, how do you create authentic sponsorship? What does it look like and how do you nurture it? Let’s start by looking at what I call the sponsorship spectrum.
The sponsorship spectrum
In my research I’ve found that sponsorship is not an either-or, all-or-nothing kind of deal. On the contrary, it consists of a spectrum of behaviours and approaches that allows for various types of commitment and different kinds and degrees of support.
At one end of the spectrum is what I call classic mentoring: private personal advice and support with nothing at stake other than time on the part of the mentor. At the other end of the spectrum is classic sponsorship: a sponsor will advocate publicly for someone, perhaps for a significant senior job, and their reputation will be at stake. Between these two ends of the spectrum seniors can help by providing strategic advice, network connections and opportunities for visibility. One effective way to evolve a relationship towards full, classic sponsorship over time is to nudge it along the spectrum one step at a time, from simple mentoring to more active, public and strategic forms of help.
Relationships often get stuck at points along this spectrum and don’t progress through to full, classic and public sponsorship or advocacy. Why does this happen? Sometimes, the match just doesn’t work. Sometimes, junior executives simply aren’t ready for more. Sponsors may also not have the resources or influence to generate the high-visibility opportunities – but much more often it’s because something is standing in the way of the relationship developing real authenticity.
Moving the dial
Moving the dial on relational authenticity is contingent on openness and candour. It’s about being fully prepared to share thoughts and feelings, perspectives and experiences. Openness and candour are essential to boosting each other’s sense of competence, confidence and self-worth – and the ability to learn from each other and act on what is learned.
This begs the question: what stands in the way of openness and candour and keeps relationships stuck somewhere in the middle of the sponsorship spectrum? In my experience, a lot of it boils down to difference – to the difficulties that are likely to accrue when two people who are unlike each other come together to forge a relationship. Any relationship is vulnerable to misunderstanding as people get to know each other, but developmental relationships are more prone to trouble because of differences – in rank and seniority, and across many other dimensions of difference.
In today’s workplace the people with the resources, power and influence to advocate successfully for junior colleagues are still overwhelmingly white men. As a result, the majority of developmental relationships are forged on differences – and there are plenty of them. These relationships have to tackle pervasive (and often unconscious) biases that are still rife in our organisations and our society.
These biases are difficulties that both parties have to overcome if they are to achieve relational authenticity and authentic sponsorship. I call these difficulties “diversity tripwires”. The good news? There are simple, tangible and effective steps that sponsors and protégés can take to overcome them (see accompanying panel “Five diversity tripwires in authentic sponsorship – and what to do about them”).
Making authentic sponsorship the norm
We know that organisations thrive when they embrace diversity, equity and inclusion. And we know that women and people from underrepresented groups have a harder time ascending the ladder to positions of influence. To counter this, forward-thinking organisations adopt well-intentioned sponsorship initiatives. But, in all too many cases, relationships between juniors and seniors remain transactional and, as a result, fail to foster the personal and professional growth they were intended to achieve. We can do better by paying careful attention to the conditions and expectations that will enable truly authentic sponsorship to become the norm
Herminia Ibarra is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Charles Handy Chair in Organisational Behaviour at London Business School
