Look around your office. Do you have any fans? What about superfans, mentors or sponsors? Your career growth depends on knowing the difference between those four categories so you can meld your talents with their ability to help, according to organizational leadership expert Liz Sweigart.
Fans will have a positive view of your contribution. But they don’t feel any responsibility to advance your career and will not go out of their way or inconvenience themselves to support you. A superfan is similar, but usually at a higher pay grade than the employee.
In an example Ms. Sweigart cites, the CEO was a superfan of an employee who was then mystified when he was passed over for a promotion. Superfandom was not enough. The employee needed a mentor or sponsor, someone willing to invest more of themselves into supporting his advancement.
But there is also an important distinction between mentors and sponsors. Mentors focus on developing the employee as a person and professional. Sponsors advocate for an individual’s advancement in the organization.
“Mentors have a level of investment in an employee’s development that fans don’t, but are often unable to extend social and political capital on the employee’s behalf. They care deeply about helping an individual succeed, but they lack (or perceive that they lack) the necessary clout in the organization to take on a sponsorship role,” she writes in Strategy + business.
Sponsors do their best to develop the protégé. They open doors, inviting the protégé to meetings, appointing them to important task forces and look for opportunities to deepen that individual’s skills. Mentors often come through formal programs, but sponsorship tends to be informal and organic. Ms. Sweigart says a common pitfall for many professionals is assuming that only senior executives can be effective sponsors.
“Employees in search of a sponsor should start by identifying leaders in the organization they admire and want to emulate, beginning with their managers and their managers’ managers. Ideally, these should be people the employee has seen actively engaging with others at multiple levels within the organization … Once possible sponsors are identified, the employee should continually seek them out for guidance about how to progress and grow their career, ask to work with them and find opportunities to support their initiatives and projects,” she writes.
She adds that there is no perfect mix of the four types of supporters. You want – particularly early in your career – to build a coalition that includes individuals from each of the categories and various levels within the organizational hierarchy.
And while the focus might be on promotions, they can come in handy if you want to make a career pivot without taking a pay cut. Consultant Dorie Clark notes many midcareer or senior professionals find themselves handcuffed from changing careers by the substantial salary they currently command. A solution might be to transfer internally or even reinvent your job so it is more to your liking.
That begins by speaking to people in the organization who are close to you and in a position to help. But keep in mind changing your role can actually cause conflict with those close to you, at work or at home. At work, you may leave a gap as you no longer will be counted on for what you have been providing. At home, there may be fears of a reduction in income. “If you want to avoid drama and enmity, it’s important to have an upfront, collaborative conversation with the people closest to you who’ll be affected by your decisions,” she writes in Harvard Business Review. She also asks you to be willing to compromise on timelines – maybe the pivot can happen over a long time frame.
For pivots or promotions, know your fans, superfans, mentors and sponsors – and use them wisely.
Quick hits
- To get reliable information from ChatGPT or similar programs, ask it to give you the experts on whatever material you are seeking and then to answer your questions in the voice of those experts, recommends Wired founding executive editor Kevin Kelly.
- Ottawa customer service consultant Shaun Belding urges you to find a different, more positive word for responding when asked how you are by a colleague, friend or family member. Instead of just “OK,” try “great,” or “excellent” or “terrific.” Watch how some smile and pick up on the energy you vocalize.
- Executive coach Dan Rockwell advises you to find out what times of the day or week you tend to procrastinate and steer important work to other hours when you are at your best. Maximize your procrastination time by finding something that won’t be badly affected.
- Entrepreneur Seth Godin asks: When was the last time new information caused you to walk away from an idea you were confident in? Over time in our careers, that becomes harder to do – but more important.
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.