It has always been something missing in my professional development and always something I have longed for, a mentor or a sponsor in my life. You see, as an executive and entrepreneur the values instilled in me from very young have always been tied to some form of speech around “working hard to achieve success”, or “nothing comes easy” and the best one that drives me the craziest because I am inpatient at times is “be patient and your hard work will pay off”. Although I have continued to believe in these values coldheartedly since I started working at the age of 14, there are some components of success we fail to learn and one of them is learning to select or identify a mentor or sponsor.
Even though a mentor and sponsor have two different functions, they both represent a different value in your professional career, especially if you have high expectations of success. In a Harvard Business Review article from 2021, the mentor is described as someone that offers guidance and shares knowledge based on experiences the mentor has grown from. Typically, the mentor is older or has more experience than the mentee and it’s more of a “let me teach you” type of relationship. In contrast, the sponsor might not only offer guidance and share knowledge, but they also take it a step further and actively act upon that relationship. The sponsor might provide recommendations to leadership on promoting the mentee or might introduce the mentee to potential business opportunities. They act on the relationship because the sponsor sees the potential in that mentee and feels confident in their recommendation or introduction. Both relationships provide a boost to your career. It’s easy for me to say you need one, but it has never been something I have had success in achieving because I did not understand it completely.
Now I realize how mistaken I was in believing that my supervisors or managers would serve the place of that mentor or sponsor in my life but in time I have concluded that the manager or supervisor roles have other purposes in your career and not necessarily that of mentor or sponsor. This does not mean that the supervisor or manager can’t possess some of the characteristics of a mentor or sponsor, because in fact they can and do. The supervisor can give you advice, guide you along the way and even fight for you regarding a promotion or better work conditions but ultimately, there will also be a selfish component to that relationship because there is a vested interest the supervisor will have in your success since your success will ultimately equal their success. A mentor or sponsor is typically removed from that vested interest. They genuinely want to see you succeed.
I share this personal experience with you all to encourage you to search for a mentor or sponsor as early as possible in your career, which is something I am open to and doing today. Some tips for this discovery:
- The mentor or sponsor should be asked if they are willing to serve as your mentor or sponsor before you decide. Asking will ensure the individual understands the commitment and is there to support you as your mentor or sponsor.
- The mentor or sponsor should have the time to meet with you regularly. Being a mentor or sponsor requires dedicated quality time with the relationship to allow meaningful discussion in learning opportunities.
- There should also be good synergy and a genuine relationship amongst you both. The personalities should have synergy since this is someone you will be learning from and need to be comfortable with in asking questions.
There is no one size fits all check list to finding a mentor or a sponsor however some examples of what a mentor or sponsor relationship can look like can be someone like a professor, a leader/executive in the same company from a different department, a business owner that might be a friend or someone that is recommended to you by another successful colleague, friend or business partner. We are all genuinely designed to care for others and people typically always want to help so don’t be afraid of asking, the only thing that they can say is No, which means you didn’t fail you just need to continue your search as I am doing mine.