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Mentorship can be a buzzword in the business world, but it’s not always implemented effectively. Too often mentorship turns into glorified networking or the occasional meeting for a quick coffee. Recently, the idea of sponsorship (intentionally advocating for a mentee) has entered the conversation to help companies focus on employee development and advancement and develop strong, diverse teams.
Sponsorship and mentorship are different, but they shouldn’t be done in isolation. The only truly effective way to implement these processes within your business is to view them as two parts of a continuously repeating cycle. To achieve this, those in leadership roles must incorporate an intentional approach to continuous development.
Related: How Mentorship Programs Can Lift Up Underrepresented Employees in the Workplace
Mentorship for sponsorship purposes
To effectively mentor employees, mentors must set specific goals for the employee’s professional growth. To achieve these goals, he must pay attention to two major areas of development: strengths and gaps.
- Identify strengths: Identifying your mentee’s strengths means working closely with them to discover their experiences, abilities, and passions. These strengths are not limited to knowledge in the field, but may include personality traits such as leadership skills, the ability to learn quickly, or an interest in a particular role or field.
- Identify gaps. To make mentorship an ongoing and effective process, consider what your mentee needs to learn in order to move forward. They may have knowledge gaps that require further training. Or maybe you have the knowledge for your new role but lack the skills to lead a team or communicate effectively with clients. Consider ways to assign stretch projects that provide an environment where they can ask questions, discover new abilities, and feel supported in their new environment.
- What is not: Mentorship is more than just building a network or turning an employee into an assistant. Effective mentorship looks to sponsorship and supports employees to grow within the company.
Related: How mentorship programs can create a culture of continuous learning in the workplace
strategic sponsorship
Supporting employees internally means intentionally leveraging the knowledge gained through the mentorship process to move employees toward new roles and responsibilities. This requires flexibility and a willingness to continually repeat this cycle.
- Flexibility: As the mentee’s knowledge and abilities grow, so should his or her role and recognition. A willingness to change or develop someone’s role within your company can help you place employees in roles where they can most effectively contribute to the business and provide the most satisfaction.
- Ongoing guidance: After promoting an employee, you shouldn’t leave them thinking about it alone. When a mentee is sponsored in a new role, they have new strengths and gaps that require development and training. This may mean giving them a leadership role.
- What is not: Sponsorship does not add to the employee’s responsibilities without appropriately promoting or redefining the employee’s role. To create a healthy team atmosphere, employees who grow enough to take on new roles must feel that their growth is formally recognized and celebrated.
repeat the cycle
Mentorship and sponsorship may sound like one-on-one experiences, but when you combine these processes, you can drive growth for your entire team at the same time.This growth was seen at surpass Regularly. A while ago, I hired a new girlfriend, an SEO specialist. Let’s call him John. I quickly identified John’s two main strengths. It’s his ability to learn very quickly and his previous experience. I started mentoring him and training him on things like internal processes and how to run his SEO meetings. I brought his potential to the attention of our executives and promoted him to lead his SEO team within six months. I will continue to mentor him as a leader in his new position.
Our process doesn’t end there. John quickly realized that Jane, a member of the SEO team, was contributing beyond his current role. He is currently mentoring her to be responsible for the quality assurance of her SEO, a role that will recognize the full potential of her contribution at Outpace. These are just two of her examples of how mentorship and sponsorship can have a trickle-down effect, and how team leaders themselves can become mentors and sponsors.
Related: How expert guidance can boost startup success
Personal relationships: team benefits
Clearly, mentorship and sponsorship impact not only individual employees but the workplace as a whole. Job satisfaction increases when employees perceive the potential for their professional development in their current company. This cycle provides opportunities and recognition rather than making employees feel overworked. This increases employee retention because employees don’t have to look elsewhere to feel like they’re progressing. One of the main benefits of coaching and supporting your employees is that they can also become strong leaders and mentors. This allows you to repeat the process for new employees. Over time, mentorship and sponsorship will form a strong business, with interconnected teams continually growing and championing their colleagues.