Sponsor Ready

Program Overview

The Sponsor Ready Program will help you discover real ways to gain power and influence, and what to do once you have them.

At first blush, it may feel distasteful or transactional. But if you look closely at who has historically gotten promoted (and by whom) across a range of industries, you’ll find it’s rarely simply the people who worked the hardest or who merited it most. Sponsorship—whether spoken or unspoken—has been at the root of promotions and deal brokering since the beginning of business. Sponsorship is real and it’s not going anywhere.

Sponsorship doesn’t have to be limited to a few elites. Sponsorship, although tricky to navigate, isn’t impossible to figure out. And, it’s a game changer for both individuals and the organizations where they work.

This Program aims to help you and your organization:

• Discuss what diversity really means within your global organization
• Reflect on your own “sponsor readiness” as sponsors, protégés, and organizations
• Identify skill gaps and unique strengths
• Learn the tools to cultivate sponsor relationships
• Build cultures of sponsorship across your organization

Field Manuals

The Sponsor Ready Program is made up of 5 Field Manuals (our version of an online module). Each one contains a variety of types of content and social exercises culminating in a mini-project, reflection, or debate. Each Field Manual will take you between 30-45 minutes to complete but you can jump on and off at your own pace, as often as you’d like. The deeper learning happens in the discussions with your fellow learners so be sure to check in on the conversations regularly.

• The Challenge

  This first Field Manual positions sponsorship as the key method for navigating the complex (and often hidden) power dynamics of the modern organization. It points out that sponsorship is not the same as mentorship, although both are important. It gets learners thinking about what sponsorship is and why it matters.

• Readiness

  This Field Manual focuses on the individual and what it takes to be ready for sponsorship. It asks learners to think critically about their own leadership potential and to take stock of how they can stand out among the pack. It aims to make that elusive X factor known as “executive presence” more tangible and inspire individuals to exude it.

• Engagement

  This Field Manual has a focus on relationships. It dives deeply into relationship capital and influence, looking at how they work both within an organizational context and between individuals. Learners map their networks and learn the importance of aligning their strengths and career aspirations with the needs of the business and key individuals.

• Deepening

  The Field Manual is about deepening the sponsor-protégé relationship. It discusses reciprocity and loyalty in the sponsor-protégé pairing and helps learners think about what it means to be a sponsor. It also outlines what these relationships look like over time.

• Culture

  This final Field Manual focuses on how to sustain sponsorship over time. It discusses the importance of building a culture of sponsorship within organizations, and offers tips on how and why to do so—as both individuals and organizations.