There’s a lot of advice out there (read: on Lifehacker) about finding a mentor, and that’s because having someone established to guide you is a major benefit for your career. The more you look into the concept, though, the more you find that the world of mentorship is complex. For instance, you might hear the word “sponsor” thrown around instead of mentor, but what’s the difference? No matter what, having an authoritative role model is better than not having one at all, so whatever you call it isn’t as important as just having one, but it is worth looking into what a sponsor does.
What’s a career “sponsor”?
A sponsor, per the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University, is someone who advocates for you instead of advising you. When you build a relationship with a sponsor, you become their protégé and they develop a real interest in your growth and acceleration.
Instead of giving you advice and watching you use it, a sponsor is someone in your workplace who uses their own influence to make sure you’re getting ahead, linking you with their contacts and even promoting you themselves.
A sponsor can be anyone in a higher level than you who has the power to make sure you are on a path to succeed. For instance, your supervisor could be your sponsor or a boss in another department you want to move into could be.
How to identify a potential sponsor
The SLAC suggests looking for a possible sponsor in three categories: The first is the person who makes payment, promotion, or assignment decisions that affect you. The second is a senior leader who could benefit from your advancement and the third is a senior leader with a network or platform that would be most beneficial to you. If each of these is a different person, select the one who is most likely to match up with what you need—but bear in mind that they should also benefit somehow from your rise.
Eventually, you’ll ask this person directly if they’d like to act as a sponsor for you, but before you do, you need to prove yourself, per The Muse. If you want someone to tie their reputation to yours and vouch for you behind the scenes, you have to give them something solid to stake themselves to, so keep their opinion and needs in mind while you’re working on projects and engaging with others in the workplace.
Keep in mind what you want from them, too. Be direct when asking them to be your sponsor and when identifying what you need, whether it’s introductions to certain contacts or a promotion. Ask to have check-ins on a regular basis so you can update them on what you’re doing and raise any new needs. The process for asking for sponsorship is similar to that of asking for mentorship in that you should take the initiative to invite them for coffee or send a detailed email, outline what you’re looking for, check if they have the bandwidth to take you on, and schedule the follow-up meetings to make it easy for them.
Help them help you so they see you’re serious and know that backing you is a safe bet.