Sponsoring a Protégé - Remotely

by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Kennedy Ihezie - July 02, 2020

For the past three months, executives have scrambled to manage through the ongoing crisis. Many have found creative ways to lead teams and listen to clients and customers in a world where face-to-face contact is impossible.

Despite the transition to remote work and economic uncertainty, career development doesn’t stop. It’s important to meet the needs of top junior talent looking to ensure careers aren’t stalled. Remember that young stars are mobile - in 2002 and again in 2008, it was the top producers on Wall St. and on Main St. that were lured away by competitors eager to show them more “love” through leadership development opportunities as well as higher salaries. In sharp contrast, poor performers tended to stick around. They had nowhere else to go.

To retain and fully realize the brightest and the best - and to secure the current and future success of your organization - managers and executives must prioritize sponsorship. They need to figure out how to continue to invest in a small, diverse portfolio of high performers using virtual tools and tactics.

The value of winning a sponsor is well known: A junior manager with a sponsor is 21% more likely than a junior manager without a sponsor to progress to the next rung of the career ladder. The other side of the relationship is just as promising: A manager or executive with a protégé is 53% more likely than a manager or executive without to progress to the next rung of the career ladder.

But the benefits aren’t just at the individual level. According to research by the Center of Talent Innovation, when at least a third of managers and executives proactively invest in a small portfolio of diverse protégés that include at least two individuals who are of a different identity - which happens in only 22% of companies - that company is 45% more likely to see improvement in market share and 70% more likely to capture a new market. This research traces the precise link between diversity and innovation and is a rich source for both data and case studies.

Whether you are an up-and-coming talent or an established leader, becoming a sponsor and having a protégé are great investments for individuals and companies, and these relationships can be built successfully, even in virtual working environments. Here’s how.

Make It Reciprocal

A protégé needs to give as well as get. This exchange of value and respect reflects the foundational premise of sponsorship. The biggest shift for a manager moving from being a mentor to being a sponsor is taking on board and actualizing this two-way street.

Sponsors value high performing junior talent who leave their ego at the door. In mid-2020 when so many business models are under stress, it’s particularly important for a protégé to pitch in and do whatever it takes to enable the team to hit a target or deadline. Putting up your hand to fix a tech snafu, or proactively reaching out via phone or Zoom to soothe a needy stakeholder, will improve your stock and standing.

A high-performing junior talent often has skillsets or life experiences that are not known to a sponsor. This is particularly true when the sponsor/protégé relationship crosses lines of gender, ethnicity, or any other line of difference. An efficient tactic here for a time-starved sponsor (and most managers are overloaded in these difficult times) is to ask your pick to create a one-page detailed inventory of their assets. This will allow you to better visualize the value being brought to the table. Ask your protégé to stress skillsets and experiences that are not currently on offer in the team, and make sure to include contacts and networks outside of work in the wider business world. This tactic is particularly helpful to sponsors who want to have a line of sight into potential of a junior talent of a different identity, someone who is not a “mini-me.” An inventory of assets often includes military service and not-for-profit leadership roles, as well as more predictable elements such as a language skill or global experience.

Demonstrate Commitment

Sponsors demonstrate full commitment to a protégé when they “use up a chip” on behalf of the junior talent. Reach out to a senior colleague or an important client (via phone or Zoom), talk up the impressive skill sets of your protégé, then make a watertight case for why they should be considered for a specific big opportunity. Vigorous advocacy is made easier if you have an inventory of your protégé’s assets in hand.

Alternatively, identify a project that your protégé may not have been included in prior to remote work and invite them to participate. As the project kicks off, make sure to introduce your protégé with respect and enthusiasm (perhaps in the first conference call) lifting up key strengths and outlining the value add this bringing to bear. Again, having an inventory of your protégé’s assets at hand is enormously useful.

Emphasize Gravitas in One-on-one Meetings

No matter how high performing, most protégé need to grow their soft skills. Top of list is learning how to project gravitas - how does a junior talent convey that they know their stuff cold? Working from home precludes modeling leadership behavior in person, but sponsors are becoming inventive, leaning on external resources (a remote media coach can be a life saver for protégé facing a high stakes virtual presentation) and plunging in themselves with 30-minute targeted coaching via video chat. Over the last few months we’ve interviewed executives across a range of sectors, including finance, tech, and media, and found out what dimensions of the gravitas they zero in on most frequently in their virtual coaching sessions. Among the top traits are decisiveness, authenticity, confidence, likability, poise, grace under fire, and vision.

Of course, successful sponsors focus on tone as well as tactics when investing in protégés. Conveying respect for junior talent whatever their background or identity, demonstrating sensitivity, and communicating informed empathy are critical behaviors for any manager seeking to sponsor a portfolio of diverse talent because these behaviors engender trust - a foundation stone of reciprocal, fully aligned sponsorship relationships. These issues of tone and trust are particularly important in a time when the country faces mounting racial and equal opportunity challenges. Sponsors are well advised to put these values center stage.

Creating or continuing a trust-filled, mutually beneficial sponsorship relationship is difficult in a remote setting - but it is possible. A manager or executive needs to be much more self-conscious about how to celebrate a protégé, even as they engage more in a conference calls or virtual meetings, where face-to-face options aren’t available. One senior executive gave us this golden rule: “Place the word respect in the center of your brain, and the details of inclusive interaction in cyberspace will fall into line.”

Sylvia Ann Hewlett is an economist and the CEO of Hewlett Consulting Partners. She is also the founder and Chair Emeritus of the Center for Talent Innovation. She is the author of fourteen critically acclaimed books, including Off-Ramps and On-Ramps; Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor; and Executive Presence. Her latest book is The Sponsor Effect.

Kennedy Ihezie is senior director, diversity and inclusion strategy at Macy’s Inc. A former vice president at the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), a NYC-based think tank, where he led an initiative on Black talent, and coauthored a report on disabilities and inclusion, Ihezie is recognized as a thought leader on intersectionality.