![]() While not all mentorships will develop into sponsorships, but that doesn’t mean mentorship doesn’t have other benefits. ![]() One takeaway so far is that mentorship is a critical step towards establishing a sponsorship. Other newsletters or opt out at any time by managing your In short, the mentorship develops the trust and confidence requisite for sponsorship to occur. This is why sponsorship is more likely to develop from the basis of an effective mentorship. ![]() The sponsor is putting their reputation and professional branding behind the protégé, meaning there’s typically more risk to being a sponsor. For instance, a sponsor may put their protégé’s name on the table for a promotion, or have the power to advocate for their work when they are not in the room (or invited to the “important” meeting themselves). Because the sponsor has come to feel personally invested in the advancement of the protégé, the sponsor expands that person’s visibility within the organization, models self-advancing behavior, and directly involves the protégé in experiences that will provide opportunities for career advancement. Now the sponsor is doing more than just sharing experience and knowledge. In this capacity, the mentor is now a sponsor and the mentee is a protégé. At that point, the mentor can become an actual advocate for their mentee. Once the mentor and mentee have worked together for a while, usually at least a few months, the mentor may see evidence of growth and self-accountability in the mentee. Here, sponsorship stems from a strong and successful mentorship. That’s not the kind of sponsorship we’re talking about in this context. In turn, she promotes that company’s brand by wearing and using the gear. The image of sponsorship that probably first comes to mind is that of a professional athlete being sponsored by a business, like a top soccer player receiving a lot of her gear from a company that makes it. While mentorship is usually between just two people, group mentorship is an approach businesses sometimes take as well. It could just be a one-time meeting, but the most valuable mentorships grow over time as evolving peer-to-peer relationships. Mentorship can start with something as simple as an informational coffee and can take various forms from there. In fact, people who aren’t in management can derive great satisfaction and sense of contribution from mentoring someone else. Contrary to what one might assume, a mentor does not have to be somebody in management. Most of the time, the mentor is older and the mentee is younger, perhaps new to the workforce, but mentorship can exist and thrive in any situation where a new employee is learning from a more experienced one. ![]() In a work setting, mentorship is a relationship between someone sharing knowledge and providing guidance (the mentor) and someone learning from that person’s experience and example (the mentee). In reality, sponsorship can grow from a productive mentor-mentee relationship. Although they are related to one another and share some similarities, they are not, as people sometimes assume, the same thing. Mentorship and sponsorship are powerful tools for personal success and building stronger workforces. ![]()
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