“You can do this,” she told me. Megan, my senior manager, had just walked me through how to approach the client meeting I would be leading later that week. I was only an analyst at Accenture, in my second year of my career. The manager I reported to had just left the company unexpectedly the week before, and Megan convinced her boss, our client account lead, we didn’t need to replace her. She told him I would be able to step into the role, despite being two levels more junior.
Megan and I had been building a relationship before this change. She had been supportive of me for the whole year I had been with this client. Through coaching, she had helped me prepare for the role I was in, as we had gotten to know each other. Now that my direct manager had left, she had recommended that I get the chance to do this role. It was a bit of a risk for her, putting an analyst in a manager role, but she thought I was ready.
Because of her preparation and her support, I now had a chance to show what I could do. This was an opportunity that, if I performed well, would make a strong case that I should be promoted.
As I left the preparation meeting, I felt like I was ready to lead this client team. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, the coverage and support she was giving me to help me become successful was the next step in our sponsor-protégé relationship.
This relationship happened organically, as many sponsor-protégé relationships do, because we had proximity and mutual interests, and because both of us had prioritized building a relationship. I think it also helped that she had a knack for seeing opportunities and positioning me for them.
Now that I work at Signature Leaders, we seek to create these circumstances in our sponsorship programs. We initiate these relationships and create the opportunities for leaders to build trust. We teach sponsors what to look for, so they can identify role expansions or other visible work that their protégés can take on to set them up for bigger opportunities. Through real-life examples and sharing best practices, we have been successful in building better sponsors who can impact the careers of their protégés, like Megan did for me.
We call this stage of the Sponsorship Journey “Enrich” because sponsors are opening doors on new roles, or new relationships, that enrich the experience and network of their protégés. While they may not be advocating for promotions (yet), they are helping build the case and support for them. (Spoiler alert: I did get promoted to consultant that year, as a result of the success I had in this bigger and more visible role that my sponsor had pushed for me to get.)
Signature has been able to help companies build these sponsorship capabilities at scale to support the women in their Director-to-VP levels and prepare them for bigger roles. Even though the protégés are the ones targeted for development and support, it’s the sponsors who learn how to be great developers of future leaders.
Are the senior leaders in your organization intentionally building the future leaders of your organization?
About The Author
Robert Seymour: Partner & COO, Signature Leaders
Rob is a strong business operator with a passion for advancing women in leadership. This passion stems from watching Carol’s career evolve and observing the challenges that his wife faced, and others still face, as women advancing in their careers.
Carol’s unique approach to addressing these challenges, focused on providing the highest quality development experiences, compelled Rob to join Signature Leaders.
As Partner and COO of Signature Leaders, Rob drives operations, sales and marketing strategy, content development, and strategic initiatives. Rob oversees the team members at Signature Leaders responsible for program delivery and the Signature Collective, which focuses on alumni engagement. He manages about a dozen of Signature Leaders’ strategic client accounts, and he builds new offerings to meet the needs of all Signature clients. He also writes for Signature’s blog, and he edited and managed the production of Carol’s first book, Wisdom Warriors: Journeys Through Leadership and Life, which provides candid stories from over 70 accomplished business leaders, who share their hard-earned experiences to benefit the leaders rising through the ranks behind them.
In 2013, Rob began serving as the CFO for Signature Leaders while working full time as a Manager in Accenture’s Health practice. As a management consultant, Rob navigated clients through process and organizational changes during large-scale technology transformations.
Rob earned a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he pitched for Penn’s Varsity Baseball Team for four years. He and his wife, Michelle, live in Los Angeles with their daughter (Blake) and son (Bowen). Rob enjoys coaching sports for his children’s teams, playing golf, finding ways to stay fit, and taking on new challenges in the form of home improvement projects.
