“You can’t depend on text to build your connection. Email won’t cut it.”
One Senior Sponsor in our sponsorship program gave that advice to another, then continued,
“You need to spend quality one-on-one time on Zoom, if you can’t be in person. You need to be very intentional about getting to know them as a person, what they care about, and what takes up their thinking time, both inside and outside of work. You need to understand their gifts so you can use that to help open doors.”
Moving into Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day (March 8th), we discovered the International Women’s Day theme for 2024: Inspire Inclusion.
When you hear the words “inspire inclusion,” what comes to mind?
For me, it’s the approach I take when coaching my daughter’s 6U softball team. The league rules are the definition of inclusion:
- Girls rotate positions in the field to give everyone a turn to play every position.
- Each girl bats in every inning, and you rotate so no one always bats first and no one always bats last.
- If you don’t hit the ball pitched by the coach after 3-4 swings, you hit off a tee so you can still participate.
- (Most importantly, everyone gets a snack after the game!)
These kids are young, and they are learning, so it is great to give everyone a chance to participate. The goal is that they have enough fun to come back and play again next year.
But what happens when we move into a more competitive environment, whether it is a more advanced level of athletics or the business world? We don’t give everyone an opportunity to be CEO for the day―opportunities must be earned, and inclusion becomes more complicated.
The International Women’s Day theme of “Inspire Inclusion” is a great choice for this year. At Signature Leaders, we have always built our programs with the goal of making them for women, but not about women. While we teach good leadership, the content is not gender-biased. However, we started Signature because we believe companies would be better off if they could attract, retain, and develop women more intentionally. The percentage of women leaders at the director level and above drops off sharply from the percentage of women who participate in the workforce at the levels below director.
As we continued to create an outsized impact for the leaders who attended our programs, we began to hear a few situations that were concerning. Despite the great work these leaders were doing and the applied leadership capabilities from our programs, some were still being passed over, again and again, for the biggest leadership roles. What was missing? Simply, sponsorship was missing through the form of male allies who were the senior-most leaders in the organizations. Those who had good sponsorship relationships with top leaders were getting opportunities, but those who didn’t were not.
As one leader put it, “I was no one’s problem, but I came to realize I was also no one’s priority.”
She meant that she was performing well―she was good at her role―she wasn’t a problem for anyone. But, she wasn’t getting the investment from senior leaders or the visibility to senior leaders to become someone’s priority, and she eventually left the company.
How do you inspire inclusion?
First, we have to recognize that companies are not living, breathing entities―they are made up of people who have their own biases. Many biases have been studied that may impact companies―there are two that we see working against companies who are aiming to put the best talent in the right positions to make the company successful. One is known as affinity bias, and the other is known as status quo bias.
- Affinity bias – Though often subtle, affinity bias holds significant implications in the business world, hindering the progress of individuals who don’t fit conventional molds or lack shared experiences with those in positions of power. The affinity bias tends to favor individuals who share similar backgrounds, interests, or characteristics with decision-makers, inadvertently sidelining talented individuals from underrepresented groups.
- Status quo bias – This bias often leads decision-makers to default to familiar processes and traditions, favoring continuity over innovation. Status quo bias can impede the advancement of individuals who challenge established norms, propose unconventional ideas, or have different perspectives that change the ease with which leaders come to a consensus.
When the goal of an organization is to create a meritocracy where anyone (who demonstrates the capabilities required for leadership roles) has the opportunity to achieve them, it is often not the work that rising leaders do that differentiates them. Instead, it is who knows what they are capable of.
This is where affinity bias makes its biggest mark and where we see the opportunity to address it through sponsorship programs. If a leader shares characteristics of senior leaders, they are often the first to be “taken under their wing,” leading to more doors being opened and greater opportunities for advancement. By connecting senior leaders to people they would not normally have an affinity for, we are creating new relationships that these protégées would not have had the opportunity to develop without the push of a formal program.
But, if leaders are open to new perspectives―if they can overcome the status quo bias―they can benefit greatly. One Senior Sponsor, a CHRO at a global company, shared this:
“Seeing and hearing the perspectives through the eyes of my protégée was enlightening.
It affected the way I ended up implementing some of the changes I had been planning.”
As we aim to Inspire Inclusion throughout Women’s History Month and on International Women’s Day, I want to remind you of the 6U softball team. Not every player is going to get a softball scholarship to play at university, but we can’t know that at this point in their softball careers. If I only focus on the girls who are tall because I was tall at that age (affinity bias) and played in college, I may miss an opportunity to coach up the next superstar.
“Come hear an approach that doesn’t limit who can be a sponsor,
but instead increases the opportunities for who can be sponsored.”
Whether or not your company has a formal sponsorship program, we encourage you to seek out a talented leader who is 1-2 levels below you within your organization. Pick someone you don’t know well―maybe someone not like you. See what you can do to open doors, inspire inclusion, and help them grow, and we think you’ll be surprised by how much they can help you grow.
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.
