Sponsorship is a crucial element in women progressing professionally. Perry et al. (2019) defines sponsorship and explains the benefits of such a relationship:
“Sponsorship is defined as support from an individual in a highly influential leadership position. A sponsor advocates for, protects the interests of and fights for the career advancement of the protégé. ... Experience form both business and academic medicine suggest that sponsorship is critical breaking through the glass ceiling and enabling career advancement of individuals from lower-level to high-level leadership roles”.
This definition suggests that sponsorship happens between someone in an elevated-position and a protégé. However, I would recommend expanding our paradigm to build networks of women who consistently encourage each other to apply for advanced positions, share with leaders the effective qualities of talented colleagues or nominate individuals for awards in order to build women’s careers.
An example of sponsorship that has been meaningful in my life is reflected in the relationship I have with Jessica Hill, a cognitive psychologist in the Behavioral Science department at UVU. About two years ago, Jessica and I agreed that we would watch for opportunities that would help each other grow our careers. Jessica suggested that I apply to the Utah Valley Senior Executive Leadership Forum at UVU; I applied. The transformative experience hugely impacted my vision of myself, both my strengths and areas of needed improvement as well as helped me create a vision for my future career. In addition, I created relationships with President Tuminez and the President’s Cabinet that I hope to continue to build upon.
During Fall 2019, I discovered UWHEN was calling for nominations for the state awards to be given at the April 2020 state conference. Immediately, I called Jessica and suggested that I wanted to nominate her for the UWHEN Mentoring Award and she agreed. During Spring 2020, Jessica was awarded the 2020 UWHEN Mentoring Award.
Ultimately, our sponsorship resulted in Jessica and me receiving three additional awards (two UVU awards and one national award) out of four applications. Furthermore, my sponsoring relationship with Jessica has grown our careers and changed our vision of professional and personal selves.
Perry, R. E., & Parikh, J. R. (2019). Sponsorship: a proven strategy for promoting career advancement and diversity in radiology. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 16(8), 1102-1107.