How Sponsorship Creates a Leadership Legacy: A Case Study

Sophie Olsen

A 2019, Harvard Business Review article by Herminia Ibarra highlighted that a lack of sponsorship is keeping women from advancing in leadership roles. Sponsorship is perhaps one of the most powerful tools in facilitating direct change in leadership diversity and can be used by any person in a senior leadership position. So what is it, why does it matter and how does it make a difference?

What is Sponsorship?

A sponsor is someone who advocates for your career and speaks up for you when you are not in the room. It differs from mentorship in that a mentor is someone who has experience or knowledge they can share with you. Sponsors are people at your workplace who use their position and political capital to help advance your career.

Why Does It Matter?

Research indicates that women are underrepresented in terms of sponsorship, perhaps most obviously because there are fewer women in our industry, but also because of the propensity to gravitate to people who are like ourselves. Men are more likely to sponsor other men, and with fewer women in senior leadership roles, there are less opportunities for sponsors of women.

The result is that women are not put forward for high impact roles or assignments that could provide exposure and experience which lead to promotion. In professional services, this could mean not being selected to run a complex project or to work on a challenging business assignment. Without these opportunities, women’s chances of gaining the necessary exposure and experience for C-suite roles is reduced.

How Formal Sponsorship Programs Can Help: A Case Study

Last year, SMEC partnered with Cultivate, a research-based organisation in Australia, to trial a female sponsorship program.

Six mid-career women were selected from across SMEC and paired up with a sponsor from SMEC’s executive team for an eightmonth program. The program covered topics such as getting to know each other, looking at values, strengths and goals, talking about leadership legacy and experiencing a day in the work life of the other person.

Kate Drews, who heads up SMEC’s 250-person strong Urban Communities business, talks about her experience as a sponsor for Sophie Olsen, Manager of Urban Communities in the ACT.

“I knew Sophie at the outset of the program but during the course I feel we got to know each other much better,” said Kate. “We explored strengths and values and learnt together through the program. This is an important element of sponsorship because if I am to advocate for someone, I need to know them well and understand their aspirations and capabilities. The Cultivate program helped us step through this in a manageable way.” Sophie was on maternity leave after the birth of her first child when she applied to be a part of the program.

“I’d been on maternity leave for nearly a year and was starting to get ready to come back to work when I received a personal email from our CEO James Phillis asking me if I would like to put my hand up for the program. Knowing my organisation and leaders were thinking about me made me feel confident about getting involved,” Sophie said.

“It was a good time for me to undertake the program as it gave me the chance to explore options upon returning to work and how to balance becoming a parent with leadership goals and aspirations.”

SMEC launched the Cultivate program in 2020, just before of the COVID-19 pandemic. All meetings were virtual, which presented a challenge for some program activities like shadowing each other for a day. The program was adapted to suit and even though Cultivate finished in 2020, Kate and Sophie still meet regularly for virtual catch ups.

What Were the Outcomes?

Since the end of the program, more than half the women who participated have been promoted to more senior leadership roles, including Sophie Olsen. That is the real intent of this program; to not just connect and build relationships, but to really turn the dial in increasing women’s leadership. This is important as we need more women in executive leadership roles and on boards because diversity has been proved to increase positive outcomes and results for organisations and communities.

SMEC intends to run the Cultivate program again in 2021 because of the tangible, positive impacts it has had in the organisation.

“For me personally, I can see this as a real way that I can leave a legacy,” said Kate Drews. “By bringing more women up behind me and supporting them to become leaders in our industry.”

Kate Drews SMEC