Mentors and Sponsors Throughout Your Career

According to the book “Your Career Game: How Game Theory Can Help You Achieve Your Professional Goals,” what we need from mentors and sponsors will change over the course of our careers. 

Traditional mentoring relationships, where a senior professional advises a junior protégée, occur early in one’s career. This can be in areas such as office politics, corporate culture, professional image, as well as any aspect of the job itself. Other benefits of mentoring relationships include role modeling, encouragement and strategic introductions. 

Sometimes mentors are needed to help fill a specific professional gap. Many larger companies even have structured mentoring programs where formal matches are made and regular check-ins are expected. These programs often result in higher company retention rates and greater employee satisfaction while those in mentoring relationships may land quicker stretch assignments, promotions and pay raises. 

Since drastic career changes occur through our lifespan, the mentor protégée relationship is no longer based on age but more on experience and knowledge that can be shared with those new to a company or field.

Directly asking someone to be your mentor can be awkward. Consider slowly developing a relationship. Invite a higher-level professional to lunch, to be a guest speaker or serve on a panel. Approach a respected colleague for professional advice or with a specific question. Be respectful of their time and open to their feedback. Always follow up with outcomes of previous advice or discussions. Be mindful of ways you can give back to the relationship, perhaps by reverse mentoring on new technology, some aspect of social media or sharing industry relevant articles. 

By mid-career, it is strategic to have sponsors or colleagues at a higher level who will use their influence to pull you along or advocate on your behalf. Often mentoring and sponsoring relationships are formed because individuals have a common interest (attended the same college, volunteered for same charity) or simply because junior members remind the more senior members of themselves.

By late career, we should seek higher-level professionals who can be brutally honest with us about our strengths and weaknesses, confront us about our failures and challenge our thinking. This is also when we need to be conscious of giving back and serving as a mentor. It can often be a rewarding experience and keep us from getting stale late in our careers.

Consciously manage your career and be strategic throughout career stages regarding what you need to maneuver challenges and be successful.