Mentor | Caroline Dowd-Higgins

You Should Have Mentors and Sponsors

September 12, 2011 By Caroline Dowd-Higgins Leave a Comment

Sponsorship is becoming more main stream and savvy women and men should be on the lookout for those who can assist them in moving upwards on their career journey. While a mentor can answer your questions and advise on how to navigate the organizational landscape, a sponsor will actually get you there.

A sponsor knows your accomplishments well and will sell you to others that do not know you in your organization and beyond. Your sponsor puts her (or his) reputation on the line for you and gives you a professional endorsement that gives you clout and credibility. You may actually spend more contact time with your mentor discussing your innermost doubts and issues but your sponsor is willing to put her name out there for you in order to help you advance.

It’s important to keep your sponsor well informed about your accomplishments so she can go to bat for you and recommend you for key projects that will help you distinguish yourself in the organization. Is it possible to have a sponsor and a mentor? Yes, and you should look for both.

Finding a sponsor is a more delicate task. You should seek out someone in your organization that is well respected and influential. Once you identify a potential sponsor, introduce yourself, earn her trust and respect, and then begin to share your value-add with strategic information about your accomplishments and goals within the organization.

You must be courageous in developing new relationships while searching for a sponsor. Reach across generational, gender, and racial boundaries to develop new and meaningful professional relationships. Your sponsor will most likely be a stretch relationship while your mentor may be a personal confidant with whom you already share a lot in common.

Securing a sponsor also focuses on the need to develop professional relationships internally and externally in your career field. You should be innovative in managing up and getting to know people beyond your rank and pay grade in your organization as this is the most likely talent pool for a sponsor. Someone who is a lateral counterpart will not have the clout you need to help you move upwards and serve as a sponsor.

Another strategy is to become more visible by volunteering to work on key projects that prospective sponsors will also be involved in. Distinguish yourself, be a consummate professional, and make your potential sponsor also look good, and you will earn the opportunity to ask a sponsor to consider you as a protégé.

Remember, sponsorship must be earned so it’s imperative to build a relationship with respect so you can demonstrate your worth and value to the organization. A sponsor won’t put their reputation on the line by endorsing you unless they are confident in your abilities to go above and beyond.

Filed Under: Career Wisdom Tagged With: board of directors, manage down, manage up, mentor, respect, sponsor

Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor?

May 10, 2010 By Caroline Dowd-Higgins 5 Comments

I had the great pleasure of attending a webinar by Carolyn Wiethoff, professor at the IU Kelley School of Business and an expert on organizational behavior. She gave some startling statistics about how women still earn between 60-80% of what men are earning in the same positions across different career fields. Her research attributes this to the good old boys club, male dominated work cultures, and overt discrimination, which are not new issues for 2010. What surprised me was her report that some women are also lacking breadth in their work projects such as opportunities to work on international assignments and complex cases because some bosses feel they might not be able to handle it due to family constraints.

While research supports that women do prefer positions with flexibility, it’s also important for women to ask for what they want in a work environment. Men are 58% more likely to ask for a higher starting salary when an offer is made while most women just take the job, as is. Women who do reach the pinnacle of C-level or executive positions are often considered oddities referred to as the female doctor, or female CEO. I’ve never heard a single reference about a male CEO. I find it unsettling that in 2010 women have not advanced significantly in the equality arena and are still openly discriminated against in the workforce similar to conditions decades ago.

But, my take-away optimistic hope from Wiethoff is that from here on out we need to redefine equality. Women should be encouraged to seek out male mentors and role models (in addition to women!) to integrate in the male dominated work environments. When men and women both take advantage of flex time, maternity/paternity and family leave, we will move closer to this not being something that only women have to do in order to take care of their families. I look forward to the day when telecommuting and utilizing technology to accomplish the job virtually are acceptable options for all and not special dispensations for a limited few.

Lastly, Wiethoff shared that the generation of young women entering the workforce now are more focused than their predecessors on work/life balance and choose careers that empower them to raise families and lead quality lives out of the office. Once again it all comes down to values and what you prioritize and cheers to these women for knowing what they want. All women and especially those who consciously choose the path of the C-level executive because it fits their values and provides gratification, should ask for more money and you will probably get it! The book It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor by Rebecca Shambaugh is worth checking out.

Filed Under: Career Wisdom Tagged With: discrimination, equality, flexibility, glass ceiling, mentor, network, role models, values

Rebecca Carlson, Publisher: Purely Delicious Magazine

April 11, 2010 By Caroline Dowd-Higgins 8 Comments

Many people look for new careers because they are unsatisfied with their jobs, not in touch with their passion, or completely burnt out. Rebecca Carlson was very happy with her career as an Art & Creative Director in the advertising world. She was playing to her strengths but feeling extremely run down, depressed and often unable to get out of bed which was unusual for this active, athletic and vibrant woman. Following a trip to Jamaica, her symptoms rapidly progressed to the point where she lost the feeling in her legs and found it difficult to grasp a pencil with her hand. She decided it was time to visit her doctor to see what was wrong – thinking she had pinched a nerve or something of that nature. After weeks of medical testing, countless MRIs, and two spinal taps, her doctors revealed the heartbreaking diagnosis… Multiple Sclerosis. [Read more...]