Andréa Carter is the SEVP and CHRO for Global Payments Inc., a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions.
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The year 2020 will go down in history as, among other things, the year of lost connectivity.
Sure, we mastered the art of Zoom meetings, hosted online parties and had virtual reunions with long-lost friends, prompting many to think that connectivity increased. However, that interpersonal, sometimes spontaneous, connectivity between families, friends and colleagues — the kind that builds, not just sustains, relationships — all but disappeared for many of us. In our professional lives, run-ins in the break room, quick elevator catch-ups and impromptu lunch breaks are now nonexistent, as our workdays are spent at home and prescribed primarily by the meetings on our calendar.
With so much socialization lost, employees are not just missing camaraderie but also those all-too-critical, organic career-building moments that were commonplace in the pre-pandemic working world. Access to senior executives, quick “pop-ins” with a boss or squeezing in time to seek career advice has never been harder.
But, after a year when many faced job insecurities, reckoned with social and workplace biases or just started thinking about new paths, the need for connectivity to support career growth has never been greater.
For both employers and employees in 2021, I believe a deliberate focus on mentorship and sponsorship will be key to ensuring that we all continue to grow and advance. Connectivity through both mentorship and sponsorship builds stronger, innovative and more diverse teams.
Mentorship Matters For Careers
Mentorship is an important part of career growth, especially for those at the outset of their careers or in mid-level positions. A good mentor acts as a mirror, helping a working professional ask: Who am I? Where am I in my career? What do I want to do? And how do I get there?
Found either inside or outside one’s organization, mentors give career advice and personal feedback, making connections between professionals with shared interests and career goals. Mentorship can help new employees build confidence in their skills or aid seasoned team members in finding allies no matter the project they take on next.
Mentorship matters so much more in our new working environment as we trade large meet-ups for smaller circles and substantive conversations. But where does one start? Strong networking leads to potential mentors. Even as networking events look different today, my favorite advice for networking remains the same: connect four. While speaking, find four things you connect with the other person on — industry interests, similar families, a passion for cooking, a previous vacation spot. And when parting ways from that first meeting, connect four again: Find four ways to follow up. A short email can be accompanied by a LinkedIn request, a thank you note and even an invite for a quick phone call. We will need to stay creative in how we seek, build and sustain connectivity through 2021, including with new or existing mentors.
With the right mentor by your side, connectivity is not lost in a world of social distance and remote work. Mentors help employees feel seen and heard both at work and outside the office.
Seek A Sponsor For Role Advancement
While mentorship focuses on the lifespan of a career beyond a specific job, sponsorship is more discrete and largely myopic in scope and duration. A sponsor’s main goal is to help the sponsored employee climb the ladder within their current organization. While mentors may not work with their mentee, a sponsor must work in the same company (but not be a direct manager), be established and well-respected in their own right and have a direct view into organizational succession planning and/or the promotion process.
Sponsors are there to be a helping hand and extended voice — unlocking opportunities, demystifying advancement criteria and processes and ensuring that light shines on an employee’s skills and ambitions as growth at the company is discussed. As we embark on a new year, companies should seriously consider assigning sponsors to high-potential employees to ensure success planning that is not only beneficial to the company’s bottom line but also their commitment to culture and diversity.
Where mentors may help overcome office connectivity in remote work routines, sponsorship allows companies to commit to growing their leadership in a sustainable and inclusive way. Selecting high-potential women and Black, Indigenous or people of color to be sponsored by company leaders ensures that future boards, C-suites and executive levels of companies will grow to reflect the communities they serve and address gaps in diversity — an ongoing demand made clear yet again in 2020.
Offering Your Employees Both
As companies look to prepare for a better 2021, employee growth and connectivity cannot be overlooked. Leadership must offer and promote both mentorship and sponsorship opportunities, as each is critical to building a diverse, self-sustaining and productive team no matter where work is happening.
Employees may partake in both mentorship and sponsorship at the same time or may be years away from a sponsorship conversation, but are active in their mentorship relationship. Regardless, pairing these two relationship opportunities — one that hinges on organic networking and the other that often benefits from formal assignment and therefore increased accountability — is a vital step forward in increasing connectivity across all levels of the office at a time when it’s still unknown when the next hallway conversation may take place.
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