Research has proven time and time again that the main reason people leave jobs is their manager, and a lack of career development opportunities. In a nutshell, managers who do not support the career development of their whole team equally, are a definite catalyst to losing a company’s best talent.
As a woman starting out in the Law industry, it was made very clear to me the hurdles I would have to jump through; the mountains I would have to move just to receive the same opportunities as my male colleagues. These unnecessary struggles that I, and many other women, had to endure had the power to knock me out of the race. I could have relented to the systematic inequality and accepted that I would never progress as fast, or potentially as far, because I wasn’t part of the ‘boys club’.
However, I was lucky enough to build, what would prove to be, invaluable relationships with experienced leaders, who absolutely supported, invested in, and developed my career. And now, I have personally seen how that support helped me to see strengths I didn’t know I had, as well as give me the courage to take risks and try new things.
When I reflect on the early phases of my career, I have realised that these leaders were informally my sponsors. Effectively, it was what the contribution of those leaders, that made a huge difference to my career progression.
My first sponsor was my line manager who encouraged me to step out of a specialist legal role and move into Diversity and Inclusion. Before that, my whole identity was as a ‘lawyer’. I had never thought of doing anything else. My line manager encouraged me to move into a role that was more strategic and about influencing culture and behaviour change. Most importantly, he loudly advocated for me so that others had the confidence I could succeed in this area. As I developed new skills and was exposed to new people across the business, I had the re-assurance that I could ask my ‘sponsor’ the silly questions if I needed to.
My second sponsor was formed after many years of working together. While this sponsor was an integral part of my success in my role at the time, he remains to this day, one of my most active mentors and champions. Career advocacy is potent within organisations, however it is also highly impactful at building your networks and reputation outside of the organisation. When you build deep and trusted relationships, they can endure for many years, or even the rest of your career, and morph and change with the steps you take.
I know that I was lucky to have some extra-ordinary leaders along my journey to help shape and advance my career. But the reality is that this experience is not as easily accessible for most women and it’s too important to leave it to luck and hope for the best.
Today, I wanted to remove the element of luck and have a more structured approach to career guidance, employee opportunity and company progression. One that offers transparency, builds bonds between management and employees, provides career opportunity and lets businesses thrive. That business is Cultivate and the approach is sponsorship, which provides a more rounded approach to building corporate change than informal mentorship.
With me is Co-founder & Director of Cultivate, PhD Dr Natalie Galea. As a part of her PHD, she studied the interactions of males and females in the construction industry to understand what contributed to male career progression. Her research proved that informal networks of sponsorship more often accelerated the careers of young males. Informally sponsorship happens organically in companies when male leaders take an interest in the work and progression of younger males. The investment in getting to know their strengths and aspirations pays off in advocacy for key projects.
My professional experiences combined with Natalie’s research became the catalyst for change- a chance to level the playing field. Cultivate Sponsorship is a high impact tech enabled sponsorship program that helps both companies and individuals to develop, to create meaningful career progression and hence retain their people.
Over a period of seven months, cultivate takes the sponsor and sponsee on a journey of curated content, learning and development, while nurturing a strategic relationship within the business.
Cultivate is grounded in Australian research but it’s globally valid and can be used by people all around the world.
Discover how you can transform career opportunities with a whole company approach that builds cultural change, talk to us today at: [email protected]