Sponsorship to inspire inclusion with Bill Gatewood and Krishna Patel
Take a step back in time; International Women’s Day 2022 is coming up and in the diminishing shadow of the pandemic and various differing restrictions across ISC regions, we were brainstorming on how to make this year truly different from before. The last two years and enforced working from home had thrust the previously often hidden challenges that minorities groups face into the spotlight. From caring responsibilities to living/working conditions through to race relations across borders, we had universally gone through a period of increased awareness. However, awareness without action can often result in an increased feeling of discontentment for those who face additional challenge. Therefore, we decided an accelerator programme would be a great way to better support ISC members.
We opened applications for the pilot ISC Sponsorship Scheme on International Women’s Day 2022. The scheme was designed to match up applicants with sponsors internally and provide both sides with the tools to create a mutually beneficial relationship. Importantly, all the sponsors were men, not only to combat the gender sponsorship gap but also to facilitate education of how both parties experienced their day-to-day working life. Although less frequently referenced than mentoring, in a recent study by Oliver Wyman, 95% of respondents (made up of 160 female executives) cited a sponsor as critical to their career success. Sponsors can subtly level the playing field and counteract the unique barriers that women face [1]. Consequently, sponsorship is a powerful tool when it comes to furthering gender equity. However, the lack of women in senior positions comparative to men combined with the unintentional biases that thrive in informal structures, result in women having a very different experience of sponsorship to their male counterparts [2].
The programme ran with 70 participants for twelve months and we saw the impressive benefits that were available from sponsorship for both career development and culture, as echoed in a McKinsey study which said that ‘among senior women, 56 percent agreed that individual sponsorship is a key success factor’ [3]. Therefore, this year, with the theme of #inspireinclusion we decided to speak with Bill Gatewood, sponsor and Corporate Senior Vice President and Associate Director Krishna Patel from Burns & Wilcox, a pairing from the scheme, for International Women's Day to explore the relationship between sponsorship and inclusion.
Q. Who would you say sponsorship is for and who can be a sponsor?
Krishna: ‘Any high potential employee could use a sponsor but where I think you would make the most impact is underrepresented groups, women and people of colour. The reason that it is so critical is because they don't really have a seat at the table in most organisations or a sponsor that's there to advocate for you, give you visibility, find opportunities for you where you can advance the ranks. It's important to have schemes that help break some of those systemic barriers for us.
In terms of who could be a sponsor, well, I think it must be somebody like Bill who is already in a leadership position and already wielding power and influence in the company to bring you up with them. They can be in those rooms, advocating for you, defending you, finding opportunities for you to be able to get into those rooms or helping you build your skill sets. They're directly advancing your career and that takes a lot of work and effort, being a sponsor, as opposed to mentorship where it's like lightly guiding you. It's very proactive, which is what Bill was for me!’
Bill: ‘I think it's for almost anybody. I would say that I got a lot out of this myself. It gave me a different lens to view her experience which was really eye opening as I would never have thought the situation would be like this. Hearing her perspective and hearing her thoughts, it taught me a lot about how I dealt with my own employees. I now ask more questions and try to understand alternate perspectives because she and I had different experiences. We have different backgrounds. I'm old enough to be your dad but there was still a lot for me to continue learning.’
The Centre for talent innovation found that 71% of sponsors are the same race as their protégés. With 61% of C- Suite positions held by white men, we run into the issue of limited insight and shared experience when it comes to fully maximising the impact of our inclusion efforts. However, this wasn’t the case for Bill and Krishna, their relationship helped combat their own biases and overcome any assumptions to build a greater understanding of each other’s experiences in the workplace. [4]
Q. How does sponsorship help colleagues better relate to each other and understand different experiences? -
Bill: 'It gave me a real view into how she sees the company and how she sees the world and experiences it. Potentially some of the things that have held her back a little bit, fear or whatever it might be, but things that have prevented her from achieving all the things that she wanted to achieve.'
Krishna: 'When I first thought of the sponsorship and being teamed up with Bill, I thought “well, we're complete opposites”. He has a lot more experience in the industry, in life. There were so many things that made me doubt it was going to work. But after the first few sessions we had, we shared a lot of personal anecdotes relating to our work lives, and found we had a lot that we were able to relate to even though we were so opposite. The struggles that I was bringing up, it felt like he truly understood, had potentially seen it himself or had helped somebody else through them before. We were really able to connect.
Just having him look at what I was going through with his lens was super valuable to me as he offered a completely new perspective. Because of that we were able to like identify pockets of opportunities, things I would never even have thought about.'
Q. How would you say sponsorship can impact culture?
Krishna: ‘Companies that have sponsorship opportunities are fundamental to building a culture of trust and empowerment. I remember we were in a meeting, and I brought up this ‘little’ facilitation that I have to do with a bunch of leaders. Bill stopped me and said; “don't say that, think about what a powerful opportunity this is for you and how you can make yourself visible in that meeting”. That was a turning point for me. Ever since then, every single project I get, no matter how big or little, I look at it through the lens that he provided, which is; “how can I use this to my advantage, to help me progress in my career”. Another shift was the level of confidence I had in everything I was working on. Having a leader that's looking after you, that wants the best for you was really empowered for me to go, make that call, take that jump like I wouldn't have before.
From a wider lens, I think it can really help develop a culture that's inclusive by levelling the playing field, have having a sponsor that's in a leadership position advocating for you and recognising your contributions.’
Bill: 'I think the sponsor has an opportunity to do a couple of things. One, they can articulate what the company culture is and share that from a from a higher level in a way that maybe doesn't get picked up by all employees everywhere. We really do want an inclusive culture. We really do want to hear lots of voices. You have an opportunity to reinforce that with the folks that you're sponsoring. On the flip side of that, there's a much bigger opportunity to look at the culture and contrast it with the person that you're sponsoring and say; “OK is this working exactly the way we want it to?” You can have an idea of what you want your culture to be, but if it isn't working for everyone, you have an immediate reflection coming back from the person that you're sponsoring. Krishna was able to mirror back to me her cultural experience, how she felt and what sort of limitations that she felt she had, even if they were self-imposed. We’re then in a position to start shifting the bigger culture when you see “OK, this, this may or may not be working for everybody, why is that?”” and do we need to have more communications with folks like Krishna? Do we need to bring them into more meetings? Do we need to give them more projects?”
I think we get so caught up in the day to day that we lose perspective of the strategic benefits of these decisions, not less the benefit to our high performing employees that can both reflect and form part of an open and inclusive culture.’
Two main barriers to inclusive culture are underlying biases and unequal access to opportunities however true interpersonal connection cannot be underestimated as a solution to both. Bill and Krishna are testament to the power of vulnerability and shared experience when levelling the playing field and creating an inclusive culture.
[2] Jill Armstrong, Women Collaborating with Men, inclusive networking and sponsorship
[4] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace | https://seramount.com/articles/why-women-need-effective-sponsorship-to-advance-their-careers/#:~:text=A%20sponsor%20is%20an%20advocate,put%20their%20reputation%20behind%20you.
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