It takes a village to groom a leader.
Guess what? Transforming you into a leader is not the sole responsibility of your organization, no matter how talented and competent you are.
When I joined as a management trainee, I was delighted to know that I was assigned a mentor. My mentor nudged me to go beyond what was expected of me and showed me how to do it. He guided me to network within the organisation, be visible and deliver an engaging elevator pitch. Before I knew, I was gaining expertise and growing as a professional.
Unfortunately, I assumed that I will always be assigned mentors as I grow in my career.
The reality is that as we grow in seniority, formal mentorship set ups may or may not work to our advantage. We need to consciously work towards attracting and cultivating relationships with mentors who align with our aspirations and contribute to our growth.
Mentors, Sponsors and Champions
A truly involved mentor will guide your progress in ways you can’t on your own. However, you first need to be the person a mentor sees as worthy of his investment. Without that you won’t attract an involved mentor.
You also need people who advocate for you and let the world know about you and your work. They are your champions.
More importantly, you need sponsors. They are the people who don’t just advocate for you. They invest their social, political and financial capital in you. When they bet on you, they are putting their credibility at stake. They are directly responsible for taking your career to the next height.
So what does it take to attract mentors, sponsors and champions?
Daphne E Jones in her book “Win When they Say You Won’t”, suggests P.I.E framework to cultivate your network of stakeholders.
P stands for “Performance” – Doing your job well
I stands for “Image” – How people describe you
E stands for “Exposure” – Who knows you
Achieving the holy grail of P.I.E. is not rocket science, but it requires effort.
We often we put in all our eggs in one basket, namely, performance. Performance is necessary but not a sufficient condition to career growth.
Using formal and informal feedback to understand how you are perceived is a great way to curate your image. Yoshita Swarup has shared practical insights on leveraging feedback for growth in this Podcast and article by Bridge to Leadership.
To gain exposure, you need to put yourself out there. You can do it by taking on some projects outside your immediate scope of work. Have a strategy to show up on online and offline professional platforms. Creating a content strategy to showcase you interest and expertise is very rewarding.
Build Your Stakeholder Map
In order for people to help you, they need to be both interested in you or your project and have a certain amount of influence.
If either of them is missing, then you have work to do.
Here is how you can do it.
Go through the list of people in your circle and identify to what extent:
- Are they interested in your project – Mention low, mid, high against their names
- Have influence on your project – Mention low, mid, high against their names.
Now you have different combinations of interest and influence. Place them in the appropriate quadrant as per the above map.
- High Influence, High Interest – This is the cohort that will have an immediate impact on your progress
- Get and keep them highly engage
- Know their motivations i.e., answer their “What is in it for me” question
- Have a strong communication strategy for them
- Ensure they are an advocate
- High Influence, Low Interest – You want them in your corner. The strategy is to watch them closely in order to :
- Understand their possible motivations
- Identify opportunities to get them interested in your goal
- Turn them into advocates
- Low Influence, High Interest – Influence is fluid and can change over time. Be in touch with them
- Keep them informed on the status of your project or career progressions
- Know their motivations
- Low Influence, Low Interest – Here the strategy is to Re-assess
- Should they really be your stakeholders?
- Do you really need them?
- Check in once in a while to see if their interest or influence changes
Don’t ignore the detractors
Not everyone in your circle is in your corner.
You will need to know who your supporters and detractors are and ensure that you are aware of where and when they may affect your achievements.
You will win even when you have people working against you provided you can differentiate noise from information.
A lot of competition and microaggression is nothing but noise and needs to be ignored.
At times, this competition and microaggression gives you valuable information on how and when something can negatively impact you. You need to counter these obstacles with adjustments to plans, stakeholders and resources.
“If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.”
African Proverb
Wishing that you, gentle reader, go far and wide with your success and impact.
Resources to explore
- Blueprint to achieving your vision – Bridge to Leadership Podcast with Daphne E. Jones (Spotify and Apple)
- Win When They Say You Won’t – Book by Daphne E. Jones
- Give it to me straight – Article by Bridge to leadership
- Feedback a blessing for growth – Podcast with Yoshita Swarup (Spotify and Apple)
- How to find great mentors – Series by Strategytraining.com
Bridge to leadership 