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Build an Employee Sponsorship Program

Address barriers to career advancement and leadership diversity through intentional sponsorship.

  • Fulfilling commitments to leadership diversity and DEI relies on using leadership diversity goals to identify and address barriers and biases in talent management programs that identify and develop future leaders. With the use of coaches and mentors, the focus tends to be on improving the competencies of underrepresented talent, but these are ultimately development methods and do little to address organizational-level barriers and biases.
  • While many leaders likely engage in informal advocacy and sponsorship of individuals in their own networks, this is prone to perpetuating “like me” bias and gaps in leadership diversity and does little to dismantle organizational barriers and biases.

Executive Summary

Critical Insight

Intentional sponsorship, rooted in equity and inclusion, shatters glass ceilings. Formal sponsorship is a mechanism to empower and uplift high-potential employees who are often overlooked, improving leadership diversity, retention, and engagement.

Impact & Result

  • Set meaningful and targeted sponsorship program goals, customized to meet the needs of the employee segments who would benefit most from sponsorship and are currently underrepresented in leadership.
  • Establish a program structure that is aligned with employee needs and program goals.
  • Outline selection and matching processes and offer ongoing support to enable effective sponsorship relationships.
  • Continuously monitor and iterate the sponsorship program as appropriate to reflect changing needs.

Research & Tools

1. Establish the need for sponsorship

Assess organizational readiness for sponsorship, identify employee segments that would benefit most from sponsorship, and determine program goals and metrics.

2. Design the sponsorship program

Establish sponsorship program structure and determine selection criteria, sourcing methods, and matching criteria.

3. Implement and monitor the program

Develop program action and communication plan, launch the program, and plan to monitor and iterate, as needed.