Effective Sponsorship Sponsors | Vernā Myers

Vernā Myers

Effective Sponsorship for Sponsors

Understanding the role of a Sponsor and what it means to be an ally.

Effective Sponsorship Sponsors

An organization’s ability to attract and keep great talent, remain competitive, relevant, and prosperous in the future depends on its ability to cultivate diverse people on every level of the company, especially at the top. This requires senior leaders taking on the job of sponsoring not only people who are most like them, but also sponsoring individuals who may be very different from them. This dynamic video course teaches skills for sponsoring across difference for sponsors.

This course is designed to be used for all Sponsorship relationships, at all levels. Vernā defines the role of sponsors and discusses the challenges of sponsoring across difference. She describes three key approaches to successfully sponsoring across difference: Be open to commonalities and differences; keep your standards high; and check your biases and the biases of others in the workplace. Using stories and examples, Vernā teaches sponsors how to overcome challenges, recognize and counter biases and how to advocate for protégés.  She shares concrete tips with sponsors to ensure that they are proactive and know how to support the protégés in their organizations.

This course is also available for group training, including a facilitator training manual. Call 443-438-7060 or email the TVMC team to purchase bulk seats.

What's Included

The Effective Sponsorship Across Difference for Sponsors course is comprised of 8 short chapters that build upon one another and has a run time of approximately 36 minutes. It can be watched in its entirety in one session or over a period of time.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the importance of senior leaders sponsoring across difference for the organization’s success
  • Be able to distinguish between a sponsorship role versus a mentor or coaching role
  • Learn how to communicate with, and build trust with, your protégé
  • Begin to recognize and interrupt biases and stereotypes in yourself and in others
  • Learn how to effectively advocate for your protégé

Chapter Outline

  1. Introduction to Effective Sponsorship Across Difference for Sponsor
  2. What is Sponsorship?
  3. Sponsorship Across Differences
  4. Successful Approaches for Sponsoring Across Differences
  5. Advocating Across Difference
  6. Applying the Concepts
  7. Vignette Debrief
  8. Takeaways for Effective Sponsors

Printable Handouts

  • 9 Takeaways for Effective Sponsorship Across Difference for Sponsors
  • Building an Effective Sponsorship Relationship – Getting Started
  • Building an Effective Sponsorship Relationship – Questions for Sponsors to Consider
  • Resources