When you’re in the room where it happens, are you willing to be a sponsor for someone who’s not?
The meeting was usually straight forward
I was sitting at a long conference table, with about a dozen other volunteer board members.
The task before us was to select the winners of various annual awards, to honour members of our curling club.
I had participated in similar sessions before. They had been pretty straight forward.
The first step was for a side committee to manage the nomination process. That committee reviewed all of the submissions, and sent their recommended list to the Board. Then the Board would formally receive the list, record it, and agree to it. That was it – usually.
But this time it wasn’t that easy. This time I learned what it meant to be a sponsor for someone.
Her name wasn’t on the list
I love structure. I appreciate having a process set in our bylaws.
But there isn’t a fully objective mathematical calculation or a grading rubric for the awards. Like anything involving human beings, there is subjectivity involved.
It’s an acknowledgement of the role of subjectivity that we were even meeting. It was to allow an actual discussion.
That night, I had walked in assuming that a particular person would be honoured, so I was stunned when her name wasn’t even on the list! Through whatever hiccup in the process, her name hadn’t made it to the step of the Board discussion. And it turned out, her name hadn’t made it to the committee.
To champion for her wouldn’t be easy
To champion for her, I had to not only present a persuasive case for her to be selected, I had to present a persuasive case for her to be consider at all, given it seemed like a deviation from following a step-by-step process.
She hadn’t asked me to say anything. She and I hadn’t talk about the awards at all.
But I felt very strongly that she needed someone to speak for her in a closed meeting. I felt compelled to do so, even if it risked my own capital and reputation with the group. Was I going to be seen as disrespectful and a trouble-maker?
Supporting someone even when it feels uncomfortable
I took many deep breaths and then spoke up. I was nervous yet hopeful as I presented my case. And I tried to remain steady and open as others reacted.
In the end, the group reached a decision in her favour!
I was grateful to my colleagues for giving it consideration and for being open to new perspectives.
I was also drained. The element of sponsorship that I hadn’t understood until then, was the intensity of the feeling of going out on a limb for someone. It’s not just supporting them, but doing so when it feels uncomfortable and disruptive.
Exercise for your sponsorship muscle
So here is an exercise to strengthen your sponsorship muscle:
- Today, identify a colleague or teammate. List about 3 things they’ve done in the last few months that others may not have noticed.
- Then, decide on a way to reach out to their boss or your boss.
- Through the week, be intentional with sharing your list.
- At the end of the week, notice how easy or hard it was to make the list, and how you felt when you shared it.
