It’s Not a Pipeline Issue, It’s a Sponsorship Issue (Part 1)

How Sponsorship Can Impact Your Career and Your Company’s DE&I

Often when we talk about diversity (or lack thereof) in our organizations, we hear the same things from leaders, “We don’t get the applicants, it’s a pipeline issue.” Here to challenge this idea is Jhaymee Tynan. Jhaymee is an Enterprise AVP in Integration for Atrium Health. She is also the Founder of 100x2030, a career initiative committed to sponsoring 100 women of color by 2030. In addition, Jhaymee hosts a video series, Amplify Your Career where she speaks about how women of color can amplify their careers through sponsorship.

Jhaymee believes that lack of diversity is not a pipeline issue, it’s a sponsorship issue and that leadership must commit to amplifying the careers of others.

I spoke to her about just that, along with asking her how others can get involved in 100x2030. Below is part of my interview with her. Stay tuned for part two where we really get into how you or your organization can get involved in a commitment to sponsoring women of color. You can also check out the whole video interview here.

Jocelyn: Jhaymee, tell us a little more about yourself and your 100x2030 initiative. 

Jhaymee: A lot of people when they hear about my initiative they really want to understand the catalyst behind why I started 100x2030, so I’ll touch on that a little bit. When I think back to the times that I have been sponsored in my career, every time has been transformational for me. 

How I ended up in this role as Enterprise AVP was through sponsorship, I had some very senior folks at Atrium Health that believed in my potential, they wanted to give me structured assignments, and they wanted to give me exposure and visibility across our organization. Through that I was able to demonstrate my ability to operate at an executive level and that led to some opportunities and ultimately a promotion which was fantastic.

When I think about other women, women in general but specifically women of color, and I think about their career goals and aspirations and how they plan to get there, I want to make sure that everyone understands that sponsorship should absolutely be a part of their plan. Finding sponsors, nurturing those relationships, and most importantly leveraging those relationships to get the visibility and exposure that they need to advance to the next level.

Jocelyn: When I first heard about your initiative, I think I had the question a lot of people have and that is what is the difference between a mentor and a sponsor?

Jhaymee: It’s a very common question and I don’t ever get tired of answering it because I think it’s an important distinction. So when you think about a mentor most people are familiar with mentorship. It is very mainstream, it’s always talked about as a way to improve yourself and grow yourself. 

A mentor is someone you go to for advice. If I’m in a new role and I need to talk to someone to understand the political landscape where I work or maybe I need advice on who I should start networking with to get exposure, or perhaps I am navigating a difficult situation at work and I need some coaching on how to approach resolving that. I go to my mentor. That mentor is a safe place when you want to talk about sensitive topics around your career development and they can give you advice based on their own experience.

A sponsor is actually someone very different. They are your advocate. They tend to be senior level although they don’t have to be, but they are the person that when they are talking to their peers, and new opportunities are arising whether it is a new role that the organization is creating or a very high visibility project where they are looking for rising talent, that sponsor is in the room and saying,

“You know what, Jocelyn is the right person, I have worked with her, she is fantastic.”

They are amplifying you by putting your name in the hat for these opportunities.

Because of their power and their influence, they are able to get their peers to listen. Because I am sure in every organization, everyone’s clawing at that next opportunity. But the ones that get listened to, the ones that have a following, and the ones that are really amplifying other women and women of color and saying I think this person deserves that promotion or I think this person deserves that project, they are there to advocate for your advancement and your growth. They don’t typically serve as a coach or an advisor, they are there to say you know what there is a national award and I think you deserve it because you’ve done a great job and they nominate you for it. It’s more action oriented, it’s more about advocacy and helping you to advance.

Jocelyn: What are tips that you have for people who struggle with finding mentors and sponsors, do they just reach out and ask someone? 

Jhaymee: I would say there is generally, in my experience, two different time frames or timelines when it comes to developing relationships with mentors and sponsors. I have been in formal and informal programs where I have been matched with a mentor and of course we deepen our relationship over time but that matching happens very quickly. 

For a sponsor you really want that person to understand you as an individual and what your unique skills, knowledge, and abilities are. It has taken me a few years to really develop relationships with sponsors to where they feel comfortable advocating for me because it is a risky proposition for someone to put their name on the line for you.

If you want a mentor, I think most people who you would approach to be a mentor would be very flattered and excited to serve as a mentor for you. The higher up you go, it becomes more of a challenge with their availability and time to dedicate to the mentoring relationship. I think with mentorship you can make a direct ask and say hey, I really admired you, I would love it if you would serve as my mentor. The only caution I would give is to think about what you want that mentorship relationship to be. Is it a monthly connection, is it ad-hoc whenever you have a question or when you have something in your career and have someone to reach out to. So be very intentional about what you would like that relationship to look like. 

I would say for sponsorship, that relationship and that ask is a little bit different. I don’t ever recommend that people flat out and directly ask, “Will you be my sponsor?” because that’s a little bit of a weird and awkward ask. Typically I tell people, you ask for a sponsorship action. If you want to sit on a community board and you have a sponsor who could help you get that board seat, you would ask, “Can you nominate me for that board seat, or that project or speaking engagement?” And then naturally that continues to grow and develop until they become more of a sponsor for you. So it’s more of the ask for the sponsorship action than asking will you be my sponsor. And I think that makes it less awkward and more welcoming.

Jocelyn: You talk about it not being a pipeline issue and regarding that I recently heard two women speak about going to companies as consultants where they would say that they were missing a certain demographic from an underrepresented group and they look at the representation they are missing in the company and they always hear that it’s a pipeline issue. They said they haven’t had a single situation where they couldn’t find the people that were missing. They just went out into the community and spoke to those people to figure out how to get them to apply for those jobs or to be those candidates. Can you talk a little bit more about why you don’t think the issue of lack of diversity is a pipeline issue?

Jhaymee: I always say you need to be looking in the right places. My niece is the worst at losing things and my sister would tell her, “You need to go look for it.” My niece would say, “I’ve looked for it, I haven’t found anything.” And my sister would always say, “You need to be looking in the right places.” And that is absolutely true when it comes to wanting to increase representation in leadership. Of course if you don’t put the right effort and energy into looking you’re not going to find what you are looking for.

If you don’t understand what you need you’re not going to be able to find it. But if you look in the right places and you hold the right people accountable you absolutely can change the trajectory of your organization when it comes to DE&I. If you come up with no candidates that means you weren’t looking in the right places and you need to continue.

In part two with Jhaymee we will dive into how YOU can get involved in sponsoring women of color.