Mentor, Advocate, or Sponsor?
Let's talk about three important types of people you need in your network. You need mentors, advocates, and sponsors.
You might be thinking: What's the difference? How do I find these people? Below I will give you a description of each and where to find them. Let's get started...
Mentor
How many times have you told yourself you need to find a mentor? Yep me too. Let's dig into what a mentor looks like. A mentor can be defined as trusted counselor or guide or teacher.
You should find a mentor that has your best interest in mind.
Your mentor should have experience. Be mindful that experience is not always synonymous with age. This is how mentoring can be seen as a two-way street because you can always be in the position to become a mentee.
Based on this experience your mentor should be able to give sound advice and impart wisdom to you.
You can have more than one mentor given your specific goals or needs.
Mentors can be found through conferences, workshops, among peers, in your discipline or within your family.
Advocate
Now this next person..... we do not realize we need. An advocate is a person who supports and promotes a cause or group. This support can come in the form of speaking or writing.
You should seek out a person that is authentically interested in you and your cause.
Advocates see potential and do what they can to help you reach your goals.
Advocates give a voice to those who feel like they are not in a position to speak. Basically, a defender.
How can you find advocates? They can be a variety of people such as a colleague, supervisor or mentor.
Sponsor
A sponsor is a person who vouches or is responsible for a person or thing. In essence they are always talking about your accolades or projects to others.
Your sponsor should be familiar with your work and long-term goals. That means you need to keep a running log of what you are doing and update them periodically.
You will find that a sponsor will always find ways to introduce you to a variety a people given information you have shared with them.
Sponsors have a wide network and speak up for you even when you are not in the room.
These characteristics are helpful to keep in mind when finding or identifying a sponsor. But... most of the time a sponsor will find you and they tend to speak to your future.
As you put together your network remember to seek out mentors .......guides, advocates.......potential pushers, and sponsors.......speak to the future.
