Our next focus is on sponsoring women and men equally, promoting the skills of a diverse range of individuals for consideration in new opportunities. This is part of AXIS Networks Vision 2030 series, accelerating progress towards a fully inclusive and diverse industry.
Research shows that women are sponsored at a lower rate than men. Forbes finds that: men are 46 percent more likely than women to have a sponsor. Equalising these rates of sponsorship between men and women will help to increase diversity in the leadership levels of the industry.
What is sponsorship?
Sponsorship is different to mentoring. A sponsor will use their influence in their company on behalf of a person, recommending them for roles or positions that could enhance their experience, skillset or profile within the business. A sponsor will advocate for someone, usually in rooms where the person is not present to advocate for themselves.
Harvard Business Review defines the difference as: “While a mentor is someone who has the knowledge and will share it with you, a sponsor is a person who has power and will use it for you,
Mentoring and sponsoring are both important for advancing careers, but it’s sponsors that unlock doors, make useful introductions and provide a greater chance of progressing within a business. However, Harvard Business Review highlights a gender divide that needs to be addressed: “When it comes to this important distinction, the evidence is also clear: women tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored.”
Why is sponsorship important?
The business case for diversity in executive teams remains strong. AXIS Network set this out clearly in Vision 2030: We built the energy industry with diverse teams delivering better business results and also being more innovative.
Sponsoring women as equally as men will mean that more women will gain the experience, contacts and promotions to move closer to the executive teams. This will drive diversity at the top levels of the business making businesses and our industry more successful.
How do we make this happen?
Back in January 2020, Deloitte stated: 'we’ve asked every member of the global board and executive to sponsor at least one woman. We’re hoping these leaders will set the same expectation for their teams, creating a wave of sponsorship across the entire organization – accelerating the careers of thousands of women.'
At AXIS Network, we think that setting clear expectations at the top of businesses is the right way to go, but that some leaders will need some support and guidance with how to put these expectations into action. This is not an either/or situation. It’s about being intentional about who is sponsored and ensuring that each leader is encouraged to think about the diversity of the pool of people they sponsor.
It may be that leaders need additional support in recognising strengths and abilities and overcoming their unconscious biases with conscious inclusions.
Starting at the top with setting the right expectations, providing leaders with the right tool kit to make changes and holding leaders to account are the key components to meaningfully shift the dial on gender balance in the senior levels of our organisations.
In order to meet the challenges of the energy transition, we need to accelerate our progress towards Vision 2030 and a fully inclusive and diverse industry. Ensuring that a diverse range of people, with an equal gender split, are sponsored through organisations is a key component of this change.