What's the difference between Mentorship & Sponsorship to help you in Career Development?

Question

Both mentors and sponsors are incredibly helpful in aiding you in your career development and progression.

Mentors are coaches who provide direct input and in some cases course correction as you develop in your career. These individuals are able to provide guidance, advice, and feedback to you on performance, and can even identify skill-gaps in your current job that may be preventing you from getting to that next level job.

Sponsors come through your network and are the individuals who advicate fro you. A sponsor is another level of support who can help provide next level opportnuty, stretch assignments, high-level visibility, and even connect you with the right people to put you in a position for a promotion.

It is impportant to align yourself with both menotrs and sponsors as both will want to see you progress and grow in your career and both can help you do just that!

A great reference article to further highlight this topic is here:

https://hbr.org/2021/10/whats-the-difference-between-a-mentor-and-a-sponsor

Answer 1

The simplest way to determine the difference between a mentor and a sponsor is based on the level result achievement orientation.

A mentor usually will look at the career path to help the individual evaluate what are his/her passions, abilities, and skills, and how do they apply best to the field of professional interest. The mentor acts as a coach who encourages the coachee to use its own intellect to get him/her to a desired field of expertise. It will also involve assisting the individual to focus on developing, or optimizing certain skills needed to get to a specific field or area in which the indivifual wishes to pursue his/her career.

On the other hand, a sponsor already has a clear vision of the path that the individual desires to follow, and serves as a liason to introduce him/her to a specific field of work. The individual usually will engage the sponsor with all of his/her relevant skills, and qualifications, in such a way that the sponsorship makes the conne tion between the individual and the spefic professional field, being those, organizations, agencies, companies, or any other higher level education institutions.