Working hard is half the effort: The hidden role of a career sponsor

You can be the person who arrives early, delivers on deadlines and quietly takes on extra work, yet still watch someone else get the project, promotion or introduction you had been hoping for.

It does not necessarily mean your work has gone unnoticed.

In many workplaces, another factor is at play.

Who is willing to put your name forward when the decision-makers are in the room and you are not.

That is the role of a career sponsor.

A mentor advises. A sponsor advocates.

The distinction is straightforward but often overlooked.

A mentor typically provides advice, feedback and perspective, while a sponsor is a more senior and influential person who actively advocates for someone's advancement.

Organisational behaviour professor Herminia Ibarra and researchers Nancy Carter and Christine Silva drew attention to this distinction in a 2010 Harvard Business Review study of more than 4,000 high-potential professionals.

Their research found that women reported having more mentors than men, but their mentors were less likely to be senior executives and their mentoring relationships did not translate into promotions in the same way.

The researchers described high-potential women as “over-mentored” and “under-sponsored.”

A sponsor's role can include recommending someone for a major assignment, raising their name during promotion discussions, introducing them to senior decision-makers or helping them gain visibility on important projects.

The person in the room

Carla Harris, the former Morgan Stanley executive whose TED talk on sponsorship has been viewed millions of times, argues that careers are not built solely through the tasks people complete.

Her point is that important decisions about promotions and opportunities can happen in rooms an employee has not yet entered - making an advocate inside those rooms valuable.

That does not mean performance becomes irrelevant. In a genuine sponsorship relationship, the senior person is putting their own credibility behind someone they believe can handle a bigger opportunity.

The numbers show an association

McKinsey's Women in the Workplace 2025 report found that among employees surveyed, 65% of those with at least one workplace sponsor had received a promotion in the previous two years, compared with 35% of employees without a sponsor.

The report defines a sponsor as someone who actively advocates for career advancement or creates opportunities.

That is a striking difference, but it should not be read as proof that sponsorship alone causes promotion.

People with sponsors may also have greater visibility, stronger networks or other advantages.

McKinsey similarly cautions that its research on workplace practices identifies associations rather than proving causation.

It is not just a foreign corporate idea

There is Kenyan research on the subject too.

A 2020 University of Nairobi study examined 255 managers in large-scale manufacturing firms in Kenya and found a relationship between organisational sponsorship, career-management behaviour and managers' perceived career success.

The researchers recommended stronger organisational sponsorship programmes while also stressing that employees need to take an active role in managing their careers.

That last point matters.

Sponsorship is not a substitute for competence.

A sponsor cannot do the job for you

The strongest sponsorship research treats the relationship as more than a senior executive handing out favours.

Ibarra's later work describes effective sponsorship as involving public advocacy and a genuine relationship.

The sponsor uses influence to create opportunities, while the person being sponsored demonstrates capability and makes use of those opportunities.

The practical sequence is often simple.

An employee becomes visible through good work, earns trust, develops a relationship with a senior colleague and eventually finds that person willing to advocate for them.

So, do you need a sponsor?

Not necessarily.

There is no universal career rule requiring one, and people advance through different combinations of expertise, qualifications, performance, relationships, opportunity and sometimes changing jobs or industries.

But sponsorship can matter more as careers progress, particularly when opportunities depend on visibility, access and being considered for work that is not openly advertised.

That is why organisations have increasingly created formal sponsorship programmes, especially for groups that have historically had less access to senior decision-makers.