Owning your career growth as a female leader. Do I need a coach, a mentor, a sponsor or a friend?

As we have ticked over into the month of March, the momentum is building with inspiring events and campaigns in the lead up to International Women's Day. There is a call to help fellow females flourish, this can be in small steps or giant leaps depending on your desire to make a difference. For me I feel so passionately about it I have chosen to make it a large part of my career. I urge women to take charge of our own personal and professional development whilst simultaneously supporting and encouraging other women with their development journeys.

What do women need in order to take charge of their own development? First and foremost we need to take ownership of our own future. Be vocal, assertive and action oriented to ask for the support we need and make things happen ourselves. To do this we need to understand what our choices are and sometimes this can be confusing. One question I am frequently asked is what the difference is between a coach, a mentor and a sponsor so I thought it may be helpful to offer my perspective on this.

A coach helps you to discover for yourself what you don't know, well actually you do already know, it just may be so deep down and buried under the stories that we tell ourselves on a daily basis, the stories that have become our reality over time that we need some support to reveal what we are not as conscious of. A coach will give you their fullest attention and listen actively, ask powerful questions and share feedback with you on what they notice during a series of coaching conversations. This supports your thinking process to a deeper level which will help you reveal new insights . Creating choice, awareness and increased responsibility to take action towards the clear goals that you define for yourself, modify any behaviours that are not serving you and provide clarity on what is important for your future success.

A mentor is often somebody you admire in your field or in the areas that you want to become better at. A mentor plays more of a trusted advisor role. A mentor will combine asking questions with providing advice and sharing their experience. Suggestions, solutions, resources, introductions and advice all play an active role. Mentors can be formal, explicitly requested and partnered with for a set period of time which is often over a longer term or they can be more informal. Many people have more than one mentor serving their learning in the different focus areas they want to get better at.

A sponsor is a person who will positively and actively talk about you when you are not in the room. Your professional cheerleader. A sponsor will let the right people know about the value you bring to the table and create a case for your advancement through the channels that can open pathways for you. Providing levels of access to key projects and people that can directly support your career growth. A sponsor will need to be educated by you about who you are, what you stand for and what your aspirations are in order to confidently promote you to others.

Which one do you need? Well, if you are truly taking charge of your own development it may be that you need all of them need at various points as they will all serve different purposes at different times.

And of course, you always need a friend. To discuss what's happening with anything and everything. To support you unconditionally.

This International Women's day, take a moment to consider what you are doing to take ownership of your own career growth and future success. What are you doing to help advance the women around you? Is there more that you could be doing?

Be sure to share your success stories to inspire other women to take their own development into their own hands too and acknowledge and celebrate your achievements along the way. It it is likely you are already doing more than you give yourself credit for.