Sponsorship Behaviours: Advocating

Welcome to the 14th edition of our LinkedIn Newsletter, "Inclusion and Diversity Learning Circle"! Created by Diversity Inclusion, the I&D Learning Circle provides you and your organization with best-practice tools, resources, and information that can be directly applied to your workplace’s I&D program, fostering real and transformational change.

Sponsorship Behaviours

In this edition of our newsletter, we build on our new Sponsorship Behaviours series that we kicked off last time (see Edition 13). We continue our exploration by delving into the Sponsorship Behaviour of ‘advocating.’

Sponsorship refers to the relationship between two individuals in the workplace: typically, a more experienced leader actively advocating on behalf of a less experienced colleague, supporting them to flourish in their career. If you are new to sponsorship and its role in promoting diversity and inclusion, Edition 3 of our I&D Learning Circle newsletter, along with the embedded Learning Lab video, introduces the concept of sponsorship and explores how it can drive greater diversity and inclusion in our workplaces. We also distinguished sponsorship from mentoring in our October 2022 Live Event.

Our Learning Lab video this month focuses on the key sponsorship behaviour of ‘advocating’ on behalf of your sponsee. Advocating occurs when you share your sponsee’s strengths and career goals with others when they are not present. The video also provides tips to support you in advocating and ensuring you and your sponsee get the most out of the sponsorship relationship.

We find it easier and more authentic to advocate on behalf of others if we have a good understanding of their strengths and career goals. Achieve this by investing time with your sponsee, listening to them, and leveraging others' perspectives. Observing your sponsee 'in action' in meetings or working alongside others can provide valuable insights into their strengths and contributions. Finally, make a commitment to advocate on behalf of your sponsee regularly, at least once a fortnight, through work activities or deliberate networking.

Learn more about our Sponsorship Program on our website and hear from program participants in this LinkedIn post.

Psychological Safety Program with Junction Australia

In the past month, the Diversity Inclusion team has collaborated with our long-term client, Junction Australia, who provide community housing and services across South Australia. We've been sharing our Psychological Safety Program through workshops and small group coaching sessions. We've been inspired by participants' ideas on fostering psychological safety and the positive impact this is already having on their teams and clients.

Our Learning Lab content – blog articles, videos, and other resources – is available on our website (diversityinclusion.com.au), with new content released via our I&D Learning Circle Newsletter. While blog articles and other resources are freely available, Learning Lab videos are exclusively for our I&D Learning Circle Newsletter subscribers. The following password will allow you to access our video content.

Password: LearningCircle

As we continue to develop future Learning Lab content, we would love to hear from you, our D&I community, about the D&I topics and issues that interest you most. Share your thoughts, questions, and ideas in the comments section here.

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