The Role of Sponsorship in Accelerating Action  

‘Don’t get so carried away celebrating progress that you forget to push for change’.  

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This phrase, which I heard during a discussion on racial inclusion in 2020, resurfaced last week as we co-hosted our International Women’s Day (IWD) breakfast together with Johnson Carmichael.  

My colleague Lindsay Cramond opened with a pretty sobering statistic that the gender pay gap is estimated to take 131 years to close at our current rate of progress.  Against that backdrop, the theme of this year’s IWD to “accelerate action” felt pretty apt.  

Our keynote speaker for the breakfast was Jane Kielty, UK CEO of Aon who generously and candidly shared the story of her fascinating career journey with us.  

Jane studied law at university, but her ambition was always to be an RAF fighter pilot. She was accepted into the training programme at which she excelled, but was unable to complete, because the cockpit in which she would ultimately need to operate had not been designed for a woman, it was based on the measurements of the typical male. .

Progress v change 

Whilst we’ve come a long way, there are still many spaces in the corporate world that are not comfortable or practical for women to operate in, because it was a space they were never intended to occupy. Rachel Reeves’ experience of having a urinal in her office toilet is a prime example. 

When women find new roles uncomfortable, unintuitive or difficult to navigate, we are told we have imposter syndrome – doubting their abilities despite being high achievers.  This typically leads to women being offered mentoring or coaching to build their confidence; but how can you feel like you belong in an environment that was never created with you in mind? The incredibly interesting Harvard Business Review article by Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey addresses this exact issue (felt even more acutely by women of colour) and suggests that to genuinely accelerate action, we should concentrate on fixing the ecosystem rather than the individual.  

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Mentorship v Sponsorship 

Jane also shared the impact of sponsorship throughout her career, particularly from Julie Page, EMEA CEO of Aon. Julie not only offered support, mentorship and constructive feedback but also advocated and sponsored Julie in her rise to UK CEO.  

This sparked an interesting conversation about the difference between mentoring and sponsoring. Both are important and are sometimes used interchangeably but are actually very different. Whilst mentoring, similar to coaching, can help unblock your own beliefs, sponsorship unblocks the path to help people progress. 

Several women around the table shared that their best sponsors have been male allies, typically in positions of power and with the ability to unblock obstacles and remove barriers. There was an overwhelming consensus that many have been more actively encouraged, supported or championed by men and had perhaps had less positive experiences with women in the workplace, a topic I’ve shared some personal thoughts on before (read more about that here). 

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Work v Life 

Many around the table expressed a desire to do more to mentoring and sponsoring, but would struggle to find time amidst work, caring commitments, exercise, family time, and social life. The conversation concluded with an idea about a brave new world where we change the game rather than adapt to find a work around to shoehorn in more commitments. Should it take your partner retiring or going part time at work for you to be able to step up? What happens if you don’t have a partner or a support system? Is it time to question why the way we work, will only work if one person stays at home? Who was that designed to suit? 

It’s clear that there is still much to be done to really accelerate action, but it was also abundantly clear from the discussion around the table that as a collective, we are committed to pushing for action, advocating for change and actively sponsoring the next generation of leaders to be able to feel like they’re in a space genuinely intended for them.  

Thank you to Jane Kielty and the team at Aon for their thought-provoking and candid contributions in leading this discussion and to our partners Johnston Carmichael for the excellent hospitality and support in delivering this event. And to all our guests for sharing their perspectives as part of the rich discussion.