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Career Sponsors & Advocates

Senior sponsors who put your name forward when you are not in the room: a map of where careers are decided, a shortlist, clear asks, a steady update rhythm and the habit of sponsoring others.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Career Sponsors & Advocates, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

201

Starter tasks

🧭 Career Growth

Career Sponsors & Advocates

Earning senior sponsors who put your name forward for stretch roles, promotions and opportunities you would not see.

  1. Sponsor, mentor and advocate, told apart
  2. Map of the rooms where your name is discussed
  3. Audit of who already speaks up for you
  4. The sentence you want said about you
  5. Defining the opportunity you want sponsored
  6. Shortlist of three potential senior sponsors
  7. Delivery record a sponsor can bet on
  8. Your manager as your first advocate
  9. Sponsor and advocate relationship tracker
  10. Monthly two-line update to each sponsor
  11. Quarterly career conversation with your sponsor
  12. Work that serves your sponsor's agenda
  13. Peer advocate circle that names each other
  14. Talent review calendar and sponsor briefings
  15. Closing the loop when a sponsor acts for you
  16. Quarterly review of your sponsor portfolio
  17. Exposure to senior leaders outside your chain
  18. Watchlist of stretch roles coming open
  19. Making a clear ask of a sponsor
  20. Briefing a sponsor in ninety seconds
  21. Reading what a senior sponsor needs from you
  22. Saying yes to roles you feel half ready for
  23. Taking blunt feedback from a sponsor well
  24. How talent reviews and nine-box grids work
  25. Speaking up for a peer in the room
  26. Turning a mentor into a sponsor
  27. First direct sponsorship ask
  28. Choosing between two sponsors' plans for you
  29. Adding a sponsor outside your function
  30. Updating a reputation that is out of date
  31. Reducing dependence on a single sponsor
  32. Declining a sponsored opportunity gracefully
  33. Sponsored nomination for a leadership programme
  34. First appearance in your sponsor's leadership meeting
  35. Interview for a role a sponsor put you forward for
  36. Proving the sponsor's bet in a stretch role
  37. When your sponsor leaves the organisation
  38. Year-end sponsorship review and reset
  39. Sponsorship when you work remotely
  40. Rebuilding sponsors after a reorganisation
  41. Sponsors for a move into senior management
  42. Sponsorship after parental or extended leave
  43. Sponsorship in a small or flat organisation
  44. Getting the most from a formal sponsorship programme
  45. Former bosses who still vouch for you
  46. Sponsoring people in your own team
  47. Sponsoring someone outside your usual circle
  48. Designing a sponsorship programme for your organisation
  49. Sponsorship without favouritism or loyalty traps
  50. Sponsors for an executive or board-level move

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Sponsor, mentor and advocate, told apart

Mentors talk with you, sponsors talk about you, and advocates are the peers and partners who mention your work unprompted. Many professionals have three mentors and no sponsor, then wonder why advice never turns into opportunities. Writing down the difference, with an example of each from your own working life, tells you which gap you are actually trying to close.

First tasks

  • Write a one-line definition each of mentor, sponsor and advocate
  • List the people who have helped your career in the last five years
  • Mark each person as mentor, sponsor, advocate or none
  • Name the role that is missing or weakest for you right now

Map of the rooms where your name is discussed

Careers inside most organisations are shaped in a handful of meetings: talent reviews, succession planning, calibration, staffing calls for big projects and the leadership offsite where new roles are sketched. Knowing which of these exist where you work, who sits in them and when they happen shows you exactly where a sponsor needs to be present for you.

First tasks

  • List every meeting you know of that decides promotions or staffing
  • Ask your manager when talent and succession reviews take place
  • Ask one recently promoted colleague who spoke for them in those meetings
  • Mark the two meetings that matter most for your next move

Audit of who already speaks up for you

Most people have more advocates than they realise and fewer sponsors than they assume. Looking back at the last three opportunities you received, and asking how each one reached you, shows who has already spent influence on your behalf and who you have mistaken for a sponsor because they are friendly.

First tasks

  • Write down the last three opportunities or stretch pieces of work you were given
  • Find out who first suggested your name for each one
  • List senior people who credited your work in writing or in meetings this year
  • Rate each supporter as sponsor, advocate or friendly contact

Make it yours.

Install Career Sponsors & Advocates, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.