How Strong Is Your Bench?

“How many people do you have in your pocket?” That’s the question a Fortune 100 CEO asks when choosing candidates to become his direct reports. What he means is, “How many blazing talents have you developed over the years and put in key positions across the company, so that if I asked you to pull off a deal that involved liaising across five functions and six geographies, you’d have the bench strength to get it done?”

In earlier research, the Center for Talent Innovation explored the importance of finding the right sponsor. As I explain in my new book, Forget A Mentor. Find A Sponsor, it’s equally important for sponsors to pick the right protégé.

Just as “the sponsor effect” adds a quantifiable boost to a protégé’s pay, promotion, career satisfaction and retention, “the protégé effect” leverages career traction for leaders. White leaders with a posse of protégés are 11 percent more satisfied with their own rate of advancement than leaders who haven't invested in up-and-comers. Leaders of color who have developed young talent are overall 30 percent more satisfied with their career progress than those who haven't built that base of support.

Good leaders are surrounded by a wide field of qualified candidates. How should you decide whom to invest your time in and endow with your knowledge and experience? Whom can you trust to burnish your brand and build your legacy?

Of course, there are certain prerequisites for any potential protégé. Performance is the critical first deliverable. Not surprisingly, what marks an individual as “high potential” is typically his/her ability to deliver superior results consistently, no matter the challenges or circumstances. According to our research, a third of U.S. managers and nearly half of UK managers say they want to sponsor a “producer,” a go-getter who hits deadlines and offers 24/7 support.

Loyalty is even more important, with 37 percent of male managers and 36 percent of female managers saying that this is the key attribute in a protégé. A loyal protégé is well attuned to the buzz and vigilant about keeping her sponsor apprised. As leaders move up the ladder, they're increasingly removed from the action on the front lines of the organization. They need loyal lieutenants to bridge the distance and deliver a clear, unbiased and timely report of what's going on.

Branching out from those basics, however, is where sponsors can truly extend their capacity and reach. Our research uncovered these often-overlooked but key points:

Avoid the mini-me syndrome. The reason most multinational leadership is predominantly white and male is that those in power tend to sponsor those who remind them of themselves or those with whom they have much in common. Sponsorship depends on trust, after all, and it’s human nature to place our trust in people who share our ethnicity, our religious or cultural background, our educational experience, or our circle of friends, teammates, and associates. Our research confirms this: When we asked sponsors how they chose their protégés, the majority – 58 percent of women, 54 percent of men – owned up to choosing on the basis of comfort.

But if you’re steering a corporation into the churning waters of global competition, you simply cannot afford to pick your first mates strictly on the basis of affinity. Just as companies need a diverse workforce to remain attuned to the needs of new and emerging markets and to innovate the products that will keep them competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace, sponsors need protégés who mirror those markets.

The takeaway: The more diverse your team, the more likely you’ll have the “tool kits” necessary to solve the challenges outside your experience – and the less prone you’ll be to the perils of “groupthink.”

Diversify your portfolio of protégés. “The best piece of advice I ever got,” says James Charrington, EMEA chair of BlackRock, “was to have the courage to employ people who are better than me.” He advises in turn, “Recognize your own weaknesses and hire people to complement your strengths by addressing your weaknesses.”

Some protégés bolster your brand through their technical expertise or social media savvy, valuable skills in today’s ever more connected world. Others contribute fluency in another language or culture. Still, others may help you advance the organization's goals through their ability to build teams from scratch and coach raw talent. The main thing to keep in mind: Shared values more than make up for dissimilar backgrounds.

The takeaway: Sponsor performers whose background, perspective, and skills complement rather than replicate your own – preferably two in your line-of-sight, one external to your division.

Differentiate between protégés and mentees. Sponsorship is a high-energy commitment. While it requires less face-to-face time than mentorship, sponsorship requires much more earnest behind-the-scenes work to provide the protégé with concerted advocacy, stretch opportunities, and the “air cover” necessary to make risk-taking safe. Of course, this investment more than pays for itself in terms of what the protégé returns. But it is an investment. Most senior leaders can effectively sponsor three to four individuals, tops.

Over-sponsoring has its own risks. If you’re hyper-extended on behalf of the people who just don’t get the quid pro quo of sponsorship, you impair your ability to be effective. Furthermore, there’s the danger of losing track of your protégé as he gets promoted out of your line of sight. If he’s not doing a good job, he reflects badly on you. “He’s walking around with your brand on,” said one senior executive. “If you can’t stay involved in his career path – don’t get involved in the first place. Your reputation is at risk.”

The takeaway: When a sponsor doesn’t really know the person he or she advocates for, his/her credibility in the organization can take a hit.

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, no one person can maintain both breadth and depth of knowledge across fields and functions. But with a pocketful of the right protégés, she can put together a posse whose expertise is just a quick call away.

(Photo: Gerry Dincher, Flickr)