Leaders. Managers. Mentors. Sponsors. Coaches. Who does what & how can they help you self-style your career?

Welcome to the SELF.STYLED.LIFE Podcast with Janelle Wehsack

In today’s episode I want to help you sort out everything related to leaders, managers, sponsors, mentors and coaches. All of these humans can be leveraged to help you take your career from where you are now to where you want to go. Especially if you’re super clear on where you want to go and you’re not afraid to share your career aspirations. But that is a whole lot easier to do when you know the difference between them and you’re clear on the role they can play in your career.

I tend to think of all of these people as part of my team, much like I consider the people who support me in my personal life as part of the team who help me live life in a way that feels fab for me.

We talk about these 5 different roles that can support your career growth and how;

- True leaders show up and lead no matter what.
- Managers direct the day to day work that should be brining the vision of the leaders to life.
- Mentors are really great for sharing their experience and telling you how to do a thing.
- Sponsors are the senior leaders within your workplace - and sometimes outside your workplace - who advocate on your behalf when you’re not there.
- Coaching is the opportunity for you to focus on you, your potential and your dreams and goals.

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Transcript

Transcript - SELF.STYLED.LIFE Podcast with Janelle Wehsack

Episode 18 - Leaders. Managers. Mentors. Sponsors. Coaches. Who does what & how can they help you self-style your career?

Hello hello fabulous humans. Welcome to another episode of the Self.Styled.Life podcast with me, your host, Janelle Wehsack. I’m so glad you’re joining me today, because I want to discuss a topic that confuses women all the time when it comes to self-styling your career in particular. And I get it. Conventional wisdom tells us that leaders, managers, mentors, sponsors and coaches all have roles to play in the success or otherwise of our careers. But how can you use them to support you? And when should you call on them? What might you expect them to do? Is there any overlap across the five? And where on earth can you find some of these humans? These are all the things I want to dig into with you in this episode.

But before I get into today’s coaching episode, I want to remind you about my Streamlined Strategy Sessions - the zero cost way to work one-on-one with me. Streamlined sessions are an easy and awesome way to start self-styling your life. They incorporate clarity, mindset and action - which are all the elements of my signature coaching framework. In around 30 minutes, we’ll create a clear strategy for a single element of your life, we’ll uncover one mindset shift that will help you build your self-belief that you can have what you want, and you’ll leave the call knowing the one experiment you need to conduct.

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Please don’t let the fact that I choose not to charge for these sessions trick you into thinking that they’re not full of value. And don’t think that you can’t get anywhere in only half an hour. Everyone who knows me knows that coaching was life changing for me. And I want to share life changing opportunities with as many women as possible. But more times than I like to think about, self-doubt holds women back from exploring coaching and I want to remove some of the perceived barriers - like time and money - that keep women from exploring coaching.

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Like I said, these sessions are an awesome way to get an introduction to coaching and you’ll walk away with a streamlined strategy to get you moving in the direction of your self-styled life. You can book your session by heading to my website - you’ll find a link on both the resources page and the work with me page. That link will take you to my booking system where you can choose a time for a Zoom call that suits you. You’ll also be asked a few questions so we can make the best use of our time together. And then, you only have to show up. It really is that simple. I can’t wait to see you in a streamlined strategy session soon.

Alrighty, let’s get into today’s episode. Today I want to help you sort out everything related to leaders, managers, sponsors, mentors and coaches. All of these humans can be leveraged to help you take your career from where you are now to where you want to go. Especially if you’re super clear on where you want to go and you’re not afraid to share your career aspirations. But that is a whole lot easier to do when you know the difference between them and you’re clear on the role they can play in your career.

I tend to think of all of these people as part of my team, much like I consider the people who support me in my personal life as part of the team who help me live life in a way that feels fab for me. The trick is knowing who to call on when. So let’s dig into all of this today.

Let’s start with leaders. They come as part and parcel of the corporate world and we all know when we come across a great leader. True leaders show up and lead no matter what. They don’t need direct reports - nor do they need a structure or an org chart to give them permission to lead. They will lead by influence 9 times out of 10. They can walk into a room of strangers and take the lead. They generally hold the vision for where the work or the team is heading, they make people feel psychologically safe to take risks in following them. And you’ll often find that your colleagues use words like inspiring and motivating when they talk about them.

If you’re lucky, your leader will also be your direct line manager. But here’s where things can get messy. Because more often than not, your leader might be a couple of rungs above you. Or in an adjacent role. And we expect our managers to have leadership qualities that often they just don’t have. Which can leave us feeling frustrated, let down and just generally disappointed. If I’m being really honest, over a thirty year career, I can count on one hand my managers who were also awesome leaders as well as awesome managers. So it’s important that we don’t set false expectations when it comes to our bosses. We also have to recognise our own role in self-leadership. Ideally we would be setting our own vision and direction and setting our own standards and success measures, regardless of our leaders or managers. 

So let’s take a look at managers. These humans should be directing the day to day work that should be bringing the vision of the leaders to life. They look after administration and make sure that things get done when they’re supposed to be done. The golden rule for such a long time in my career was to make your boss - ultimately your manager - look good. Some weeks that was easier than others. But by getting things done when you're asked to, submitting high quality work and maintaining the team messaging you will make your boss look good. And stand out in your team. 

Now, over the years, in the corporate world, managers have  also become responsible for the people management side of the business. Now again, if you find yourself in the right place at the right time, you’ll have a manager who is also a natural coach, so you’ll also get something out of the working relationship while you’re making them look good. But again, it’s just as likely that your manager won’t have those skills and you’ll need to seek them out separately, something I’ll touch on in a little bit.

So to just sum that little section up, make sure you note the distinction between leaders and managers. They’re not always the same unicorn. Your manager is unlikely to meet all your expectations when it comes to your career progression, which is where the mentors, sponsors and coaches come to play.

In corporate and professional circles, mentors are often listed as a must have on the road to career success. While I’m a proud mentor at the Bank I work for and I’m a mentor advocate for Financial Executive Women, I don’t personally recommend that every professional woman get a mentor. I tend to only recommend mentors for specific situations - and that’s when you want to learn how to do something specific. Mentors are really great for sharing their experience and telling you how to do a thing. So if you’re looking to break into an industry, a specific role or get a speaking gig, then you should definitely have a mentor as part of your 

Finding a mentor can be a challenge at times, simply for the fact that most people who could mentor you don’t walk around talking about their experiences every day of the week. Research is your friend though. Ask around. Use your networks. Or use one of the professional networks that offer mentors. And remember, mentors don’t have to be ‘live in person’. You can be mentored via books, podcasts and coaching programs if you choose to be.

Ok, onto sponsors.  And while I don’t always recommend a mentor, I always suggest women have at least one sponsor in their working world. Sponsors are the senior leaders within your workplace - and sometimes outside your workplace - who advocate on your behalf when you’re not there. They’re the ones who put your name in the mix when opportunities come up. Those opportunities might be new roles, projects or chances to learn. I’m so grateful to my own sponsors - I’ve had many over the years - and they have supported me to leap-frog into roles I would never have even thought of applying for.

Now, here’s the fun thing about sponsors: they tend to find you. You can’t necessarily ask anyone to sponsor you. But you can deliver high quality work consistently. Trust me when I say sponsors will take note of this. Sponsors might be current or former leaders or managers, or they might be someone who worked with you as a colleague in the past. I continue to sponsor a number of high potential colleagues at the Bank. And the key traits I look for in the staff I sponsor are a desire to succeed, willingness to learn, resilience and curious, flexible mindsets.

Finally, it’s time to introduce coaches. And yes, I know I’m biased. But if I was going to nominate one group of humans to help you self-style your career AND your life it would be coaches. Coaching is the opportunity for you to focus on you, your potential and your dreams and goals. It provides space for you to build your self-belief and self-compassion in the area or areas you want to focus on. And it helps answer the question of how can you get from where youare now to where you want to go. Coaching is ideal for anyone with a dream or a goal because it has a definite focus on the future. 

Now one thing I have to call out here is that while many workplaces provide coaching, it won’t always tick all of the boxes for you. Unless you’re very lucky the coaching driven in the work context is often group based rather than tailored to the individual, and focussed on the corporation's goals. This doesn’t mean it’s not valuable - I’ve been part of some awesome group coaching programs in my working life that have helped me improve my speaking, communication and leadership skills. But my point is that you can’t rely on your workplace to meet your individual needs. You may still want to invest in coaching that’s right for you, as so many women in small business do. 

You can find coaches on-line and through word of mouth. Once you find a potential coach, spend time in their on-line world. No one wants to invest in themselves without a return on that investment. And that return often depends on your connection with the coach.

So check out their website, blog, Instagram account or Facebook. If you find their style appealing, book in for a free discovery call to see if you click with them. A bit like getting quotes from a trades-person, I’d recommend you book discovery call with various coaches before you commit to a series.

One final thought on this topic is that these are 5 different roles that can support your career growth. And it would be very rare to find all of these skills wrapped up in a single unicorn. Knowing this can take the pressure off your manager in particular - I’ve noted that women really do expect a lot from their manager, and that it can be hard for them to live up to expectations. You’ll help everyone if you can remember that overlap is rare and that you’re allowed to have a team of people supporting you. 

Okey kokey, time for me to wrap this up today - I’ve definitely rattled on for longer than I normally do - clearly I’m a fan of this particular topic. But I really hope I’ve given you a different way of thinking about how you can utilise leaders, managers, mentors, sponsors and coaches to self-style your career. Tapping into the strengths of these guides can definitely help you reach your career goals sooner.

I’ll be back soon with another episode of self-styled life. But until then, stay fabulous xx