女性晋升捷径：给自己找个担保人

女性晋升捷径：给自己找个担保人

 作者: Anne Fisher    时间: 2012年09月26日    来源: 财富中文网


当《财富》杂志于1998年首次推出“最具影响力的女性”榜单时，“导师制”是一个热门话题，它帮助许多职场女性获得了成功。时至今日，“担保制”为职场女性带来了更大的帮助，但获得担保的难度也要更大。

IBM公司全球商业服务业务高级副总裁布里吉特?范?克拉林根（位列《财富》“最具影响力女性”排行榜第23位）以自身职业生涯两个不同时间节点的故事，为我们阐述了导师和担保人的区别。     当她首次加入德勤咨询公司（Deloitte Consulting）时，从南非的老家搬到了美国。“纽约一位年轻的合伙人示意我坐下，然后说，‘布里吉特，你拥有巨大的潜力，但你有些过于谦和了。’ 那的确是非常好的指导意见！”她说。“它帮助我理解了文化的差异，我很快就适应了。”她最终成为德勤咨询公司金融服务业务管理合伙人。     2004年，范?克拉林根进入IBM公司。自1916年老托马斯?沃森创建IBM以来，“导师制”就一直是该公司管理培训的组成部分。 CEO吉尼?罗曼提（位列最具影响力女性排行榜首位）曾经正式或非正式地指导过数十位男女员工，她自身职业生涯几次关键的晋升也与其导师的贡献密不可分。     范?克拉林根回忆称，在这家绰号为“蓝色巨人（Big Blue）”的公司，“一位担保人推举我担任欧洲和非洲金融服务业务的负责人——尽管我欠缺在IBM的工作经验。正是他的鼎力支持，最终才说服了公司高层，冒险启用我出任这个职务。”     换言之，导师帮助人们做好升职的前期准备，而担保则促使升职实实在在地发生。对于任何一位渴望出人头地的公司职员来说，两者都“极其重 要”，范?克拉林根说。一条不太好的消息是：虽然大多数大型公司现在都在实施员工指导项目，而且在具备擢升为管理高层潜质的员工群体中，拥有多位导师的女 性员工数量已经超过了男性。但根据非营利性研究机构Catalyst公司的调查，自1998年以来，女性在高级管理人员中所占的比重几乎没有发生变化，仅 仅从当时的11.2% 提升到了现在的15.7%。     根据Catalyst公司一项针对4,000位男女MBA的研究，出现这种情况的一大原因在于，男性获得有影响力的担保人的几率依然高于女 性。“相对于男性同僚，具有升职潜能的女性员工虽然拥有多位导师，但愿意为她们作保的人却严重不足，”Catalyst公司高级主管克里斯蒂娜?席尔瓦指 出。“如果没有引路人，女性员工就不大可能被委以重任，或许也就更不愿意去追逐这些高级职位了。”     由于帮助下属升职需要一位高管动用自己的政治资本，用他或她自身的声誉去冒险，为某人充当担保人的风险要远高于提供指导意见。“所谓担保就 是一位有影响力的人士愿意信誓旦旦地拍胸脯为你作保，”克莱尔?法利指出。法利女士曾经以德士古公司（Texaco）北美石油和天然气勘探业务主管的身 份，跻身1998年“最具影响力女性”排行榜。她之所以能够在30多岁的时候就担任如此重要的职位，一定程度上应归功于一位位高权重的担保人。她现在著名 的私募股权基金KKR公司担任董事总经理。     “提前了解一个人的领导潜能几乎是不可能的事情。有些高管能从下属身上看到自己年轻时的影子，因此愿意为他们作保，这或许仅仅是人的本能而已。因此，男性往往倾向于为其他男性充当担保人，”法利补充说。

Bridget Van Kralingen, senior vice president of global business services at IBM (andNo. 23 on our list of Most Powerful Women), tells two stories, from different points in her career, that illustrate the difference between a mentor and a sponsor.     When she first joined Deloitte Consulting, she also moved from her native South Africa to the U.S. "A young partner in New York sat me down and said, 'Bridget, you have tremendous potential, but you're way too nice and polite.' That was great mentoring!" she says. "It helped me understand the cultural differences. I quickly adapted." She eventually became managing partner of Deloitte's financial services business.     Then, in 2004, Van Kralingen joined IBM (IBM), which has included mentoring as part of its management training since Thomas Watson, Sr. founded the company in 1916. CEO Ginni Rometty, who tops our list, has mentored dozens of women and men, both formally and informally, and credits mentors for several key promotions in her own career.     At Big Blue, Van Kralingen recalls, "I had a sponsor who recommended me to run the financial services part of IBM's business consulting services in Europe and Africa -- in spite of my lack of IBM experience. His advocacy both helped IBM to take a risk on me and helped me navigate the job."     Mentoring, in other words, prepares people to move up, while sponsorship makes it happen. Both are "critically important," says Van Kralingen, to anyone aspiring to get ahead. The not-so-great news: Most big companies now have embraced mentoring and, in the high-potential pipeline that leads to senior management, more women than men have had multiple mentors. Yet the percentage of senior executives who are female has barely budged since 1998, creeping up from 11.2% then to 15.7% now, according to nonprofit research group Catalyst.     A big reason why that's so, according to one Catalyst study of 4,000 MBAs of both sexes, is that men are still more likely than women to have powerful sponsors. "High-potential women are overmentored and undersponsored, relative to their male peers," observes Christine Silva, a Catalyst senior director. "Without sponsorship, women not only are less likely than men to be appointed to top roles, but may also be more reluctant to go for them."     Because it requires a senior executive to spend his or her own political capital, and put his or her own credibility on the line, to give an underling a leg up, sponsoring someone is far riskier than mentoring them. "A sponsor is someone influential who will pound the table for you," notes Claire Farley, who appeared on our 1998 list as head of North American oil and gas exploration at Texaco (since merged with Chevron (CVX)) -- a job she took on while still in her 30s, thanks partly to a high-ranking sponsor. She's now a managing director at private-equity powerhouse KKR (KKR) in Houston.     Farley adds: "There is so much that is impossible to know ahead of time about anyone's leadership potential, it's probably just human nature for people to sponsor people who remind them of their younger selves. So men tend to sponsor other men."

希望克服这些不利因素的女性员工可以运用以下这五种方式，为自己找到一位担保人：     1.建立师徒关系。“担保常常发轫自深厚且有力的指导关系，”布里吉特?范?克拉林根说。“我发现，如果你向高层提供反馈意见，同时分享你的看法，就可以给予这层关系互惠互利的效果，进而提高了指导你的那个人为你作保的几率。”     2.锁定高层偶像。“你无法选择担保人。选择权总是在他们那一边，”克莱尔?法利说。“但你可以通过以 下这种方式提高机会：首先问一下自己，在这个组织中，谁的工作履历让你印象深刻？你想效仿谁的领导风格？然后尝试着结识这个人，让他或她知道你的成就和目 标——不要耍太多‘政治’手腕，因为这样做很快就会被人们识破。”     3.抓住一切机会让让潜在的担保人亲眼目睹你的工作表现。范?克拉林根指出，密切留意与一位你试图留下 深刻印象的高管并肩工作的机会，这一点很有好处。她说：“如果他或她非常了解你的工作，亲眼目睹了你的表现，那将显著提升他或她为你作保的可能性。”她补 充说，陪伴销售团队拜访客户的经历促使她推举了几位业绩卓著的女员工出任更高的职位——就在上周还刚刚推荐了一位。     4.大胆提出更能取得实效的建议。“许多组织都在寻找具有批判性思维的人，他们有可能成为变革的推动 者。许多高级管理人员正是通过这种方式获得了目前的职位，”克莱尔?法利说。“所以，你得提出大量的问题，掌握一门艺术，用一种让别人不设防的方式挑战现 状。”这样做或许可以让你获得一位以同样方式赢得晋升机会的担保人的注意。4. 大胆提出更能取得实效的建议。“许多组织都在寻找具有批判性思维的人，他们有可能成为变革的推动者。许多高级管理人员正是通过这种方式获得了目前的职 位，”克莱尔?法利说。“所以，你得提出大量的问题，掌握一门艺术，用一种让别人不设防的方式挑战现状。”这样做或许可以让你获得一位以同样方式赢得晋升 机会的担保人的注意。     5.单刀直入，直接询问。范?克拉林根表示，如果你知道某位高管能够帮助你获得某项任命或晋升，最直接 的方式有时是最有效的，但“询问的次数不要太多。在你询问之前，从战略的角度认真思考一下，根据情势的变化和闪现的不同机会，选择某位能够帮助你向若干个 方向发展的高管。”担保人的势力范围越宽广，他或她帮助你获得一个可以让你尽展才华的职位的可能性就越大，这样你就可以持续获得晋升的机会。     如果你觉得寻找他人担保似乎是在索求一种很大的恩惠，那就请你记住Catalyst公司的一项研究结论。该公司在研究了担保行为对担保人自身职业生涯的影响之后发现：培养和提升人才往往可以为这样做的高管自身带来更大的提升和加薪机会。     这项研究显示，2008年到2010年之间，为下属担保的管理人员的平均薪酬要比不这样做的同僚高出25,075美元。“能够发现并培养人才的声誉是高级管理人员很大的一笔财富，”Catalyst公司的克里斯蒂娜?席尔瓦指出。“担保文化对大家都有利。”     译者：任文科

For women who want to beat those odds, here are five ways to find a sponsor:     1.Build on a mentoring relationship. "Sponsorships often arise from deep and strong mentoring connections," says Bridget Van Kralingen. "One thing I've found is that if you give feedback to higher-ups and share ideas, so that there are reciprocal benefits to the relationship, it's more likely to lead to that person sponsoring you."     2.Identify higher-ups who inspire you. "You don't really choose a sponsor. They have to choose you," says Claire Farley. "But you can improve your chances by first asking yourself who it is in the organization whose track record impresses you, and whose leadership style you'd like to emulate. Then try to stand out and get to know that person. Make your achievements, and your goals, known to him or her -- without being too 'political' about it, because people see through that very quickly."     3.Whenever possible, let a potential sponsor see you in action. It helps, Van Kralingen says, to keep an eye out for opportunities to work closely with a senior executive you'd like to impress. "You're more likely to attract that person as a sponsor if he or she is very directly familiar with your work and has seen your performance firsthand," she says. Accompanying sales teams when they call on clients, she adds, has led her to recommend several female stars for promotion -- including one just last week.     4.Suggest improvements in the way things get done. "Many organizations are looking for critical thinkers who have the potential to be change agents. It's how plenty of senior executives got where they are," observes Claire Farley. "So ask a lot of questions, and learn the art of challenging the status quo in a way that doesn't make people defensive." It just might get you noticed by a sponsor who got his or her big break the same way.     5.Ask. The most direct approach sometimes works, says Van Kralingen, if there's an assignment or promotion that you know a particular higher-up could help you get, but "don't ask too many times. And before you ask, think strategically about it, and choose someone who might be able to help you move in any of several directions, depending on how circumstances change and different opportunities arise." The broader your sponsor's sphere of influence, the more likely it is that he or she can guide you into a niche where you'll shine, so you can continue to move up.     If seeking out sponsorship feels like asking a mighty big favor, keep in mind the findings of a Catalyst study that examined the impact on the sponsors' own careers: Developing and promoting talent usually leads to bigger promotions and raises for the executives who do it.     Between 2008 and 2010, the research shows, managers who sponsored protégés earned an average of $25,075 more than their peers who didn't. "A reputation for being able to spot talent and help nurture it is an asset to senior managers," notes Christine Silva at Catalyst. "A culture of sponsorship is good for everybody."