Welcome.We are excited to be here for our fireside chat today, and we're gonna be talking about from our experiences, some of the differences we've seen from coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship. I'm Kristen Boyle. I'm here with my colleague and friend. Katie White. We are joining you from the office of our consultancy, thought logic in Atlanta, Georgia. We are a digital enabled consultancy that delivers people centric solutions. We are planning to speak for about 15 minutes and then we're gonna do our best leave time 5 minutes hopefully at the end for questions along the way. So certainly put this in the chat. A little bit about us so you can understand, what brought us here today. I have 25 years plus. In industrial organizational psychology. 

I spent a lot of time in talent and learning and development roles, but now we're consulting and loving it. I've sort of been technology adjacent for parts of my career. I started as a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. And I've often been in companies either embedded or supporting technology organizations. On the soft side, I've been a coach I've run coaching programs for an organization. I've developed mentoring programs and, probably because of my age, I've often been one of the only women in the room. 

Alright. Thanks, Kristen. I'm Katie White. Also, glad to be working with Kristen as, my manager and my friend. I have always been really interested in mentoring and other types of professional support at work. So much so. It actually, inspired me to do my thesis when I was getting my master's degree, to do some research with that. And, I get similar experience to Kristen, you know, 25 years of either consulting or working on the corporate side. I've I've been able to experience both sides of the coin for all of these important relationships. So yeah, so just even with Chris and I, as a perfect example, you know, she was originally kind of a a trusted advisor when I first came to thought logic. 

And now she's my manager. And so also she gave me these cards to relieve. Something about best boss and favorite person, but I know we can get to those later. Yes. 

Flat flattering will get you everywhere. Well, let's jump right in and talk about the different definitions, that we wanted to put here, just a ground up all in coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship. In real life, it's not that clear. They often blend with one another. But we wanted to point out some of the different attributes as a starting place. Again, coaching a bit more short short term, often focused on particular skills. It often started with a focus on maybe derailers or negative skills to improve. But I think over time has shifted more to also enhancing or bringing out positive skills. It's a very performance driven Sometimes that coach can be in or outside of your organization professionally trained, or not. 

Can you maybe talk to us a little bit about mentoring? 

Sure. For me mentoring again, it's not cut and dry, but it's a little bit longer term. Relationship focused. It typically involves us usually somebody with a little more experience kind of bringing along, you know, bringing up the next person but I think now what you see with our, multi generational workforces, there's actually, that's not necessarily the, such a traditional setup anymore. 

So it can come from from all different, all different types of relationships. 

And we also wanted to call it sponsorship. This is really when somebody advocates for you. In my experience, this often grows out of an already pre existing relationship. So often when a formal mentoring relationship has ended or maybe it's a former direct manager that you've had. 

So, Christine, why is it so important to be talking about this today, especially with this, audience, you know, with women and technology? 

You know, why does it matter so much? Yeah. So oftentimes, I've been involved in programs that are specifically focused on women. But when we talk about the technology, I think there's some unique circumstances that make this more important than ever. So if we're talking about coaching, for example, in skills, I think it's obvious to think about technical skills, but also let's not forget kind of the soft skills that are essential in tech roles and especially as you're navigating earlier career to mid career and more senior. 

The mentoring is a great, opportunity to really get, experience and insights that might be specific to the tech industry. And again, that mentoring could be a relationship inside your organization, or it could be outside of your organization. But it's really critical when you're in a male dominated environment. Think to feel like you're getting that support and getting those extra tips, that the men might be getting from from their role models. And I think sponsorship, especially in technology, you know, your ability and opportunities to participate in larger projects and have success really help spotlight you and get you ready for those leadership roles. So, so those are the kind of those are the things we wanted to point about why it's important. I'm gonna hand it off to Katie for a little bit just to talk about some more about some of the unique challenges. I think that we're seeing in technology. 

And and how that plays a role in these developmental relationships. 

Thanks. Yeah. I mean, there's there's many. So many. I think that we can't quite cover on all of them today, but we're just gonna touch on what we think are probably the most prominent ones and you know, specific to technology with the first theme under representation. I think that's one of the key ones that women are so significantly under represented in in technology, especially at the higher levels in the leadership roles and in the, some of the technical roles as well. And that can lead to isolation. It can lead to kind of a lack of advancement, you know, if you're not, you know, kind of Indian. Mhmm. Represent it fully. So, and actually, Kristen, we've been just as we've been preparing for this, talk. Kristen shared a very interesting story about her time at Georgia Tech if you wanna share your experience. 

So this was, a few years ago in the nineties, I was talking about being a women professor and a technology, university, and, and the College of Science and going to some of my first meetings and being one of like three women in the room, and I sort of expected that. What I did not expect was to be in a building and to go to the women's restroom and to realize that they had really just repurposed a male restroom and left all the urinals in there for the women. Sometimes you underestimate the impact as some of what those signs and signals are in the environment that really make you feel not included. 

Yeah, that's a great example. Thank you. Other things are like gender bias, stereotypes, that can really that really persists kind of in the tech world and it could impact compensation, promotions, hiring, I mean, just across the board, there's still, you know, some skepticism about, you know, what women are able to accomplish and things like that. 

I'm sure there's Some or all of you on the call have had, you know, some of these experiences along the way, hostile work environment where it's just downright hostile. I mean, you know, you still hear about this, you know, harassment, microaggressions, you know, that's still probably very prevalent. Pay gap is still an issue. Lack of mentoring and sponsorship, again, that gets ties back to the underrepresentation, you know, there's just not as many women, but also on the flip side, sometimes women are cautious about asking for help. And I think a more male dominated, you know, company because they don't wanna appear like they don't know something or a pure week. So It's a complex. It's a complex problem. And then finally, work life balance, you know, I think there's A lot of great strides have been made in that with families and with companies who can offer those, you know, really flexible benefits and and flexible work arrangements and things like that, but that's still a heavy load to carry. 

And then there's still that that mental load that that most women still carry of just running everyone's life, you know, and the endless to do list and worrying about the next thing. And, and that's just a huge load that you're carrying and managing, you know, constantly, you know, throughout the day and in the evenings. So some of those are a a handful of the challenges, but I we tried to kind of do a wide, you know, a wide cut of things. But then we wanna focus on, you know, Kristen's gonna spend some time going over it. How can we, you know, what are some things that we can do right now to bring more of this professional support into your life? 

Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, we we would feel remiss if we didn't talk about kind of what actions you could take, to get the different types of professional support that we are talking about here today. So what you see on first on the slide are, You know, these these have stood the test of time. Right? These are tried and true practices, that help fit you out there. We wanted to spend a little bit of time diving into kind of finding and approaching the right people to be with you and a mentor coach or sponsor type of relationship. So do be thinking about, I think a good place to start is to think about look around and say, who impresses you? 

And that could be somebody you meet in your neighborhood. It could be somebody you meet in your organization. Is there somebody who seems to advocate for women in general? That's probably a good contact to make and think about how they can help assist you. I've often looked around and said, like, I'm not really good at X skill. Can I find somebody who's good at it so that I can study how they learn? And maybe I can get better at it too. So that's another way. Frankly, sometimes it's just who seems to care about you in in your environment? Right? Who is asking how your day is, asking how things are going, seems to do problem solving. And, again, this is an an either or situation So you can have, you can have somebody who's advocating for you that's different from somebody who's your mentor, and and different from somebody who's a coach. 

Just I think the hard part is like standing up and saying like, hey, I could use some help. And what happens if that person doesn't agree to, like, what if I put my heart on the line and that person doesn't agree to help me out? Well, here's a hint. Being on the other end now where people ask us, you're generally flattered when somebody wants your help and I think if you, share with somebody why you need their guidance, I think that does a lot a lot to really help bring them into the fold. Now, again, it's not just about these relationships. It's about, networking and showing potential. So really developing your brand and showing up showing who you really are. Being a part of groups and activities that that lift you up when you're surrounded by like minded folks. 

You're gonna get ideas and you're gonna be inspired by other women. Much like opportunities like this. So those are all, I think, standard. They're not less important than they've been around for a while. But one of the things we challenged ourselves to to do for today is to really think about trends. And and what's newer and in all of these fields. Right? And so, we're excited about, the use of technology and digital platforms. Again, like we're seeing here today, so we don't have to be face to face. There's apps, e learning, where you can develop your skills. Especially as a psychologist, I'm really interested in how psychology and neuroscience continues to put out, I'd say relevant information to help us kinda get better around learning, etcetera. There's other disciplines like mindfulness as front and center and storytelling is, a big skill that organizations are taking to heart. And really just communities to share best practices. 

So I think there's no shortage of ways that you can start one of these relationships and start to improve your skills. You just have to kinda see what fields right and take that first step. 

And it doesn't have to be at work. I mean, there's so many other things. Even talking to your neighbor You know, you just never know, like, who's out there that might be able to, you know, help you align. Well, what excites you most? 

I just kinda went through a 

list of things. What what what's kind of top of mind for you? Well, I have some real life real time example to share today where, and we're actually working on a client engagement right now. And I'm actually participating in some reverse mentoring where I have a much younger, young man who is teaching me some software and it is just it's been such a great relationship. It's I've learned a lot from him. I hope he's getting something from me, but it's it's been really remarkable. It's been a great help to me. So it's kind of this idea of reverse mentoring. It's it's great to see see it in action. You know, it really works. 

Yeah. That's awesome. Well, we we wanted to move forward and and try to summarize some of the things. I hope what has shown up here and what we've tried to share in the short time with you is, these key things, right, of of empowerment. Like, it's up to you to take those first steps. How finding community and support is key. Finding people who can advocate for you and you just taking that first step and being visible. And proactively managing your career. So you just turn our timer and we just hit our slides of where we wanted to stop sharing our content and see if there were any questions or contributions that folks had from the chat. 

There's a question from Caitlin White. My current challenge with my mentor is understand what to ask for help or guidance with any recommendation. I would say start, kind of, start inward. You know, take kind of an assessment of yourself and where you are. Are you ready to make a leap to a new skill set? Do you want to go for a promotion? Is there something that you're wanting to learn right now? I think it's it's kind of up to you to know a little bit be able to give some direction to the mentor. I think it's it's still also okay to ask and say, you know, what do you see or where do you see my skills and where do you you know, what do you see that I don't see. Yep. That type of thing. But, overall, I would, put the onus on you to kinda take an inventory and, and go to her. 

And then I bet you'll be surprised how much they can help. 

I see a comment about the power of when the Dani like ebbs and flows. I like the word reverse mentoring. We do too. You often see it with some very senior leaders who are trying to make sure they're not isolated. And we've got 4 generations in the workplace and trying to bridge that. What are your top 2 to 3 tips on coaching others? So the hardest part about coaching is like, you see the solution and not trying to tell somebody what to do. So my top 3 tips are questions, questions, questions, trying to help ask the questions that help them do some self discovery, along the way. And if you feel like they're going up in a different direction, kind of balancing that against, what do you what are they seeing hearing and are reflected back from others? 

So kind of ground them in what feedback are they getting from others. And I think, folks who are more advanced in their career respond really well to that newer folks might might there might be some new insights at the beginning that you can share. 

And I think accountability, you know, having homework, you know, following up and making sure that things are getting done, you know, because since it's more task oriented, 

you mentioned exploring trends around gender, career, stage, and generation differences. Could you share any insights or observations Well, hopefully we talked some of that gender. You know, we we were looking at career stages, and I think it's, may seem pretty obvious, but we just have different needs. Right? And all of these types of relationships, the advocacy, the mentoring, the coaching all have a role to play. It's just that you're probably looking for different things. Right? So think about beginning career. You're focusing on skill development, kind of learning how to build your career path, getting visibility. Then when you go to mid career, right, you're trying to probably moving into leadership roles, what some support there. You're thinking about strategic thinking, you know, management types of topics, And by senior, you know, you're that's where you're most likely to find kind of your support from external sources who are helping you kind of put together what you're seeing in your organization, comparing that to other places and saying, hey. 

Am I bringing the best to the table in that scenario? So I think it's just that your needs very as you move through your quarter. 

I think this last this might be our last question. Okay. It's a good one. If you're interested Like, so you're seeking out a sponsor. How would you approach that? Yeah. 

You know, I I've seen an I'll be interested in response, but I have seen, for me, a sponsor has grown out of, I've already I haven't started off with somebody. I don't know it all and say, hey, good to be my sponsor. If they don't know you at all, it might be, you start to talk on a shared topic and say, hey, I'd really appreciate your support in XYZ. Think it's also a good way from a former boss and a mentor. But again, being pretty direct about why you're approaching that person and what they can do for you. 

I think a good place to start might be even just checking out their LinkedIn page, seeing what interests are, what their career path has been. Can you find some commonalities that would kind of up warm up the conversation and maybe they've taken whether they've taken a similar career path or a different career path. I think it's still something that you could talk about. And then it show I think that shows your interest and your, intent, you know, muscle. Bye. Awesome. 

Yeah. Well, and then we're coming up on time. Great quest Jones. Thank you everybody for joining.