How Do I Get a Higher-Up to Sponsor My Ideas?

(MoneyWatch)  Dear Ron,
I've been told I have great ideas but I know in my company you need a mentor or sponsor to help get them implemented. How should I go about doing that?
As I've emphasized here before, developing a wide range of relationships in your company is critically important to your career advancement. In this case, you should try to identify who would be the logical sponsor for your idea given who it could help the most, and ideally you'll have already started connecting with and building relationships with them.

One way to attract their support is to ask them for feedback on your idea, telling them it's something you're trying to develop and would like their input on. But be careful not to divulge too many details of your idea initially, since it could be at odds with other ideas he or she is considering or already working on. Once you've gotten some interest and talked with them about it more, though, you can start to share more details. One result may be that your initial contact paves the way for you to talk to someone else at the company who can help see your idea through.

Over time, you want to deepen these relationships, in particular by making sure you give copious amounts of public credit to your supporters should your ideas see the light of day. In effect, you're rallying supporters for your next ideas. And by doing this, you're going a long way towards building strong, reciprocal relationships.

I recently was working with a senior manager at a consumer products company who was facing a similar issue. She pitched her idea to a few people in her firm who could best benefit from it, including one senior level person who needed some new ideas for raising revenue at the company and had come up short on his own. So he was very receptive to her contacting him and as the idea became stronger, he lined up firmly behind it. My client wound up getting plenty of recognition throughout the company for her contributions, and has also become involved in some initial initiatives to implement those ideas.

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Send Ron your career and job-related questions.