What did the sponsor actually do?

At our Women in Batteries & Energy conversation in Budapest, one question was the difference between mentorship and sponsorship. It stayed with me afterward.

Advice is easier to recognise. Someone gives you time, helps you think through a problem, or explains how a system works. Sponsorship becomes visible when someone puts your name forward, backs a decision in your favour, or speaks up when you are being treated unfairly.

That makes me want to ask a more concrete follow-up whenever an organisation talks about supporting women: what did someone actually do, and at which decision?

A shortlist, a project allocation, a promotion discussion. These are places where backing can have a consequence. They are also places where it is possible to ask what happened, rather than relying on the language of support.

For a future conversation, I would ask people to bring one example of a moment when someone used their influence on their behalf. Then I would ask what that person risked, and what changed. I suspect those details would make the discussion much more useful.