You’ve established yourself in your role and you’ve set yourself career goals. So how do you go about achieving them?
Well a sponsor could be the answer! A sponsor is someone, usually in the workplace, who believes in you and helps you climb the ranks.
To talk us through sponsorship and it’s benefits, we sit down with Jessica Regan from BAE Systems.
Despite being one of the youngest leaders in the industry, Jessica is one of the project leads on a new BAE Systems Digital Intelligence space systems programme, delivering cutting edge satellite technology.
Jessica discusses the positives of having a sponsor, how to go about getting one and the differences between sponsorship and mentorship.
hello everyone thank you for tuning in
again I am Katie batesman the content
director at chican code and today we’re
asking what is a sponsor and why do you
need one today I have the fabulous
Jessica Regan project program portfolio
manager at BAE Systems to discuss the
positives of having a sponsor how to get
one and the differences between
sponsorship and mentorship welcome
Jessica
oh yeah thank you so much for joining us
this morning and can we start with a
little bit of background about yourself
please
yeah absolutely so I did a master’s
degree at University when I left there I
then went in and did a couple of years
at a PCB manufacturer kind of rotating
around different departments had no real
idea what I wanted to do
I then went and spent three years at a
sports betting company managing software
delivery so did part the business
analysis and then also project
management preferred the project
management uh so then went over to BAE
Systems and I’ve been there four years
now project managing loads of different
sorts of projects yes Eights
it’s bad at math so I wish it was
something that I’m still really bad at
maths and I’m Dreadful with numbers it’s
something that I just wish that I could
do was there something about it did you
just find it easy or it was there a
teacher that encouraged you what was it
about that stem subject that really Drew
you in
uh I was definitely very lucky to have
some good teachers so that helped I’m
quite severely dyslexic so actually
words for me are a lot harder uh matters
much much easier and I was toying
between doing a maths degree or going
down the veterinary science route and I
kind of
went backwards and forwards on it and
then when it came to actually crunch
time submitting my applications I
thought well they don’t like you taking
time out for maths so if I do maths and
then decide no I definitely want to be a
vet I can always go down the other Road
whereas if I do it the other way around
that’s kind of it
so yes it worked out very well for me
but hardly any writing so that was a
good degree no dissertation
yeah you said to be one or the other
don’t you you’re frightened of one I’m
fright of numbers
um but and at bae you you are you’re a
project lead on um BAE Systems digital
intelligence space systems program is
that correct yes so uh we’ve got a big
project
so I head up the software delivery for
one of our big space programs so I work
with about 40 different uh software
Engineers across four different teams
delivering in a agile methodology in
various different languages depending on
which bit of code they’re writing so
some of it is
really really low level code that goes
actually on satellite and then we launch
that into space and then there’s all the
ground software which is a bit more
normal kind of java JavaScript type code
amazing one of those amazing jobs where
you just it’s we love on this podcast to
hear the range of roles in technology
um but that sounds like one of those
really cool ones
um so today we’re going to be discussing
uh sponsorship
um can you kick us off with uh just a
bit of an understanding of what is
sponsor
so a sponsor is someone who is quite a
senior normally
recognizes your talents and is in a
position to push you forward for
opportunities
it’s something that I had only heard of
kind of the word for it probably 18
months ago but when you think back to
your career you think oh yeah no I I
definitely had those people that would
be counted as sponsors
um
so yeah I’ve been quite lucky to have
some really good sponsors through my
career that have pushed me forward for
opportunities I wouldn’t have had
otherwise yeah I think it’s a word that
you you don’t here often do you I mean
you hear
you hear the word Mentor a lot I mean
what what is the difference between a
sponsor and a mentor because we all seem
quite familiar with a mentor sounds like
also sounds like somebody else that
helps you climb the ranks yeah what’s
the difference uh so for me I think most
mentors would know that they’re a mentor
so you kind of have that agreement you
might have regular regular check-ins
with them
um
you you probably work through your
day-to-day life problems so they are
slightly separate to a sponsor who
probably isn’t interested in you know
that you’re having trouble with one of
your colleagues or you’re struggling to
solve this problem uh they’re normally
more senior Than You by quite a way
um and
yeah they probably don’t even know that
they’re a sponsor they just identify you
as someone that they think is pretty
good at their job and deserves to be
pushed forward for things oh I see
so it’s not as much of a commitment with
a mentor it tends to be you make time so
maybe that person you might have a
coffee or you might have met via an
internal mentoring matching program but
what you’re saying is a sponsor probably
doesn’t even
call themselves that they don’t they
don’t even tell other people that they
happen to sponsor
um another colleague they’re just
someone senior that when they’re sitting
in a room can make sure that they name
drop you every now and then as a as you
know the person that you need in that
next position for instance or somebody
that you know everybody in that room
needs to know about yeah absolutely and
I think mentors you normally stick with
for quite a long time
um you normally you know agree to that
partnership and even peer mentoring and
you do it for a considerable period or
you know for a certain part of your
career whereas sponsors are a bit more
flexible I think depending on where you
are at the moment and your current
management chain it’s probably different
sponsors and you’ll find sponsors pop up
through your career you know somebody
you worked with three or four years ago
suddenly you find you’re in the same
Department as them again and they’re now
sponsoring you again
yes yes so and I suppose in a big
company as well that is incredibly
valuable I mean not all big companies
it’s some big companies
um if you’re getting the wrong one it
can be
um quite challenging you might disappear
into the teams and you know you do your
day job and that’s it but if you’re in a
in
um a company where you know your name is
being uh brought up in in the right
places and that must be incredibly
valuable you know but uh you know I was
going to ask you about the benefits of
having a sponsor and but I suppose
that’s that’s the most obvious one that
your name uh is brought up when it needs
to be yeah absolutely and it also gives
you kind of cross-department
opportunities as well if that person’s
moved into a new job role somewhere else
and you’re perhaps not happy where you
are you can always reach out and say oh
you know and I think cool come up in
your area I’d really like a new
challenge
what have you got
yeah oh that’s interesting because
um there’s been so much research around
uh ladies um in Tech who come into Tech
and then later in their career most
likely in their 30s they they leave and
um it’s always the question of why do
they leave or is it that those companies
are not doing to retain them but you
know if you’ve got people in other
departments that are giving you other
opportunities then you might feel more
likely to to stay put in within a
company that you like
um but just that you’ve got extra
opportunities coming from other
departments instead of feeling like you
know I’ve got to jump shoot entirely and
go somewhere else yeah definitely I have
to say we are quite well set up for that
internally
uh all our kind of resources as it were
are Central capability and then you’re
put onto projects so if you don’t like a
project or don’t like an area it’s quite
easy to say particularly as something
like a project manager where you have
got quite flexible skills
um oh actually that department really
interests me that customer really
interests me what opportunities are over
there and you can go and re-chat within
your network or kind of Through official
channels to see what other opportunities
you are and because we are such a
massive company a sideways move quite
often will mean a completely different
management chain so it feels you know
quite like you’ve moved companies I’ve
been quite lucky I’ve moved around a
couple of times and it’s a totally
different kind of style of management
almost in different areas
yeah I’d never even thought of that as a
bonus actually of working at a big
company it must feel like you’re
completely moving jobs and just moving
to it some companies they don’t they
don’t like that they do they don’t allow
people to move across teams which seems
very strange to me because you know if
you’ve got good talent why wouldn’t you
just hold on to it why wouldn’t you just
allow it to be that flexible
um if that person wants a change then
then let them go and learn something new
but um yeah I suppose if you’ve got a
sponsor in place so that becomes much
easier
absolutely yes
um if you can
find the argument for you moving into
that new role then you’re far more
likely to get it making sure that you’ve
got the right people on board to promote
that move is really important yeah yeah
and
we’ve mentioned
about as
you know that they remember
me
um but but what makes a good sponsor you
know other other than that just to sort
of remembering to bring you up when they
need to
um I think it’s also about their
standing within the business so if
they’re quite well respected and liked
by their peers if they put your name
forward it’s a good suggestion whereas
if they perhaps haven’t got the best uh
understanding of the business and
perhaps the political layer of the land
then they’re not going to do the best
job at pushing you forward for things
that you’ll actually be able to get
okay so you could have a sponsor who
thinks they’re doing you
um thinks they’re doing a good thing by
dropping your name in and actually
they’re not
yeah I think it’s always good to have as
many opportunities as you can so if
they’re going to name drop you or well
and good the more people that hear your
name the better
um but if you’re gonna invest in
nurturing that sponsorship relationship
and make sure you’re visible to someone
make sure you pick someone who’s
actually in a position to influence
rather than investing a time of time in
someone who doesn’t necessarily have
sway
yes yeah not not
um what that I was going to ask you next
how can you go about finding a sponsor
and getting a sponsor I suppose as you
said there if you’re investing your time
in the wrong person really you need to
just make sure that you identify
somebody that would be a good sponsor is
probably the first thing to do
um and then and then work on that I take
it you know if some sponsors don’t know
that they’re a sponsor it’s not that
easy as just going up to somebody and
saying will you be my sponsor you know
how how do you do that then is it just
making good connections with influential
people in your business
yes and being visible so I wouldn’t say
any of my sponsors know that they’re my
sponsors but I do make sure that if I’ve
done a good job they know that I’ve done
a good job and my name will pop up in
various locations I volunteer for lots
of what I call extracurricular
activities within the business and so
certain clubs whether they be kind of
sports clubs internally or a part of the
dyslexia Network and things like that
that just give you access to senior
people
um and then rather than kind of sitting
back and being quiet in those forums
making sure you’re putting forward ideas
and
being seen to be contributing
yeah I said um if you’re a company
clubs and Network
you know
I’ve had ladies on here all that have
said if it’s not there just start one
you know it’s and you spoke there about
being uh visible and just making sure
um that you know if there isn’t a club
there start one if you feel there isn’t
a network for you know a group that that
you wanted to be part of
um then then I’m sure most companies uh
wouldn’t you know be against you if you
wanted to launch something so
um being part of a big company is is
great because a lot of those are already
in place but you know doing anything
just stepping forward to make sure
you’re visible
um uh surely is is you know something
that that most companies would encourage
yeah the one brilliant bit of advice I
got in my first ever job was we’d been
away on a business trip and when we got
back I’d been away with someone quite
senior and they said right you need to
do a write-up of the last three days and
send it round to all the leadership team
I was like oh my God and I think yeah
particularly as women though we are
really rubbish at singing our own
praises and this was a way to be visible
and say things had gone well but
actually I was just writing a report I
was just saying what had happened
and I’ve always tried to do that I don’t
always follow through wherever I should
but um wherever Something’s Happened
we’ve achieved something within a team I
try and write you know a short email
even and send it around to the
leadership team so you’re then showing
even if it’s not you you know you’re
singing your Praises of your team but
it’s your name on the top of that email
and it’s your name in their inbox that
they’re seeing time and time again with
good news stories and they’ll associate
you with success essentially
that actually that’s a great piece of
advice and it’s something so simple as
well that I think a lot of us probably
haven’t thought of or if you had to go
on that that workshop and then
afterwards you thought oh thank God you
know you might be thinking thank God I
just made it through alive
um I don’t want to speak about it
anymore but that tiny little thing
um on the end can can really uh increase
your value
um even as a summary of what happened as
you said
um yeah it’s great advice I’ve never had
that one
um we spoke about uh visibility and and
so do you think that having a sponsor
increases your visibility at work I
suppose it’s just having that Advocate
isn’t it behind closed doors to
um as we mentioned to to be able to
um uh not just name drop you but I
suppose um push you forward for other
opportunities as well and and having
that sponsor just must massively
increase your visibility across uh
different
um uh departments as you said
yeah absolutely and I think sometimes
when we think about this we think too
big so we think opportunities ends in
another job role in another area or
something like that but actually
opportunities can be so much smaller
than that and being the name that’s on
the tip of people’s tongues when they go
you know they’ve got a big customer
meeting coming up and they need someone
for the technical team to come and
represent
anything like that is
you know a makes you more visible but
also gives you so many more learning
opportunities I suppose again that comes
back to finding a sponsor that knows
that you’re the type of person that
would want to do that as well okay yeah
it would be incredibly frightening if I
had a sponsor you know suddenly I got
told oh a client you need to present to
a client and there’s going to be
hundreds of people there you know my
word who brought me forward for this
even in that situation if you’re the
person that gets things done you could
say ah I don’t think I can do that but I
do know someone who can and I’ll fix
that for you I’ll sort that out don’t
you worry about it I’ve got that covered
yes great advice instead of throwing it
back at them and saying that’s not for
me you now have a problem because you’ve
told leadership that somebody will be
coming with you
um yeah great advice not to just kind of
leave it in their lap I suppose as well
because they’re thinking
um I won’t put you forward for another
opportunity again you know it’s it’s
okay to say no but as you just said you
know maybe helping them find a solution
to that problem instead of just feeling
like it’s been thrown back at them you
know thanks but no thanks that’s uh
absolutely sounds terrifying for me um
but I will find someone else that can do
it for you yeah exactly we spoke a
little bit about
um visibility in the workplace and there
are other ways that you think
um women in Tech can become more visible
in the workplace
um we’re quite lucky being that we’ve
got a really good marketing team and so
I’ve reached out to them on a couple
occasions when I needed something doing
and then vice versa they’ve reached out
to me when they need things and wherever
I can I say either I’ll do something for
them or I’ll find somebody who can and
even this opportunity came through them
uh and kind of the more I do with them
the more opportunities I get and the
more visible I am and we mentioned about
putting reports around internally
particularly to your leadership team
about successes
quite often most internal companies will
have like a Blog area and things like
that so you can write bits for your
intranet the more places your name and
your face kind of pop up the more
visible you are the more you’ll be in
people’s minds when they think about new
opportunities
yes and I suppose as you said
um you know with this part
you know people
on here
um and and you’re absolutely right other
speaker opportunities
um and I was just thinking then you know
even things like internal Awards do you
have internal awards at bae or things
you know we you recognize
um employees just to make sure that um
you know everybody knows of the great
work that they’re doing
we have some internal ones and we also
have quite a few external ones that we
like to push people forward for so the
we are Tech women Awards we normally
have quite a good representation from
Bae I’ve actually nominated a couple of
my colleagues for their rising star one
that they’ve got open at the moment
so they always are really good and the
company is really good about
kind of promoting the people that have
been nominated particularly as it gets
through to the voting rounds it’s kind
of all over LinkedIn and things like
that so it’s also a nice way for you to
give visibility to your great colleagues
as well yeah so you’re a sponsor in that
sense then you put forward other
colleagues
um for for awards uh and um you probably
didn’t even know it but you’re a sponsor
absolutely yeah
and and I’m assuming you know it always
um it works both ways doesn’t it you
know other people will put you forward
um for uh Awards
um and you might get that email where
you know somebody has um interviewed for
something and and uh you didn’t even
realize or you know you didn’t even know
they existed
um and you’ve been entered for it so
um yeah I suppose it all it all goes
around and works in circles doesn’t it I
think a lot of people think that the
strength of their Network
um is knowing other people as well other
companies and thinking that the
opportunities always lie in my next role
and the next company that I’m going to
and perhaps sometimes forget to really
make sure that they nurture those
connections internally so like you said
you know putting forward your colleagues
for awards is something
um that that colleague will most
probably really cherish that you took
the time to to do that and and uh you
know it was really strengthened your
relationships with with that team
absolutely and uh saying thank you as
well Works quite well with your sponsors
so if they have done something for you
and pushed you forward for something
make sure you reach out and say I’ll you
know really appreciated that thank you
like saying yes they’ll they’ll be happy
to put you forward again then yes and
that’s so simple isn’t it it’s something
something that we forget often uh to do
is just to thank somebody for
um for putting you forward
um we spoke uh quite a bit about
visibility and I wanted to ask you you
know why it’s important to be visible we
spoke a little bit about
um obviously the opportunities that it
offers you
um that speaking opportunities for
example or opportunities to present
um but we also spoke a little bit about
uh
um you know being visible across
different departments
um something that we speak a lot on here
uh is about
um
uh we call them squiggly careers and
careers that perhaps don’t take you know
a very straight a straight path
um I suppose that helps doesn’t it be
invisible if something comes up and you
want to take a different career path I’m
not talking about a massive career shift
um within a company but surely being
visible means that
um you know you can take more risks like
that you could change uh jobs within a
company because people are more aware of
your skills and that you you might be
suited to a completely different role in
another part of the company do you would
you agree with that do you think that’s
you know one of the reasons why it’s
important to be visible
yeah I would definitely be an advocate
of a squiggly career I would say mine
definitely looks like that
um for someone like me that is
reasonably ambitious and looking to
climb being visible is really important
probably not for every woman in Tech
it’s as important if you’re quite happy
where you are and you’re aim for the
next few years is just to become highly
technically competent at what you do
then it probably isn’t as important but
if you are looking to kind of Jump
Around take up different opportunities
try different things out climb
reasonably quickly then being visible is
really important
yeah and be invisible obviously ties
into
um role models and making sure that
people
um can see that the type of role that
you do and why they might want to um go
into that themselves one day do you have
any amazing women in Tech role models
that that you look up to and that that
you either aspire to be like or you look
at and do and think you know I’d like
I’d like to be like that
uh yeah we’ve got some really good ones
internally so Murphy James who’s our
digital transformation director she’s
incredibly visible and she does lots of
kind of volunteering for various
different things uh highly technical
technically competent
um yeah all-round brilliant
um
past life and I must say she is
absolutely amazing and and when I’ve
heard her speak
um and and so incredibly down to earth
as somebody that knows so much as well
an absolute an amazing advocate for for
women in Tech so
um yeah I clearly agree with what you
just said yeah I also met Annabelle
snaith our home Affairs account director
the other day and she stood up talking
to about
150 people and she was absolutely
captivating and I thought that that’s
what I’d like to be I’d like to stand at
the front and look like I really know
what I’m talking about yes yeah I’d love
to do that
sometimes
um and I’ve mentioned this before on the
podcast you go to women in Tech events
and you hear these incredible ladies at
the front and they’re they’re giving
their stories and I remember being told
you know just
you just need to be yourself because
those ladies are being themselves they
are authentic and standing up there and
that’s what’s so captivating about them
and I think I I used to sit there as a
young person at these events and I think
I’m never going to be like that
um you know and and I was just thinking
I have to tell their story you know and
I might get give it an opportunity to to
do
um a presentation about women in Tech
and I’m I’m thinking you know what were
the stats that movie James was rolling
off in her speech you know what what are
the stats that I need to tell everybody
when actually the value lies in you
sharing your story and your journey
um you know and even um right at the
start of this hearing that you know you
took maths and um what a lovely story to
to hear that you knew what you liked and
you knew what you wanted to do
um and would be so inspiring to lots of
other girls that enjoy maths and can
hear you know what type of careers that
they can go into
um also because it sounds like you’ve
got a very super cool job
um a vaing systems
um is there anything as well that you
um resources that you like to draw upon
um you mentioned a couple of networks
are there any you know
um books that that you can share with us
or any women in Tech networks that you
are a part of that you think our
listeners
um should should hear about
uh so last year I’ve read a couple of
books I think one of them was break your
own rules I think you know we’ve
mentioned kind of what I call
extracurricular activities it’s really
easy to pick up too many and it’s really
easy to do too much
um you know being a woman you can’t just
be brilliant at your job you’ve also got
to have other strings to your bow to
really be kind of accelerated forward
and last year I definitely picked up too
many of those things so some of those
books were about right what’s the focus
what is it that you want to do and go
after that and only that you cannot you
know be brilliant at work and as an
aspiring CEO or CTO and also have the
perfect family in clean house and
everything else so what is it that you
want and go after that
yeah yeah I agree it I think it’s um
I think we get carried away and thinking
that some people have all of that some
people might have all of that it’s
absolutely fine they might have help you
know you never know who I have the help
at home
um but you’re absolutely right I think
it’s just
um uh just realizing that you know
your limits and what you would like to
do or what is important in your life and
also important in your life at certain
stages of your life because those things
that you want they change all the time
and they change with you know uh if you
get married have a family
um you know all of the things that you
thought were important might change
um and and that’s okay and I think it’s
just being true to yourself and being at
a company that allows you to be flexible
and to change through your seasons of
life as well
um
but um Jessica I’m really sorry we’re
already out of time
um and I could continue talking about
this all morning
um but but we are uh already there and
so thank you so much for joining us
today it’s been an absolute pleasure to
chat with you
Angie thank you so much for having me on
thank you and to everybody listening as
always thank you for joining us and we
hope to see you again next time
