Strong performance is expected, and it is not always enough to drive visibility, influence, or career advancement at more senior levels. What increasingly matters is how leaders build relationships that expand their visibility, trust, and impact across the organization. Yet many leaders receive little to no support on how to build and leverage these relationships as they progress in their careers.

This session focuses on how leaders strengthen their influence and access to opportunities by building relationships up, across, and beyond the organization. It clarifies the distinction between mentors, advocates, and sponsors, and how sponsorship can play a critical role in career advancement and opening doors at the executive level.

Participants will gain practical tools to map their current networks and identify the relationships and informal influencers that most affect visibility, access, and advancement. They will examine where their influence network is strong, where it is limited, and which relationships are most important to prioritize going forward. The session also explores how leaders can more effectively communicate their leadership impact at an enterprise level to increase visibility with decision-makers and potential sponsors.

Throughout the session participants will explore how strategic relationships are built deliberately and anchored in authenticity, and how they shape the way leaders connect, contribute, and position their impact. They will also gain practical clarity on how to strengthen influence, prioritize key relationships, and take concrete steps to increase their visibility and leverage their network to support and amplify their impact and advancement within their organization.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Differentiate among mentors, advocates, and sponsors – and why sponsorship is critical at the executive level. Understand how sponsorship accelerates advancement, access, and influence beyond performance alone.

2. Assess the three types of networks: operational, strategic, and personal.

3. Recognize informal power and influence networks within your organization. Identify key decision-makers and influencers who shape opportunities and outcomes.

4. Position yourself strategically for sponsorship. Articulate your leadership value, enterprise impact, and readiness in ways that resonate with senior leaders.

5. Apply key dimensions of emotional intelligence for building collaborative and trusting relationships.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES: Integrity; Builds Relationships & Coalitions; Effective Communication with All Levels; Excellence in Results Through Others