Over the last decade most reputable advice about driving internal cultural change programmes includes a strong emphasis on having a C-Suite level sponsor. There are several reasons for this. The sponsor can make sure the programme’s goals are aligned with overall company strategy. They can secure the buy-in of other executives and overcome resistance to change. And they can provide ongoing direction as the work unfolds.

And one thing is sure, a disability sponsor needs to be in close touch with their disabled employees to hear about the key opportunities and challenges when building disability confidence from the inside out. 

This month’s theme was about what disability employee network / resource groups can learn from some of the most influential senior sponsors operating globally and to engage their own sponsors & champions in the conversation.

5 Leadership Strategies for C-Suite disability sponsors

For those of you who joined last year’s 24-hour #PurpleLightUp 2020 Broadcast you will have heard many influential disability sponsors discuss their view about the importance of disability resource groups / networks in stimulating positive change. But it is rare to find senior sponsors share their top leadership tips in being an effective disability sponsor. There isn’t much literature around, and you have to look in different places to bring themes together.

A good place to start is in this article that summarises 5 Leadership Strategies for C-Suite Executives. Think about this advice and translate it to your own disability change strategies and how you engage with your senior sponsors / champions.

Consider the perspectives here:

• Think like an outsider. This suggests that real breakthroughs come from outside the business. ‘Outsiders’ or those prepared to think like ‘outsiders’ aren’t weighed down by organisation politics and are more likely to identify the need for far-reaching strategic moves such as an organisational restructure to centralise the workplace adjustment process for disabled employees
  
  

• Build strategic momentum. Everyone knows that high-performing executives are known to make most of their strategic moves during their first year on the job – but how many keep on inviting a strategic review to give them real perspective on delivering cultural change and improving business performance on disability?

• Conduct strategic reviews. By analysing and evaluating progress, executives get the best view of how the organisation can move ahead. How often does your senior disability sponsor ask the following four questions?

1. Where is the organisation at now when it comes to disability inclusion / confidence?
2. Where can the organisation get, when it comes to disability inclusion / confidence?
3. Where should the organisation aim, when it comes to disability inclusion / confidence?
4. How can the organisation get there?

• Share your vision. The tone from the top is an important aspect of infiltrating every aspect of corporate culture. When anyone asks, ‘Where are we going when it comes to building disability confidence from the inside out?’ how well can your sponsor answer that question in a way that showcases your organisation’s vivid and inspirational belief of the future state?

• Create balance while building culture. Senior sponsors are less likely to wade into management reshuffles early in their tenure. The strategic shifts usually come before any internal redesign. Ensuring teams not only understand what you do, but why you do it, and establishing a shared belief system that gives your team a reason to believe is an imperative. How able is your disability sponsor in creating balance while building culture?

What would happen if I challenged our C-Suite sponsor / champion? 

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Suzy Wetlaufer and Charles M. Farkas remind us that “very good leaders repress certain personality traits, or develop ones they weren’t born with, in order to run their organisations effectively.”

At PurpleSpace we’re all about supporting our incredible community of employee network or resource group leaders – and that means supporting you to build a great relationship with your sponsor / champion. That sometimes means seeing them as a ‘customer’. Sometimes as a ‘mentee’. Sometimes as an ‘agitator’. Sometimes as an ‘outsider’. And nearly always a someone who will be adapting their own leadership skills to deliver well against your disability change programme. This is the crux of effective leadership.

What would happen if you challenged your sponsor / champion to share one thing they would like to learn this year? And one thing they would like to be known for?

Learning and development opportunities in March

Members had the opportunity to maximise their PurpleSpace membership by accessing all of the exciting learning and development activities coming up this month:

• Engaging in real time with your contemporaries by joining one of two Peer Group Learning Sessions where this month we will be focussed on how you can improve your relationship with your sponsor / champion at. (15:00-16:00 GMT on 11 March and 09:30-10:30 GMT on 23 March).
• Learn directly from a remarkable champion in our ‘Spotlight On’ series as we talked to Alia Cooper, chair of HSBC’s Ability Network, and Ian Stuart, Sponsor for the network and CEO of HSBC UK
• Cascade our Leadership Model for senior sponsors / champions – engage them in conversation about the leaders they want to be when it comes to disability inclusion

And finally…

All good leadership is, after all, an act of servitude. Remember the quote from Muhammad Ali?, “service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”