Page 18 - Sponsor Booklet

Sponsor as Professional Counsel
What is a Counsel and why are they important?

All principals are expected to follow certain sets of
rules and norms. Rules are normally formal edicts, such as
government policies or the intricacies included in the Code of Aid.
Norms are informal, yet equally powerful, guidelines for
behaviour which principals need to know, for example, how to deal
with the press or interact with a range of different professional or
industrial bodies. To enact such rules and norms BPs require
political awareness, astuteness and expertise which were largely
unnecessary before they became a principal. Knowing,
operationalising and adhering to (or, in some cases, knowing how
not to) such rules and norms are often essential to the survival and
wellbeing of the BP him or herself or, indeed, of their school.

In the blue skies programme a Professional Counsel is distinct from
a mentor or a coach in that that they offer advice and modelling
specifically in the external political world within which BPs must
operate. The Sponsor as Counsel is someone who helps the BP
traverse the political, public and visible aspects of their job
throughout the first year or so. Counselling in these terms involves
three faces. The first asks the Sponsor to share their first-

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