Hers For The Taking · The Relationships Playbook

Week 4: Build toward the people who open doors, and keep it going

Everything for the week on one page: your moves, worksheet, scripts, and score.

This week's moves

Move 115 min · Written

Name your potential sponsor, today. Go to your circle map and find the overlap: someone with access who has seen your work. Write the name using script 1. If no one qualifies yet, write the visibility-first sentence in script 2; that's your real move.

Move 220 min · Done

Make one easy-to-vouch-for move. Pick one from script 3: make a piece of your work visible to that person, show up well in a shared space this week, or finish something you told someone you'd do and haven't yet.

Move 315 min · Scheduled

Make the ask, or set the habit. If a real opportunity is in play, use the three-part ask in script 4. If it's not time yet, schedule the next relationship-building step and put a monthly relationship check on your real calendar (script 5). Then take your final re-score.

The sponsor map

Name

Has access?

Seen my work?

The overlap (both boxes yes) = my potential sponsor: ________________________________

The easy-to-vouch-for checklist

A piece of my work made visible to that person
Showed up well in a shared space this week
Finished something I said I'd do and hadn't yet

The three-part ask

Word for word

When an opportunity is in play: "I know the [role / project / assignment] is coming up, and I'm genuinely interested. I think my work on [specific thing] shows I'm ready for it. If it felt right to you, I'd love for you to put my name forward. No pressure at all. I just wanted you to know I'm interested." Specific opportunity, evidence of readiness, low-pressure close.

The monthly relationship check

On your real calendar

One monthly slot to tend your three: last contact, next small touch, anything to close the loop on. My slot: scheduled.

Script cards (cut along the dashed lines)

1. The sponsor-identifier

"The person with access who has actually seen my work is [name]." That overlap, not seniority, is where a sponsor comes from.

2. The visibility-first move

If no one qualifies: "No one with real decision-making access has seen my work yet. My first job is to change that with [name or group]." Then pick a way to put your work in front of them this month.

3. The three that make people confident to put their name behind you

What earns advocacy: visible work (the project that got noticed, not just good work done quietly), how you carry yourself in shared spaces (you contribute, you ask good questions, you handle pushback well), and reliability (you do what you said, you're prepared, you don't drop what matters). Pick the one you can act on this week.

4. The three-part ask

5. The thank-you that keeps a sponsor, and the monthly check

When someone advocates for you: "I wanted you to know, [what happened]. Thank you for putting my name forward; it meant a lot." And set the keep-it-running habit: once a month, 20 minutes, open your circle map, note who's gone cold among your three, send one no-ask touch to each, and re-check the overlap for anyone new.

Self-score: Final

Score each statement from 1 (not true) to 5 (true). Mark one box per row.

1. I can name the people whose support would genuinely move my career forward.	1 2 3 4 5
2. I can start a conversation with someone senior without rehearsing it in my head first.	1 2 3 4 5
3. I follow up after a good conversation instead of letting it fade.	1 2 3 4 5
4. Someone with real influence has seen my work and would put my name forward.	1 2 3 4 5

Re-entry note

However many weeks you finished, do move 1 anyway. Naming the one person who could open a door, or naming that no one's seen your work yet, is the most useful sentence in this playbook. The monthly check is what keeps it paying off after the program ends.

Print for your own use. From The Relationships Playbook at hersforthetaking.com.