How to get into the room where the real vote happens

The result of the steering committee's vote is usually decided well before anyone raises a hand. It was shaped in a hallway conversation, a message thread and a couple of brief calls the week before, and the meeting simply makes it official. When you refine your best argument ahead of the session, you are in fact getting ready for the minutes that will be recorded. This isn't cynicism. It's simply how organizations function, and it explains why having a sponsor counts for more than strong performance once you reach a certain level. According to McKinsey and LeanIn's 2025 Women in the Workplace study, 31% of women at the entry level have a sponsor, while the figure for men is 45%. Sponsors are, above all, those who tip you off that a meeting is coming before it is ever scheduled.

Quick gut check

Consider the most recent major decision that touched your work or your team. Go through each item below with a yes or no, and then tally how many of those outcomes you grasped only after they happened.

First You were aware of the two or three individuals who would in practice decide the matter.

Second Before the agenda went out, you had a candid one-on-one talk with at least one of those people.

Third You foresaw the toughest pushback and were already aware of who would deliver it.

Fourth In the days before the meeting, you put the question to a senior colleague: "What's the buzz about this?"

Fifth You understood what the decision maker's own superior hoped to achieve.

Sixth You arranged for one ally to agree to speak in support of your proposal first.

Seventh You previewed your proposal with someone who would challenge it before the formal challenge came.

Eighth You could tell whether the choice was genuinely still in play or had quietly been settled.

Ninth Over coffee, rather than through a slide presentation, someone took you step by step through the proposal.

Tenth You were brought into a discussion that did not show up on anyone's calendar.

Interpreting your score

Eight to ten: right at the center of things. You're in the rooms that count. What you need to do next is help bring someone else in beside you.

Four to seven: nearby but not at the core. Information reaches you, and at times it arrives in time to make a difference. You're doing the substantive work and some of the political groundwork, but you still occasionally find yourself surprised by a vote.

Zero to three: standing at the edge of things. You get ready meticulously for gatherings that have, in substance, already concluded before anyone sits down. This is not a personal failing. Nobody told you that the agenda is the final step rather than the first, and women are more often left to figure this out alone, because fewer of them have a sponsor who would have explained it.

Next steps

If your score is eight to ten, pick one person two levels beneath you and let her know what is actually happening before the next big decision lands. This is exactly the role a sponsor plays, and you are now well placed to step into it.

If your score is four to seven, before you bring forward your next proposal, reserve twenty minutes with the person most likely to push back and invite them to locate the flaws. Concerns voiced privately tend to turn into public backing, since people stand behind what they have helped to shape.

If your score is zero to three, put one question to a senior figure this week: "What's being said about this before it gets to the committee?" and then pay close attention to the answer. The answer tells you who to speak with next, and the fact that you asked signals to them that you understand how the organization works.

Add up your yeses, and pass this along to the woman in your circle who always seems to hear about things first.