Published on: September 28, 2026
A NABITA Tip of the Week by Tara Shollenberger, Ed.D.
School and college-based Behavioral Intervention Teams (BITs) depend on experienced professionals who can manage complex cases, build trust across departments, and lead collaborative responses. Developing the next generation of BIT professionals requires intentional investment in growth, leadership, and mentorship.
Most professionals are familiar with mentoring, but there are three distinct types of professional relationships: mentors who build skills, sponsors who open doors, and networks that broaden access to both.
We recently explored this topic during a members-only Talking BITs event. Below are key takeaways from that conversation to help you move from insight to action. Watch the recording.
Mentors Build Capacity. Sponsors Create Access.
Mentors share their experiences, provide feedback, answer questions, and help their mentees to navigate difficult situations. They help to develop confidence, judgment, and professional competence.
Sponsorship is different. A sponsor uses their own credibility, influence, and reputation to vouch for someone else’s advancement. They recommend a colleague for leadership opportunities, suggest them for committees or presentations, nominate them for awards, or speak positively about their work when important decisions are being made.
Mentors advise, while sponsors advocate. Mentorship develops capabilities, while sponsorship develops opportunities. A mentor helps someone become ready. A sponsor helps ensure they are considered. Both professional relationships are necessary because they address different challenges.
Strategic Networking Makes Both Possible
Strategic networking is often reduced to attending conferences or exchanging business cards. In practice, it means intentionally building and maintaining relationships with people who can offer different forms of professional support over time.
For behavioral intervention professionals, those relationships may include:
- Senior leaders who understand institutional decision-making
- Experienced peers at other institutions who face similar challenges
- Cross-functional colleagues who offer different perspectives
- Individuals who provide honest feedback, accountability, or emotional support during difficult situations
The same person can serve as both mentor and sponsor, but a more effective approach is to build an “advisory board” of relationships that collectively provide expertise, encouragement, visibility, and opportunity. Just as effective BITs draw on multiple perspectives to make sound decisions, professional development benefits from multiple sources of guidance.
Audit Your Professional Support System
Rather than waiting for new relationships to emerge, evaluate the ones you already have.
Consider questions such as:
- Who helps you develop new skills?
- Who gives you candid feedback when you need it?
- Who advocates for you when opportunities arise?
- Who introduces you to new professional connections?
- Who supports you after particularly difficult situations?
Many professionals have mentors but few, if any, sponsors. Research consistently shows that sponsorship is one of the biggest gaps in professional development. Organizations increasingly create space for mentoring, but sponsorship is less likely to happen organically, because it requires leaders to use their influence on behalf of others.
For those in positions of influence, consider whose work deserves greater visibility. Closing the sponsorship gap means thinking not only about who is investing in your growth, but also whose growth you can actively help to advance.
Become an Intentional Multiplier
Professional development is about receiving support and creating it for others. Every experienced BIT professional can invest in newer colleagues without significant time commitments.
Career conversations can happen during routine meetings. Walking between buildings, grabbing coffee, or debriefing after a challenging case can become meaningful mentoring moments. Delegating visible projects, offering constructive feedback, or making key introductions can become acts of sponsorship. The most important question for experienced professionals may not be, “Who helped me get here?” but “Who am I helping to reach the next level?”
Building future leaders requires creating stretch opportunities with appropriate support, discussing long-term career goals, and intentionally helping emerging professionals to become visible within their institutions and across the field.
Strong behavioral intervention programs depend on continuity and succession planning as much as sound case management. Developing future leaders is not separate from the work of behavioral intervention. It is part of ensuring that the profession continues to grow, adapt, and serve increasingly complex school and campus communities.
Continue Building Your Professional Network
NABITA offers members several ways to connect with experienced practitioners, including one-on-one relationships through the Mentor Match program and small-group connections through Community Connections, which matches groups of 3-5 members based on professional goals, preferences, and chosen affinities.
Explore NABITA’s full range of networking and engagement opportunities.