Women at Work
how can I improve my influence, impact and profile?
Supporting Women in their careers: Now here’s a fact, according to a study into women in local government by Alimo-Metcalfe, B, and Alban-Metcalfe reported that: “Female managers were found to be at a lower level of management overall than male managers, despite the fact that they were significantly more likely to engage in a variety of career strategy behaviours.”
Another author commented that women at middle or senior management levels “… privately they often feel lonely, unconfident and are working excessively hard to compensate for self-perceived inadequacy”. Though this may be hard to accept, I recognise this as sometimes mirroring my experiences in the past as I’ve struggled to be successful in my work.
So what can I do to support you in ensuring your career success and in improving your impact at work? Especially given the sorts of pressures you may be experiencing:
- the impact and outcomes of ‘gendered’ nature v. nurture development (overwhelmingly women are raised differently than men, with the added implications that their later behaviours will also be different)
- judgements in the workplace are mostly made on male norms of performance and behaviour
- women tend to be perceived differently, and are less likely to ‘get a 2nd chance’ if they ‘fail’
- women have poorer access to structures of ‘influence, information, and innovative opportunities’ (the 3-I’s)
- research shows that women tend to receive poorer quality feedback from their line managers / seniors (though not from their peers or teams)
- women are much more likely to be caught in the cleft-stick of career ambition and domestic responsibilities (housework, caring for children and the elderly etc) than their male counterparts
Women are also more likely to be introspective, and often ask themselves the following question: “Do I wish to be liked, or do I wish to be acknowledged for doing a great job?”, a question few men would bother asking of themselves.
Help is at hand… and through our coach-mentoring relationship I can find ways of helping you:
- say ‘no’ positively (stop being a sap for unwarranted pressure!)
- find ways to manage anger, stress and being upset
- manage personal authority more effectively
- better handle conflict and improve your authority and influence
- work on feeling more confident and comfortable with your personal values, and the organisational culture in which you work (I call this ‘congruence’)
- learn how to be assertive without being labelled aggressive
- acquire tactics for being heard and communicating more effectively in meetings
I can and do unambiguously tailor my coach-mentoring in order to support women like you in achieving your aspirations, by helping you work with your 3 domains of competence (based on the work of Habermas):
This in turn will help you:
- Develop strategies to improve access to networks, ‘informal’ circles and structures of influence, and the development of plans to get access to and play a key role in delivering innovative projects etc, out-with traditionally ‘feminised’ roles.
- Effectively review your ‘visibility / profile’ and to support image-creation that is effective for you whilst also being congruent with your internal values, and work ethic.
- Acknowledge and build on your strengths, reduce any weaknesses and encourage you to push beyond your present ‘comfort zones’.
- Develop coping strategies if you feel you’re working in an ‘alien’ or antithetical culture.
- Become adept at reading other people, and understanding their perspectives and issues more effectively.
- Overcome self-limiting beliefs with role modelling, visualisation practice and practical tips on communication (including tonality), influencing, negotiation, speaking up and authoritative body language.
- Work out your work-life-balance issues, including coping with long hours and / or presenteeism by saying ‘no’ appropriately, building great team(s), and effective delegation.
- Develop your self-awareness and self-knowledge in terms of managing unhelpful emotional responses or unresourceful feelings; surfacing beliefs and values, and facilitating strategies for alignment where possible, with your organisation’s culture and values.
LOOKING TO BOOST YOUR CAREER AND YOUR WORKPLACE PROFILE? If this sounds just right for you and you’re ready to make the changes you need in order to be more successful in your career, business, and in life generally then call me now on 07760 270 392, or to email me . There’s never been a better time to invest in yourself and your future!
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