Obstacles for Women & Leadership

Women often face many obstacles to advancing and being successful in a leadership role. Many female leaders struggle to reconcile qualities people prefer in women with qualities people think leaders need to succeed. Women are often seen as too soft or too tough.

Family demands can be an obstacle for women in the workplace. Women are still the ones who most often interrupt their careers to handle work/family trade-offs. This results in a lack of time to engage in social networking which is essential to advancement.

Another barrier to a woman's success is the 'glass cliff'  According to an article titled, “Workplace discrimination: Welcome to the ‘glass cliff,’” by the Christian Science Monitor, “when a person has a high level job traditionally held by the opposite gender, they are judged more harshly for their mistakes.”

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Networking to Jump Start Your Job Search

Networking can help you…. 

1.     Get the word out that you are in a job search.

2.     Gain advice about your job search techniques.

3.     Uncover job leads in the “hidden job market.”

4.     Get referrals to other individuals or organizations that you’re targeting.

5.     Learn more about specific positions, fields, or industries.

6.     Gather information about specific companies.

7.     Expand your network.

8.     Keep your current network alive while meeting new people.

9.     Help others get what they want, even if it’s a warm introduction from you. 

It’s important to let your network know that you are in a job search. They can’t help you if they don’t know! And without clearly defined job targets, i.e., specific positions, industries, and companies you are seeking, it can be even harder for your network to help. Job seekers often tell me, “I’m open. I’ll work for any company or industry.” While that may be true, the more focused you are, the better your job search; the easier you make it for others to help you.

Your network can provide you feedback on your job search techniques and refer you to other individuals or organizations. They can also offer insight into a new position, field, or industry if you are contemplating a job or career change. And, your network can share with you what it’s like to work at a particular company. 

Many job openings aren’t advertised. Considered the “hidden job market,” it’s your job to uncover those leads. Employers oftentimes go to their employees for referrals when trying to fill an open position. Imagine if your name was recommended. It clearly puts you in front of other candidates. I encourage my clients to create a list of target companies and then do an advanced search on LinkedIn to identify contacts that work at those companies. Oftentimes it’s your second or third level contacts that are going to be most helpful in your search. Ask your first level contacts to introduce you to your second level contacts that work at your target companies.  

Harvey MacKay, business guru, and author of Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door and Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, encourages those just laid-off to immediately start volunteering. Consider volunteering on a high-profile fundraising event for a local charity. Not only will it allow you the opportunity to develop or fine-tune your leadership, fundraising, and/or speaking skills, it will give you a chance to network with people in high places. It will also give you a reason to get out of the house, make you feel much better, PLUS, when you’re asked, and you will be asked “What have you been doing since your last job?” well, you have an opening line………I’ve been volunteering as a…………..at............"

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Making Time for What's Important

Do you agree that time is your most precious commodity? Do you wish you had two more hours in every day? Do you wish you could double your productivity by this time next year? It comes down to priorities. Making time for what's more important.

Figure out systems and support to say "YES" to the important things and "NO" to the trivial things. I know for me, checking my email can be a big time-sucker. It's become almost like an addiction to check our email every time a new message comes in. Something I have found helpful for me and my coaching clients is to set specific times during the day to check email. It's amazing how much of a time saver this can be. For example, let's say someone sends out an email to a group of people (including you) to find a time to meet. If you just wait until the end of the day, you will find the time that works for everyone rather than staying in the loop for each response and frittering away your time.

Another tactic is to keep an interrupter's log. There is probably a person or two that comes to mind as you think about your work life. On your log, you can document the offender, the reason for the interruption, and determine if it was valid or urgent. This information will help you come up with a plan for how to handle the top offenders.

Values & Beliefs and Career Choice

Last week I traveled to Pennsylvania to present a workshop to counselors, educators, and career services staff at a community college outside of Pittsburgh. My presentation was titled, "Gender Tune-Up: Shifting Nontraditional Enrollment & Retention into High Gear." I offered strategies on how to get more males into programs that prepare them for female-dominated careers and more females into the programs that prepare them for male-dominated careers.

I talk about how socialization and gender stereotypes impact a student's career decision-making. It starts at birth when girls are dressed in pink and boys are dressed in blue. Girls are given dolls to play with and boys trucks and trains. It continues throughout childhood when boys are expected to mow the lawn and take out trash, while girls are asked to help clean the house and wash dishes. Growing up, parents, teachers, counselors, etc. often encourage children to pursue a career that is "traditional" for their gender, rather than one based on the individual's interests and aptitude. It's important for students to be aware of all of their career options. That's why awareness of our own values and beliefs is so important in order for us to not limit a student's career choice based on gender stereotypes.

Communicate Your Brand Online

Whether you’re in a job search, want to effectively manage your career, advance to the next level, or you’re a business owner, you can communicate your brand online.

·         Newsletter. If you're a business owner, you may have an eNewsletter. This provides a great venue for promoting your brand.

·         Email signature. How can you incorporate your brand attributes and your brand colors into your email signature?

·         Blog. You can communicate your brand by creating a blog or contributing to others’ blogs. It allows you to be seen as an expert. What do you want to be known for?

·         Other social media. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to communicate your brand.

·         Website. If you’re a business owner, you most likely have a website which provides you a great venue to promote your brand. If you’re in a job search or career management mode, consider having your own website to establish your online presence. Check out https://about.me to get started.

You can use all of the vehicles I mentioned to establish yourself as a thought leader and increase your visibility and credibility.

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How can you communicate your brand?

To achieve your professional goals, you need to formulate a plan for communicating your personal brand. Communicate your brand the following ways:

• Write articles showcasing your expertise in a certain area.
• Use speaking opportunities to get in front of your target audience. A few examples include a workshop, a breakout session at a conference, a keynote, or being interviewed on a topic that you want to be known for.
•  Networking. Whether you’re a career-minded professional or a business owner, you need to build and maintain your network. Business owners use networking to get their message out, build strategic and referral partners. Career-minded professionals need to network to help them land their next job, increase visibility and credibility to advance to the next level, or increase success and satisfaction on the job.

In the next post, I will share ways you can communicate your brand online.

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What is a brand community?

It's important for career-minded professionals and business owners to know who is in their brand community.

What is a brand community?

·         Peers

·         People who work for you, your boss, family, friends

·         Your competitors

·         Customers

Your target audience is the subset of your brand community. Your target audience is the most critical to your ability to reach your ultimate career goal. You need to be in constant contact with them. If you're in a job search, your target audience may be well-connected former colleagues, recruiters, and hiring managers. If you want advance to the next level at your current company, your target audience may be your current manager, managers in the department you are seeking to enter, and the VP of Human Resources. For business owners, your target audience will most likely be made up of clients or customers, potential customers or clients, networking contacts, current or potential strategic and referral partners.

It’s important for your brand community to know your brand. Your brand community can convey your brand to their brand communities. It increases awareness of your unique promise of value.

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Communicate Your Brand to Advance Your Career

Do you want to advance your career to the next level? If so, you will want to communicate your personal brand. Let's say you work in sales at the national level and you want to advance to the next level and work in international sales at your same company. Here's what one person did to start being seen as global.  She hung clocks on her office wall that represented the times in New York, London, Rome, and Tokyo. She started having her Italian newspaper delivered at work, instead of home. She also started sharing reviews of restaurants and hotels in Europe.

How about you? What steps can you take to move up the proverbial career ladder?

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How Do You Define Career Success?

How do you define career success? Having a vision for your career is important because like the saying goes...."If you don't know where you're going, any old road will lead there." Career success can mean something different for each person. For some it may be a career in which they earn a certain amount of money. For others it can mean reaching the top rung of the proverbial career ladder. Or it could be a career that fulfills their passion. Some may define career success by how much they are able to help others or it could be a career that allows them to be seen as an expert. And yet others define career success by a career that allows them to use the skills they enjoy using. How about you?

Here are some questions to help you start creating a vision for your career:

1. What success are you achieving in your current job? Are you able to do your job well? Are you able to contribute ROI to your employer, e.g., are you able to save the company time or money or generate more money?

2. What job will help you achieve complete success? Have you considered where you would like to see yourself in 5, 10, 15, or more years? What skills will you need to develop and what positions will you need to take to achieve this success?

3. How do you want to be remembered? What would you like your colleagues to say about your career accomplishments at your retirement party? What impact have you left on the people you worked with?

Increase your chance of career success, however you define it, by creating a vision for your career!

Leveraging Publication for Job Search & Career Management

This morning I had the opportunity to attend a presentation on using The Business Journal in a job search or for professional development. It is an excellent resource for career-minded professionals.  This resource is available in print and/or digital and can be found for 42 markets across the United States. 

How can you use it? One way is to check out the “People” section which lists announcements of people that have recently been hired, promoted, or added to the board of directors of an organization. Here you can: 

• Find a mentor
• Build your network
• Update your sales database
• Submit an announcement
• See what companies are expanding or hiring

Let’s say you find someone that is working at one of your target companies, send a note of congratulations including a clipping of the article. Or perhaps you’re looking for a mentor and you’ve spotted someone mentioned that has recently been promoted to a position to which you aspire. Reach out to that person and ask if you he or she would be willing to meet with you over coffee. This person may be willing to mentor you. If you’ve recently been hired, promoted, or joined a board of directors, don’t hesitate to submit an announcement yourself.

 

If you're a subscriber, you can search the website for addresses of the people featured in the publication. You can also access the Business Journal's website or print publication for free in many larger public libraries.

Increase Satisfaction at Work through Your Brand

It’s important to communicate your brand to increase your satisfaction in your current role. My client, I’ll call her Jill, is a lawyer for a non-profit. The office environment in which she works is quite serious. To feel more satisfied in her job, it was important to her to show her sense of humor. Jill loves everything related to the Wizard of Oz. When she needs to work on a project uninterrupted, one of the things she has done to allow her sense of humor to shine through is to put up a sign on her door that reads, “This Area Patrolled by Flying Monkey Security Company.” If you recall in the Wizard of Oz there is a dramatic scene in which monkeys are flying around.

How about you? How can you communicate your brand at work to increase satisfaction?

Communicating Your Brand in a Job Search

It’s important to communicate your brand if you’re in a job search. You can leverage your brand in a job search to help you distinguish you from your competition; convey your value to an employer; and create a lasting image for contacts, recruiters, and hiring managers. If you’re competing against other candidates who have the same amount of experience, what is it about you that sets you apart from your competition? What makes you unique? It’s really important to know that about yourself. If you have the table stakes to get into the game, what is it about your brand that is going to tip the scales in your favor?  

Let’s say you’re in a job search and you’re competing with three other candidates for the same sales executive position. All of you have the same education level and the same number of years of experience. This particular sales executive position is for a global company. What sets YOU apart from your competition?  Of course you most likely won’t know WHO you’re competition is, but it’s important to know what makes you unique, relevant, and compelling.  Perhaps you have lived abroad for three years and know a second language. One of your attributes is "worldly.” That attribute could help tip the scales in your favor, setting you apart from your competition.

How we see ourselves may not be the same as others see us.  I was talking with a job seeker who said he is very confident in job interviews, but he did receive feedback from interviewers that he appeared arrogant. Being perceived as arrogant by interviewers can definitely impact whether or not he gets hired. That’s why it’s important to get feedback on how you are being perceived. This feedback can help provide information that is critical for your professional success.

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is the process of identifying and communicating what makes you unique, relevant, and compelling so you can reach your career or business goals.

How can you identify your personal brand?

There are some exercises you can do to start to uncover your personal brand. One exercise is to ask yourself the following questions: 1) What are five adjectives that describe me? 2) What are five words that describe how I make others feel? 3) If I were a car, what kind would I be- and why? Next, ask 10 people you know the same questions. Another fun idea is to ask your Facebook friends to post one adjective that describes you.

You can also use the 360Reach personal branding survey to help you uncover your brand.  The 360Reach is the first and leading web-based personal brand survey that helps you get to the real story about how you are perceived by those around you. It is used to identify your key attributes, skills, strengths, and weaknesses.  It is truly a 360, because the respondents come from all areas of your life- including family, friends, co-workers, managers, employees, networking contacts, clients, customers, etc.