“The main benefit from working with Challenge Consulting is the guarantee of finding the best possible person for the position required.”
This week’s blog post is by guest blogger, Tiffany Whitby, from the Challenge Consulting recruitment team … (this is not Tiffany pictured here …)
One of my passions is enhancing the role of women in business; specifically, examining and promoting strategies to ensure women have the opportunity to attain senior and management positions. As such I have actively joined a number of websites dedicated to this subject including; sphinxx, Ruby Connection and also Business Chicks.
Of the 3, I recently attended a Business Chicks seminar titled ‘Nice Girls Don’t get the Corner Office’ based on the book by bestselling author Dr Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D. The 2 hour workshop was full of tips and helpful ideas to assist women get what they want out of their careers, first of which was her statement ‘quit being a girl’.
Another one of her tips was don’t use preambles; so I will just get straight to the point with the top 10 tactics every woman needs in her skill set:
Top 10 Tactics Every Woman Needs in her Skill Set:
#1. Know your playing field
– Boundaries, strategies and rules
– What works in one organisation/industry won’t work in another
– There are different boundaries for men and women
– Do not put statements into the form of questions, be direct and straight, and if needed add a tagline (which can soften the message)
– Emulate winning women such as Gail Kelly
#2. Be crystal clear about what you want
– Know what you want. Until you have clarity about what this is, you are not going to get it
#3. Identify your boundaries
– Know where people can come over and in
– Define your boundaries
#4. Be willing to walk away
We stay in situations to long. If everything has been done to turn around a bad situation and nothing has changed then leave!
#5. Use headlines and taglines
The most important thing we want people to know should be the first thing out our mouths (headline). Then use 3 supporting facts/data. Tagline at the end eg. ‘did I answer your question?’
#6. Manage your emotions
– If you feel as though you are about to cry in the workplace excuse yourself; crying in the workplace makes people feel uncomfortable
– Put the tears into words and focus in the problem and solution
#7. Plan in advance for how you will respond to resistance
– Let people know you are planning on changing your behaviours and enlist their feedback and support
#8. Understand (and use) the “Quid Pro Quo”
– Something in exchange for something else
– Leverage the relationships you have
– If you give something, you receive a figurative ‘penny’ to use when you need something – make sure you use them!
#9. Build your brand
– Use the WALLET acronym:
Write it down: write down what you want people to say about you when you leave a room
Apply actionable behaviours: think about what a camera would be able to see
Look to the edge: of the playing field
Let others know about your brand
Elicit feedback (360o feedback)
Treat others with abundance (give things away eg. assistance on a project)
#10. Employ contrast
– Talk about what you do want and what you don’t want
Dr Frankel then went on to explain the Top 10 Mistakes Women Make:
#1. Not ‘getting it’: eg. Don’t wait to be invited for a position, pay rise, something you want. Create tactics and strategies
#2. Working too hard: within everything organisation there is a baseline to which you should work towards, work up to this and set realistic boundaries with people
#3. Not setting boundaries: work out what your vision is for what you want and ask yourself: “what is important to me?”
#4. Striving for perfection: women will often put in 150%, when more often than not a job that is 80% there is good enough
#5. Ignoring the look and sound of success: Credibility is made up by: 50% of how we look, 40% of how we sound, 10% of what we say. An example is the JFK vs Nixon debate. People say Nixon won for what he said, however JFK won based on how he looked.
#6. Unclear branding/vision: we trust people who are consistent and likeable. Read the book “Brag! Tooting your own Horn without Blowing It” by Peggy Klaus
#7. Staying too long in a bad situation: sunken costs (keep putting ‘something’ in thinking a situation is going to get better, when in fact it’s not). We need to understand when it’s time to walk away. Ask yourself the question: “What am I getting out of this?”
#8. Waiting to be given what you want: Read the book “Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide” by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever
#9. Using too many words: cut communication by 30%. The longer we talk the more the message gets diluted. Queue answer question and then ask ‘have I answered your question?’ Be careful with body language.
#10. Trusting your financial security to someone else: know where your finances are and where they are being invested. Stay involved with your money!
Challenge Consulting’s online poll last week asked the question “What is the #1 mistake women make on their way to the top at work?” The results were:
#1. Waiting to be “invited” instead of asking for a payrise, promotion, etc – 50%
#2. An unwillingness to self-promote and “toot their own horn” – 29%
#3. Staying too long in a bad situation – 14%
#4. Striving for perfection: putting in 150% when often 80% will do – 7%
With all of this information I have now taken in it is time to put it into practice. As Dr Frankel said, let people know you are making changes, so, everyone: I am making changes … don’t say I didn’t warn you!