The Next Challenge: Toppling the Invisible Barriers That Hold Women Back
If you have an interest in advancing women’s leadership in the corporate sector or perhaps advancing your own career, you should read McKinsey’s latest report, Changing Companies Minds about Business.
This important report speaks to the fact that there has been little progress of women to senior leadership and board positions in corporate America despite what appear to be significant initiatives to do so.
What are we missing? Why despite a solid business case tying women’s leadership to improved bottom line performance are we still stuck? Is anyone listening?
There is still much to do to change the invisible barriers that still exist and according to the McKinsey report, it’s not an easy task to change the mind set of managers that block the way for women’s advancement. Much of this bias towards women still remains under the covers.
Some companies have been successful in changing their corporate culture. Companies such as Pitney Bowes, Time Warner and Shell have taken what McKinsey calls a “hard edged” approach with specific metrics and targets. These initiatives started and supported from the top are changing the work environment with clearly defined goals and accountability. The efforts of these companies demonstrate that to affect real change a consistent targeted approach is necessary.
What can we do? The McKinsey report recommends “making it personal”.
Make no mistake. As a senior executive, you are already influencing your company’s approach. If you’re not paying attention to the issue of women’s advancement, you’re ensuring that things won’t change.
Women need to support and sponsor other women to the top.
The report also cites the importance of building a business case about the positive impact women are having in your organization, “whether hard business results or indirect results, such as building better teams”.
Build a business case for yourself.
You can take responsibility for your own credibility and success by understanding what value you bring to the organization, your contribution to business results, and learning how to communicate this to key people within your organization.
Take the McKinsey example. Do you build better teams? What that means to the organization is these teams are more productive and directly affect net income by completing more projects each quarter. Or maybe, these teams are also loyal as well as productive and therefore, are less likely to resign. This means the company spends less on employee acquisition and training.
We all need to do our part to help advance women in the workplace if we want to affect change. We also need to take responsibility for our own advancement.
This fall, I am starting two new projects to help women advance their careers and successfully navigate the corporate environment. GPS Your Career Day and GPS Your Career Group are both designed to help you uncover and understand the value you bring to your organization as well as effectively communicate your value to key people.
GPS Your Career Day is an intense full day program and GPS Your Career Group is a 6 week group coaching program. Both are limited to 10 participants.
If you are interested in learning about one or both of these programs, please email me. I am in the process now of finalizing the plans for the launch.
Re-energizing My Life
Look out world! My theme for this year is to re-energize my life! And because it’s my theme for the year, any decisions I make will be evaluated with this theme in mind to determine if I am truly aligned and making choices that support my goal.
I must say that just the process of identifying this theme has already given me more energy, but more importantly, it has helped to me evaluate what in my life right now is draining my energy. I’m sharing this process with you because I feel so strongly that most of the time we don’t realize what deflates us; what brings us down. And if we do recognize it, sometimes we don’t even have the energy to deal with it.
This blog is not about being a super woman or super mom. As women we often take on too much and don’t give ourselves a break when we don’t meet our own expectations. This post is about energy. What fuels our energy? What drains our energy?
Where are your energy leaks?
1. Work
Are you doing the type of work that fuels your energy; that validates your sense of accomplishment? Because we spend much of our lives working, this is SO important. Key questions to ask yourself are:
- Do I look forward to going to work?
- Am I tired before the work day begins?
- Do I procrastinate completing projects? (this could be due to other factors as well)
- Do I enjoy the people I work with?
- Do I feel respected at work?
- Do I spend more time being frustrated than fulfilled?
2. Personal Relationships
Our personal relationships provide a support system for us, but how much of our time and energy is spent supporting others?
- Do I get the support I need from my friends and family?
- How much time do I spend in relationships that drain my energy?
- Who are the people in my life that give me energy and support?
3. Lifestyle Choices
- Am I getting enough exercise?
- Does my diet reflect healthy choices that provide me with the energy I need to support my lifestyle? (P.S. Caffeine is not the answer)
- Do I take time out for myself on a regular basis to recharge my batteries?
- Do I have a hobby or sport that I participate in that rejuvenates me?
- Is my home environment organized and functional or am I always struggling to keep up?
- Why do I live where I live? Do I spend too much time commuting? Is it worth it?
I know from my own perspective as I evaluate new work projects this year I will look very carefully at the type of work to determine if it aligns with my talent and strengths. Though it is sometimes difficult to turn down opportunities, I know how toxic it can be to choose projects that drain my energy and leave me feeling deflated in the process. I already have plans for a new website, a new radio show, a book and much more. Stay tuned!
I will look to spend more time with the people in my life who stimulate me intellectually and inspire me to be the best I can be. That’s a great energy source.
Let me ask you: What drains your energy? How can you re-energize your life going forward?
It was just another routine day…
Ten years ago today, I was headed to Raleigh for a one day meeting. I was VP of Sales for a start-up technology company and it was not unusual for me to make a quick trip down there for a meeting and head back home the same day. But this day was very different. Of course, it seemed pretty routine at the time. I drove to Laguardia airport from my home in Connecticut. I parked my car in short term parking (after all I thought I was returning the same evening), and checked in to the US Airways Club. I was always greeted by name at that time because of my weekly trips to Raleigh. It was a pleasant start to the day.
The plane was on time. I boarded a little after 7 am, oblivious to the fact that other people who would never reach their destination were boarding planes at the exact same time. We were all oblivious to the fact of what evil was taking place in the exact same airspace we occupied.
My plane landed around 8:35am in Raleigh just before the first plane hit the World Trade Center and just before the forced emergency landing of the thousands of planes that were in the air that day. There but for the grace of God as they say.
Of course, our nation and the world changed forever that day. People were frightened and didn’t know which way to turn for comfort. Stuck in Raleigh without even a toothbrush or change of clothes, my CEO and I quickly grabbed one of the last rental cars available and drove home. I dropped him in New Jersey and headed to CT. Still in shock, I drove over the Whitestone Bridge and could see the horrific cloud of smoke where the towers once stood. I was shaking and crying but somehow made the solo drive to CT.
Laguardia was closed off and on for weeks. My car was towed somewhere and it would be a couple of weeks before I could return to the airport to pick it up. During those weeks, many of my hours were spent glued to the television set watching the aftermath and trying to cope with the tragedy that had just occurred; trying to deal with the fact that all these people were boarding planes the same time I was and it seemed like another routine day for them as well. But it was their last day.
Weeks later I was flying home from Raleigh and remember vividly flying over the remains of the World Trade Center. It was the first time they re-opened that flight pattern over the site. There was a smoldering hole in the ground. The lights were on at night as thousands of workers were clearing debris and looking for the remains of fellow rescue workers.
It remains a hole in our hearts today as we commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Though it is a time to remember and a time to heal, for me it is also a time for gratitude. I am forever grateful that I am here today to write this blog.
My love and prayers go out to all those who lost family, friends, and co-workers that day. They too believed it was just going to be another routine day. All of our lives have changed forever.
Peace.
-
20 Minutes For $20
20 Minutes of Interviewing Coaching For Only $20...
Present yourself with confidence!
