Who Is In Your Fan Club?

You will have supporters in life

and you will have detractors in life

and you will have couldn’t care much one way or the others in your life.

The ‘couldn’t care much one way or the others’ may help you if you ask them. They probably won’t do you any harm. You could get to know them better – find out what makes them tick and offer help and assistance to them. Who knows, in time they may join your supporters club.

The detractors may take up more of your time that necessary; we tend to get caught up with stuff like that when sometimes the best answer is just to let go. Decide that they won’t upset you and don’t respond. A waste of your energy.

Which leaves your supporters.

Do you know who your supporters are? Are you paying them enough attention? Are you supporting in return?

PHoto Credit: Duchessa

Great Idea Ms Jones… Would a Man Care to Say It?

OK, I know it’s a cliché but sadly it’s a cliché that still rings true for women in the professional world. If we’re not careful we get overlooked and over talked. That’s not my prejudices coming out there; that’s the results of almost every piece of research looking at workplace interactions.

Why?

Every time I read something or hear someone I’m working with make that comment (or express that sentiment) I wonder how can this still be true? There are lots of differences in the way men and women communicate. One is not better than the other, at least not in my book; we need both styles to have a representative society that works for the majority, not 50% (Or only works when the other 50% adopt the style of the dominant 50%). The world is comprised of men and women, roughly in equal numbers, yet one style of communication has been set as the bar, the standard all are judged by.

Speak Up

I have read masses of research and books on this topic and generally speaking no great surprises are revealed. The circumstances vary but in summary, women talk less and get listened to less yet the perception is that women talk more! Which says volumes about how women’s talk is regarded.

So as a professional woman what can you do? Well, being aware is part of the answer. Take time to notice how you speak in mixed groups. Do you hedge your language with ifs, and buts and placatory ‘I’m sorry to interrupt’? Is ‘sorry’ an over used word in your repertoire?

You can’t control what others may do or say, but you can control you. Speak with confidence, expect to be listened to, give that message in all the language you use, bodily and verbally. Your words need to be congruent with every other piece of information you’re giving. And remember, if you don’t have confidence in yourself, and in what you’re saying, no one else will!

Working On Your Career

If you’d like to work directly with me on this or any other issue, simply give me a call to discuss it further. I’m on 01761438749 and I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Photo Credit: Mjamesno

What Every Woman Needs to Know About Work

Welcome to my second post on the Catalyst research into how people get career advancement. It’s called the Myth of the Ideal Worker; in brief it says, even if women follow all the advice and conventional wisdom to advance their careers it seems it still doesn’t produce the same results as it does for men. (By the way, if this topic interests you take a look at my posts on Career Tips for Women)

Conventional Career Wisdom

Conventional wisdom imparted to ‘high potentials’ all coalesce into 9 main points, says Catalyst. They are:

• Actively seeks high profile assignments
• Rubs shoulders with influential leaders
• Communicates openly and directly about their career aspirations
• Seeks visibility for their accomplishments
• Lets their supervisor know of their skills and willingness to contribute
• Continually seeks out new opportunities
• learns the political landscape or unwritten rules of the company
• Isn’t afraid to ask for help

The research set out to see if these strategies really do get ‘high potentials’ to the top and if they work equally well for both men and women. What they discovered was that men benefit more from following the strategies given. Even when women follow all the strategies given above they got ahead less and had less pay. Although you’ll be pleased to hear that Catalyst thought it better than doing nothing at all!

Previous research from many sources, including Catalyst has dispelled the myth that women don’t progress in either salary or status because of lack of ambition (Pipeline’s Broken Promise). Catalyst made sure to get as representative a group as possible by looking at 3,345 ‘high potentials’ with same educational achievements , no career breaks etc.

Most Effective Strategies for Women

Of all the strategies listed above, only making their achievements known and gaining access to powerful others had the greatest impact on women’s career advancement. While changing jobs worked as a tactic for men in increasing salary, it seemed to have the opposite effect for women and changing jobs did not pay off for women.

Given what we know about women’s reluctance to blow their own trumpet this is significant.

In my next post I’ll be looking at some of the assumptions which may be talking place in organisations. Is this is a classic case of the business world has been designed to suit men? To heretically paraphrase Shakespeare,

“The fault dear Brutus, lies not in ourselves but in the way the way men have organised the world….”

Don’t forget I have a great new course on this Speak Up, when we’ll be taking a very in depth personal look at what research like this really means for you.

Photo Credit: Faahkir Rizvi

Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead?

So goes the provocative title from the latest piece of research on gender equality from Catalyst, (a non profit membership organisation for women in business). Their research is usually worth reading so I turned to it with interest.

The Answer is No!

In brief, the research concludes that the answer is no, women do not get ahead by doing all the ‘right’ things! They studied 3,345 what they called ‘high potentials, those likely to succeed who had followed a traditional career programme after completing a full time MBA. They chose a group in full time work, without any breaks etc so as to get as good a comparison between men and women as possible.

Men Benefited More

They found that overall men benefited more than women when adopting the recommended strategies for getting ahead. Even when women used the same career advancement strategies – doing all the things they have been told will get them ahead-they advanced less than their male counterparts and had slower pay growth.  (See my three tips to close the gender pay gap)

9  Classic Strategies for Career Advancement

The report looked at 9 tactics high potential candidates used to advance their careers. Over the next few posts I’ll be looking at the report in bite sized chunks with tip and hints from Catalyst and me! (You can sign up for an RSS feed of the blog posts if you wish, top right).

Meanwhile, please do share your own experiences of career advancement at work. And of course, I am studying the research closely for inclusion into my Speak Up programme. That’s going to be a packed couple of days in Bath!

Photo Credit: Svilen Milev

What have Nigel Havers & Jane C Woods in Common?

Well, for one, Nigel has a soft spot for Bath and two, he loves the Royal Crescent Hotel! Just like me!

Said Nigel in a recent Bath Magazine interview:

“When I want to treat myself I go to The Royal Crescent Hotel – they have a spa to die for.”

That ‘to die for’ spa is the one you’ll be experiencing if you take up this truly amazing offer.

In conjunction with the world famous Royal Crescent Hotel I am launching my superb new course for professional women this November. The hotel is hugely supportive of local business and has been very welcoming to Changing People. It really is the most fantastic venue – only the best for my clients! Just see what you’ll be getting!

Speak Up Course Itinerary
Your Speak Up experience will begin on Sunday afternoon when you check in to the world famous 5 star hotel at around 3pm. There is valet parking for guests. If you can, do arrive early so you can take a stroll around the glorious city of Bath and take in the world famous Bath Christmas Market. Professional development and a chance to get some Christmas shopping done!

One to One
Each participant will have an hour of one to one personal consultancy looking at your particular professional issues and focussing on your Myers Briggs Type assessment. (If you haven’t done this personality profile before I’ll send you information prior to the course. This is not shared during the course itself; it’s just a tool to help you get the maximum benefit from your day.)

Free Time
The Speak Up experience is a spa for mind and body! The numbers are kept small so everyone is assured of my full attention; when you are not working one to one you are free to make full use of the hotel’s beautiful spa and let the thoughts flow. You’ll receive a brochure detailing all treatments available before the day, or you may just wish to enjoy the pool, or the public rooms of this elegant Georgian hotel.

Dinner Party
At 7pm the group will meet up for a pre dinner drink followed by a  three course meal in the Royal Crescent restaurant after which time you can mingle with other participants or hit the town! Bath will be fully lit for Christmas and looking beautiful so you may wish to take an evening stroll.

Monday 28^th November
After breakfast we adjourn to our private room to begin work on advancing your career!

Refreshments (hand baked biscuits etc) are served twice during the morning, with Bath buns or scones in the afternoon, so we’ll have a relatively light lunch!

This is what you get:

• one full day of quality training
• all materials including a copy of  Jane’s book ’When Work isn’t Working‘
• one to one personal consult with Jane
• a Myers Briggs personality profile
• a follow up copy of my Speak Out downloadable programme (in audio as well as written form and full of new information)
• one hour telephone follow up coaching session to embed the learning from the day
• an overnight stay with drinks reception, 3 course dinner, breakfast, and all refreshments during the course, plus use of the  beautiful spa at this luxurious 5* hotel and valet parking

All the above for the amazing introductory price of £689 (plus VAT) (the bonus elements alone are worth £400). Book now to secure your place at this special launch price – it won’t be repeated!

And Nigel? Well, obviously I can’t guarantee his presence but he does have a November birthday….

What’s Your Story?

We all have a story. I don’t mean that novel lurking within; I mean we all have a back story to our life which governs how we live our life.

Children

Much of our storyline will have been set in childhood. When I was working professionally with children life story work was a significant element in helping them come to terms with what had happened to them. Children are very good at creating a story to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. Unfortunately, children who have had sorrow in their lives tend to make up a story where they are at fault in some way, in some way responsible for what had happened to them.

Adults and Stories

And what have I learned from experience and study is that we never really lose our childhood stories about ourselves. And those stories continue to have an impact on us and our experience of life. Which is fine if you were fortunate enough to have a good back story; if you had significant adults in your life who praised you and helped you develop a good sense of self.  If you didn’t have that experience it’s possible that you are still playing a character from your story that is stifling your potential.

I Want to Tell You a Story…

In a safe way, I lightly touch on this topic in my RenewYou course. I ask the women to think about labels they and others hold of them. And then I ask them to think about the labels they’d like to change. And then we think about making that change!

Your story isn’t finished. You are the author and it’s within you to write a new paragraph, bring in new characters, try a new location, focus on a new direction! So now you’re in charge of your story, what will you ‘write’?