Your Career Plan – Got One?

I work with women from across all professions. Occasionally I will come across someone who has planned out her career but not that often.

I’m not talking about a very rigid plan but about having a good sense of where you want to be. It’s a cliché (but clichés get to be clichés for a reason!) but if you don’t know where you’re going it’ s hard to plan a route! Even sat nav won’t help!

Plan Your Career

Your job takes up a large part of your life. It makes sense to give it as much attentiion and time as you do when planning other less significant parts of your life (like a new piece of furniture! Truly , we can spend longer than buying a sofa than thinking about our working lives constructively).

Take time out to think about where you want to be, what level you aspire to, how you want your work and home life to be. Listen to the free download (on the right) on this site, talk to friends, use a coach, read a book, research the newspaper ads, do what you need to do to take control and plan your route! Of course, there will be hold ups and delays and occasional fast forwards, but that’s the fun of it. As long as you’re going in roughly the right direction you can be sure you’ll get there in the end!

Photo Credit: Kiff Backhouse via RockwaterStudio

Just How Good Are You?

Probably much better than you think! We women are very very very good at underselling ourselves. Modesty is all very well, but if we give ourselves negative messages long enough they become our reality.

So from time to time we need to give ourselves a confidence boost and remind ourselves of all the things we’re good at (if this has you breaking out in a sweat already you need to come on my RenewYou course!)

There will be masses of things you do well. You may feel you don’t match up to the article you’ve just read about the women who has it all as well as unblemished dimple free skin, but trust me she has her unconfident days too!

Beat The Confidence Wobble

So you need to be ready for when the confidence wobble strikes and here’s how. When you’re having a good day list all your qualities, strengths and achievements. I mean everything! Yes, even that certificate you got for when you first swam 100 yards! Keep it close by and add to it as other things come to you.  There should be at least 30 things on this confidence boosting sheet of paper and you can keep adding to it.

Keep the list to hand and next time the wobble strikes, take it out and remind yourself of your talents!  Take yourself back in your mind’s eye to those times when you did well and remind yourself that if you’ve done it once you can do it again!

How do you give yourself a quick confidence booster?

If you’d like to read another very short post on confidence (with cute pic) go to First You Wobble, then You Walk Tall

Photo Credit: Billy Alexander

What Two Simple Words Are Stopping You?

Are there two simple words that are holding you back from getting on at work? Or from having  a better quality of life? From living your life to the full?

If (there’s a clue) you find yourself oft repeating “If only…” you’ve found your two words. Two simple words that are holding you back.

If only I were cleverer…

If only I had a better boss…

If only my manager was female…

If only I lived somewhere else…

If only I had more money…

If only I was thin…

If only I could get a seat on the board…

Stop Wishing, Start Planning

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride” This phrase dates back to the 16th Century, we humans have been doing this for sometime! Basically it says stop wasting time merely thinking about stuff and go and do something!

Which is my message today. Every time we get stuck into the ‘what ifs of life we are giving away our personal power. You are extraordinary. You have amazing potential; tap into it. Take back control of your personal power. Decide what you want in life. Critically evaluate it. If your dream seems impossible at the moment, start with a smaller one, one that starts you off on your path. Get help, retrain, sign up for an evening class, start saving, get support, professional and personal. Do whatever you need to do to start making your what ifs a reality!

If this has struck a chord, take a look at When Did You Last Put a Toe in the Water?

Photo Credit: Naveen Saxena

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

Time for a Change?

In the UK the clocks went back an hour in the early hours of Sunday morning, which means most of us in the UK feel we’ve gained time!

We haven’t really, of course; there is always simply all the time there is, to be philosophical for a moment! And time is relative. When we’re doing something we love time passes in a flash. When we’re with people who radiate and make us feel good about life, time passes in a flash.

But when we have a job we loathe, when we’re with people who put us down and drain us, time passes slowly; having ‘more time‘ is not always good for us.

How is your relationship with time? Are you making the most of your time?

If you’ve enjoyed this wee post you might like to try my drains diet!

Photo Credit: J. Nichols

The Best Way for Women to Advance their Careers!

This is the final post in a series of three about the latest Catalyst research The Myth of the Ideal Worker (see Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead? and What Every Woman Needs to Know About Work)

In brief, the research found that even when adopting the same strategies as men, the strategies generally viewed as effective, women do not advance at the same pace as their male counterparts. Of all the strategies used the most effective career strategy for women was making their achievements known to significant people, with networking also proving almost as effective for the women as the men.

Questions for Employers (and Women!) to Ask

Catalyst ask some searching questions at the conclusion of their report; they are good questions for women to ask of their employers, or potential employers too:

• What assumptions do organisations and individuals hold about skills and behaviours that are necessary for successful advancement?
• How are women and men being coached to get ahead? Are assumptions being made that what has worked for men will work for women (see Speak Up)
• What explains why women are less satisfied with their advancement and compensation progress when comparing themselves to others in their field and at their level? Do women know what male counterparts are earning?
• To what extent are people advanced and compensated based on skills and performance?
• How might strategies used by women and men be evaluated differently?
• How are individual contributions communicated and recognised for people who work in teams?
• If women realised that changing jobs negatively impacts on their pay, what does that mean for for organisations seeking to recruit experienced women, leveraging their skills and experience?

It’s a minefield out there at times and this research seems to bear out my own prejudice that male norms prevail in all areas. How can women get ahead if the received wisdom for getting ahead primarily suits men? I am reminded of the fact that for many years all information put out about to how to spot the symptoms of heart attacks were only the symptoms that applied to men. Women have different symptoms but it had been overlooked.

I am looking at issues such as these and at how you as an individual can minimise the impact, in my Speak Up course. It seems not only shouldn’t you have to behave like a man to get ahead, but even if you do, you’re disadvantaged!