Is the Glass Ceiling Women’s Fault?

Woah, steady on me! Am I now blaming women for centuries of discrimination? Adding to the guilt which we women are so good at carrying around? (Erica Jong- “Show me a woman who doesn’t feel guilty and I’ll show you a man”). Has it really been been our fault all along!

Well, no, of course not. But I am suggesting that maybe it’s time to examine what is going on in our heads and how much that is a barrier to our progress. Maybe we create some of our own limitations based on what we see around us and if we could free ourselves from that straitjacket we may find ourselves smashing that glass ceiling! Regardless of what is going on around us…

Women’s Strength

It takes some doing to cast off the images and impressions that we have grown up with. We’re in a kind of double bind; legislation has changed in our favour and most organisations at the very least pay lip service to the idea of gender equality, if not actively promote it. Yet there are still few women in senior positions and the role models are mainly male. The behaviour rewarded is generally male. Maybe we women look at those roles and think “I don’t want to be like that, that’s not my style, that’s not me”. That’s certainly true of a lot of the women I coach; what’s on offer doesn’t appeal and many of them end up running their own businesses or dropping out of the competition. (Sam Roddick is a great example of what I mean, see her interview with me here).

Grab the Opportunities

And there is research out there telling us that women are being hardest hit by the recession and that we are still underpaid in comparison to our male colleagues etc. All pretty dispiriting stuff. If we’re not careful we can be overwhelmed and begin to think that there is no point in trying. The truth is it’s not easy for any one, man or woman, to get to a senior position. Yes, I still believe it is harder for a woman for all sorts of reasons but it’s clearly not impossible and I think it’s eminently desirable. There is a lot on offer to help us, if we choose to take advantage of it, like the government saying it is considering imposing quotas for the number of women on British boards if there isn’t a change. What better time to try for a seat on the board! I’ve spoken with some recruitment companies who tell me that they are being asked to put more women on the shortlists they submit but are having trouble finding enough!

Be Honest

So take a few moments to reflect and ask yourself honestly, am I my biggest barrier to career advancement? And if you come up with a yes, you’re not alone. And I’m not having a go at you; there are good reasons why we feel as we do. Yet I know from my coaching of professional women that once we get our heads in the right place, it all becomes a lot easier. Have the confidence to just go for it!

“We are not touched so much by events themselves but by the view we choose to take of them” Epictetus. Choose a different view and the world could be your oyster!

And if you’d are interested in working one to one with me I have a few spaces becoming available this Spring and I’m also taking bookings for my March Speak Up course now!

Top Tip-Stop Laughing & Remember to Plug Your Course!

A while back I was asked to do a BBC radio show with Dr Phil Hammond. I accepted with alacrity as a) I love to push my boundaries a bit, b) I have a course to promote and c) it sounded like it would be fun.

It certainly was fun! Almost too much fun as it happened. Dr Phil is a GP/comedian and was making me laugh so much off air that it was hard to stop when the mike was switched on!

Dinner Guests

I was asked to come up with a list of my top four dinner guests, plus music I’d choose to have playing, and a venue. As I’m a personal development specialist for women naturally I chose 4 very strong women:
Rosa May Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst, Judi Dench, and Mary Wesley, although he also let me have Beryl Cook too as I couldn’t decide. My venue was Graceland (so I could pop upstairs and see the bits you’re not allowed to see on the tour!). You can read more about those women here, in Your Dream Dinner Party if you’d like.

The hour passed in a flash, which was good as my principle concern had been ‘what if I need to go to the loo?’ Dr Phil had airily replied ‘Oh you can usually get there in one record and back’. He obviously hadn’t noticed my hobbling steps because of a bad back. I doubted I’d get there and back in a whole CD! Apart from pushing the mike closer to me that was about all the preparation I got. That and crossing my legs…

Radio Indiscretions

I can really understand why people commit indiscretions on the radio when being interviewed now. There you are in a small and cosy studio, just the two of you, chatting between the records, bonding and having a laugh.

You really do forget that you are talking to quite a few other people as well. In fact, at one stage Dr Phil forgot to turn off the sound during the traffic update and you can hear him in the background talking rather disparagingly about Maggie Thatcher. I was still giggling loudly as me and the weather woman had ever so gently ganged up on him about gender bias in the world of business. and he was moaning away about being picked on. Heaven knows what the audience made of that! And thank goodness I wasn’t saying anything awful…imagine!

I was enjoying myself so much that I totally forgot to even mention my course but ever the professional, Phil asked me a question about it.Thanks Phil! And for putting up with me calling you ‘darling’ all the way through (I came over a bit luvvy at one point!)

Speak Up Course for Women

Anyway, here are the details of my course which is a great one for business women and a wonderful opportunity to give your career a boost and better understand how the men you work with tick!

It’s called Speak Up, a one day seminar, March 12th, at The Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath. You can read all about it and book here and if you have any questions, please email me jane@changingpeople.co.uk or call me for an informal chat on 01761 438749. I can’t promise you Phil Hammond will be there but Johnny Depp has stayed at the hotel in the past….

What Can You ‘Upcycle’ in Your Life?

I love that word ‘‘upcycle‘.  It means reuse something, recycle something by adding something to it. Not throwing something away when it appears to have outlived its usefulness to you, but doing something to it which adds to its value or appeal.

New for Old

I was prompted to write this following a short break from work with my daughter, (I recommended a break if you can-you’ll find yourselves thinking about loads of things you can upcycle without even trying!)

In my absence my darling husband had begun work on painting our kitchen units. Last year we upgraded the work tops to blue pearl granite (gorgeous since you ask) but kept the solid wood cupboards as they were still in perfect order. But they had a wood stain which was out of keeping with the granite and the rest of the updated room; they’d lost their appeal. And so ‘we’ decided to repaint them. (In the interests of full disclosure I should probably mention here that I made the decision, husband ended up painting….)

Little Things Can Make a BIG Difference

In the way of things this has taken a while…but coming back from my holiday I was amazed at what a difference those few cans of paint have made. (And, of course,the blood sweat and tears that have been shed while I was sunning myself by the pool, with a Pina Colada, thinking about upcycling my business…)

Anyway, back to the point! Seeing my cupboards painted has cast the kitchen in a whole new light, literally and metaphorically. The bright colour makes the room look better but also other parts of the old kitchen appear brighter and better. It has enhanced much more than the cupboards themselves.

And that change has made me think about other aspects of my life, or more specifically my business. I’m going to take some time to think about where I can add value without losing my essential core.

What parts of your life could do with a bit of a review? How can you add value to your career, your life, without losing the essential you, while being true to yourself?

When did you last ‘upcycle’ you?

Photo credit: Kslyesmith

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….