Maintaining Balance as a Female Caregiver with a Career

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By Kimberley Brown

motherhood

Image via Shutterstock

Like many women who enjoy being engaged in their careers and in the workplace, they also enjoy spending time with friends and taking time to care for their families and children.

But what happens when a “working mom” who’s finally reached the pinnacle of her career now has to take the time to care for a sick child requiring ongoing care? Sara McGlocklin spent a number of years to achieve her goal to be a lawyer and McGlocklin landed her dream job as a lawyer for Children’s Law Center of California where she helps abused and neglected children in the foster care system. Then, bad news arrived. She comments,

“Seven months ago our younger daughter Marian, at 18 months, was diagnosed with early signs of a fatal and progressive genetic disorder for which there is no cure. Now, I have the added pressure of caring for my child in the midst of managing a very busy career.”

“As a young girl I did not expect the challenges of balancing a career with being a caregiver, and I especially did not anticipate being a caregiver for a child with a fatal disease,” said McGlocklin, attorney and mother of 2 children.

It’s no surprise that women are often the predominant caregivers when it comes to providing support to loved ones, especially when that loved one is a sick child. Interestingly, women are 10 times more likely to take time off from work to stay home with their sick children – and – mothers are five times more likely to take their sick kids to doctor’s appointments, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study.

Like for example with Sara, she takes her daughter Marian to physical therapy twice a week, occupational therapy once a week, and speech therapy twice a week. In addition, she has to take her daughter to the hospital every other week so her daughter can take an experimental treatment.

However, in the midst of juggling numerous responsibilities for her family and her daughter, what’s interesting is Sara has actually picked up some unexpected tips along the way to encourage other women who may be trying to manage a career while being a caregiver, including…

It’s OK To Time Off: Sometimes women have a sense of guilt when asking their bosses for time off, even if it’s to care for a loved one. But it’s important to know your limits – which are human, and sometimes you are needed more at home than at work or vice versa. It’s important to carve out the flexibility you need for taking care of a sick child.

Don’t Go it Alone. Ask for help when it’s needed. Striking the balance between independence and accepting support is difficult. However, no one wins points for running themselves into the ground, and while there are many things we can accomplish on our own – accepting the help of a babysitter, friend or neighbor for small tasks adds up to big rewards. Ultimately, one of the most valuable things we have as mothers and professionals is our time. Sometimes saying, yes, when people offer help – and even voicing the need yourself brings a sense of teamwork, comfort and support. Most importantly, it is a gift of what we are all short of: time and energy to spend with our families and also meeting our needs and aspirations personally and professionally.

Take Some Pressure Off. Yes, I know everyone may be depending on you, especially if it’s a child but remember to find some down time in the midst of it all – even if it means something else isn’t getting done perfectly. Reading a good book (or watching a favorite show) or laughing with a friend can help relieve stress and recharge you so that you can be more energized to provide the care that you need to give.

Connect. Make meaningful connections with other people or communities. Women are more likely to lose friendships in their thirties and forties than to gain and create meaningful ones. Similarly, and conversely, deep and meaningful connections to other people are a critical component to happiness.

While many women continue to face some level of stress and pressure when managing their careers and serving as caregivers, it’s important for them to remember the importance of self-care as well. These simple tips should help women to gain better control and balance of their lives so they can continue to be a source of strength for loved ones and even for the co-workers who are depending on them as well.

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Tips on Building on Your Company’s Commitment to Diversity

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Guest contributed by Karina DeLaCruz, Diversity Executive at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer

diversity

Image via Shutterstock

Companies that embrace diversity can better reap the economic benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce — and increasingly diverse markets. Our growing diversity as a nation and the impacts of globalization underscore why it’s critical for companies to embed the value of diversity and inclusion in their policies and practices for long-term success.

Diversity has an impact and is proven to drive engagement, innovation and profitability – all of which have very real bottom-line impacts:

Diversity drives engagement. Organizations that capitalize on the strengths of all employees – and leverage their differences and unique values – have the most engaged employees. Employees with the highest level of engagement perform 20 percent better and are 87 percent less likely to leave the organization than employees with low levels of engagement, according to a study by the Corporate Leadership Council. Engaged employees are more satisfied at work and more productive, and are more likely to stay with an organization and contribute to its success.

Diversity drives innovation. By bringing together different backgrounds, skills, and experiences, businesses are better positioned to develop innovative solutions needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive economy. Forbes Insights conducted a survey of more than 300 senior executives: among companies with more than $10 billion in annual revenues, 56 percent strongly agreed that diversity helps drive innovation.

 Diversity drives profitability. Numerous studies have demonstrated a business benefit to diversity. Deloitte highlighted research of 506 U.S. organizations showing that organizations with greater racial and gender diversity performed better in terms of sales revenues, number of customers and market share. Catalyst looked at Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women board directors and they attained higher financial performance, on average, than those with the lowest representation of women board directors.

 How do we get started?

If not approached strategically, diversity can feel like “just one more thing” employees are asked to take on. Consider these three key components in building out your diversity and inclusion strategy:

  • Get clear on the business outcomes you’re looking to drive through diversity and inclusion. Make sure you fully align those outcomes with company strategy.
  • Secure C-suite commitment — and their active, visible engagement with your efforts.
  • Embedding diversity in your company’s core values helps ensure that it is considered in strategy development and execution, and considered when critical decisions are made.

Launching a diversity and inclusion program – or expanding efforts – may require having difficult conversations to break through unconscious biases and educating leadership on how the program supports company goals and can benefit the employees and customers. Only when that foundational work is complete can you fully implement a successful diversity and inclusion program and reap the benefits.

How do you measure success?

No matter how much value you believe the program brings to the company, it’s important to track results. We look at metrics focused on key initiatives in each of the four pillars of our diversity and inclusion strategy. These include:

  1. Workforce: reflecting the diverse communities we serve
  2. Workplace: influencing company culture through diversity and inclusion
  3. Community/Marketplace: strengthening our brand in the marketplace through outreach, philanthropy, volunteerism and business partnerships with organizations that have similar values
  4. Members/Customers: weaving diversity and inclusion into the fabric of our business strategy and using it to better understand our customers’ needs and expectations

We developed a scorecard to measure success. For example, for the workplace pillar we look at our workforce representation, as most companies do. We also have a diversity index within our annual employee engagement survey that allows us to measure our effectiveness in providing an inclusive work environment. When it comes to community and marketplace, we evaluate how we’re doing in the area of supplier diversity and whether we’re increasing our community presence in terms of volunteer hours and community events hosted by the diversity and inclusion team.

The future of diversity and inclusion

Twenty years ago when we talked about diversity, the focus was on race, ethnicity and in some cases, sexual orientation. More companies are shifting their focus from diversity to inclusion or belonging. Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is a practice. Equity is the goal.

Ultimately, diversity and inclusion is a journey with no finish line. We all can play a role in helping create a more welcoming environment at work, while also enjoying the competitive advantages of inclusion.

Karina DeLaCruz is the Human Resources Consulting and Diversity Executive at CSAA Insurance Group based in Walnut Creek, CA.  She has extensive background and expertise in Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion, Leadership Development, Business Operations and Customer Service.  In her role at CSAA Insurance Group, she is responsible for the design and execution of the company’s diversity and inclusion strategy and oversees all of their diversity and inclusion initiatives and programs.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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Working Women: It’s Time to Take Charge of Your Career

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women working mentoring
Guest Contributed by Lexie Dy (readyjob.org)
There is something within a woman that dares to defy the odds of limitations. Where there is a giant, she silences it. Where there is a mountain, she moves it. Where there is a glass ceiling, she shatters it. She carries a remarkable strength and unmistakable determination to meet her goals. She is brave and she is successful. “She” is you.
 
Sometimes all that it takes to reach our full potential is a reminder of who we are and what we can accomplish. It’s time we stop chasing our dream career or position and start taking charge of them. It’s time to shake up the business norm and not only achieve your dream career, but excel in it.
 
The positive influence women can have in the workplace is undeniable. Research shows that the presence of women (and other minorities) at the executive level of companies and in the boardroom can have what’s called a “panel effect.” When women bring their perspectives and experience to the C-level, they are able to influence white male executives on diversity, fairness, pay equality, and more. By reaching for the stars and obtaining a position of leadership, you earn the power to re-shape women’s role in business by hiring CEOs, setting executive pay, investigating discrimination, and approving executive promotions. Your success and that of those around you should be based on skills and talent, not gender and ancient stereotypes.
 
Whatever you envision as your ideal career, you can get there if you work for it. What is that thing you daydream about? You have talked about it for a while now and you would be doing it full time if only you knew how. This is how you do it: study other successful people in your field. Rub elbows with other women in positions of leadership who are where you want to see yourself and build a network. Pick their brains and discuss the ways in which they overcame the obstacles they most certainly faced.
 
 When you are up-close and personal with your own plan, it is easy to miss the 360-degree view of the rest of your world. Stay up to date with current events in your field, and learn from the people who are succeeding in unprecedented ways. Not only will you be able to apply the insight you’ve gained from other success stories, but you might impress your colleagues with a well-informed understanding of your industry.
 
To all of the women who feel like they are at a disadvantage because of their gender, be proud of who you are as a woman and as a valuable employee. Women are advancing into leadership roles, managerial positions, and business owners, yet are not always compensated equally. There is a noticeably large number of industries that haven’t fully stepped up to the times we live in. Be one of the women who help to make a lasting impression on the future of the world marketplace. Don’t shy away from the opportunity to offer your opinion on business matters. Speak up if you are overlooked for a promotion, and be bold enough to comment on your wages if you notice a discrepancy. You have the same level of importance as the men in the field, and you make a world of difference for the company the same as they do.
 
Show your supervisor that you have potential for more responsibility by setting a high standard for the rest of the team. Arrive to the job early and ready to hit the ground running. Consider how you can accomplish more than what was asked of you. Once your assignments are finished, offer to assist your co-workers with theirs. Build relationships with your teammates out of genuine interest in your future with them and the company.
 
Sure, there are going to be discouraging days, but remember: you are not your mistakes.

You will make a few errors along the way, but that is to be expected. Mistakes are often the best way to learn. If you handle them with grace, you might even be surprised by how well your positive attitude will impress your boss. Rather than hang your head and apologize, own up to it and ask how you could have done things differently and what skillsets you need to work on in order to be adequately prepared for future opportunities. Count your mishaps as a blessing in disguise and move forward.
 
Silence your giants, move your mountains, and shatter those glass ceilings. You are your very own success story waiting to happen. Be bold and take charge of your dream career. It’s time to take charge.
 
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You Should Reconsider What You Think About Creative People in Leadership

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Though “creativity” is almost always included on lists of mandatory qualities of good leaders, creative people or “creatives” are rarely seen as the leader type.Group-Of-Women-Meeting-In-Creative-Office

Instead, creatives are revered for their originality, their resourcefulness, and their spirit. But to be successful, creatives need to be perceived as more proactive, risk-taking, problem-solving, and communicative which are the perceived traits assigned to leaders.

Why Creative Types Aren’t Often Leaders

In a study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, researchers asked workers and students rate their peers’ potential for creativity and leadership. Neither group rated the most creative people among the most likely to become leaders.

Yet, the most popular stories of leadership focus on those with ingenuity. We love to hear tales of CEOs and politicians who solve problems not with determined effort or underhanded maneuvering but rather with imagination and resourcefulness. There are few people more inspirational than those with innovative ideas who change the course of an entire industry. Why do we collect stories of creative leaders while ruing the idea of being led by them?

The researchers of the Wharton study, psychologists Jennifer Mueller, Jack Goncalo, and Dishan Kamdar, have discovered that leaders are often expected to uphold structure and order within an organization, while creative types tend to think laterally, outside typical paths and boundaries. Additionally, creatives are often depicted as isolated or at least introverted, but leaders necessarily must be comfortable with near-constant interactions. Further research refutes these suppositions. Most notably, a Wharton study by Adam Grant discovered that introverted leaders outperform extroverted ones, disproving the conception that a leader must be gregarious to be productive.

In another study led by Jennifer Mueller, participants consciously argued for the power of creative ideas, asserting that they want more creativity in leadership, but subconsciously, those same participants rejected more creative concepts when exposed to uncertain situations. It seems that we are primed to deny creative leadership, even despite evidence of its potential.

How Creatives Use Leadership Skills

Creative people and leaders share some traits and behaviors in common:

  • Leaders and creatives communicate well. Creative types imagine original concepts and they must be able to explain their ideas clearly and effectively.
  • Leaders and creatives are enterprising and dynamic. Creatives must often pursue their ideas on their own, forcing them to become self-motivated and driven.
  • Leaders and creatives solve problems. No novel idea emerges fully formed from a creative’s mind. Instead, creatives must tinker with their designs before they are viable.
  • Leaders and creatives take risks. Coming up with something new is inherently riskier than following the old way. Creatives must be willing to make leaps of faith, or else they fail to earn the label “creative.”

Given that creatives innately boast the most important qualities of leaders, it seems obvious that creatives would be good in leadership positions. The stereotype of creatives types is not the same stereotype of traditional leader types. This is just a stereotype but one that remains in place for now. One way to prepare oneself for business positions, regardless of one’s past work experience or identity as a creative person, is to continue to be creative while learning traditional business skills. By doing an MBA online, or in-person creatives can hone their leadership skills and gain new knowledge that is useful in guiding teams of workers. Even more importantly, advanced credentials almost guarantee management positions, ensuring creative types access to entry-level leadership roles. Just as the theory goes more women in leadership positions increases the likelihood of female-friendly workplaces, more creatives in leadership positions could help to build businesses that are friendly to creative thinking.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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5 steps to take ownership of your career

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happy working womenGuest Contributed by Jennifer Davis

I spend a lot of time speaking to early career professionals who are looking for advice or wanting to further their development. And one of the pieces of advice I find myself giving all the time is “Don’t ask permission”. But taking ownership of your own career path is easier said than done. Here are five steps you can take today to start making progress.

1. Write Your Future Resume

What do you see yourself doing in the future? Write it down. I find it useful to write it in the format of a resume or a bio. Something that walks back through your experience from the fictional and aspirational future (written in present tense), backing all the way to the current job and role that you are in today. Write the final job first and then think about what experiences you might need to get that job and make that your second-to-the-last role. Repeat that until you have walked back through a progression of roles or companies that take you where you want to go. Don’t forget to add in education, training, non-profit involvement, or anything else that will be a part of your future, idealized career. There is something powerful about writing it down.

2. Invent Your Path

One of the things you will notice about your resume activity is that you might struggle naming some of the roles that you might want to have. Sometimes getting experience and being seen as ready for promotion isn’t a matter of title (marketing specialist leads to marketing manager leads to marketing director), but rather of actual job contents. And of course in the future, the contents of the job are going to be different. 30 years ago, who have thought we’d pay to take rides with strangers or spend a significant part of our marketing budget on pay-per-click advertising? So, you have an opportunity to invent a job or two along the way. Take advantage of the blank sheet of paper to design a job or role that would give you that experience. And remember, some of that experience might come from volunteer work or even entrepreneurial efforts. Don’t limit yourself. You are writing fiction, so make it worthy of a New York Times best seller award.

3. Research and Network

Look at that fictional resume you wrote for your future self. What questions arose when writing it? Did you wonder what people had done before they became a Chief Marketing Officer? Did you invent a position, but now you wonder if that role exists in some companies today? Are you curious how much education a financial analyst needs to work on a big merger and acquisition agreement? These things are knowable and worth researching. Look up people on LinkedIn in the roles to which you aspire and look at their career progression. Contact people in your network who might know the answers or have ideas of where to look. They could be people that work at your company (check out the leadership page on your company website, if you don’t know people outside your own team or group), or people in the community at large. When asked for their expertise, most people will be generous.

4. Tell Someone

Just like there is power in writing something down, it is amplified in the sharing. This is why sites like BucketList.org exist. They figure you are more likely to do things, even crazy things like climbing mountains or learning Mandarin, if you share your dreams with others. Find people who will be supportive and share some of your ideas with them. If you don’t have people in your immediate circle of friends and family who are likely to empathize, find a group, like HeartSpark, or a professional coach to help you listen and refine your ideas. Or join a networking group, like BizWomen or your local rotary to find a group of like-minded folks to help you grow.

5. Believe

At the heart of all of this is believing in your potential and what you have to offer a potential employer or entrepreneurial opportunity. I’m a big believer in positive affirmations and visualization. By affirming yourself and visualizing where you will go, you breathe belief into yourself. This starts the wheels of destiny in motion. Believe that your career is something you get to build.

So let your imagination run wild and see where it takes you. Be deliberate and bold. Don’t settle for the next rung on your chain of jobs or tasks. Take ownership of your professional story. It can be refined by experiences and reshaped when you want it to be. It may have imperfections, but at the end it will be yours.

Jennifer Davis is CMO and VP of Product Strategy at Planar, a Leyard Company

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Personal Branding Strategy: Why Strong Careers Begin Here

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Guest contributed by LIz Harr, Partner, Hinge

brand

Image via Shutterstock

You know them. Executives who secure all the media mentions, deliver keynotes at top conferences and attract the best clients. Interestingly, most of these experts aren’t much different from the rest of us. In fact, many of them admit that they aren’t the smartest or most knowledgeable people in their fields. They weren’t born writers. They weren’t born orators.

Instead, they climbed to success by developing personal branding strategy with a very specific set of tools, trying and discarding a host of techniques along the way. My firm has produced some powerful research around what helped these individuals reach their respective levels of success and I’d like to share with you what really works – and what doesn’t – so you don’t have to endure the experimentation others have had to.

What Is a Personal Branding Strategy?

At the heart of their success is a strategy. A personal branding strategy. This is essentially a plan to take your reputation and career from relative obscurity to high visibility. It describes where you stand today and what level of visibility you want to achieve in the future. It lays out the tactics, tools and skills you will need to attain your goal, including the daily content calendar you will follow.

The Five Levels of Visibility

In our research on how personal brands can catapult a professional to higher levels of visibility – and career success – we identified five progressively more visible levels of expertise:

Level 1: Resident Experts. These experts are well respected within their firms and by their clients, but they have little visibility outside of those audiences. Most Visible Experts start their journey here.

Level 2: Local Heroes. These individuals are beginning to become known outside of their firms. They are more active in their local business communities, often speaking at business functions and blogging. They may even bring a little new business to their firm.

Level 3: Rising Stars. These experts have developed a regional reputation. They are fairly well known among peers in their area, and they speak and write frequently on their area of expertise. Rising Stars tend to bring in higher-quality business and higher fees.

Level 4: Industry Rock Stars. These names are well known across the nation for their niche areas of expertise. They attract premium clients and fees. As a result, they become significant assets to their firms.

Level 5: Global Superstars. The world’s elite experts, Global Superstars have broken out of their niches and household names. They command the highest fees, and firms around the world want to be associated with them.

Your first job is to figure out which of these levels describes you today. Then you need to decide what level of expertise you would like to achieve. 

 

 The Benefits of a Strong Personal Brand

As you’ll see in a moment when I go over specific tools for building a strong personal brand, it’s not for the faint of heart. But there are some very tangible benefits that these experts have realized. For starters, their earnings are higher. The chart below shows the relative billing rates for each Visible Expert level.

Figure 1. Relative Hourly Rates Buyers Will Pay, By Visible Expert Level

  

Our research showed that buyers are willing to pay over 13 times more for a Global Superstar than an average professional. But even Level 1 experts hold a significant advantage over their undistinguished brethren.

The reason? Buyers are willing to pay a premium for the confidence that a Visible Expert will solve their problem more quickly and with greater precision. Higher billing rates aren’t the only benefit. Here are a few others:

  • Highly visible experts attract more media attention. When a reporter needs an authoritative quote, they reach out to the experts most closely associated with the issue at hand.
  • Well-branded experts also are able to secure valuable partnerships more easily, and with more desirable organizations.
  • They attract better quality clients. In some cases, clients will seek out an expert — cutting out the competitive proposal process entirely.
  • Experts with strong personal brands also benefit their firms. Their strong reputation often spills over to the organization she works for, which in turn can have a very real effects on a firm’s brand and business development prospects. According to our research, about two-thirds of Visible Experts on average have this remarkable effect on their firms.

The 7 Critical Tools for Personal Branding

One of the most important things we learned from our research was which marketing tools have the greatest impact on an individual’s personal brand. Here are the top tools from our study, rated on a 1 (least impactful) to 10 (most impactful) scale:

Figure 2. Total Impact of Tools

I recommend you prioritize around these seven as you build your personal brand:

  1. A book. Whether you do it yourself or enlist a ghostwriter, you will need to produce a book that addresses your area of expertise. A book is a critical credibility builder and can be traditionally published or self-published. A book can be a heavy lift, so don’t feel like you have to tackle it right away.
  2. Speaking engagements. Public speaking is an important platform for building your reputation and personal brand. Audiences are predisposed to trusting anyone who stands at a podium, so just getting there is half the battle.
  3. A website. If you are part of a firm, you’ll want to focus at first on your bio page. It should present sufficient credentials to convince people that you really know your stuff.
  4. A blog platform. Every expert should be blogging. It’s the most accessible way to demonstrate your expertise. It’s also one of the easiest ways to start building a loyal following.
  5. Email marketing service. Email marketing is how you turn people into loyal followers — even raving fans. Using offers to download valuable educational (never promotional) content such as guides and whitepapers, you can entice a certain percentage of your blog readers to opt into your mailing list.
  6. Search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the tool that connects you to the people who are intensely interested in the problems you solve. And you would never meet 99% of them without it.
  7. A media kit. Experts get requests for bios, credentials and photos all the time. So it makes sense to have those things ready to go at a moment’s notice. Even better, put them up on your website bio page where interested parties can find them without asking.

This list, of course, just scratches the surface. There are dozens of tools that you can use to engage your audience. Webinars can be used as a different take on public speaking for example.

One last tip. Our research showed a clear correlation between specialized expertise and length of time it takes to groom yourself as a visible expert. Specialization eliminates the clutter like nothing else, and allows you to forge ahead without the noise that generalized knowledge brings to the table.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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What Microsoft’s New Ad Should Be Teaching Leaders and HR Professionals

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Guest contributed by Karyn Mullins
Microsoft

Image via Shutterstock

Microsoft recently released a new ‘Make What’s Next’ ad campaign showing young girls excited about the future of science in STEM careers. The ad opens with the diverse group of girls expressing their deepest dreams to save the climate or find a cure for breast cancer.
 
With virtual reality glasses, they’re given a glimpse into the amazing technological advancements that could make their dreams come true. But the ad takes a surprising turn when they share “the bad news” with the girls. The giant screen reads:
 
“Odds aren’t you won’t solve any of these problems. Only 6.7 percent of women graduate with STEM degrees.”
 
For any diversity and inclusion efforts, these negative odds are not where executives should leave the conversation. Inspiring the future for women and other minorities is crucial for the success of every organization.
 In fact, a 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean. There is no doubt the ad has very inspiring moments to it but translating that into real action in any firm is always a challenge.
 
If your HR team is wondering what’s next for diversity and inclusion, here’s what they should really learn from Microsoft’s campaign:
 
#1 Don’t just say diversity and inclusion is important, know why it is important.
 Every HR pro has been trained on the importance of diversity and inclusion, but unfortunately, many have never fully experienced the benefits of having a diverse group of employees. Without this deep understanding, their task of understanding why it’s a crucial aspect of employee and company success is nearly impossible.
 Often, we achieve success through different perspectives, creativity, and viewpoints. An undiversified environment lessens the ability for companies to leverage ideas or opinions and come up with creative, innovative solutions.
 
#2 Challenge your entire team to start addressing situations with multiple perspectives in mind. Put yourselves in the shoes of someone with a different ethnicity, backstory, and career path. The best way to do this is to set up team brainstorming meetings once a week. Allowing open communication during these meetings will help employees retrieve differing feedback that will push projects and sales to the next level.
 
# 3 Start recruiting by widening the potential pool of talent early
 If we don’t teach kids they can grow up to be anything they want to be and they can make the world a better place however they see fit, we are limiting our ability to have a real impact on our world.
 
The girls in the Microsoft campaign felt unstoppable, even after seeing the negative statistics about their futures. But not everyone will have this same amount of confidence. Worst of all, they’ll run into many people who have little confidence in them.
 
We often limit our recruits by only speaking to juniors and seniors at colleges. Getting to them right before they enter the workforce with an internship or full-time position.What if we reached out earlier?
 Inspire your recruitment team to build the generation of the future up by encouraging freshmen and sophomores in college — or even high schoolers. Let students know your company believes all genders and races can accomplish amazing feats with your team. Bring in experts from multiple departments to share their career stories and show how determination can accomplish great feats.
 
Stop stepping on your own efforts
 
Culture Amp’s 2017 Diversity & Inclusion Report found concepts of diversity and inclusion are experienced differently among people of different backgrounds. The balancing act for organizations as they become more diverse is a great responsibility as people from varying cultures have different values and beliefs.
 
Too often we let the diversity and inclusion conversations in our companies develop negative stigmas. If it already has one, we need to continue developing the conversation until our teams feel comfortable openly discussing and brainstorming ways to better our efforts to include everyone’s voice at the table for the best potential team performance.
 
About the author:
Karyn Mullins, Executive Vice President and General Manager MedReps.com, a job board which gives members access to the most sought after medical sales jobs and pharmaceutical sales jobs on the Web.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of our Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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“I Want to Be a Really Good Listener”

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Guest contributed by Linda O’Neill, VP of Strategic Services at Vigilant

listener

Image via Shutterstock

 

Over the past several weeks, I’ve noticed a pattern in what I’m hearing from my professional colleagues. Many of them are having what they describe as difficult conversations with employees, whether it’s about redundancies, new roles, new expectations or even coverage for the holidays. When I ask my clients how they want to “be” for these conversations, most are saying, “I want to be a really good listener.”

Throughout our lives we are taught a lot about speaking effectively. Unfortunately, most of us have received little training on being a “really good listener.” There are, however, resources and information available to enhance listening skills. Read on for information about the different levels of listening as well as some tips for being more effective.

Levels of Listening

Most listening experts agree there are different “levels” of listening. As the level of listening goes up so does the sophistication. Otto Scharmer, a senior lecturer at MIT and co-founder of the Presencing Institute, developed a set of principles on listening and they are among my favorites. He describes four levels: 1) Downloading; 2) Factual; 3) Empathic; and 4) Generative.

  • In level 1, Downloading listening, you are listening from habit and reconfirming old opinions and judgments. You are listening at this level when what you hear and experience tends to confirm what you already know.
  • At level 2, Factual listening, you’re listening for facts and noticing new data. You have an open mind. You focus on what is different from what you already know and pay attention to the responses of others. Both Level 1 and Level 2 listening are focused on taking in, digesting and understanding information.

When a listener moves to Levels 3 and 4, he/she brings forth more of the heart and will.

  • Level 3 is Empathic listening. It involves listening from within and with an open heart. When listening at Level 3, you are able to see the world through the eyes of another and often forget about your own agenda. In this level, an emotional connection is achieved in addition to the sharing of information.
  • In Level 4, an open heart transcends to open will. During Level 4 Generative listening, the listener is operating from a place of future possibilities. Scharmer uses words like “communion” and “grace” when describing the experience of Level 4 listening.

The first step in increasing your own listening skills is to notice your tendencies when you’re listening. What’s going on your head, heart and body when you are working to be a “really good listener”? From this place of noticing, you can begin to gain sophistication and effectiveness in your skills. Read on for some tips.

Tips for Effective Listening

  1. Be clear about your intention: Before having an important or difficult conversation, it is important to spend some quiet time getting clear about your intentions for the conversation.  Be deliberate in defining your intention; write it down. Now think about how you will demonstrate it. For example, decide how much you want to talk during the conversation and how much you want to listen. If your goal is to be a “really good listener,” you’ll spend less time talking than the other person. If you’re spending a lot of time explaining and defending your position, you’re probably not listening at the level you desire.
  2. Be Present: When you engage in a conversation, engage fully. Put aside distractions and give the other person your full attention. Put all your energy into gathering information and gaining understanding at multiple levels (head, heart, body, will). Listen for the overall message as well as the words; hear what is said as well as what is unsaid. Restate what you heard in your own words to confirm your understanding. Reflect feelings as well as words to listen at a deeper level. “Sounds like you’re saying…” or “Sounds like you’re feeling…”. Release judgment until you have a full understanding. Let go of the temptation to craft your response to what you’re hearing while the other person is still talking. According to Tom D.  Lewis and Gerald Graham, most individuals speak at the rate of 175 to 200 words per minute. However, research suggests that we are capable of listening and processing words at the rate of 600 to 1,000 words per minute. Because a listener can listen at a faster rate than most speakers can talk, there is a tendency to evaluate too quickly. That tendency is perhaps the greatest barrier to effective listening.
  3. Acknowledge: It is often important for a person to be acknowledged and understood before he/she will be willing to engage in a dialogue or negotiation on a difficult topic.  Acknowledgment does not mean you agree with what is being said, merely that you hear and understand it. Sometimes acknowledgment can be accomplished with a simple nod of the head.   When in person, use eye contact, lean forward, relax your arms, and put away electronic devices. Engagement often goes hand-in-hand with acknowledgment. It is hard to feel acknowledged if a speaker does not feel he/she has your attention. When on the phone, remove distractions and listen hard to changes in tone, pace, volume and rhythm of the speaker’s voice. These all provide important clues about the speaker when you are listening at Levels 3 and 4.  These clues will allow you to effectively understand and acknowledge the speaker’s message.
  4. Invest in your own self-awareness: Understanding your own speaking and listening style and the biases you bring to the table will help you open up your heart and will to more sophisticated levels of listening. A high degree of self-awareness will not only improve the effectiveness of your listening but also the quality of your relationships and ultimately your ability to lead.

An unknown source said, “We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking.” Developing listening skills is hard work; putting the skills into action is even harder.  You’ll know you’ve been listening effectively when at the end of a conversation you’re tired! You’ll feel like you’ve extended some effort. Listening is active, especially when you engage at Levels 3 and 4. I promise the rewards will be worth the effort!

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Answering the Rallying Cry for Women in Investment Management

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Guest Contributed by Rebecca FenderBusiness-meeting

“We’re stuck.” That was the consensus view from the group of women CFA Institute gathered nearly two years ago consisting of past and present members of our governing board. “Stuck” because women comprise a mere 18% of CFA Institute members—a number that has not changed for years and lags other professions.

These prominent industry leaders were disappointed in the lack of progress for women in the investment industry over their careers, and the assumption that it would fix itself has proven to be flawed.

But now things are beginning to change. Our research on gender diversity shows that 76% of investment professionals and 55% of institutional investors desire more gender diversity in the industry. People recognize that cognitive diversity—having different perspectives—is important for team construction and leads to more successful outcomes when tackling complex tasks. Teams need to seek collective intelligence (C factor), which research by Anita Woolley suggests is correlated with the average social sensitivity of group members, conversational turn-taking, and the proportion of women in the group. As a global organization, we see the many dimensions of diversity, but women are the universal diversifier: in every market, women are under-represented in finance compared to their participation rate in the workforce.

Consequently, senior leaders in the industry are looking for guidance on how to recruit and retain more women. While this is a long-term effort, we are starting to see progress that suggests change is afoot. Here’s how you can take advantage of these changes to advance your finance career.

  1. The network of women in finance is growing, so use it!

As a subscriber to The Glass Hammer, you already know that the power of your professional network is key to long-term success. Think of it as “visibility is validity.” For instance, showcasing successful women at all our events and bringing more women into leadership roles in our organization lets younger women see finance as a fulfilling career. Furthermore, women will make up 30% of our board by September, and our new initiative – Women in Investment Management – has inspired our female members to connect with their local societies, join activities and broaden their networks.

  1. Behavioral finance has introduced us to the idea of biases

Many of the challenges women have faced in the industry over the years relate to cultural issues that involve unconscious biases. Consider this: an article in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that when mixed-gender groups reported success on a project, men were more likely to get credit than women if attribution was not specifically given. People fill in gaps when they don’t have full information.

Similarly, it is easier to hire people who are like you (affinity bias), and deviating from this seems riskier, though we would rarely think of it that way. This makes it more difficult for women to break into male-dominated fields.

We often use these biases as shortcuts, without even realizing it, but these can be misleading. For example, we may expect men to be more competitive and risk-seeking than women, but this is in part because those in the majority feel more in control and so perceive fewer actions to be risky. A study by Gneezy, Leonard, and List showed that in matriarchal societies women are more likely than men to be risk takers. Recent research by Adams, Barber, and Odean showed that women in investing are more achievement oriented than men, though the reverse is true in the general population. Bottom line: question your assumptions and realize we all have biases.

Simple changes to meeting dynamics and addressing other day-to-day biases can add up to an unlevel playing field over time, but with an openness to recognize these we can work toward progress together. In a Financial Times article earlier this year, Anne-Marie Slaughter offered five specific ways to improve meetings, including making sure people aren’t interrupted, and asking a man to “do the office housework” like taking notes.

  1. Education can be an equalizer

Credentials show an employer you have the competency to succeed in the industry, and it can counter unconscious biases in the hiring process. In fact, Morningstar has cited the CFA charter as a qualification that women may find especially helpful in their career advancement in finance. Yet, while our research confirmed that most women and men in the industry made career decisions during their university years, a study by Mercer showed that many female students are unaware of career options in investment management.

Be sure to seek all available resources throughout your education. This may be programs affiliated with your university or scholarship and research opportunities like those offered through our University Affiliation Program. It’s important that both professors and students try to bridge this awareness gap.

In summary, the trend is positive, but success is not guaranteed.  This is an exciting time for women in the investment management industry—employers are eager to hire women and help them excel.  Take advantage of the changes happening now to make an impact.  We are the future of finance.

Rebecca Fender, CFA, is head of the Future of Finance initiative at CFA Institute, a long-term global effort to shape a trustworthy, forward-thinking investment profession that better serves society. Prior to joining CFA Institute, Ms. Fender was a vice president at BlackRock working with pension funds and endowments, and she also worked at Cambridge Associates, where she published research about manager selection. She earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton University and holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Future of Finance publications include From Trust to Loyalty: A Global Survey of What Investors Want, and Gender Diversity in Investment Management: New Research for Practitioners to Close the Gender Gap. Previously, Ms. Fender also served as the director of the flagship CFA Institute Annual Conference.

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4 Tips to Overcome Stress for Job Hunters

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Frustrated blonde woman sitting at a computerGuest contributed by Ora Nadrich

Looking for work can feel extremely stressful, but we may not realize that the negative thoughts we have around finding a job can actually be the very thing that’s preventing us from getting one.

Too often, it’s our negative thoughts around finding a job that can make us doubt our capabilities or worthiness, and some of those undermining or diminishing thoughts can, in fact, harm our chances of getting hired. Without realizing it, the negative energy around our thoughts can give off a negative vibration that people pick up, and we may not even know that the critical self-talk that’s going on in our head, is the very thing that could sabotage us getting the very thing we need; a job.

That’s why it’s important to be aware of those negative thoughts right when they begin to percolate and wreak havoc with our emotions, and recognize that it’s time to separate from them. The Says Who? method is a straightforward, powerful way of questioning and challenging those thoughts that stops them right in their tracks. And by facing a negative thought with a question, we find out if it’s true — or if we can just let it go. This is an approach anyone can use to overcome negative thoughts so you can be better prepared and confident while seeking employment.

Here’s how to get rid of those negative thoughts in 4 simple steps:

1. Acknowledge the stress. Recognize its existence, even if it’s upsetting. Don’t deny it or try to push it away. Admit you’re feeling stress about looking for a job, and accept that you’re having those negative thoughts. Doing so allows you to focus on what is happening in the “now,” which is actual and real, instead of focusing on the emotions surrounding the thoughts.

2. Shift into observer mode. Shift gears out of reactive mode into observer mode. In reactive mode, you have no distance from your own negative thoughts. But in observer mode, you turn into a witness that is separated and independent from them. Then you’re in a position to ask yourself questions to help get calm and grounded.

3. Ask that negative thought, “Says Who?” You are demanding that thought reveal who is responsible for it. In other words, how did it get in your mind? Once you find out, you can decide what to do about it. Is it your original thought, or was it someone else’s that you took as your own? You may even discover it is an old thought that has become part of your core beliefs, and now it’s time to challenge it and let it go.

Say you’re always thinking, “I’m never going to find the right job.” Asking, “Says Who?” really means: “Why am I saying that I’m never going to find the right job?” Then go one step further. Ask yourself, “Is it me? If so, why would I think a thought that makes me feel insecure or doubt myself?”

4. Now you’re ready to continue the questioning process. The next questions after “Says Who?” further challenge those negative thoughts. Asking, “Have I heard someone say this thought before?” helps you find out if the negative thought is your opinion, or someone else’s. Asking, “Do I like this thought?” gives you license to consider whether it’s a thought worth keeping. And questions such as “Does this thought work for me?” can help you transform that negative thought into something positive and life-affirming. That’s the kind of thought that will help you feel good about yourself so you can venture forth to find a job that is right for you, and that you deserve.

The Says Who? Method is a powerful tool for stopping the stressful, negative thoughts we can have about finding a job. That’s because we tend to judge ourselves, especially when we feel vulnerable. This method stops that anxious “self-doubt on repeat” in its tracks, so you can stop judging yourself so harshly, and be proactive in finding a good job. You can become more effective, successful, and productive. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, it helps you feel empowered — to do and be your best.

About the author

Ora Nadrich is a Certified Life Coach, Certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher, and the author of Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change The Way You Think Forever. Her popular album, Ora Meditations, is available on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Google Play, Amazon mp3 and everywhere music is sold. Learn more at http://www.oranadrich.com

Disclaimer: Views and opinions of Guest Contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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