Contributed by Lynne Morton, President, Performance Improvement Solutions
You want to get ahead – you’re working hard – your clients like you – you get good performance reviews. But you’re still not getting where you want to go professionally, or not fast enough. Sound familiar? That wouldn’t be surprising. It’s the situation in which many High Potential professional women find themselves. And it doesn’t seem “fair,” does it?
Well, “fair” is not a word that is part of the organizationally-savvy professional’s vocabulary. Yet it is often in a woman’s vocabulary. Women are more likely than men to slip into the posture of being victimized. We don’t always harness our full potential to achieve our professional goals. Reaching full potential, by which you generate FUSION energy, requires knowing how to “play” the organizational game.
Catalyst’s 2010 report of MBA professionals, The Pipeline’s Broken Promise, shows that men are more satisfied than women with their career advancement. As the study shows, despite the fact that aspirations are equal, a man’s first post-MBA job is more likely to be at a higher level than that of a woman. Furthermore, men outpaced women most when they started at the bottom of companies or firms. Additionally, more women left their jobs because of a difficult manager.
This data is very interesting since it may shed light on areas of improvement for women, as well as for organizations. It addition to driving for organizational change, we/ women can improve our abilities to understand organizational politics, see where the “land mines” are and, as is colloquially said, “play the game”. There is ample evidence to show that organizational systems do not support the advancement of women and that bias exists in many respects (compensation, flex-time, etc). However, observational and anecdotal evidence also shows that women are not as adept in finding out which organizational networks are most important, in knowing which connections they must make and nurture, nor in seeking out career advancement opportunities.
Men think more about how to get what they want, how to win the game. They set their sights on what will get them where they want to be. Knowledge of organizational politics, the rules of the game, is critical. Many management theorists believe that their earlier experiences of playing sports make men more inclined to think that way. But there is a hugely popular WNBA now. There are women sports announcers and women covering news stories on the front lines of war zones. Women know how to be team players broadly speaking. Now we have to do that within the business arena. There aren’t enough women in senior leadership to change the rules yet, so what we need to do is play by the rules that currently exist. And we can.
Women need to: Learn the (Unwritten) Rules. Make Connections. Have Sponsors.
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Op-Ed: To Win the Game, You Have to Play
Office PoliticsYou want to get ahead – you’re working hard – your clients like you – you get good performance reviews. But you’re still not getting where you want to go professionally, or not fast enough. Sound familiar? That wouldn’t be surprising. It’s the situation in which many High Potential professional women find themselves. And it doesn’t seem “fair,” does it?
Well, “fair” is not a word that is part of the organizationally-savvy professional’s vocabulary. Yet it is often in a woman’s vocabulary. Women are more likely than men to slip into the posture of being victimized. We don’t always harness our full potential to achieve our professional goals. Reaching full potential, by which you generate FUSION energy, requires knowing how to “play” the organizational game.
Catalyst’s 2010 report of MBA professionals, The Pipeline’s Broken Promise, shows that men are more satisfied than women with their career advancement. As the study shows, despite the fact that aspirations are equal, a man’s first post-MBA job is more likely to be at a higher level than that of a woman. Furthermore, men outpaced women most when they started at the bottom of companies or firms. Additionally, more women left their jobs because of a difficult manager.
This data is very interesting since it may shed light on areas of improvement for women, as well as for organizations. It addition to driving for organizational change, we/ women can improve our abilities to understand organizational politics, see where the “land mines” are and, as is colloquially said, “play the game”. There is ample evidence to show that organizational systems do not support the advancement of women and that bias exists in many respects (compensation, flex-time, etc). However, observational and anecdotal evidence also shows that women are not as adept in finding out which organizational networks are most important, in knowing which connections they must make and nurture, nor in seeking out career advancement opportunities.
Men think more about how to get what they want, how to win the game. They set their sights on what will get them where they want to be. Knowledge of organizational politics, the rules of the game, is critical. Many management theorists believe that their earlier experiences of playing sports make men more inclined to think that way. But there is a hugely popular WNBA now. There are women sports announcers and women covering news stories on the front lines of war zones. Women know how to be team players broadly speaking. Now we have to do that within the business arena. There aren’t enough women in senior leadership to change the rules yet, so what we need to do is play by the rules that currently exist. And we can.
Women need to: Learn the (Unwritten) Rules. Make Connections. Have Sponsors.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Sarah Sherber, Managing Director, Head of Securitized Products IT and Cross Product Operations Technology, Barclays Capital
Voices of ExperienceAfter spending almost 30 years working in technology, Sarah Sherber, Managing Director and Head of Securitized Products IT and Cross Product Operations Technology at Barclays Capital, has seen the industry change and grow. With a career that has brought her to almost every major financial services company, Sherber has managed to climb the corporate ladder and remain fascinated by her work.
Building a Career in Tech, from Star Wars to Dodd Frank
Sherber majored in computer science at the University of Michigan. “Reagan was president, and there was a big push into Star Wars,” she said with a laugh. “So I went to work for a defense contractor. One of my first jobs was writing software for F14s.”
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Work/Life Balance Across Time Zones and Technologies
Work-LifeI took some time off work recently for a long weekend in Italy. As I was packing my hand luggage, I didn’t hesitate. My company mobile phone and my BlackBerry both went in. After all, someone might need me. It wasn’t until later that weekend (when I’d been exchanging texts with a colleague from the bus driving along the Ligurian coast) that I realised the boundaries between my work life and my personal life had blurred so significantly that it felt normal to be working on holiday.
Technology makes it possible for us to work at any time of the day and night. With financial markets opening and closing at all hours, and team members spread out across the world, it’s a surprise we ever get any down time at all.
“I’ve done a lot of work with people in different time zones and have many clients in this predicament,” says Carolyn Thomson, Director, Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP. “There are many ways you can alter what some might consider a ‘traditional’ work schedule to accommodate the globalisation of business. One is to split up your day in an unusual way that accommodates both your personal schedule and your professional demands. When I was doing a lot of work in Singapore, I left my office a little earlier, had dinner with my family, then got back online for a couple of hours in the evening to deal with what I needed to for my clients who were just getting to work there. That gave them several hours – while I slept – to do what they needed to do on their end, then when I got up I started a couple hours earlier than I needed to so I could wrap up with them at the end of their day.”
It takes a certain kind of organisational ability to be able to structure your day like this. It also takes the ability to use technology to the best advantage.
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Ambition and Motherhood: Can Women Have It All?
Work-LifeIn her 2007 book Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success, Sylvia Ann Hewlett explores the often “non linear” career paths women take because of the still constant tug of domestic responsibilities. According to Hewlett, women typically provide 75 percent of the housework and childcare, which makes it harder for them to cope with today’s extreme jobs.
“Thirty seven percent take an ‘off ramp’ at some point in their careers, voluntarily quitting their jobs for a short period of time. Another 30-plus percent take scenic routes and the consequences aren’t pretty: 50 percent of those seeking to return to mainstream jobs fail to find them and those taking an off-ramp lose 18 percent of their earnings power,” Hewlett wrote.
Presumably, these off-ramps are an attempt to raise children or manage other family responsibilities, with the goal of returning to the workplace. But as statistics show [PDF], there is often no workplace to return to. And for those who manage to return to their previous employer, many suffer what’s been called the mommy penalty. It is assumed their head is no longer in the game and they no longer care about their career as much as they did pre-child.
According to a new survey by the SFN Group, over half of working moms aren’t satisfied with their careers. Fifty-six percent of the 600 working mothers surveyed said they are not satisfied with their career and 62 percent said work/life balance is the most crucial aspect to their career happiness. The problem is that work/life balance is difficult to attain, so it comes as no surprise that 70 percent of the survey respondents report not having a flexible work arrangement.
Yet so many continue moving forward, hoping to successfully balance an exceptional career and a healthy family. Can ambition and motherhood go hand-in-hand; will one always suffer as the result of the other? Essentially it comes down to the one question that has been haunting working mothers since day one: Is it possible to have it all?
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Ask-A-Career-Coach: How to Stop Looking for Balance and Start Finding Your Focus
Ask A Career CoachThe way the media goes on about women “finding balance,” you’d think that Balance is a town in upstate New York. Just program it into your GPS and life will be perfect!
As if.
I hear it from my coaching clients every day: the workplace is more competitive than ever, and there is no reprieve in sight. These smart, ambitious women tell me: “I am required to deliver more and more, faster and faster, at both home and work. I feel pulled in every direction and never feel I’m doing anything well.” And that, dear reader, is the perfect formula for personal burnout and professional stagnation.
There is no such thing as “balance.” (And BTW, Prince Charming isn’t going to show up to save the day, either.) If you want to feel less stressed out and scattered, then you have to choose to harness and shape your energy. Let go of the female ego: trying to do it all, and doing it all perfectly. Instead, you have to focus, focus, focus.
That means committing to being present in every moment, wherever you are. That means being ruthless about your priorities. That means taking responsibility for how and where you direct your attention. Because more than ever, attention is the most precious gift we have to offer. Don’t squander it.
So, how do you find your focus?
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Lessons from the Simmons Leadership Conference
Industry Leaders, LeadershipThe theme of this year’s Simmons Leadership Conference, held in Boston last week, was “Passion & Profession,” and the program examined how passion fuels success. The Conference took place at Simmons College, home of the first and only MBA program in the US designed specifically for women.
Eileen McDargh, a speaker at this year’s event, helps individuals and organizations transform their careers, their lives and their businesses by connecting them with their passions. We had the opportunity to sit down with McDargh during the conference and examine how women can blend a productive career with a personal passion.
McDargh has first-hand experience. Thirty year ago she walked out of her public relations job and never looked back. “I just couldn’t write another press release,” she said. And she leapt at a time when she needed the money. She was confident, though, that if she followed her passion, she would land on her feet.
And she was right. Realizing, of course, that not all women can walk out on a steady paycheck to pursue a new idea, McDargh acknowledged, “Sometimes, it’s our job that supports our work.”
She encouraged women to pursue their passion, even if they aren’t totally clear on the outcome. “You don’t have to be crystal clear,” she says. “But you must be crystal on the intention.” And forget about achieving work/life balance.
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Voice of Experience: Linda Albornoz, Vice President, B2B Payment Solutions, American Express Technologies
Voices of Experience“With the entry of new technologies, and the ability to be accessible 24/7, the challenges of work-life balance exist for everybody, not just women,” began Linda Albornoz, Vice President of B2B Payment Solutions within the American Express Technologies group.
She continued, “The key is for individuals to set priorities and have clear goals. Your own boundaries have to be clear. There will be high stress times that arise when you’re needed more at work, and during those times, you have to monitor stress and create checkpoints.”
“This is also one reason why building great teams is so important. It ensures you don’t have to work 24/7,” she explained.
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Found Your Own Networking Group – These Women Did
NetworkingOn The Glass Hammer, we discuss the importance of networking almost on a daily basis. While your company may provide networking events or you may belong to a professional organization that offers networking opportunities, when it comes to networking, it can be difficult to find the group that meets your needs or aligns with your personal interests.
The United Women in Business Foundation is a non-profit designed to encourage networking between women of different generations. The organization was originally founded by a group of George Washington University alumnae in December of 2009. The women, who had been part of a networking group as undergraduates, wanted to continue developing their careers, but couldn’t find quite what they were looking for. So they decided to found their own.
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5 Ways to Build Confidence at Work
Office PoliticsOut of all the potential hurdles women face in the workplace, surprisingly the biggest challenge can sometimes be a lack of self-confidence. According to a survey titled, “Ambition and Gender at Work” [PDF] published by the European Institute of Leadership and Management, “There is a strong link between managers’ confidence levels and ambition.” The study further cites that “individuals with high levels of personal confidence are more likely to have a very clear idea of their career path as well as greater expectations to ‘take on a management or leadership role,’ and have these expectations met.”
Given the direct correlation between confidence, ambition, and subsequent achievements for women in the workplace, how do we push through our uncertainty and begin to focus on our abilities and talents? Here are 5 tips to consider.
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Why Cross-Generational Networking Matters
NetworkingCurrently many young women on Wall Street don’t have senior women to reach out to and if they do, these women are too busy to be a mentor. Another theory, as uncomfortable as it may seem, is that senior women don’t feel it’s their job to help younger women coming up the ranks. After all, they defied the odds with little help, so why can’t younger women?
Many believe that women’s networks are the cure all for these problems, but cross-generational networking presents an all new set of problems.
Elisabeth Kelan, a lecturer in Work and Organizations in the Department of Management at King’s College London recently conducted a study that revealed how difficult it is to get young women involved in a company’s long-standing women’s network. “Younger women find it difficult to connect to women’s networks in the workplace, because they view these networks as something that belonged to their mother’s generation,” Kelan said. The irony is that when new women’s networks are started at companies, they’re often run by younger women, who experience difficulties getting senior women to become active in the group.
So, how can cross-generational networking be improved and what is the business value in networking between Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial women?
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