Tag Archive for: career advice

Men: It’s Easy to Be a Workplace Ally – Here’s How

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happy man with women

Guest contributed by Deborah Pine and Trish Foster

By now it’s no surprise to read that, in 2017, women still face more workplace challenges than men.

According to McKinsey’s 2016 Women in the Workplace report, more than 75 percent of CEOs include gender equality in their top ten business priorities, but progress is still frustratingly slow.

While women can and do make progress alone, more and more companies are discovering a secret weapon to achieve gender balance – male allies. Men, if you truly want to support women in the workplace, there are practical (and relatively easy) steps you can take immediately. Remember that even incremental changes in your behavior might help the women you work with. Here’s how you can help.

Recruit women

In doing so, recognize that some of the best candidates might not come to you – you might need to seek them out. Why? Because while men apply for jobs when they meet 60 percent of the hiring criteria, women wait until they think they’ve met them all. So search for female candidates via LinkedIn, references, internships, and by making sure your hiring committees put women and other diverse candidates on the slate.

Actively promote women and raise their visibility

Encourage them to apply for jobs with more responsibility even if they haven’t met all of the requirements. Why? Because women tend to get promoted based on their accomplishments, men more so based on potential. And a McKinsey/LeanIn.Org report shows that men get promoted at a greater rate than women in the first few years of their careers. Research suggests that women benefit by seeing strong female role models ahead of them in the pipeline. Help make that happen by raising the visibility of women in your organization.

Evaluate performance fairly

Start by being aware of gender bias in performance reviews, since research shows that male performance is often overestimated compared to female performance. In fact, gender-blind studies show that removing gender from performance-based evaluations improves women’s chances of success. Provide constructive criticism and be honest and fair, just as you would with a man.

Be aware of unconscious bias

It’s now well-established that all of us are biased. That’s why so many companies use unconscious or implicit bias training as an essential step in developing men as allies programs. You can tap into plenty of online resources to learn more about implicit bias on your own.

Be a mentor, or better yet, a sponsor, to a woman

Data supports the notion that women who have both female and male mentors get more promotions and higher pay. In addition to mentoring, consider actively sponsoring a woman – remember that sponsors go beyond mentoring by creating tangible workplace opportunities for their protégés. For example, don’t be afraid to take a female colleague to lunch or invite her to an outing, as you would with a male colleague. Professional opportunities often arise in such social settings.

If you have parental leave, take it

We can’t achieve gender parity if women are the only ones taking child-care leave. As Liza Mundy writes in The Atlantic, “The true beneficiaries of paternity leave are women.”

Establish accountability metrics

Set personal diversity and inclusion goals, and encourage your company to establish diversity and inclusion goals for all managers, tying them to reviews and compensation. Accountability produces results!

Don’t ‘manterrupt’ when a woman is speaking

Research shows that men interrupt women far more than they interrupt other men. Actively work to listen more than you speak, and even better, visibly solicit and affirm input from women in meetings.

Be an advocate

Have your female co-worker’s back when she’s not in the room and call out unfairness and bias when you see it. Talk to other men to raise awareness about gender diversity and remember that silence can be misinterpreted as support for the status quo.

Share the housework at home and the office

For women to succeed, they need an equal division of labor at home and at work. Honestly evaluate whether you are sharing chores at home ranging from childcare to cleaning, and do the same at work, raising your hand for the tasks women so often assume, like organizing social events.

Your actions have the potential to make a major, positive difference not just in the lives of your female peers, but in your own life, your work environment, and your company’s success.

Deborah Pine is executive director and Trish Foster is senior program director for the Center for Women and Business at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass.

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

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Women in Tech- Just Do It

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By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational PyschologistNicki Gilmour

We know that there are barriers for women in technology, from hiring and promotional bias to pretty awful cultural issues, making the day to day environment hard going. I could go on and on about the ugly underbelly and about the fact the system is stacked but I am not going to do that because it isn’t going to help you at your desk today.  Firms must fix the systemic elements but in the meantime, and whether you like it or not women have to pioneer and keep going.
But, we can reward the good firms by going to work for them. Give your business and your talent to people who deserve it.
Get out if your firm’s culture is totally toxic. If that seems like not the right choice for you, realise nothing is perfect and that you can find ways to be the change leader or work with the change agents if you can identify them. Easier said than done and this is dependent on three things that you need to look at.
Firstly, your desire to be the person who created the change (history tells us it is rarely at no personal or emotional cost). Dig deep and see if it’s in your personality to do this work. It will involve all sorts of things including smart power, conflict and conflict resolution. I was often the hammer in the the glass hammer and I have learned that there are other ways of tackling problems and the hammer is held for special occasions only as I am all too ready to pick it up and whack a mole (what rhymes with mole?). Look at what is natural for you and then do a 180 and look at what is not naturally within your skill set and understand you will need both for change leadership.
Secondly, on the context of the situation, how change ready is the environment? There are ways to test this and a simple question to a leader will tell you as much as you need to know. A question such as, “How would you explain how we do what we do here to a new person?”  Listen to their response carefully, as it is in their digestion of the ‘how’ and  ‘by whom’ work gets done and what gets rewarded behaviorally that you will know where they are at in their own diversity journey. Ask them, what do they think their vision is for the team?
Thirdly, what systems or policies and procedures are in place to make the culture a good place to work for all humans regardless of your biological status?
There are some amazing women in technology out there – some in big firms and some in firms that they have started. Women who code just announced their winners this past week.
We have held many career events for women in technology  round navigating the terrain. Like any career planning advice,  or in fact coaching advice i can give you, you need to know what you want, understand what is consciously and unconsciously stopping you, then go for it. Be the change you want to see in the world!
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Storytelling: The Art of Connection

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book

Image via Pixabay

By Aimee Hansen

Forbes has called it “the new strategic imperative of business.” Oral storytelling may have started around the fire, but today it’s trending hot on the list of sought-after leadership competencies at the boardroom table and in the C-Suite.

While storytelling may be innate, it doesn’t mean we’re all equally skilled in wielding the power of storytelling. But it turns out that being an engaging and persuasive storyteller is far less about raw talent than you might think and more about getting fluent in the structural ABC’s (or rather, IRS) of storytelling.

theglasshammer.com spoke to Esther K. Choy, Founder and President of Leadership Story Lab and author of the book Let The Story Do The Work: The Art of Storytelling for Business Success.

Why We Don’t Tell Stories

“Storytelling in a business context is a pivot from something we are doing naturally and intuitively,” said Choy, “but it’s adding a different application. I think it would be a pity if we (women) don’t make full use of what comes natural to us.”

Choy observes that we tend to be more reserved about telling stories at work than we need to be.

“A lot of people have a certain misconception that when you tell stories you assume the spotlight and you are talking about yourself… And this is something that many of us have been socialized not to do,” says Choy. “The other thing is that if you haven’t been trained how to tell stories strategically in a business setting, it can take a while,” states Choy. “These days people’s attentions spans are very short.”

The need to be persuasive and concise is why immersing yourself in the anatomy of effective storytelling is so important.

An Expansive and Emotive Leadership Art

In addition to speaking to and from the heart, telling and receiving stories is also a more expansive mindset skill than analytical or rational argument.

“When we listen to a story, it involves 40 to 50 different regions of our brain. When you are perhaps using the analytical side of your brain, it’s far more limiting.” states Choy. “That’s why we have the saying that people forget facts, but they never forget a good story. You can try to forget a good story, but it’s really hard. The reason is that it’s such a whole brain experience. It’s sticky. It’s memorable. It gets us feeling. It’s almost as if we were there, inside the story.”

Indeed, emotional recall changes the memory game. Fact are between six and 22 times more likely to be remembered if conveyed through story than list.

We are not only rational beings, even when making basic decisions. “Every single decision, big and small, must involve an emotional process to make a decision and act on it. That’s just the way we’re wired,” states Choy. “That’s why no amount of sheer analytical presentations and data can actually persuade someone until and unless their emotions are tapped somehow.”

Storytelling is a way of showing versus telling that guides the listener along on an intentional emotional experience. It creates a synchronization between speaker and listener. The result, often, is a trust that is conducive to building consensus.

“When you’re the storyteller and I’m the listener, our brains actually begin to synchronize,“ states Choy. “Because the story that you are telling me, that you are painting, I am also trying to imagine and feel. The storyteller’s brain and the listener’s brain begin to hum and synchronize. That’s why we feel an incredible connection.”

Storytelling Starts With Listening

“In order for any of us to become great storytellers, we must first become story collectors,” states Choy. “So before we set out to tell great stories, to razzle and dazzle and influence and persuade other people, we also need to learn how to get other people to tell their stories.”

While this partly mirrors the principle that if you want to write, you need to read, it also comes from the need to create receptivity and two-way communication. This is especially true when negotiating friction with colleagues.

“In a business setting, when you’re trying to persuade other people, it’s really hard for others to even begin to open their mind and ears unless they feel heard. That has to go first,” states Choy. “We don’t have to agree with them, but we have to acknowledge them and make them feel heard. That is the only way to get them to open their minds and their ears to hear our story.”

In order to effectively persuade, even storytelling has to be a conversation.

The Craft of Connection (IRS): Intrigue, Rivet, Satisfy

It’s not true that some people just aren’t storytellers.

“I think 80% of what makes a good storyteller can be boiled down to process. It’s more a matter of willingness, not ability,” states Choy. “If you’re willing to learn the process, to practice it and get feedback – then no matter your confidence and creativity and natural ability – you will be a great storyteller.”

Choy’s story toolbox and strategic structure is IRS. The beginning must be Intriguing. The middle should be Riveting. The end should be Satisfying.

Act 1 – Intriguing: The shortest part of your story should begin with time and location and end with a hook. The hook can be based upon conflict (any tension of opposing forces), contrast, or contradiction (contradicting the expectations of your audience).

One thing you should not do, says Choy, is to begin with “let me tell you a story,” which can raise skepticism. Focus on intriguing. We often need to dig out the hook of our story and bring it to the front.

Act 2 – Riveting: This is “the meat of the story” – the overcoming of obstacles, challenges, setbacks, more setbacks, and triumphs. When we’ve lost our audience, it’s often because we began with Act 2, rather than setting our story up or effectively wrapping it up.

“That’s why some stories feel flat or feel like they go on and on with no end in sight,” states Choy. “But if you set up the story right, then you’ve earned the right to tell your stories.”

Act 3 – Satisfying: This is the climax and final resolution, which delivers on intentions and takeaways, either open-ended (such as provoking discussion) or close-ended (such as closing a deal). The same story can have either open-ended or close-ended intention, based on how you resolve it.

“Whichever path that may be,” states Choy, “you should think ahead of time at least to what you would like to see happen after you tell that story.”

Personal Proficiency

Ultimately, storytelling, like many skills that are important to leadership, are a matter of both craft and practice. Storytelling is one area in which it can be both professionally and personally rewarding to develop your proficiency.

Author Note: Aimee Hansen leads women’s writing and yoga retreats on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (Nov 25 – Dec 3 2017, Jan 27 – Feb 4 2018) and other locations and dates in which we explore the power of storytelling when it comes to owning our voices and self-expression in all areas of our lives. Find out more about her events: www.thestorytellerwithin.com

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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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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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Why One Type of Advice Doesn’t Fit All

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By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational PsychologistNicki-Gilmour-bio

When I am writing this column I go through a range of emotions due to the fact that any article giving advice is just an opinion. It is easy to be opinionated, to live in the dogma of the binary of this way or that way, but it’s often not that useful for the person on the receiving end.

The best that I can do is base the advice on a combination of expertise, research and intuition. However, I do not know you personally, I do not know what your specific situation is that you need advice around. I also do not know the environment you are operating in, nor the developmental frames or mental models that you have accumulated through your own interpretation of your experiences during your life until this day. I do not know your reactions to bad bosses, stress,  wins, systemic gender issues . My point is, this is the internal diversity that matters to you in your career advancement, the cognitive and emotional differences and capacities that every human has, not the just the social identity version of diversity that is touted in companies which way too often feels like Noah collecting animals for his Ark.

We are all a product of our ability to self-reflect on our conscious thoughts and actions. The unconscious beliefs we all hold are harder to access as they are unknown to us but often hold in place competing agendas that stop us from achieving our goals via behaviors that are not aligned with goal attainment. I have mentioned Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s book Immunity to Change a couple of times in this column. They don’t know who I am, this is one of the few books I wax lyrical about, but I can honestly tell you their work is a must read for anyone who is wondering how to really get to why some of those goals and resolutions around career, fitness, family are still outstanding. I just wrote a paper integrating their work with the Columbia Coaching Program Process, as it is my firm belief that unless you access the murky unconscious of how you construct your big assumptions, and say them out loud to yourself to check for validity, your self-efficacy around goal setting for you as an executive can’t be totally effective- even if you are the most motivated person on the planet.

So, this week instead of telling you to do this strategy or that strategy, I am going to ask you to think, pre-holidays, about what you want to achieve in the next 12 months and then to look long and hard at what you are currently doing to reach those goals. Not the should or ought to do but what you are doing or not doing. Then ask yourself whats really going on? What is your competing agenda hidden in all of this?

We have 20 places left for individuals for our next round of individual coaching starting in November.

We also have a group coaching starting in December- join a cohort of peers.

Get in touch! Nicki@theglasshammer.com or book an exploratory call here to learn more about what we are doing and how much it costs.

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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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