By: Natalie Runyon
I attended a dinner with senior executive women leaders in financial institutions a few weeks ago at which a question was asked about the quickest way to increase the number of women in the C-suite. Very quickly, the consensus was to change the culture of organizations because of the subtle biases that are held by the dominant group (in this case, men) and how they work against women. To combat this, the group discussed a multi-pronged strategy:
- Training for the dominant group to educate them on the awareness of the biases and how these perceptions make their way into the day-to-day management decisions they make
- Instituting diversity elements into the performance review process
- Making internal and external recruiters’ compensation aligned with the organization’s diversity strategy
- Programs targeting high potential women to increase their visibility, credibility, and opportunities for advancement.
While I wholeheartedly agree with the need of this top-down approach, I believe that women can enhance their skill set by tweaking their mindset and behaviors with the intention of making it to the top. Indeed, more women at the top acting as instigators of change will enable the cultural shift. One mid-level woman in a large organization cannot really move the needle materially on the cultural shift. But, ambitious women leaders like you who want to be the CEO to reach the C-suite can lead by example working with women to tweak their behavior to build confidence, take bigger and bigger calculated risks, and increase their influence. Here are three must-do behaviors:
Appoint Yourself CEO—don’t wait for someone else to do it. The CEO of any company ensures the organization assesses its values, knows its strengths and differentiators from its competition, completes a mission statement, communicates a brand, and maintains a diverse board of directors. You need to create the same for your career. You need to know what your values and strengths are to analyze what jobs or roles is the best fit for you. You need to craft a mission statement to align your values and strengths with what you want you want to be known for. You need a brand to define how you want to be perceived in the marketplace and what separates you from your competition. You need a well-rounded board of advisors to guide you and advocate for you as you make career decisions. Using this process, I was promoted 2 levels higher in less than a year.
Speak up. Research shows that a group will view an individual as having more influence if she speaks first or second during a meeting. If you know that you are going to be attending a team or business unit meeting, prepare to ask a question or make a comment before you walk in. You have certainly been in a meeting where the leader will open the meeting up for questions and then, there will be silence. It is hard work for a meeting leader to get the Q&A going, and you could enhance the leader’s perception of you by being the first or second person to ask a thoughtful question. The more you practice this behavior, the more confident you will be in speaking up in meetings with influential people in attendance.
Discuss your accomplishments. It is no secret that self promotion is a requirement for a successful career advancement strategy. Women striving to get to the top need to master this skill. Women also need to change their negative psychology around self promotion to eliminate the natural tendency of being concerned with how you will be perceived. I had a career situation where I was being under compensated for almost a year for a job, and I was scared to be perceived to be too greedy and to use my performance as the justification for my compensation increase request. It took my mentor suggestion that by not asking, I may be perceived as being weak in order for me to make the decision to ask.
Having fear and anxiety in changing mindset and behaviors is normal and expected. Both will be there. However, you have the choice in whether or not you act in spite of the fear. THIS IS THE KEY. Don’t let the fear stop you. Accept you will have it and you will be uncomfortable doing a behavior that you are not used to. A small success leads to bigger success. A positive outcome as the result of taking a small risk builds confidence and your intuition for taking bigger risks the next time around. More women demonstrating these behaviors will increase the numbers of women at the top. More women at the top results in more change agents for the cultural shift. It is multiplier effect—a top-down and bottom-up strategy.
Natalie Runyon is a leadership strategist for aspiring female executives who want to change the world. Check out http://www.betheceoofyourcareer.com/ to learn more.
Check out the resources in the InPower Coaching EQ at Work and Soft Skills Research Index.
Guide to Women in Leadership
Organizations with women in their executive suites regularly out-perform others. Yet rising female executives (and their mentors) are frustrated at how hard it is to break through the glass ceiling. In this extensive guide, Executive Coach Dana Theus shares her tried and true strategies to help women excel into higher levels of leadership and achieve their executive potential.
