3 Common Barriers Introverted Women Experience When It Comes to Getting a Senior Leadership Promotion

I have coached many leaders to secure senior leadership promotions, and there are some common barriers that I see time and time again that get in the way of them securing those senior leadership positions. Last week I did a LinkedIn live session about this and for those of you who missed it and don't have time to watch the recording, I write about some of those barriers below.

If you have time to watch the recording you can see it at the link above, if not, continue to read below.

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Here are 3 of those common barriers that get in the way and what you can do about them:

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Not believing in themselves

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If I was to guess, I reckon about 95% of the people that come to me for coaching who have been unsuccessful at a senior leadership promotion, doubt themselves. This has a negative impact on their confidence and/or their performance at the interview.

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One particular client knew that she was more than capable, but at interviews, she would look at the other candidates who were mainly men that appeared to look more confident than her and think that she was not as good as them.

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This would then affect how she went into the interviews and how she performed. Many of us are led by our emotions and the way that we think affects how we feel, and we act and behave according to how we're feeling. This is often a result of the thoughts and beliefs that we have about ourselves, what it is that we need/want to do, our environment, or some other situation where we doubt ourselves or we put ourselves down.

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Recognise that it's your thinking and beliefs that are getting in your way. If you change what you think and believe about yourself, you'll change how you feel. If you change how you feel, you will change how you act and behave.

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With the client mentioned above, I challenged her thinking about the other candidates she thought looked more confident than her. They may appear confident on the outside, but she doesn't know what they're thinking and feeling on the inside.

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Plus, she really knew her stuff and had more than enough experience. By getting her to challenge what she thought and believed about these men who looked more confident than her, and change what she thought and believed about them, it helped her to change how she felt. This then changed how she acted and behaved, and in her next promotion interview, she was successful.

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What are the things that you doubt yourself about when it comes to getting your promotion? What are the things that you worry about or feel anxious about? Once you've identified what it is, what is a more rational and helpful perspective to have about it?

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Not positioning themselves

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Being strategic and positioning yourself for your next promotion creates more opportunities and a pathway for it to happen. Something that many introverted women do not do.

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Prior to starting my coaching business, I worked in an organisation where I started off in one of the most junior roles, and I got promoted a number of times to a senior role. The last role that I got promoted to was as a result of positioning myself for it.

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I had been at a conference, and the head of operations from another area was also there. She told me that she was going on maternity leave the following year and that this would create an opening in her area and encouraged me to go for it. ?

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This was something that I wanted and when I saw a position advertised in that area at the same level I was, I applied for it and got it. My intention was to make a sideways move, and once in that area, raise my visibility and profile by taking on stretch projects.

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Once there, I volunteered to lead different projects and initiatives which raised my visibility in that area. When the promotion position came up, I applied for it, and I was successful.

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I had to go through a competitive interview process, but I really believe that by positioning myself in that way I demonstrated that I had the ability to perform at that level. ??

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What can you do to position yourself for your next promotion? Have you told the right people that you want to be promoted? What stretch projects can you get involved with? ?

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Another thing that you can do to position yourself is to utilise your network. I once had a client who wanted to make a career change and get an external promotion who didn’t like using LinkedIn. I encouraged her to utilise it as part of her strategy.

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She reached out to connections that she'd met previously in person and arranged to meet up for a coffee. One person that she met with, turned out to be a non-executive director on the board of an organisation that she'd applied for a Chief Operating Officer role.

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This contact then talked about her favourably in the organisation. My client went through a very competitive selection process, and she was successful. Whilst she got the role on merit, reaching out to her LinkedIn connection in that way, and them being able to vouch for her, will have gone in her favour.

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What can you do to position yourself?

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Not promoting themselves

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Research suggests that extraverts get more opportunities at work because their performance is more visible. Gone are the days when your work would automatically speak for itself. The way that a lot of us work these days means that the people who need to know about you don't get to. Or the people who have the influence or who are the decision makers may not necessarily get to hear about you.

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Many people who are introverted don't like self-promotion because they are not bothered about being in the spotlight. For some people, self-promotion feels like bragging or boasting, and it feels uncomfortable and self-centred.?

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If you feel uncomfortable about self-promotion, reframe how you view it. Rather than looking at it as it needs to be all about you, reframe it and view it as letting other people know about your successes and achievements, and the difference that you've made. Put the spotlight on the outcomes you have achieved rather than yourself.

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Underselling themselves at interviews is a common complaint. They talk a lot about ‘we've achieved this’ or ‘we've done that’, as in what the team has achieved, but they don't highlight the part that they played.

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One client was specifically given this feedback and told that she didn't demonstrate that she had the ability to perform at the next level because she talked a lot about the team effort or what the team had achieved, but not enough about herself.

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Whilst it's good to acknowledge the team effort, you also need to highlight the part that you played and the difference that you made and demonstrate your ability to perform at that next level. ?

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Another way to promote yourself is by demonstrating thought leadership. It helps you to raise your visibility and showcase your knowledge and expertise. You can do this by writing articles or blogs for your company's intranet site or newsletters, contacting your industry publications, and writing articles or doing videos for them.

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Speaking on panels or being a keynote speaker is another way to raise your visibility and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise. Find out which industry conferences are looking for speakers and put yourself forward.

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Whether you are looking to move up in an external role or even an internal role, utilise LinkedIn. One client started writing and publishing articles on LinkedIn which came to the attention of senior colleagues. They were impressed with the knowledge that she demonstrated. This raised her visibility within her organisation. ??

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Likewise, commenting on posts on your company’s LinkedIn page can help raise your visibility. One client started doing this and got spotted by the CEO who asked her to help lead on a project. That was a great way for her to raise her visibility.

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Get a sponsor someone who is more senior and influential within your organisation (or even externally), who will promote you. A sponsor can open up doors of opportunity for you (you still need to do the work to walk through the door) and champion you to those who need to know about you.

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So, who needs to know about you, your successes and your achievements and the difference that you've made? And how will you let them know?

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If you are facing these 3 common barriers, I hope that what I have shared will help you overcome them and that you will go on and get the promotion that you want.

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What other barriers to senior leadership promotion have you faced??

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