Do you know where you are going as a woman in the workplace?

Your unique value is your superpower

This topic keeps coming up for me in workshops and discussions with leading ladies. How well do working women know and appreciate their unique value in the workplace? Let’s pause for a moment to consider one perspective of looking at this.

As an executive coach with a focus on developing female leaders, I notice in particular that women in the workplace are generally so busy with the day to day requirements that to be conscious of what their unique value is not on their radar. A typical working style that a lot of women seem to share is “to do more and more and more” in an effort to demonstrate their value without really knowing what their value is. Instead, they follow their belief that working hard, achieving a lot and being focused on high standards will get them noticed.

Don't go down the rabbit hole

While doing more and more may sometimes reap rewards, the opposite effect, being under recognised seems to be a more common feeling amongst women in the workforce. Being so busy and involved in the job can result in not being fully seen, heard or understood. Many efforts and achievements can be largely unnoticed or not acknowledged, career progress can be limited and women can become frustrated and confused about the lack of progress they are experiencing. In some cases they can be oblivious to the fact that they are actually standing still in their career pursuits. Remaining bogged down with tasks and deliverables that may not be feeding into their overall career goals. Through understanding where you are going, what is the bigger purpose you are serving and taking conscious actions to get there it can drastically accelerate career growth and help organisations increase female leadership.

Let’s start with getting clear on where you are going. This is 100% essential. It sounds simple and yet it is not always easy for busy people to be more aware and create new habits around this. They often benefit from having support to think things through and consider what could be done differently. It is important to consider, in the words of Cheshire Cat, the fictional cat popularised by Lewis Caroll in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ‘If you don’t know where you are going then it really doesn’t matter which way you go.’

Combine this way of working without a clear direction with some of the other female tendencies I have observed, such as working endlessly until things are perfect. Caring too much about the tasks and the quality of the deliverables, keeping involvement in projects on a much deeper level than what may be needed and for a much longer time than is required. This can stall the ability to pivot and start something new which limits opportunities for growth. The combination of doing too much, for too long in pursuit of excellence without really understanding the direction can mean be a recipe for another Alice in Wonderland moment of going “down the rabbit hole” and staying there for longer than is needed. Often it may not have even been necessary to go down rabbit hole in the first place in order to get to where you want to go. Zoom out and let go Alice!

Of course, these traits are not exclusively demonstrated by women in the workplace, many men fall trap to the same path. So let’s imagine you are clear on where you are going and let’s start the chain of thoughts with the following questions:

Do you know your unique value?

Is just knowing your unique value enough?

How can your unique value be communicated and demonstrated more?

How often do you connect with it and celebrate what is going right for you versus focusing on what you have not yet done?

What could be possible if your unique value was put to work more to accelerate more career success?

Reflection + Clarity = Intentional Pursuit of Career Goals

Often doing less can create the right conditions, space and thinking time for understanding oneself better. Only then can you become more intentional with the right aligned actions you need to take to demonstrate your unique value. By taking a step back from your day to day job from time to time, even spending a few minutes a day thinking about what has gone well, what have you achieved and connecting that to you career aspirations for the future can help you ensure you are busy doing the right things that are aligned directly to your aspirational vision. These are the moments, when you can become more clear about your unique value. Once you know your unique value, you are in the right head space to think about how you should be communicating and demonstrating your unique value more. Because to answer the question, whether just knowing your unique value is enough: no it is not. You need to create your brand visible to people around you, otherwise no one will know of the jewel they have.

What’s in it for you and your organisation?

·      Gaining more momentum towards where you want to be, leading the way and role modelling the right behaviours for others to follow-creating a pipeline of effective leadership behaviours

·      Reducing the effort and time required to get your job done as you feel a stronger pull towards your future, conserving energy which can be applied where it can make a bigger difference to what matters-more impact and faster progress.

·      Experiencing more enjoyment in day to day tasks which can be energising and motivating, increasing job satisfaction-reducing stress and contributing to a happier engaged workforce.

·      Positioning yourself as a game change- a mover and a shaker, somebody that can’t be unnoticed.

When workplaces proactively create the right environment and initiatives to help their employees take time out to reflect and realign towards their future goals it can truly transform human capabilities. Through providing support to individuals to understand their specific challenges and transform the habits and behaviours that are not serving their career growth whilst also leveraging their strengths it helps people progress in their careers and this can also contribute to gender diversity goals. Through getting more women into senior roles faster by tackling their unique challenges and fostering their unique traits in a tailored way.

Say it out loud and celebrate you

Your unique value is your superpower. It is your strength that can empower teams, get more sales, influence change or whatever it is that you are working to achieve. Why would you not make more intentional use of it and communicate about it more?

Talking about success is something many women don’t get across the finishing line, as they don’t want to appear as braggers, so as a result success is seldom celebrated too. One solution to change this is to ensure you celebrate yourself daily and even if it is a small achievement – getting into the habit of doing it, will create a routine for you to continue doing it.

Make accelerating female talent your mission too

With International Women’s Day 2019 just around the corner, what are you doing in your organisation to support the growth and acceleration of your female talent? Supporting and encouraging them to leverage their unique potential in an effort to get more women into senior roles and ultimately bring better business results.