Powerful Women Know Winter Is Coming

I'm on a mission to propel more women lawyers to power positions where they can have more control over their careers, compensation, and courage. Today, we dive into what is going on in your world and what you may need to change to be prepared.

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In Game of Thrones, they use the expression "Winter is Coming" to convey that we should all be aware that bad things can, and often do happen, and we should be prepared. Powerful women are usually optimists. However, that does not mean that they are not realists. They understand that in the real world, corporate restructures, new skill requirements, retirements, and other events can impact their career or business development.??

As we prepare for our own winter, it is an excellent time to assess what is going on in your world and what you may need to change to be prepared. Powerful women know they need to watch for potential internal and external environmental changes that may impact them and prepare for those changes. If the holiday season is too crazy for this—set aside some time at the beginning of the year.

Here are three simple steps to do this.

Step 1: Assess

First, you want to assess your environment and what may be changing. Are clients, mentors, or sponsors nearing retirement age or another flight risk? Are there new initiatives that the company is working on? Are there new skills or certifications that clients, managers, or employees are looking for? Has a new management team with new priorities or approaches come in?

At the same time, do you want to assess your performance, including where you are excelling and where you may need to enhance or develop new skills?

Is your "competition," internally or externally, doing something new and different? Is your organization's competition taking on an initiative such as growth in area or layoffs? Often that can be an indicator of what your organization is thinking about. Have you gotten any feedback you should be addressing or leveraging??

Remember, assessment can be challenging. Some of us need help with being self-aware or understanding how environmental changes can impact us. Others of us are way too hard on ourselves. I remember seeing one of my managers for a development meeting when I came in with a list of 28 items I wanted to work on. My manager told me that if I had 28 things, we would be having a different type of conversation.

For these reasons, it can be very effective and impactful to discuss their views on the environment with others.?

Step 2: Plan

You then need to take the time to develop a plan for addressing any potential "winters" or "changes" coming. If your clients are flight risks, you may need to double down on the junior high potentials of a client or increase your business development efforts. You may want to think about potential new sponsors.

If new skills are gaining new importance, you should work on them to better position yourself. If you believe your organization is taking employment actions, you should shore up your career documents and warm up your network.

The key to the plan is knowing what you are trying to address and the outcomes you wish to achieve. You then must formulate specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals to achieve those results.

Burying your head in the sand is not an effective strategy for dealing with potential winters—so please take the time to think this through and put it on paper.

Step 3: Execute and Review

A development plan does not help you if you put it in a drawer and never take it out. To create change, you must do something differently (and not just think it through). You must take action.

The most successful people at doing this build in accountability. Some work with a mentor, a peer, a manager, or a coach. Others block time on their calendar that is dedicated to development. This also includes building in time to assess whether the plan is working or if it may need to be tweaked.

While winter may be less scary than a Game of Thrones White Walker, it can create tremendous stress and worry. For this reason, you want to get ahead of it, and if you do, you may even turn your "White Walker" into a competitive advantage because you are ready and know how to handle it.

Want more insights?

• Unlock your leadership potential with this guide to Stop Playing Small.
• Take a look at my guide that details the Top 3 Reasons that Your Business Development is in a Drought and How to Make It Rain. In this guide, I share the top reasons that your business development efforts are not producing the results you want and what to do to remedy it in both the short and long-term

Sheila is the CEO of Focus Forward Consulting. She helps intelligent and accomplished women lawyers go from uncertain and uninspired to unstoppable and attain power positions where they have greater control of their careers, compensation, and courage.