Powerful Women Prioritize and Produce

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 talk about how powerful women understand to advance and grow that, they need to work through others.

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Margaret Thatcher said, "If you want to get something done. Ask a woman."?And she was right. Women multi-task and get a lot of work done. The difference between a woman and a powerful woman is that the powerful woman knows what work "matters" for career progression and that they need not be the one doing it all. Powerful women understand to advance and grow that, they need to work through others.

Here are some of my tips to ensure that you are doing the right work in the right way.

Tip 1: Understand Your Goals and What Your Organization (or others) Value

To prioritize what tasks, you take on and how you handle them, you need to understand your goals and what will propel you forward to accomplishing them. This often means you must also appreciate what your and other organizations appreciate. There may not always be total alignment, but if you understand what is valuable to everyone, you are making an informed decision.

For example, your law firm asks you to speak at or attend many diversity events. And yet, your ideal clients and targets do not participate in these events. Your firm's goal is to say to the world they have diverse attorneys at the firm. Your goal is to make partner.?

There is no goal alignment. Therefore, you will need to have a conversation with the firm about how many, if any, diversity events you can attend, and you need their support to attend or speak on panels that are meaningful to your client.

Another situation happened to one of my clients. "Mary" was looking to advance and leave her company. She wanted a higher position than was likely at her company. Her company asked her to take on some compliance and risk management functions. While Mary did not want a career in that area- she knew that having a more robust background in these areas made her more marketable. Here because there was alignment, Mary took on the additional responsibilities.

Tip 2: Assess what Needs to Be Done and "Right" Delegate

Powerful women understand that they are responsible for the results and how they will attain them. They appreciate that they do not need to do everything themselves or micro-manage. These women assemble the right team and assign tasks and work to the right people.?

To be effective, you need to understand people's skill sets, aspirations, and other commitments to ensure that you and they are working towards the next goal. You must assess the tasks and assign them to the right people. You also need to be an exceptional manager who can galvanize people to do this.?

Tip 3: Hone Your Management Skills

When executing through others, you need to have excellent managerial skills. First, you must have a clear project vision and objectives and communicate them to the team. Each person should understand that they are critical to the mission's success.

When John F. Kennedy visited NASA when they were working to put a man on the moon, he spoke to a custodian at the facility and asked the gentleman what he did. The janitor replied I am working to put a man on the moon. There was a perfect alignment of goals, and this man understood that he was part of the project's success. You need to have the same communication and commitment level to engagement and success.?

So how do you do this? You do it by:

• Clearly articulating the mission and what you need from the person.
• Set regular touch points and coach for results.
• Give positive and constructive feedback that is meaningful and actionable.
• Celebrate and reward those responsible for the results.

To advance (and become powerful), you must focus on achieving results most efficiently and effectively. And remember, by delegating and giving effective feedback, you are creating a talent pipeline that will allow you to focus on higher-level work that can raise your profile and increase your skills.

What more insights?

• 7 Steps to Leap from In-House Technician to Legal Leader: In this guide, Sheila shares her time-tested strategy for in-house counsel to leap from in-house technician to legal leader so you can have greater impact and control of your career, compensation, and courage.
• 6 Secrets To Converting Contacts Into Clients: In this guide, Sheila shares her insider secrets to change contacts into clients & be more effective at requests for proposals and pitches. Having selected outside counsel for over 20 years, Sheila knows what works & what falls flat.

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.