#TellAllTuesday: Lean In, Lift Up

I love my work, and I work with some fantastic people. They’re all open to coming together and finding comprehensive solutions that just make sense. I’ve been fortunate to have mostly women managers, who often were thinking about how to create a pathway for me to do work in both housing and energy at a time when that wasn’t the market focus. I often think about these women and other people in my life at critical times, which helped me make the decisions that led to me building my firm.

In the energy sector, 16% of the workforce are women, and 9.8% of CEOs are women. Women tend to perform better financially; that's the fact. 25% of companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 5% more likely to have above-average profitability than those in the fourth quartile. I often think about how women get involved in the space; many people I know are either engaged because they’ve experienced an injustice or are deeply passionate about fixing a continuous issue.

One thing that happens often is that women are frequently appointed during times of crisis. Women in leadership usually face higher scrutiny and are expected to achieve significant turnarounds under challenging situations. Despite an increasing number of women in leadership, they are still underrepresented in stable, high-level positions. According to the 2020 Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org , women held only 28% of senior vice president roles and 21% of C-suite positions in the U.S., showing a significant gender gap in stable leadership roles. Building a solid support system is crucial for navigating these obstacles and advancing our careers. This #TellAllTuesday, let's explore three powerful tools to avoid falling down a glass cliff : mentorship, sponsorship, and networking.

Mentorship: Your Guide to Growth

A mentor provides guidance and feedback to help develop your skills and potential. They can be a senior colleague or an industry leader who offers valuable insights to broaden your horizons, helps identify and address your strengths and weaknesses, supports you through challenging situations, and connects you with useful resources. Finding a mentor involves identifying your goals and what support you need, looking for potential mentors within and outside your organization, reaching out and expressing your interest in learning from them, and establishing clear expectations and communication norms.

Find a mentor who gets you and understands your work and your vision! I can't tell you how many people I connected with who wanted to "mentor." I could see them on their phone the entire time we talked. Like any relationship, good mentors take work to find. Think about where you'd like to go in the future, who holds that space, and how you can connect with someone there. A good mentor will help you develop your skills and potential. They will offer valuable insights, share knowledge that folks traditionally hide behind a paywall, and help you navigate difficult situations, offering advice and strategies to overcome obstacles.

Sponsorship: Your Advocate for Advancement

A sponsor actively advocates for your career progression, using their influence to create opportunities. They can increase your visibility and credibility in your field, recommend you for high-profile projects and leadership roles, push you out of your comfort zone to seize opportunities and provide protection and guidance during challenging times. You should set clear career aspirations, identify potential sponsors with influence in your industry, share your work ethic and achievements with them, and build a trusting relationship by communicating your goals and following through on commitments.

A good sponsor can actively use their influence to help advance your career, initiative, idea, project, etc. They would leverage their network and influence to recommend you for opportunities; they will publically endorse your work and achievements and push you out of your comfort zone to take on new challenges.

Networking: Your Web of Support

Networking involves building and maintaining professional relationships that can lead to valuable opportunities. Benefits include expanding your knowledge and perspectives, increasing your visibility and reputation, creating opportunities for collaboration and support, and exposing you to new career paths and hidden opportunities. Effective networking strategies include setting clear networking goals, attending industry events and joining relevant groups, preparing a compelling introduction and value proposition, engaging in meaningful conversations, and following up consistently.

As women leaders, we must intentionally seek out and nurture these relationships. They're not just nice-to-haves; they're essential for avoiding the glass cliff so many people push us towards. We can gain guidance, advocacy, and opportunities to navigate challenging times by leveraging mentorship, sponsorship, and networking.

Let's commit to seeking these relationships and becoming mentors, sponsors, and valuable network connections for other BIPOC women. Together, we can create a more inclusive and diverse leadership landscape.

In the comments, could you share your experiences with mentorship, sponsorship, or networking? How have these relationships impacted your career journey? Let's learn from and inspire each other!

#WomenInLeadership #BIPOCWomen #CareerGrowth #Mentorship #Sponsorship #Networking #ProfessionalDevelopment