Who is responsible for women's career progression?

I was recently told that women shouldn't have to use self promotion to get ahead and that their work should speak for itself. This proved to be an interesting conversation especially as the woman was at one of my talks about the importance of self promotion.  

It brought up the question of who is really responsible for women’s career progression?

In all honesty I could see her point. Of course it would be amazing for women's work to speak for itself; for them to be noticed for the value that they bring to the table and be able to sit back in the knowledge that someone will notice and promote them.

But this doesn't happen.

And when it doesn't happen it results in women staying in roles that they are often overqualified for which in turn can have a negative impact of lack of motivation, boredom and feeling undervalued. Companies can then lose great staff when they need to focus on retaining talent that they've spent money training, retaining knowledge and expertise.

I am not saying that talent is always ignored. It isn’t. However relying on someone else noticing your results may not get you very far. No one will be as passionate about work as the individual doing it. So they should be the ones to shout out about it. Yet we know that research suggests women avoid self promotion and are not always as confident as men are (Exley & Kessler 2019) and this leads to many missed opportunities not to mention feeling rejected and frustrated.

Women completely underestimate themselves.  

You will see this with colleagues or your direct reports in their appraisals. I have had managers describe this as trying to drag out information about the achievements their female reports have done. It’s like women want others to notice what they are great at, work out what they really want next and then offer them the promotion and pay rise. And actually this would be ideal. Truly this would be the ideal way career progression could go. Line managers and team leaders being ultimately responsible for reading minds and throwing that next challenge at the right people.

Let me tell you a story about one of my clients, Jenny.

Jenny spent a lot of time studying - she wanted to make sure she had every qualification she could have to help her with her career in engineering. Already feeling that she was heading into a male dominated industry, she knew she needed to have knowledge on her side. She did really well and secured a fantastic position in a big company.  

She was ambitious and had her heart set on a promotion within a year. She was hardworking, determined and knew she had the expertise to have a good chance at making that happen. Yet years kept passing by and she was overlooked. She started a family and decided part time worked best for her family life. She then convinced herself that she couldn't possibly go for any promotions to more senior positions as she was part time and all the senior jobs were full time. She had convinced she wouldn't be taken seriously so worked just as hard and did more hours than she was paid, to ensure that she would be next in line. Having been overlooked again she knew things had to change. She was left feeling frustrated as hell because she worked so hard but was never recognised for those promotion opportunities. It was clear that she was hoping and praying her hard work would get noticed, noticed enough to get offered the next promotion. What she didn't realise is that one key piece was missing from the puzzle for herself.

She wasn't putting herself forward...

• She wasn't building key stakeholder relationships, 
• She wasn't telling people about her work and showing them her passion, 
• She wasn't talking about her career plans and what she wanted and when she wanted it, 
• She wasn't showcasing her achievements and owning her results, 
• She wasn't being talked about by those making key decisions about the future of the firm.  

She was hiding and hoping.

Jenny does not see herself as someone who hides. She would dispute that as she works hard, knows her stuff and shows this through her commitment - in fact she loves her work and wants to achieve more of her own ideas and have a greater impact through her work. She has big dreams.  

But she wasn't telling anyone about them. She was waiting. Waiting for the company to recognise how great she really is. She started thinking about looking elsewhere to see if the grass was greener and what opportunities were out there especially as she didn't feel valued where she worked.

So who is responsible for women’s career progression?

Line managers and team leaders have a responsibility to nurture Jenny. To make sure that she is feeling happy at work, discussing her future and what she really wants for her career development. And they do - once per year in that annual appraisal - but even then Jenny feels the pressure to speak up and say what she wants to say, but often doesn’t because they are concerned about raising issues at work.

You would be surprised to hear how many women I work with that are not speaking up for what they want when it comes to their appraisals - and how they instead say what they think their manager needs to hear so they don't make any assumptions that they are incapable of doing the job they are already doing never mind the jobs they have the potential to grow into.

So with this in mind how do we nurture that emerging and top female talent to keep companies pipelines full of incredible women that can progress to secure those more senior positions and so we can have ALL women represented at every decision making table?

Well I want to share the most important thing that needs to happen and that is communication.  

Communication from both sides is a dual responsibility.

Companies need to provide a safe space for women to feel they can be honest and open up about what they want. To see this vulnerability as strength not weakness and for companies to ask more questions, and not only do this once per year. Both parties need to be invested in possibility. Future possibilities - what's possible, what's needed, what the company's plans are and where everyone fits into them.

What Works?

Here are 3 ideas that companies can start to think about doing more of to support their female employees who want to progress:

1. Be proactive in identifying those women who have high potential including those that work part time hours - this is not a sign of lack of ambition or commitment - far from it, but can actually indicate great time management and ambition to keep growing into other roles.
2. Training for line managers to engage with their emerging talent to be able to create a space for their direct reports to open up with them and to give useful feedback that women can learn and develop from so that they can improve their performance and achieve key results.
3. Offer formal and informal networking opportunities in working hours. This is crucial and an important part of progression and raising individual profiles. Having a balance is important to feeling valued and respected and benefits the company by building relationships across the organisation to increase performance and commitment.

And just as important; here are 3 things that women can be doing for themselves when it comes to their career progression:

1. Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable when it comes to self promotion - practice talking about their unique skills and celebrating their achievements - they can do this by using their strengths to their advantage and do more networking 
2. Be open and honest about what they want - speak up and ask for regular meetings to discuss their goals - ask for feedback that will help development and ask for introductions to key stakeholders that they need to know and who need to know more about them.
3. Do some personal development work to recognise all they have already achieved and those things that are holding them back. Build their confidence and self belief and set some goals that will challenge them. And then do it. Start by thinking about what they want others to know about them.  

It is clear that both companies and individuals are responsible for women’s career progression. It is my hope that these tips can get everyone started to close this gap and make self promotion a more included way of working life.

It is not enough for women to sit back and wait to get noticed. Or for companies to allow them to do that. Now’s the time for them to be more visible and build a personal brand that will help carve out their own career development so they can achieve what they really want.  

Women need to speak up more and own their expertise enough so that they can be comfortable with promoting themselves and putting their hand up. And at the same time companies need to create a culture that offers these brave women a welcoming and safe platform to do just that.  

I do believe in self promotion. It plays an important role in women's career progression and men have been doing this really well for years and yet women still hold back from doing it too (check out my white paper on this very thing right HERE).

Women worry about what others think and about being judged when they self promote - but women get judged anyway no matter what they do or don't do, so it might as well benefit them and their company right?

** Gemma Stow helps companies develop their female talent to encourage senior level career progression through in house training, group / private coaching, and online workshops so that they can benefit from more female senior leaders, increased performance and reduce the gender pay gap. It empowers their female employees to step up, go for the next level promotions, showcase themselves and their company through purposeful networking; building solid connections; increased performance; and, creating opportunities so that they can be confident at the next level. 

Message her directly to find out more or book in a call here. Download your copy of the white paper ‘Visibility At Work: The Importance of Self Promotion for Women's Career Progression’ by clicking here or listen to the No More Hiding Podcast here.**