Women Leaders, Career Status Check Time: It’s Time to Get Unstuck!

In my previous blog I’d left you with some questions to help you define what success means for you. What did you discover? Are you meeting your definition, or do you feel like you are stagnating, or stuck to some degree? Or just not sure. Let’s dig into it!

 Stuckness (as coined by Helgesen & Goldsmith), can be due to positional lack of leverage on your part, or power over situations, but sometimes we also play a part in keeping ourselves stuck. Our behaviours and responses can shape both circumstances and our opportunities!

How do you know when you’re stuck?

 Basically, feeling stuck, shows up in the following interrelated ways:

• ·       You feel like something is keeping you from moving forward or leading the life you want to be living.
• ·       You feel powerless to change the circumstances that are holding you back.
• ·       You feel that your contributions aren’t recognized or appreciated.
• ·       You feel that the people you work with have no idea of your capabilities.

Getting Unstuck, part 1:

First, you need to consider how YOU might be keeping yourself stuck. Explore the following:

• ·       What are the most frequent situations cropping up at work that have you feeling not recognized/valued for the work you do?
• ·       Are your skills/capabilities being under-utilized?
• ·       Are you constantly being volunteered, or ‘voluntold’ for work you don’t have time to do and just accepting it without question?

Next, think about how you respond to these situations and examine what part your behaviour(s) might be playing in them. For example:

• ·       Are you keeping your leader aware of your accomplishments & capabilities? Everyone’s work schedules are so busy, we often complete the work, check it off the to-do list and quickly move on to the next task, leaving others in the dark about our accomplishments.
• ·       You might be reticent to speak up at meetings about what you/or team have accomplished. But how will the higher-ups know of your capabilities if you don’t take a few minutes to share details?
• ·       Overcommitting, or just taking on tasks that are either offered or dumped on us is a common problem for women leaders. How you deal with the ‘dump” sends a message to those who do it!

 Behaviours are learned over the course of time, programmed into us for societal, cultural, and professional reasons. They quickly become ingrained habits which for women leaders, and can hold you back from your next promotion, a raise, or applying for a new job.

What habits are keeping you stuck?

Next in the series: Getting Unstuck, Part 2.