How do successful working women do it all? How do they balance their relationships, health, and still advance their career without burning out? We will discuss the habits that make working women successful both at work and in their personal lives.
This article is all about how working women advance their careers!
Gender equality has come a long way over the last few decades but there are still stereotypes that can hinder women’s growth in the workplace. By implementing the following habits, working women overcome these stereotypes, silence their self-doubts and advance their careers.
Benefits of implementing these habits:
- Strengthen trusted relationships inside and outside the workplace
- Grow your skillset
- Gain the courage to ask for a raise or promotion
- Expand your professional network
- Achieve healthy work-life balance
- Advance your career
Communicate Clearly and Directly
Clear and respectful communication is vital in any trusted relationship. Since shifting to working remotely, reading body language has become increasingly difficult, so it’s important to clearly articulate what you want, need, and feel. Successful working women do this by communicating in a direct and confident manner. To ensure that your message was correctly received, end your conversations with a quick recap and action items to confirm that everyone is on the same page.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed, confused, or struggling with something at work. Being open and honest with your management about your obstacles may even help others who are struggling with similar things. Implementing this habit will build trust and strengthen your relationships inside and outside the workplace.
Respect Everyone
Treat everyone… and I mean EVERYONE that you work with, with the same amount of respect you would an Executive leader at your company. This is for 2 reasons: you never know who will eventually get promoted higher than you later down the road, and second, people gossip! If you are rude to someone, there’s a good chance it will get around (you never know who someone is friends with). Successful working women leverage their respected and trusted relationships to get promoted, get a raise, and advance their careers.
In Covey’s ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ he notes that successful people use empathetic listening and implement the abundance mentality to gain the respect and trust of others. Don’t think and treat people like you are above them - no matter what their role is. Instead, be intentional in both your interactions and communication with others.
Be Confident in Your Skillset
Studies have shown that women are more likely to experience imposter syndrome, undervalue their own skillset, attribute their success to external factors, and blame failures on their own abilities. Successful working women are confident in their skillset and attribute their success to their own performance.
Self-doubt can have damaging consequences for your career and cause you to forgo opportunities, raises, and hinder your career growth. Take a moment to give yourself credit for all that you’ve accomplished and recognize that your abilities, not luck, got you where you are today. Good job!! Channel this confidence to help you continue to grow your skillset and further advance your career.
Set Boundaries
As a female, we may feel drawn to put in extra hours to try and prove ourselves. This can also be true when starting a new role or taking on a big project. While you may see instant gratification, it’s not a sustainable habit and may cause tension in your relationships, less time spent with family, and even lead to burnout. Successful working women set healthy boundaries that define their workplace expectations.
The recent shift to working from home has increased our availability after-hours so it’s especially important to set clear guidelines around your work schedule and role. If you feel overwhelmed, set boundaries around not taking on additional tasks that are outside your job scope and may impact your performance. Communicate these expectations to people (including your management) so they can also help hold you accountable for following them.
Develop AND Align with Your Career Plan
Career growth is no longer perfectly linear and now looks more like a game of Chutes and Ladders. During your journey, you may move to a role that is lateral, pays less, or is a perceived step backward if it means you have a higher potential for future growth. Successful working women develop a career plan and make decisions that align with their long-term vision.
Don't worry, you don’t need to have an exact career path mapped out perfectly, but you should have an idea of your different career path options for the long and short-term (18 months.) Think about your values and the type of work you want to do in the future. Communicate your career aspirations to your management so they can create a plan for you to achieve them. As you go through your career, assess your next role based on the potential for growth and whether it aligns with your desired career plan.
Find AND Be a Mentor
Successful working women not only have several mentors but also serve as a mentor to others. To find a good mentor, look for someone who is ahead of you in your career, you can learn from, and who exemplifies your same values. A successful mentorship should be a fit for both people so try to bring some value to them as well. Use this relationship to ask questions and learn new skills. If you can, seek out a female mentor who can help you navigate some of the challenges working women face in the workplace.
Equally important as having mentors is BEING a mentor. Once you are comfortable in your role, find someone to mentor, but set clear boundaries together to ensure this relationship doesn’t hinder your performance in your current role. Research shows that teaching others strengthens your own memory and triggers a deeper level of cognition. Doing this will set you apart from your peers by showing natural leadership qualities, while also allowing you to grow your own skillset.
Network
Inside and outside the workplace, it’s all about who you know. Candidates who know someone at the company they are applying to are much more likely to get hired for that role. Successful working women have a large professional network of people that help them advance their careers. Get involved in local networking events and programs, especially ones at your current company. You can also look for female-specific networking events either in your area or virtual. Put yourself out there and use these events to meet people that you can leverage to advance your career or even become your mentor.
Ask for a Raise or Promotion
Don’t let self-doubt and imposter syndrome prevent you from asking for a raise or promotion. Successful working women are confident in their skillset and use past performance metrics to negotiate raises and promotions. Focus on exceeding expectations and performance at your job and use that as leverage when requesting a raise or promotion in the future.
When asking for a raise or promotion, use data and your past performance metrics to help you negotiate. Research salaries for your role - specific to your industry, location, skillset, and tenure. Use this data, coupled with your past performance reviews, positive feedback you’ve received from others, metrics when you exceed performance, and jobs you have taken on outside of your job scope (mentoring, etc. - see why that's important!). If you don’t have one already, create a folder to save all of these so you can use them as leverage in the future. Most importantly, believe in your abilities and be clear and confident when communicating!
Stay Organized and Focused
With the recent shift to working from home, it can be difficult to stay focused during the day. Successful working women use productivity tools to stay focused and organized. Create SMART goals that keep you aligned with your long-term career path and track your habits with a habit tracker to stay motivated. To help you stay organized, you can use online tools like Trello and Onenote. Research shows you are more productive when you spend 20-25 undivided minutes on a specific task, so use a desktop timer to help you stay focused. If you're overwhelmed from taking on tasks outside your job scope, use a time management matrix to help prioritize the tasks you should focus on.
Related: If you struggle to get up early, learn the tips for building a productive morning routine here.
Ask for Feedback
This habit will certainly set you apart from your peers. Taking a proactive approach to bettering yourself is a skill that not everyone has and will be appreciated, trust me! One thing to note - if you are going to do this, you need to be able to handle constructive criticism in a professional manner. Look at this as an opportunity to grow and sharpen your skill set. Although you do want to be confident in your skills, there is ALWAYS room for growth.
When you receive feedback, don't immediately respond by blaming other people or coming up with excuses - digest the information and use it as an area for growth. Don’t be afraid to ask your manager for advice on how you can improve in those areas. Asking for feedback will show your management that you are eager to learn, trainable, and always trying to get better. This quality is sure to help you advance your career!
Wrap It Up
Successful working women advance their careers by using clear communication and respect to strengthen trusted relationships with peers and colleagues. To maintain a healthy work-life balance, set boundaries and use tools to stay organized and focused. Expand your networking through local events and mentorship. Develop a career path and choose future opportunities based on your potential to grow and ones that align with your path. Believe in your skillset and use your confidence to help you leverage a raise or promotion. Lastly, continue to grow - ask for feedback and use that as an opportunity to better your performance.
You are a badass and I cannot wait to see what you accomplish!!
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