As part of Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate the progress we’ve made, while acknowledging we have not achieved equity yet. This month, I’ll be sharing stories of the challenges women face in the workplace. Check out Challenge #1, Challenge #2, and Challenge #3.

Women's Workplace Challenges: Challenge #4: Sporadic Sponsorship

I worked at one company where they offered a year-long leadership development course that was intended for high potential people ready to move to the next level. It was not only an honor to be part of the training, it was also the fast track that made you more likely to be promoted sooner.

Or so I hear. I can’t say for sure since I wasn’t ever selected for it.

You see, there were limits on how many people could be a part of the program. So for multiple years, my name was on the short list, but never in the top spot.

When I asked why not, I was told I didn’t “need” as much training as some of the others on the list. On the face, it was a compliment. I was growing my leadership skills on my own without a fancy class. 

However, it was one of many ways that women like myself struggle when they hit middle management. 

I didn’t have the implicit and explicit endorsement of senior leadership that comes from being selected for an emerging leader group. And without that endorsement, there wasn’t a lot of room for growth, since the first place they looked for new manager candidates was the leadership development class. 

Sure seems like I DID need it.   

I ended up leaving so I could try to win over a new group of people in the hopes of finally receiving that endorsement to get to a senior leadership role someday. 

My clients share lots of similar stories with me on not having support at a high enough level to continue to progress in their careers. As one who has been there, I can assure you, the view from the plateau is not great!

If you want to be part of the solution, consider how you can use the various leadership development programs and opportunities as means to support and sponsor more women.

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As part of Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate the progress we’ve made, while acknowledging we have not achieved equity yet. This month, I’m sharing stories of the challenges women face in the workplace. Go back and read Challenge #1 and Challenge #2.

Women's Workplace Challenges: Challenge #3: Unwritten Rules

As a child and young adult, I loved school. And I was good at it. So naturally, when I entered the work world (for which I’d been studying and preparing for roughly 20 years), I assumed that it would be a similar path to success.

Wow was I wrong!

The behaviors that are valued in school like doing the work, knowing all the facts, and getting the right answer are not the behaviors that are valued in our modern workplace. In fact, some of the many skills you need to be successful include prioritizing work (aka not doing all of it), delegating, knowing who to contact to find out more information, and being open to the fact that there are lots of right answers and that the current direction you’re heading can change overnight. 

I wish I had known this sooner in my career. It would have saved me lots of time and challenges! 

When you’re successful in school, you make the assumption that you need to keep leveraging the same skillset to stay successful. And that’s simply not the case.

I talk with lots of clients who lament the fact that they work really hard and it seems like no one notices. Or that they stayed up late making sure they knew everything about the topic they were presenting on, only to have no one ask a question or need to dive deeper. 

If this sounds like you, I want to share that the rules are NOT the same. One of the most important things you can do in any organization is to find out what the unwritten rules are because they’re different from school and from the last place you worked.

If you want to be part of the solution, make sure you’re setting clear expectations with your team on what behaviors are needed to be promoted.

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As part of Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate the progress we’ve made, while acknowledging we have not achieved equity yet. This month, I’ll be sharing stories of the challenges women face in the workplace. Want more? See Challenge #1 here.

Challenge #2: The Burden of Proof

“Oh yeah? Prove it!”

This is the implied question that women face, often on a daily basis in the workplace. 

Our skills and experience are called into question regularly. People want to see one more thing from us before they can be absolutely sure we deserve the promotion. There are often lateral moves required to demonstrate our success last time wasn’t a fluke. We see our male counterparts rise to the next (and next) level of leadership while we are told we’re not quite ready. 

My clients tell me all the time about being deemed not “enough” of something.  Not technical enough. Don’t know the business well enough. You haven’t been here long enough yet. 

And sometimes it’s a more subtle questioning of your qualifications.

The below are actual things past co-workers have said to me.

Co-worker: “I know some of the other people that applied for the job. How’d YOU get it?” Me: My hypothesis (based on what the hiring manager told me) is that I was the most qualified candidate and they were excited to have me join the team. 

Co-worker: “Wow, that's actually a good idea!” Me: You don’t need to sound so completely surprised that I might have a good idea every once in a while. Sidebar: I do wish I had a nickel for every time I heard this one. Now THAT would actually be a good idea! 

Co-worker: “I had no idea you could do this.” Me: Really? Because the basic requirement of the job included having this skill set. How would I have managed to get the job without some level of capability? 

Being asked to prove it, both explicitly and implicitly, is exhausting. It’s also one of the reasons many women choose to leave male-dominated industries like technology. 

If you want to be part of the solution, find one person you can advocate for at work this week so they don't have to “prove it” one more time. Ask what would be most helpful to them in telling their career story.

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As part of Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate the progress we’ve made, while acknowledging we have not achieved equity yet. This month, I’ll be sharing stories of the challenges women face in the workplace.

Challenge #1: Being heard. 

I once worked on a team with a parrot. 

Well, it was a male colleague, but he had a very bad habit of parroting everything I said. In meetings, he repeated my ideas, my comments, even my jokes. 

You know the worst part? Everyone else in the group seemed to only hear him say it. Never me. It was frustrating and annoying and disrespectful. 

And my experience is incredibly common. 

Many of my women friends, co-workers, and clients have experienced this exact same phenomenon. In fact, repeating and amplifying was even required by women working in the White House to ensure they were being heard in discussions. 

Some of the other ways that women aren’t fully heard include being interrupted, being dismissed, or being labeled as too “something” (shrill, emotional, etc.). 

For my parrot problem, the strategy I used was to feed him lines that I knew the group would be more receptive to hearing from him. This worked reasonably well, but it took lots of extra effort and energy on my part to plan out in advance. 

I would have preferred to simply say what was on my mind and know that the group was going to hear me and acknowledge it as part of our discussion.

If you want to be part of the solution, what can you do? Take some time to check in with everyone on your team to see if they feel heard. And if they don’t, commit to take action to change it. 

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