Empowering Women
Women need to find somebody who can act as their sounding board, ie like a mentor or therapist. This means that the vulnerability is ‘safe’, ie find someone you trust, respect and have confidence in.
Mentoring and executive coaching are ways of developing and boosting confidence to empower women.
Do not mistake arrogance for confidence. Lack of confidence can hold many females directed at trial I you click on a back, especially in a male-dominated industry.
To develop confidence, you need a mindset that you believe in yourself, ie self-belief - you can do it and you will!!!!
“...Get women to think about all of the reasons why they can rather than all the reasons why they can't, and start articulating them in a clear and concise manner…”
Donny Walford as quoted by Cara Jenkins, 2024a
Linked with mentoring is
- Developing appropriate networks as a way to establish/develop contacts
- Attending suitable professional/personal training courses to acquire the skills and confidence necessary to progress in careers rather than being sponsored by their employer.
Mentoring can be on a formal basis where you meet regularly and/or more spontaneous/ad hoc, ie met on as-needed basis.
(for more detail, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base)
Confidence to be able to handle challenging problems is a necessity.
“...Some people think for your career to be successful, you need to get as far away from problems as fast as you can. But if you want to be successful, you need to run to that problem……The biggest problems are the best learning experiences, and it is also an opportunity to entrench your relationships with people if you are willing to step in and help them when things are difficult… “
Sarah Rennie as quoted by Sally Patten, 2024a
Similarly, being actively involved in multiple options, concurrently, to create your own destiny can help your career.
Be prepared to take risks
“... to back yourself and not wait until you can meet all the criteria for a role before you apply for it. You don't even need to meet half…… a lot of times women second-guess whether they can actually do the job…… you don't have to tick 9 out of 10 of the selection criteria. Even if you have 4, you can learn the rest if you're the right candidate for the job…”
Fiona Messent as quoted by Sally Patten, 2024a
Be willing to ask questions if you don't understand something
“...Asking questions will demonstrate to colleagues the challenges you are facing and will enable them to help you better……Learn not to blame yourself when you don't understand something. It doesn't mean you're lacking the skills or intelligence required to do the job. Often, you're just dealing with a bad communicator…”
Vivien Cheung as quoted by Sally Patten, 2024a
NB
“...Every human being has such a massive potential to make a real positive difference…”
Vivien Cheung as quoted by Sally Patten, 2024a