The upshot of the distinction between closed and open questions, is that it can tell us if we are actually coaching our people to explore their own ideas and solutions, or if we are feeding them answers they can try, through closed questions.
Why are women's voices overlooked and undervalued?
Communication is a critical workplace skill. It is a way to contribute value, demonstrate knowledge, influence outcomes, build relationships and build your leadership brand – unless you’re a woman. Then it’s not so straightforward.
Enter the Gender Penalty….
When men speak up, their voices are valued. When women speak up, their contributions are often challenged. This makes being seen and heard a constant battle for women in the workplace.
This dynamic means men are likely to speak up and women are likely to be shut down. Not only are women silenced in their speech and discounted in their contributions, they are accused of not ‘sounding like a leader’. When women communicate, their voices, styles and speech patterns are unconsciously compared to the male model – and often come up lacking in credibility and authority.
Why are women’s voices overlooked and undervalued? Why does society hear women differently when they speak? What can we do about it?
In the workplace, women are routinely interrupted, talked over, ignored and overlooked. Women’s ideas are discounted, and their competency is assumed to be lacking compared to men.
Contrary to the common perception that women talk more than men in the corporate setting, the reverse is true. In mixed groups, women speak less than men. This isn’t because they don’t have anything of value to say, it’s because they can’t get a word in edgeways. Men are given more space to talk, and they take up more space when they do talk.
I won! I won! I won! Yes, THREE times!!!
OMG OMG OMG!!!
On the 7th October I attended the gala event for the ABLE awards (Author Book Launch and Expo). The night was a celebration of books launched this year as well as the announcement of their annual book award winners.
I entered three categories. And...I WON THREE CATEGORIES!!!! Can you believe it??!! I’m still pinching myself. I am over the moon!
The Motherhood Penalty
It was never my intention...
It was never my intention to be an advocate. It was never my intention to be a feminist, and nor was it my intention to run a Leadership program for Women. And yet here I am.
A gender advocate, a feminist, and founder of the award-winning program Women at Work (not to mention the author of a book to help women navigate a male-dominated leadership landscape - The Gender Penalty, but I digress…)
I always thought women could look after themselves. I thought the hard work of picketing and marching and striking was over. That we had fought for equal rights, and won. And we did. Sort of.
Whilst we have come along in leaps and bounds in terms of women's rights in society (at least in the Western World); we also have a way to go for the cultural norms to catch up. And part of those norms are the messages we send girls and women about how to fix themselves in order to get ahead.
That’s why I designed my Women at Work program.
Why it's time to reclaim your confidence
In the workplace, confidence is a critical launch pad for new skills, new opportunities and new jobs.
Confidence for women is a conundrum, however.
Women are told to be more confident, yet when they display more confidence, they are seen as arrogant, and when they downplay their confidence, they become invisible.
Simply telling women to ‘be more confident’, it seems, misses the point.
As a result of being conditioned to show less confidence, and being penalised for being overly confident, women are more likely to wait too long before acting and putting themselves forward.
Women hold back while men push forward – and so men are rewarded with jobs they have little experience in, assignments that will stretch them and opportunities they might not be ready for.
What are the unwritten rules women are supposed to follow at work?
And what is the resulting backlash when these rules aren’t followed?
Equity versus Equality - is the difference really that important?
Big news!!! My new book is available for pre-order! (The Gender Penalty)
𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!
I am so thrilled to share my latest book with you 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲: 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.
Do you...
🔹 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬?
🔹 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥?
🔹 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 is a playbook for navigating career success in a male-dominated environment. If you want to stand out without stepping on toes, get what you want without compromising who you are, and make your mark without becoming someone you’re not, this book is for you. (Plus you can take men with you on the journey. Hooray!)
Packed with easy-to-follow practical strategies, insights, case studies and stories, (and a bunch of bonus resources) this book will help you not only overcome the gender penalties on the field, but also change the game of work for good – for yourself and other women.
Would you do this challenge?
𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞?
I recently walked around with a bunch of bananas on my head in the supermarket (as you do). I did this as part of a challenge issued at the last Professional Speakers Australia event. We were challenged to walk around the supermarket with bananas on our head and take a picture of it. Why? I hear you ask. To show how little others care about or take notice of what we are actually doing. To face into our fears of judgement and to know that they are usually unfounded. This is about freeing us up to be perfectly imperfect humans… and embrace it.
The power of burnout
There is much being written right now about employee burnout. And for good reason. Employees are burning out. There’s been a lot going on. A pandemic. A shift to remote work. The flu season. A shift back to the office. Travel back on. More pandemic. Travel off. A shift back to remote work… oh, and the great resignation, which means new jobs, new expectations, new workloads or (for those left behind) shrinking teams doing expanding work, and less people delivering more projects. And so on it goes.
All the while, dedicated and committed employees have been working their butts off to keep up. People are trying to stay on top of the rising pressures of ‘just getting on with it’. But they are struggling.
Don’t let the experience of burnout be your teacher. Let the idea of burnout be your preacher. Let it be the motivational speech that spurs you into action, before it’s too late.