executive coaching
Anneli Blundell
How to tell if you are actually coaching your ...

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.

How to tell if you are actually coaching your people (or just think you are)
Women at Work
Anneli Blundell
Why are women's voices overlooked and ...

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.

Why are women's voices overlooked and undervalued?
Awards
Anneli Blundell
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!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I won! I won! I won! Yes, THREE times!!!
Women at Work
Anneli Blundell
The Motherhood Penalty

Women who have children are more likely to be the primary caregiver. As such, they will either take a career break or work part-time in order to raise their kids. This means less money comes in each week, lower pay and less superannuation. I mean it literally when I say care is costing us.

The Motherhood Penalty
Women at Work
Anneli Blundell
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.

It was never my intention...

3 tips for getting your staff to speak up in meetings

3 tips for getting your staff to speak up in meetings

Great leaders build engagement. Engagement in meetings requires contribution and involvement. Many leaders I work with complain of a lack of engagement from their team members during meetings, despite their best efforts. This is not always about their leadership or their teams’ engagement; often there are other factors at play.

When the problem is the solution – taking the counterintuitive path.

Getting the best out of others is not an easy task. Helping your team members to be more effective, more productive, and more engaged is not always as simple as asking them to be so, or equipping them with the skills or support to be so. In fact, sometimes it’s not even about the very problem that’s causing the problem. To be an effective leader of people requires us to be flexible in the way we approach and support our people. Sometimes it even calls on us to allow the problem to get worse before it gets better. 

Eluded by your quick wit? You’re not alone.

The ability to think quickly is a highly valued skill in the workplace. People who respond to questions off the cuff, who make coherent contributions when called upon (without warning) or who always seem to know the right thing to say in the right moment to say it, are admired by many of us. Especially those of us who need more time to gather our thoughts. 

“Don't worry about what others think of you” – why this is good AND bad advice

Not worrying about what other people think of you can be liberating. It can inspire you to be fearless, to be brave, and to push your own limits without having to kowtow to the beliefs, expectations and desires of others. When we learn to live according to our own values, we become better at what we do; more engaged in our endeavours, and more satisfied with our lives. And who doesn't want that??