5 Attributes of Women Who Get Promoted

At Women's Leadership Coaching, we have been closely studying a recent abundance of client promotions, in order to delve more deeply into the mindset of women who have taken charge of their career path, actively sought out a promotion - and won!

(And congratulations to all of you, ladies!)

We are now able to share some lessons learned from our project to 'reverse engineer' what it really takes to get promoted.But beware- stepping into the mindset of a promotable woman is not for the meek.

I won't hold back on the tough news. The biggest obstacle may in fact be:

you.

The following checklist of 5 attributes will help you to assess your current promotability.

1. Do you think of all the reasons why you are not being recognized?
OR
Are you crafting a document and soundbytes that showcase your strengths and accomplishments?

2. Do you take on low visibility projects and administrative tasks that you can easily handle and have trouble saying no to people?
OR
Are you asking yourself "what am I willing to step in and take the lead on"?

3. When your organization goes through change, disruptive challenges, or layoffs, is your response to lie low and become the 'invisible employee'?
OR
Do you seize this opportunity to demonstrate leadership? Leadership character is actually revealed during trying times.

4. Does your fear of making mistakes lead to procrastination and difficulty making decisions?
OR
Do you look for doors of opportunity that may be open to you, to decisively step up and demonstrate your leadership skills?

5. So you haven't been promoted. Do you allow yourself to believe you are experiencing the "golden handcuffs" syndrome?
OR
Do you decide that your time is NOW, create a compelling business case, and 'seed' it through your entire sphere of influence?

Welcome to the mindset of a promotable woman! For more in-depth, tactical information on how to implement the above strategies, as well as stories from women who have successfully negotiated their own promotion, join us for a no-cost teleclass.

Free Teleclass: What does it really take, to get promoted?

Since her recent 'aha moment', Leslie Scida has been closely studying her abundance of client promotions, in order to delve more deeply into the mindset of women who have taken charge of their career path, actively sought out a promotion… and won!

Join us for a free teleconference where I interview Leslie Scida about her findings, including:

1. THE PITFALLS: What factors do women typically overlook, that hold them back from getting promoted.

2. THE AHA MOMENTS: What new insights do Leslie’s clients gain in their coaching sessions, to break through and get recognized for promotion?

3. THE ACTION STEPS: What accountabilities did they take on, that resulted in success?

Date: Thursday, July 19
Time: 8pm EDT, 7pm CDT, 6pm MDT, 5pm PDT (for 1 hour)

There will be a forum for Leslie to address your questions.

There is no charge for this teleconference (we like to ‘give back’ in support of our mission to increase the number of women leaders globally), but you must pre-register.

Click here for more information on the class, and to register.

Getting A Promotion

I'm on the phone with Leslie Scida, one of our most experienced Women's Leadership Coaches, updating her bio for a proposal we are working on. It occurred to me that quite a number of her clients have landed promotions recently, so I asked how many. She estimated 25%, maybe 30%. I asked which was it, 25 or 30%? Getting curious, Leslie calculated the rate of promotions across her entire coaching client base, and came up with this amazing statistic:

Over 60% of Leslie's coaching clients have successfully negotiated a promotion within the last ten months.

We were both stunned. Our stated mission is to increase the number of women in leadership positions globally, but until today we never stopped to realize we were actually doing it!

If you can't move up, branch out (10 criteria for making a lateral career move)

With corporate career paths structured less like a ladder and more like a pyramid, and it can seem like opportunities for promotion and advancement grow thinner the higher you climb.

While traditional career advancement is focused on moving up, I have seen too many high caliber women remain in their current role, hoping for a promotion, while making only incremental improvements in their leadership skill set. They risk getting bored and finding themselves in a career rut.

Instead of waiting for a promotion, a strategically chosen lateral move can be a good way to escape the rut, get re-invigorated, develop new expertise and leadership skills, and make a greater impact -- without having to throw away years of valuable relationship capital and business intelligence that you have built in your current organization.

When is a lateral move a good move? When it fulfills some or all of the following 10 elements.

You know you have made a good lateral move when:

1. You are in a division of the business that is growing, not shrinking or stagnating.

2. You are in a division of the business that is a revenue center, not a cost center.

3. You can demonstrate a link between your work effort, and business results, and make that link visible to senior leaders.

4. You report to a manager who mentors you, opens doors for you, and sends opportunities your way. Even better, work for a manager who has a manager that is doing the same for them.

5. You report to a manager whose values you respect, whose goals you can authentically align with.

6. You have opportunities to take on special projects that challenge you in new ways.

7. You gain a broader regional or global perspective of the business.

8. You can build your personal brand, or as one leader I interviewed recently described it, "establish your claim to fame".

9. You have opportunities to work with a high- performing team, who attract high-profile projects, and create an intellectually stimulating work environment.

10. You have closer proximity to mentors, sponsors and role models.

Can Working Less Land You a Promotion?

One of the greatest career-stalling mistakes women make is believing that if they work hard enough, the reward and recognition will follow.

Here's a link to my article at AOL