Make a breakout career move! Join us for the Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series starting August 27.

Have you ever wondered how to make a big leap forward in your career? Join us on August 27 for a webinar on Breakout Career Moves, and discover how to create your next big career opportunity.

The Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series is a year-long, six-part series of webinars blending leadership skills training with advice from guest speakers who are senior-level women leaders. In every webinar:

• Hear outstanding women leaders share their top career and leadership tips
• Add to your toolkit of leadership skills
• Learn proven strategies to advance your career.

Register now

Breakout Career Moves  

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 

If you’re ready for your next big career move, don’t wait for it to find you. In this webinar, learn how to create opportunities to do what you’re great at and passionate about. Hear from women who have successfully defined their careers by creating their own high-profile projects, stretch assignments, and customized roles.

Nehal Mehta,
Director of QA, NetApp.

Sara Sperling, 
Head of Diversity, Facebook. 

About the Webinar Series

A one-year subscription to the series includes six new webinars per year with access to over 30 past webinar recordings, all designed for emerging women leaders--early-career and mid-level women in corporations.

Gather colleagues to watch with you in an office or conference room and schedule a group discussion immediately after the webinar (we'll provide discussion questions).

Individual Membership

• Join live, $188. One-year membership for a single site. Includes six upcoming webinars plus on-demand access to over 30 past programs

• View on-demand, $168. One-year membership for a single site. Includes access to the replays of six upcoming webinars plus on-demand access to over 30 past programs.

 Learn more or register now

Corporate Membership

The webinars are a scalable, low-cost way for corporate women's initiatives to offer leadership development and networking events.

• Join live, $2698.One-year membership for 50 sites. Includes six upcoming webinars plus on-demand access to past programs

• View on-demand, $2298. One-year membership for 50 sites. Includes access to the replays of six upcoming webinars plus on-demand access to past programs.

Learn more or register now

Corporate Members include Alcatel-Lucent, Cargill, eBay/PayPal, Farm Credit Services, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, JDSU, Lexis-Nexis, Mastercard, Medtronic, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Siemens, Symantec, UBS, Women's Wireless Leadership Forum, and a large financial institution.

 

Webinar Schedule

Take Charge of Your Career Trajectory I October 29, 2013
Guest speakers: Donnell Green, Global Head of Talent Management, BlackRock and Caroline Simard, PhD, Associate Director, Office of Diversity and Leadership, Stanford School of Medicine.  

Ask a Male Executive I December 3, 2013
Guest speakers: Kieth Cockrell, Sr. Initiative Portfolio Executive at Bank of America and John L. Hall, Senior Vice President, Oracle University. 

Win at the Game of Office Politics I February 25, 2014
Speaker: Jo Miller, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching, Inc. 

Building Relationships of Trust I April 22, 2014 
Guest speakers:Joanne Collins, Assistant Vice President - International Markets, SCOR Global Life Americas and one other, to be confirmed. 

Intrapreneurship: Why Your Company Needs You to Lead Like an Entrepreneur I June 17, 2014
Guest speakers: Nina Bhatti, Founder, Start-up in Stealth Mode and Rebecca U. Harris, Director Center for Women's Entrepreneurship at Chatham University.

     View the complete webinar schedule

 

Being Strategic: Three Components of a Good Strategy

Question: I tend to be tactical but am now in a position in which I am being asked to be more strategic. What is the action plan for transitioning? Is being strategic a learnable skill?

Jo Miller answers: “How can I be more strategic?” is a question everyone asks, but what does it mean? And what is strategy, anyway? 

Ellie Pidot is Vice President of Strategy at Medtronic, where she works closely with the CEO and senior management team to lead the development of corporate strategy and improve the quality of strategic decision-making company-wide.
 
So what is strategy, according to a seasoned executive strategist? In a style refreshingly free from business jargon, Pidot explained that “Strategy is a fancy word for coming up with a long-term plan and putting it into action.”

In addition to developing corporate strategy at the highest level with the senior executive team, Pidot also works with Medtronic’s eight business units and various regions worldwide, helping to facilitate their strategic planning process. One of her top tips for being strategic is “collaborate, collaborate, collaborate,” and her approach to strategy creation involves serving as a thought partner to executives across the company. Pidot begins by asking questions that provoke the type of deeply reflective thinking that enables a business or region to develop its own strategy.   
Typical questions she recommends asking when formulating a strategy are:  

•     What are your customers’ unmet needs? How should your strategy address them?
•     How will your markets be different in the future than they are today?
•     What can you do to position yourself for the future?
•     What is the business case for your investments?
•     How will you measure and track performance to ensure impact?

But what if you are not leading a business but are an individual contributor who is trying to be more strategic?

Pidot recommends asking similar questions while imagining your boss as a customer “Ask yourself, what are your customer’s unmet needs, meaning what is it that your boss wants and needs,” she advised. Reflect on your job description and what you know about your boss, and how you could make their life easier. “Look for ways to better predict the kinds of things that they want you to do” she said. “By coming up with a list, you can probably anticipate those needs better. Have a bias for action and get things done. Have milestones. Check them off and follow through. Come up with a plan, and think ahead in a way that is proactive. Being strategic is about having a long-term plan, and putting it into action. It almost sounds silly to think of that as a strategy, but it really is.”

Three components of a good strategy
To anyone who is hoping to develop the skill of being strategic, Pidot recommends that any good strategy needs three characteristics: to be forward looking, aspirational, and grounded in facts.

1. Be focused on the long-term and forward-looking
Pidot advises that to be effective, a strategy must be forward-looking.
“To move from getting caught up in the day-to-day responsibilities of the job and become more strategic, you need to be looking ahead.” Pidot recommends asking yourself “What is the world going to look like, five or ten years from now? How are the dynamics that I am operating in going to change over time? How can I put into place a set of actions to get me to where the world is going to be?”

2. Be aspirational, while recognizing constraints
A good strategy needs to be aspirational, while recognizing your starting point and constraints. Pidot explains, “You need to be bold enough in your aspirations that you can get excited about it, because you are going to spend a lot of time working on your strategy, but at the same time recognize where you are today, and what constraints you might have on the potential actions that are at your disposal. It is a careful balance. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself but at the same time, you don’t want to limit yourself.”

3. Be grounded in facts
A common misconception about strategy is that it requires thinking at the ‘high level’ and not digging down into the detail. When asked by a would-be strategist “How can I get out of the detail and be more strategic?” Pidot advises, “One of the common reasons that strategies fail is that they are not grounded in facts, data and a deep understanding of your customers and business environment. One of the most important elements of strategy is moving away from ‘managing by anecdote’ and developing a much more systematic approach using facts, data and analysis.”

Take time to think
A final key to becoming a better strategist is to take the time to think.
“We all have challenges and our days are jam-packed. We are running from meeting to meeting, trying to accomplish more in less time,” observes Pidot. “It feels sometimes like we don’t even have the time to get our job done, let alone have time to step back. But I can’t over-emphasize how important it is to have unstructured time with yourself or with your team, just to think. An agenda-less hour or two is critical for generating creativity and different thinking.”

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To learn more about ways to be strategic, watch the webinar “Being Strategic” with guest speaker Ellie Pidot.
Members, log in now to view the webinar recording.
Not a member yet? Join now for immediate access to the webinar.

Emerging Leader Spotlight: Anna N Schlegel

“I view my work team as if it were a sports team. Each member has a clear role and position. I played volleyball for many years and this stuck with me.”

Name: Anna N Schlegel
Current title: Director, Globalization Programs Strategy Office
Company: NetApp Inc.
Favorite business quote: “It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”—Henry Ford

What is your leadership style? I view my work team as if it were a sports team. Each member has a clear role and position. I played volleyball for many years and this stuck with me. On a sports team, each teammate plays an integral part; keeping that in mind at the office, I coach my team on what the game plan is for the day. I make sure everyone is doing well, I make sure the “players” have the tools they need.

I am a fan of Patrick Lencioni from The Table Group, who applies similar principles for teamwork. It's crucial to give the team a vision and the tools to get there. Training teams to work (and play) well together, is a big priority. 

“It’s crucial to give the team a vision... Training a team to work (and play) well together is a big priority.”

What tools or resources have you used that have been crucial to your success? I tend to lead big teams of contractors, hires, agencies, and consultants; for that, I must be organized! My teams always have one vision, one charter, and a series of programs and projects to get to that vision in the span of two to three years. We work on the processes to get to that vision. What will success look like after each project? Creating great repeatable processes that everyone on the team can follow is vital in my book. It takes time, but if you have a steady team, you will get there.

I am a big supporter of team building, an open door policy, and cross pollinating among teams. It is also imperative to work on what is important; it's essential to move the business forward. 

“I am a big supporter of team building, an open door policy, and cross pollinating among teams.” 

What steps are you currently taking to improve yourself, professionally? I always take a few management classes each year to remind myself how to be a better manager. And I usually have a new leadership book close by, to see new trends in management. I recently moved to a Product Team, so I am currently taking new product classes to get better knowledge in our product portfolio. After all, we are all here to sell!

Four Ways to Lead in Meetings When You’re Not the Meeting Leader

By Jo Miller


It’s 2:00 p.m. and there has been a full day of intensive training for emerging leaders; my class participants are feeling the effects of a few too many carbs consumed during lunch. They are starting to look a bit lethargic.

I ask them “How many of you spend a lot of time in meetings?”

As the majority of the group raises their hands, a few roll their eyes, and one even groans out loud. I can almost hear a “whoooosh” as the last spark of energy is sucked out of the room. I conclude that these dynamic, high-potential women just love all the time they spend sitting in meetings.

Do you waste a lot of time in meetings? Think carefully before you answer, because it’s kind of a trick question. If you view meetings as a necessary evil to be suffered through, you might just be neglecting to take advantage of the ideal setting to showcase your leadership skills.

“Meetings are your greatest opportunity to be visible and show your organization what you bring to the table,” said Luann Pendy when I interviewed her for our webinar on Leading Meetings. Pendy is Vice President of Global Quality with Medtronic where she oversees quality operations, charged with ensuring that medical devices for patients worldwide are of the highest quality and reliability. “Meetings are how we get work done,” she continued. “There are very few jobs where you get it done yourself. Meetings are a fact of business. Achieving business goals quickly requires that we use meeting time efficiently.”

Pendy counsels emerging leaders to become competent at leading meetings. But it also pays to be skilled at participating in meetings when you’re not the person in charge. “I spend most of my time participating in meetings rather than leading meetings,” she explained. “I make it my objective to be a good meeting participant because then leaders want me to come to their meetings to help them. It allows us to achieve our objectives that much faster.”

How important is it to excel at being a good meeting participant? “Extremely important,” says Pendy. She believes that if you’re not being effective in meetings, you’re missing opportunities to add value to your company by solving business problems.

Here are four of Luann Pendy’s tips for how to be a leader in meetings when you’re not the meeting leader.

1. Be prepared
Prepare ahead of time. Study the agenda and know what your role is for the meeting. Pendy recommends considering, “Why have you been invited to the meeting? What is expected of you? How does the leader want you to participate? What is the purpose of the meeting?”
Make sure to deliver and go beyond those expectations. “It’s very important to make sure that you fulfill the role that’s expected of you,” she added.

2. Speak up
Several years ago when she was preparing for a promotion, Pendy received feedback that she was perceived as “hard to read” and as a result, people found it hard to work with her. Her management engaged an executive coach to facilitate a 360 feedback assessment which Pendy found invaluable.  “The feedback that I got from the group was: ‘You are very quiet in meetings.’ I wondered what the impact of that was,” she recalled. “So we asked the question in the 360: ‘When you see that Luann is quiet, what do you think of Luann and her leadership skills?’”

The feedback was eye-opening for Pendy. Co-workers felt she was not interested in what was going on in the meeting and that she appeared to not be engaged. “I’d go the meetings and be very courteous and respectful. I was listening to what everyone was saying, processing it, and learning,” she said. Others viewed her as not memorable, and as having no edge. “I asked the coach what I could do to change course.” Pendy adds that she would not be where she is today had she not taken action.

“So I changed,” she recounted. “I received immediate feedback once I started speaking up in meetings. Employees said ‘Thanks for supporting me.’ My peers said, ‘Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your ideas.’ And the management said, ‘Thanks for leading.’ The good news is I got the promotion. I encourage everyone to make sure your voice is heard.”

3. Be aware of meeting etiquette
“Find out what is acceptable in terms of meeting etiquette at your company,” advised Pendy. If you’re working against your company’s culture and meeting etiquette you’ll find it difficult to succeed. For example, you’ll need to know whether questions are allowed during presentations or whether you should you wait until the end. Find out how many questions and comments are considered too much. In some corporate cultures, questions are better received outside of the meeting.

Pendy suggested finding a role model who navigates meetings well. “I would encourage you to find someone within your organization whom you feel is very savvy with corporate etiquette and who is successful at leading and participating in meetings. Observe them to see how their behavior contributes to their success,” she offered. “You might even meet with the person to say, ‘You seem to be extremely effective in meetings. Tell me some of your common and uncommon tips.’ You’ll learn a lot about your organization’s culture and etiquette.”

4. Be present
“Be present and participate,” she added. “Don’t wait to be invited. If you’re included in the meeting, it’s expected that you’re there to contribute.”

An important part of being present is to sit at the table. “Oftentimes, I see women come into a room where there’s a big, long conference table and they try to find the chair in the corner away from the table,” said Pendy. “That doesn’t come across as being positive, confident, engaged, and enthused. The way to get a seat at the table is to show up on time or early so there’s an open seat.”

According to Pendy, your posture is important, too. “Put your elbows on the table, something your mother taught you never ever to do at the dinner table,” she recommended.  “When you’re in a business meeting, if you’re leaning forward and you’re putting your elbows on the table, it tells the group you’re engaged, interested, and have something to contribute.”

“We talk about corporate America not having enough women in the leadership ranks. We can ask executives in corporate America to bring more women forward, but there is an equal responsibility for all of us to bring ourselves forward. The way to do that is to use your time in meetings to show your effectiveness, your intelligence, and your leadership skills.”

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To learn more about leading and participating in meetings, watch the webinar “Leading Meetings” with guest speaker Luann Pendy.
Members, log in now to view the webinar recording.
Not a member yet? Join now for immediate access to the webinar.

Emerging Leader Spotlight: Debbie Hetzel

 
“It is easy to get swept up in ‘corporate drama’ but in the end it’s your job performance that will be noticed.”

 
Name: Debbie Hetzel 
Current title: Manager, Customer Service
Company:  Potash Corp 
Favorite quote: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

What is the most important thing you have learned that has been critical to your career success?

I have always tried to stay focused on the work.  It is easy to get swept up in ‘corporate drama’ but in the end it’s your job performance that will be noticed.  I also learned to leave my ego at the door. 

What key steps did you take to get to the role you are in today?

I learned all that I could about customer service at PotashCorp.  I was eager to learn new processes or pieces of business. Our company started strictly as a potash company;  through the years, we purchased phosphate and nitrogen companies. I have made sure to learn and understand the dynamics of each new business.   

“I have always recognized and understood who 

the key people are who can help me get my job done.”

What tools or resources have you used that have been crucial to your success?

We have fantastic sales, marketing, transportation/distribution, and credit professionals in our company. I have always recognized and understood who the key people are who can help me get my job done. I feel I am always willing to analyze our processes and by using today’s technology, implement steps to improve the way we do our  business. 

What is the next step you plan to take in your career to develop your leadership skills?

Our company is very involved in updating our computer system. This is a huge undertaking which will involve various groups in the company. I asked to be a member of this team. Being a part of this new project will definitely help me develop my skills as I will be teaching others the new system.   

 “I have a huge passion for the job and feel enthusiastic 

each day about my contribution to the company.” 

What professional accomplishment or result have you achieved in the past year that you are proud of?   

I started with this company 27 years ago as a Customer Service Rep then became Team Leader, Supervisor and am thrilled to say I was recently promoted to Manager. I have a huge passion for the job and feel enthusiastic each day about my contribution to the company.

From the Article Archive: Own Your Career: Six Ways to Take Charge of Your Career Trajectory

Question: I’m interested in advancing my career. I am currently working on an individual development plan for the short and long term, but my company has limited resources available to support employees’ goals. How can I continue to grow and develop in my career? – Business Process Manager

Jo Miller Answers:
I’ve been going back over transcripts from four years of women’s leadership webinars, looking for an interesting quote from each of the over 50 women leaders who have made guest speaker appearances. 

These women leaders hold senior-level roles in the corporate, academic and non-profit sectors but share some things in common, namely the desire to share what they have learned about career and leadership development, and to support the success of women coming up in the leadership pipeline.

As I highlighted my favorite quote from each of the speakers, some patterns emerged. Their career development advice fell into ten categories. The topics are:

• Establish supportive networks
• Identify your ideal career niche
• Build your brand
• Deliver valuable business results
• Be an agent for positive change in your organization
• Make your accomplishments and value visible
• Manage upward
• Speak up
• Take a ‘seat at the table’ and use your influence

Each of these topics is a valuable action step to include in a career advancement plan. But by far the most popular category of advice given by the speakers was self-advocacy, which was neatly summarized by the Vice President for Research at an academic institution, when she said, “Own your own career trajectory. You have to make your own opportunities.”

Take charge of your career trajectory.
I have written before about my belief that the greatest career roadblock women face is ‘The Emerging Leader’s Quandary’: when you can’t get a higher-level job without leadership experience, but you can’t get the experience without the job.

I have known many women who were smart and hardworking, but nonetheless believed that if they just worked hard enough for long enough, someone from management would eventually stop by, hand them a promotion and say, “You’re a leader now!”

If your career plan relies on waiting for this to happen, you may need to plan on waiting a long time. You can’t afford to wait for permission or an invitation to move beyond your current role or take on more responsibility.

The fastest way to break out of the Emerging Leader’s Quandary is to take charge of your own career and leadership development. Here are six tips shared by senior women leaders, for being in the driver’s seat in your career.

1. Have a career plan:
“Make a plan or someone will make one for you. A mentor told me that years ago and I have always lived my life in accordance with that. It starts with making choices with each and every opportunity you’re presented. Many of us are over-achievers, so the minute something comes up, you want to throw up your hands and say, “Sure, I’ll do it.” You want to be the good corporate citizen. But you don’t always have to do that. There’s a balance that you can strike where you say ‘yes’ to the activities that are not in conflict with those things that are important to you.”– VP of Services, insurance industry

2. Take career risks:
“I’ve taken a lot of risks with my career. I believe in “large risk, large reward”. No matter what happens, do a great job, give it your all, and people will remember you. Do you want to be in the driver’s seat or do you want to be a passenger?” – VP of Strategy, security industry

3. Choose one thing that is most important in your next role:
“Choose the one thing that is most important to you in your next role, be it location, be it a particular function, a particular level in the organization, whether you’d like direct reports next, or whatever it is – and then, be as flexible as you can about the rest.” – President, automotive industry

4. Market yourself, but stay on theme:
“You have to know what you want in your career. Market yourself. Stay on theme. Interesting is no longer a good criteria (for taking a role). Know what experience you need and what kind of jobs will give you that experience.” – VP of Finance, energy industry

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want:
“Sometimes, you have to ask for it. If you see something, don’t expect it will be there for you or it will be given to you. One very important part of my career was when I decided to go back to my professional role but not full time. I really was afraid to ask for it, but somebody said, “How will you know unless you ask?” So, I went in. I presented a proposal along with someone else who I knew wanted the same thing as I did, and we proposed a job share. If I hadn’t asked, I would probably have just either gone back full time or done something I wasn’t very comfortable with personally. So, don’t be afraid to ask for it. Be prepared. Have your plan. But ask for it.” – SVP of Staffing, banking industry

6. Put yourself forward to be developed as a leader:
“Don’t be shy or hesitant about putting yourself forward as someone who’s interested in being developed as a leader. Sometimes, there’s not a formal way to do that in your organization, so be sure to communicate that to people that you work with. Let them know that you see yourself as someone who has that potential and interest to develop in that area. Waiting for something to happen to you may well bring disappointment.” – Corporate Secretary, energy industry

If you’d like some additional support from me on how to take charge of your career trajectory you may like to consider joining my six-week group coaching program, starting July 18. Learn more here.

Would you like to hear more from the women leaders who have made guest speaker appearances in our Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series? Members, log in now to view the webinar recording. Not a member yet? Join now for immediate access to the webinar.

From the Article Archive: A Key to Ongoing Career Advancement at the Senior Level

Question: What are some important factors that impact career advancement for senior-level technical women?


Jo Miller Answers: One of my favorite articles on the topic of women’s career advancement is Harvard Business Review’s Why Men Still Get More Promotions Than Women. One year after the article first appeared, in September 2010, I still believe the authors have stumbled upon a game-changing, ground-breaking insight into how women can advance their careers.

The report draws from Catalyst’s research to describe how men and women have roughly equal access to mentors, with women slightly more likely to report having being mentored. However men are still gaining an edge in the career opportunities that result. So the authors asked “If the women are being mentored so thoroughly, why aren’t they moving into higher management positions?”
Read the full article if you have time, and if you do not, here are my key take-aways:

1. In comparison to their male peers, women are more likely to be mentored.
2. But all mentorships are not equal when it comes to delivering career advancement. The difference is sponsorship, when the mentor uses their influence to get a protégée exposure to the networks and opportunities that lead to promotions.
3. Men and women both receive valuable advice from their mentors, but it’s more likely for men to describe being sponsored.
4. The more senior and more influential the mentor, the more rapid the mentee’s career advancement will be.

The authors of the report stated:

“There is a special kind of relationship—called sponsorship—in which the mentor goes beyond giving feedback and advice and uses his or her influence with senior executives to advocate for the mentee.  Our interviews and surveys alike suggest that high-potential women are overmentored and undersponsored relative to their male peers—and that they are not advancing in their organizations.”

Another study published in 2011 by the Center for Work-Life Policy found that indeed, men and women who are sponsored are more satisfied with their advancement and are more likely to have access to stretch assignments than those who do not have sponsors. The Center for Work-Life Policy defines a sponsor as someone who does a combination of the following: uses chips on your behalf, advocates for your next promotion, promotes your visibility, gives career advice, makes connections for you, and connects you to opportunities.

These insights about sponsorship are especially important if you are a senior woman looking to advance to the next level. “At the senior level, sponsorship is more important than ever”, says Caroline Simard, Vice President of the Anita Borg Institute’s research and executive programs. “Senior technical women have generally achieved their level of leadership through a relentless show of competence, savvy, and delivery. However, the very top of the academic and corporate hierarchies still suffer from a strong ‘club effect’. Senior technical women defy stereotypes, are very few, and are often faced with significant challenges in clearing the last advancement hurdle. Women need sponsors who are a part of the club to break into it.”

“The concept of sponsorship is relevant to women across sectors,” said Simard. “In academia, where most senior positions are few and far between, having the right publications is not sufficient. You need the most influential academics in your field to vouch for you – through letters of recommendations, calls to the heads of hiring committees, and to talk up your scientific contributions to the field.”

The authors of the HBR report concluded by summarizing what companies could do to advance women (less over-mentoring, more sponsorship, and more accountable sponsorship) but my interest lies more in what women can do with this knowledge, to take charge of their own career advancement. Regardless of whether you are in industry, academia, or government, if you are over-mentored and under-sponsored, are ready for advancement, seeking a challenging new opportunity, or have career goals that are unmet, here are three things to try doing more of.

1. Keep mentors and sponsors separate
When I mentioned the topic of sponsorship recently to a female Chief Information Officer, she mentioned the potential for conflict to arise when one advisor acts as both mentor and sponsor.

“A sponsor is someone who will support you in your career,” the CIO explained. “They make the phone calls to say, ‘Give her the opportunity.’ They know what you’re capable of and they’re willing to kind of put their neck on the line. The mentor’s role is to really help you develop your capabilities, your skills, your political acumen, and whatever it is that you’re working on. Your sponsor is someone who’s there for you in your career.  You really don’t want your sponsor to know all the ugly stuff.  You want them to focus on the good stuff, the results, and what you’ve done.  That isn’t really a mentor’s role.”

Consider keeping your mentors separate from your sponsors, to get the most out of both types of relationship.

2. Share your career goals
Michele Johnston Holthaus, General Manager of Channel Platforms and Strategy with Intel, recommends having direct conversations to share your ideal career path with sponsors who have the ability to influence that outcome. “I think the biggest mistake of people that I coach and mentor is having conversations with them where they have very clearly laid out the next job is or the next opportunity that they want,” said Johnston. “When I ask them the question, ‘Well, have you had a discussion with that manager about you wanting to be the replacement when your manager leaves or somebody else on staff leaves?’ It is shocking to me how many times I hear a ‘no.’  We often just expect our manager to know that. I cannot say enough: you need to ask.”

3. Build a diversified network of advocates
Johnston Holthaus also recommends having more than one sponsor. “I would recommend that everyone needs to have three to four advocates outside of their direct management chain. You need to build networks so that you have people who are looking for opportunities for you.”

I coached a woman executive recently who had mapped out an aggressive career path to advance within the technology company she works for. She is delivering results, adding value, and has is highly thought of by her peers and her boss. After a discussion about the importance of sponsors, she listed the names of leaders who would have input into any decision to promote her. Some were already her sponsors, but there was an entire layer of leadership at the senior executive level that she wasn’t sure would advocate for her if she was a candidate for promotion. She has created a plan to strengthen relationships with those executives, get to know them and their goals, demonstrate her effectiveness, and either engage them as a sponsor or overcome any concerns they may have that could derail her advancement.

Think about the next job you would like to have. When that opportunity opens up will it be your name that is mentioned? Don’t rely on mentoring alone to get you there. In addition to having mentors, line up a diversified network of influential advocates and educate them about your value and your career goals.

Finally, remember that top leaders are expected to be identifying and cultivating talent and that sponsoring others is critical to their success. You can empower your leaders by engaging them as sponsors.

Prior to her retirement from Boeing as Vice President of Manufacturing, Quality, Boeing Production Systems, Sandy Postel built a reputation as a talent scout who discovered people with hidden strengths that no-one else was talking about. Her commitment to being a mentor and sponsor led her to discover a wealth of untapped talent. Postel said “The responsibility of leaders is to place talent and apply talent to different projects and places the best they can.”

It is her belief that good leaders should always be seeking to understand where the talent is in the organization, but at the same time, women need to make their value known to their leaders. “There are a lot of opportunities that do not exist today,” said Postel. “They might exist one month from now, or a year from now. Often, new positions come up and (leaders) have to make quick decisions.”

To learn more about sponsorship revisit the webinar “Sponsors: Your Advocates for Advancement” with guest speakers, Cindy Kent, Healthcare Executive at Medtronic and Amanda Martinez, EVP, Operations & Administration at Annie's Inc.

Members, log in now to view the webinar recording.
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Emerging Leader Spotlight: Amy Huber

  “A roadmap, with frequent ‘checks’ can help anyone change when necessary in order to achieve the ultimate goal, success.”

Name:  Amy Huber
Current title:  Area Sales Manager
Company:  Medtronic Surgical Technologies
Favorite quote: “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~Aristotle.

What is the most important thing you have learned that has been critical to your career success?

It is important to have a global perspective in order to achieve your short and long term successes.  Most of the time your ability to adapt to the changing dynamics of the market place is critical to your plan execution.  A roadmap, with frequent ‘checks’ can help anyone change when necessary in order to achieve the ultimate goal, success. 

“It is essential that you take responsibility for your own career and the development that you need to get to your next role.”

What steps are you currently taking to improve yourself, professionally?

It is essential that you take responsibility for your own career and the development that you need to get to your next role.  I continuously strive to understand what my company is trying to accomplish and align my activities to enhance those goals.  Having courage and candor with your current leaders and being proactive with getting involved in order to gain new skill sets and exposure with the right people is also necessary to further your professional development.

“Never be afraid to show the passion that you have for what you do.”

 

What are some top tips you can recommend to other women who want to be recognized as a high potential emerging leader?

The number one tip I can offer other high potential individuals is to always be authentic. Never be afraid to show the passion that you have for what you do.  It is contagious when you are really being yourself and others see you striving to do your best.  Imagine if we all lived life in this capacity, the level of positive impact we could have on our business and those around us.

“Positive thoughts bring positive results.”  

 
Have you experienced a career or leadership challenge recently that you have overcome? Could you share some of the ways you were able to overcome the challenge?

The real question is:  What person has not encountered a challenging individual or situation along their journey in their career path?  If you truly believe that you can do it, you will.  Those that may try to derail you will always exist, so it is important to stay focused.  Positive thoughts bring positive results.   Surround yourself with other like-minded people and know that you have the power of choice and the ability to impact positive change.

“Having the opportunity to engage women from across all Business Units and provide access to programming while advancing my corporation’s vision is something I am proud to be a part of.”

 

What professional accomplishment or result have you achieved in the past year that you are proud of?

Currently I am a part of a group in my organization that was founded to champion the growth, development and success of female field talent.   The role of my team is to bring development opportunities to these high potential women in order to think strategically about their careers and skill up for future leadership opportunities.   Having the opportunity to engage women from across all Business Units and provide access to programming while advancing my corporation’s vision is something I am proud to be a part of.