2013 Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series: Now open for registration

We're excited to announce a stellar line-up of new topics and speakers for our 2013 Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series. The year-long, six-part series of webinars blends leadership skills training with advice from guest speakers who are senior-level women leaders.

In every webinar, you will: 

• 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.

A one-year subscription gives you access to six new webinars and to a library of over 30 recorded webinars on demand--all featuring top women executives sharing the secrets to their success.

Register now

2013 WEBINAR SCHEDULE

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 | Dealing with Difficult Conversations at Work
There will almost certainly be a time when you need to have a difficult conversation with a subordinate, a peer, or even your boss. The stakes can be high. Are you fully prepared? In this webinar, we'll cover real-life examples, do's and don'ts, and communication tools for handling tough conversations gracefully and effectively.

Guest Speakers:

Betty Chan-BauzaVice President, Product Management,
Identity Theft 911

 
Erin Chapple,
Group Program Manager,
Microsoft
    


April 30, 2013 | Building an Influential Brand with Social Media
Guest speakers: Liz Brenner, Senior Director of Talent Marketing, SAP and Margaret Resce Milkint, Managing Partner, The Jacobson Group.

June 18, 2013 | Leading Meetings
Guest speaker: Luann Pendy, Vice President, Global Quality, Medtronic.

August 27, 2013 | Breakout Career Moves
Guest speakers: Nehal Mehta, Director QA, NetApp and Sara Sperling, Head of Diversity, Facebook.

October 29, 2013 | Take Charge of Your Career Trajectory
Guest speakers: Donnell Green, Global Head of Talent Management, BlackRock and Caroline Simard, PhD, Associate Director, Diversity and Leadership, Stanford School of Medicine.
 
December 3, 2013 | Ask a Male Executive
Guest speakers: David Head, Senior Vice President, Customer Segment Executive, Employee Banking and Investments at Bank of America and John L. Hall, Senior Vice President, Oracle University.

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Five Ways to Accelerate Your Career Advancement in 2013

It is every up-and-coming leader’s dilemma: You can’t get a leadership job without experience, but you can’t get leadership experience without the job. If you aspire to advance into a role with greater responsibility, you really can’t afford to wait to receive an invitation to lead. You also can’t afford to wait for someone to hand you a promotion.

Being proactive in how you manage your career takes more than setting goals and working hard, so I took a look back through my ‘Ask Jo’ articles from the past eighteen months, searching for a handful of career-advancement strategies that will give you an edge. Here are five top tips for steering your career toward advancement in 2013.

1. Stop ignoring office politics

In an article titled Seven Career Killers, careers author Erin Burt points out that refusing to engage in office politics can be a career-killing move. “Avoiding politics altogether can be deadly for your career. Like it or not, every workplace has an intricate system of power, and you can — and should — work it ethically to your best advantage. To get a promotion, avoid downsizing or get a project approved, you need co-worker support.”

Nina Simosko, Senior Vice President of SAP’s Global Premier Customer Network, agrees, “Politics are a reality and one must not ignore them or do so at their own peril. I am not a fan of politics, but I have learned that ignoring them can have negative consequences. So, I do believe that we all must understand the nature of the politics within our respective companies and participate to the extent necessary.”

Instead of ignoring office politics, become a savvy observer of the communication and relationships that surround you in your organization. Pay attention to how people interact with each other in meetings, in the hallways, at lunch, or virtually. Seek out those who have influence. I call this skill “organizational savvy,” and it is also the most important skill for navigating office politics in a positive and effective way.  Read more about developing organizational savvy in Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Office Politics.

2. Re-brand yourself

Have you allowed others to define your reputation? Everyone has a certain reputation or “brand” that they are known for in their workplace, however for most people that brand is created by default, not by design.

Re-branding yourself starts with understanding your current brand. What reputation are you currently known for? What do others say about you? It’s important to know, because then you can choose to embrace that perception and build on it, or take steps to change how you are perceived. Get a baseline to understand the existing brand that you are known for. Ask managers, mentors, trusted colleagues or HR partners to describe how you are currently perceived by others.

Identify the new brand you want to be known for, and create a short, concise brand statement that describes what you want to be known for, and align your communication and actions with the brand you want to be known for. Read about the three steps to take in How to re-brand yourself for a big leap forward in your career.

3. Build a diversified network of sponsors

A study published in 2011 by the Center for Work-Life Policy found that people who have sponsors are more satisfied with their advancement and are more likely to have access to stretch assignments than those who do not have sponsors.

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.

Michelle Johnston, General Manager of Channel Platforms and Strategy with Intel, 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.” Read more about the critical difference sponsors can make, in Sponsors: A Key to Career Advancement.

4. Say “no” to stretch assignments

In a webinar for women in the energy industry, I interviewed a partner in a consulting firm who stated categorically, “I wouldn’t be in the position I am if I hadn’t had the courage to step into leading activities that were not in my area of expertise.”

But despite all the benefits of volunteering for stretch assignments, there are times when the extra workload can work against you. How is it that some women use these opportunities to make a big leap forward in their career, while others just burn out? The key is to be highly selective. If you are going to take on responsibilities outside the bounds of your job description (and I hope that you do), you must choose strategically.

One common career misstep that many women make is accepting too many low-visibility assignments which require them to work long hours without gaining the benefits of recognition and skills growth that a true ‘stretch assignment’ would bring. Here’s a checklist for evaluating whether a stretch assignment will move your career forward (or not!), in When to say “no” to stretch assignments.

5. Put yourself forward to be developed as a leader

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!”

“Don’t be shy or hesitant about putting yourself forward as someone who’s interested in being developed as a leader” said a corporate secretary in the energy industry. She added, “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.”

You can’t afford to wait for someone to come along and develop you as a leader. Don’t wait for permission or an invitation to move beyond your current role or take on more responsibility. Read more tips on taking charge of your career in Own Your Career: Six Ways to Take Charge of Your Career Trajectory.

Jo Miller is CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching, Inc. Join Jo for her Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series beginning February 26, 2013. 

From the Article Archive: Getting the Lay of the Land in a New Role

What is the best way to navigate a role-change to a new team at a large company?

During a leadership webinar, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Senior Vice President and Chief Tax Officer of the Wal-Mart Tax Department, shared with me the importance of quickly getting the lay of the land when coming into a new position. She explained, “The first step that I take when taking on a new assignment or a new project is what I call ‘surveying the landscape.’ I study my surroundings, and I try to understand the people and processes that drive value in that particular area.”

Here's how to quickly survey the landscape when you start a new role.

1. Find someone with organizational savvy

Find someone who is well-regarded and well-networked in your new group and ask if you can schedule some time to speak them. It could be your new manager or someone who appears to have some influence in your new group. Let them know you appreciate how knowledgeable and well-connected they are, and that you would appreciate their advice as you begin your new role. Review the org chart with them. Ask:

• Who are the key stakeholders I should get to know?
• Who should I introduce myself to?
• What questions should I ask them?

Create a checklist of names and create a plan to connect with each person in your first months in the job.

2. Become the go-to-person

Before you set out to meet those key people, develop a 30-second commercial that concisely explains your role, your responsibilities, and how you can be of help. Share it at every opportunity as a way of educating others about your role, and the reasons why they should come to you. Use it to introduce yourself to all the key people, asking how you can help each other and listen for tips on how you can make the greatest impact in your role. Here is a format to use:

 

a)    Your name

 

b)    Your new job title

 

c)    I am responsible for… (share three concise bullet points that describe your role)

 

d)    Come directly to me whenever you need… (share three more concise bullet points that describe the reasons why they should come to you.

 

Seize every opportunity to introduce yourself in this way so that you can educate others about your new role, the value that you add, and why they should come to you.

3. Embark on a listening tour

Start your new role with a “listening tour” by connecting with every individual on your list of key stakeholders. The purpose is not just to introduce yourself, but to have a meaningful and educational discussion with each one of them in your first month in the job.

Your goal is more than just getting introduced. In each conversation you will most definitely need to introduce yourself and your role, and ask them to do the same. Discuss the ways that you can help each other, but also listen for additional information that is going to help you uncover who people and processes are that really drive value. Gather intelligence on the following categories:

a) Informational powerhouses

Try to discover who the “informational powerhouses” are: those individuals who keep a finger on the pulse of what is going on in the organization, the industry, and the broader business environment. By knowing who to go to for historical data and emerging trends, you will find yourself empowered to make better business decisions more quickly.

b) Influencers

Listen for who the key people of influence are: those who have an enhanced ability to lead change and make things happen. They are not necessarily found in high-level or high profile positions, so pay attention to who holds influence regardless of their job title.

Notice which way influence flows in the relationships surrounding you in your new team. Is influence flowing in the traditional top-down manner? Are there people who are equally able to influence each other? Are there any of those rare individuals who have the ability to “manage upward” who are influencing their management?

c) Coalitions

Look out for groups of people who have formed groups that work together effectively, and are freely share information, resources, and opportunities. Ask yourself, “What do they have in common? What is the social glue that binds this group together?”  This will give you clues on how to work more effectively with those groups and individuals.

By taking time to build relationships, listen, and get "the lay of the land", you will pick up momentum and add value in your new role much more rapidly than if you spend all of your time mastering the technical aspects of your role.

 

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot was a guest speaker in the webinar, Are You The Invisible Employee?, part of the Emerging Women Leaders webinar series.

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From the Article Archive: How to Build a Leadership Brand that Your Company Values

Your ideal leadership brand is one that utilizes your talents, feeds your passions, and delivers a service that is needed and wanted by your company.

Titina Ott is Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness with a leading global software corporation, and founder of their corporate women’s initiative. Ott’s advice to any woman hoping to build a dynamic leadership brand is to understand what you are passionate about, understand how that aligns with your company’s objectives, and clearly articulate it to your manager.
 
Understand what you are passionate about 
When describing her leadership brand, Ott said, “Throughout my career, I have always been known as the go-to person. They would say, ‘Give it to Titina—she will find a solution.’ I was known for my ability to work in high-pressure, short-term situations, building something new from the ground up. When the solution was in place, I would move on.”

Ott reached a point in her career seven years ago where she began to ask herself what it really meant, to be a leader. “For me, leadership is all about finding the possibilities in others,” she said. This insight would eventually lead to her current role, overseeing global strategy to improve employee engagement and to strengthen alignment of talent to business strategy for over 14,000 employees.
 
“My brand now includes helping others find their possibilities,” she said, demonstrating her passion for developing and enabling others. This is evident not only in her role but also in her drive to create a women’s leadership initiative that cultivates and retains her company’s female talent.
 
Articulate how your passions align with your company’s objectives
It is vital in recessionary times to build a brand that demonstrates how you are adding value to your company. Ott believes it is important that every employee is able to create a direct “line of sight” between what they do each day to their organization’s bottom line. She designs and leads webinars for employees on how to do this.
 
Her step-by-step approach is as follows:

1. Understand your company’s vision, goals, and value proposition. These can be found on your company’s web site.
2. Understand the goals for your line of business by asking your manager.
3. Understand your team’s goals, objectives, and priorities. Ask your manager, as this is a critical part of their role.
4. Take a look at your development plan for the year. It is your responsibility to put this plan together. Map your goals to objectives for the company, your line of business, and your team.
5. Discuss your plan with your manager to gain his or her alignment. Ott states, “A plan is not effective unless your manager knows about it, acknowledges it, and assists in providing the opportunities and support to execute against it.”

Ott understands that it’s not always easy to find an alignment between passions and organizational goals, but emphasizes “You a really have to think about this. We all work in a world that’s about the bottom line. Ask yourself if what you are passionate about is important (to your company), and to what level you are willing to adjust. You need to find the balance that’s right for you.”
If after this process of self-discovery you find there’s no alignment, Ott agrees, “It’s OK to explore other opportunities.”
 
Build an industry-wide brand
Ott stressed the value of building a brand that reaches beyond your company. “Having an industry-wide presence is important. Don’t develop yourself in a silo inside the culture of your company.”
 
“Develop skills that work independently of your company’s culture,” she advised, which she models by participating in activities outside her company that include speaking at national women’s leadership conferences and serving on several non-profit boards and leadership programs in her local community.


Titina Ott was a guest speaker in the webinar Create Your Leadership Brand, part of the Emerging Women Leaders webinar series.

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What if there’s no such thing as work-life balance?

If you were to ask Jennifer Pope, a Vice President with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans about work-life balance, she’d tell you that there’s no such thing; “it’s a misnomer”, she stated, in our recent women’s leadership webinar. “It’s always a give and take”, she explained. “We have so many demands on us as moms, leaders, coaches, and volunteers that we have to take pause and realize there’s only 24 hours in a day.”

 

Rather than strive to attain balance, she lives by the philosophy that “we were born onto this earth for a purpose and we need to make the best use of our time here.”

 

So what if there’s no such thing as balance? How can we make the best use of our time? I asked Pope, along with our other guest speaker, Shannan Gardner, Tax Partner with Moss Adams, to share their approaches to being a leader and having a life. In addition to some highly practical tips, like preparing meals in a slow cooker and learning to delegate, they also shared the philosophies that they live by.

 

Shannan Gardner described her approach to this work-life challenge as a continual work-in-progress. “You need to constantly redefine what work-life integration means to you. This is true for me as a parent but also was very true before I became a parent and a wife. What works for you today may not work as your personal life changes. Even with my children, what I needed for them when they were first born was very different than it is now that they’re nine years old. I’m constantly having to reevaluate my work-life integration and make sure that it’s appropriate for the personal and professional fulfillment that I need.”

 

“It’s important to remember that it’s not always going to be perfect”, she added. “You’re never going to have a perfect division between work and life. Sometimes things aren’t going to work out exactly as you have planned them and you just have to be able to be flexible and go with it.”

 

Gardner, who co-champions Forum_W, her offices’ women’s initiative, takes an active role in helping talented women at her firm advance in their careers. She advises up-and-coming women not to succumb to the pressure to be all things to all people, but to value their time and their talents. “For example”, she shared, “my boys play basketball and for the end of season party they needed cupcakes. I am all for taking time to bake cupcakes with my children but I’m not going to do that right before a large deadline. I’m okay with going to the store and purchasing cupcakes because baking them at that point in time is not the highest and best use of my time.”

 

Jennifer Pope concurred, “I definitely agree with that whole cupcake situation. I have sent my kids packing with some of the fanciest cupcakes in town!”

 

Pope discovered early in her career that she has a desire to help others grow into leadership roles at Thrivent, where she now leads hundreds of employees in the Member and Field Interactions department. A key to her ability to be effective as a leader and a mother is being present. “Whatever you’re doing, focus on the present” said Pope. “If you’re with your family, be present with them. If you’re at work, be in the present and listen. It’s a privilege to work with others and to serve others.”

 

She also doesn’t want you to take all of this too seriously. “If we aren’t having fun while we’re here and with what we’re doing, then we need to take pause, ladies, reflect, and redirect. Don’t be so serious. Life is short. Learn to laugh!”

 

Work-life balance may be a misnomer, but in any case, it is possible to be a leader who has a life. Here are some things to try:

1. Redefine and reevaluate what balance means to you
2. Things are not always going to be perfect
3. Be flexible
4. Don’t try to be all things to all people
5. Know what is the highest and best use of your time
6. Focus and be present
7. Don’t be too serious
8. Learn to laugh.

And it’s OK to cheat on the cupcakes.

Shannan Gardner and Jennifer Pope were guest speakers in the webinar Work-Life Integration, part of the Emerging Women Leaders webinar series.
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From the Article Archive: Four Tips for Becoming a Visionary in Challenging Times

During a recent women’s leadership webinar, I asked Krista Thomas, now Vice President of Marketing at Fan Appz, how a person should determine what their organization needs in these challenging economic times.  In addition to answering the question, she addressed a more intriguing issue – how to provide visionary leadership during challenging economic times:

1.   Don’t keep your head down / check in often

“You really can make a mistake by keeping your head down and staying quiet, because sometimes you get caught up in a stream of activity that really isn’t core or strategic to your company,” said Thomas.

“My policy is to check in often,” she added, “Make sure that the goals and the metrics that you’re measuring are still priority number one in executing on your goals for the company.  Also, don’t be afraid to raise your hand, go personally to your management, and really make sure you’re still on target.”

2.    Be adaptive and go with the flow

“It can be tempting in troubling times like this to get flustered and frustrated and be upset when things go off-plan, or when the plan changes.  You may not necessarily always be in the loop.  If you’re not at that senior level, you may not know when some of the strategies change, which can happen in real time.” She continued, “The key is to be able to be flexible, to demonstrate your ability to not get stuck in the old thinking when the thinking has changed.  Check in, know what’s going on, know where others’ thoughts are going, and show that flexibility. Show your adaptability and ability to go with the flow.”

3.    Move toward the next opportunity

“Things are going to be chaotic, especially in this economy. We saw this when ‘Web 1.0’ imploded all around us.  The way to survive was to look for the next opportunity and walk towards that as opposed to being afraid,” she explained.

4.    Create an environment of calmness and creativity

In a final point, Thomas emphasized the importance of generating new ideas. “Nothing is more helpful in a difficult time than creativity.  If you’ve got creativity and you can bring problem solving or people skills, you’ll help mitigate other people on the team being upset. If you’re one of those people who can come in and calm people down, and get them re-focused on new priorities, you’re very valuable right now.”

Krista Thomas was guest speaker in the webinar Create Your Leadership Brand, part of the Emerging Women Leaders webinar series.

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When to take a role that’s not a promotion

By Jo Miller 

“Should I stay or should I go now?”
- British punk rock band The Clash, 1981

Your next great leap forward in your career might not be a step up. Imagine you were offered a truly great job opportunity, but with one major catch: it is not a promotion. To further complicate things, the role has no apparent path to a promotion in the near future. Should you take the job?

President of Strategic Regulatory Partners, Wini Wu, is passionate about mentoring technical women and has advised mentees in the United States, Indonesia, and Australia. I asked Wu what guidance she would provide to an up-and-coming woman who found herself in the running for a role that was not a promotion. What are some reasons to consider taking the role?

Wu’s advice to women in such a situation is to assess the opportunity in the context of their life as a whole. “During your career and your life, your situation changes” explained Wu. “One of the things you want to consider is what is important in your life in this moment and in the next couple of years?”

Next, Wu encourages women to consider how the role might expand their career horizons. “You also want to look at the role” she said. “Does it expand your responsibilities and (give you) opportunities to go into new areas, such as a different functional area, different industry, or skill set?” There is also the learning opportunity to consider Wu pointed out,“Is it a challenge in a good way?”

Does the new opportunity expand your professional network? “Consider opportunities to learn new skills and network with new people” said Wu. Her bottom line, “Take risks and if it feels right, just do it!”

Liza Cuevas is Senior Director of HR with Citrix Systems bringing over 20 years of experience as a strategic business partner to engineering organizations. While knowing that she is currently in a role that she finds very satisfying, I asked Cuevas to imagine that someone offered her a lateral move. What are some of the criteria she would use to evaluate the opportunity?

“One thing to consider is that starting a new role does take time and energy”, she pointed out. "So consider the scope of the role. Value creation is a big deal to me; the opportunity to do something creative, innovative, and help the business to move things forward.”

“People and relationships are also very critical to me”, Cuevas explained. Ask yourself, “Can I learn from them and are they a dynamic group of individuals? We spend half our lives in our jobs and I really want to be with people I respect and that I can learn from.”

Finally, Cuevas suggests considering “Does it fit my life today?” For example, do you want to be able to work remotely at times or telecommute, and have some flexibility?

Wini Wu and Liza Cuevas were guest speakers in the webinar Alternate Career Paths: Up is not the only way forward, part of the Emerging Women Leaders webinar series.
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