Why It’s Vital Ambitious Women Consistently Show Up And Shine
Have you ever experienced a situation where you accidentally “discovered” that one of your team members was capable of way more than you first thought?
Would you agree that it would benefit your organisation if each person demonstrated their skills, personalities and unique talents in a way that made their true value clear?
As part of our global training webinars Elevate Talent will be kicking off the year with the ‘Unlocking’ series; it’s a clarion call for mid-level professional women to dig deep within themselves so that their skills are recognised, rewarded, and actively supported as they climb the corporate career wall (whilst directly benefiting your organisation).
Why does this matter now?
We know what it felt like to be “locked-down” during the pandemic, and even though that lockdown has lifted, we also know that the media coverage and widespread talk of the economic recession suggests a gloomy future. However, we also know that the world is full of opportunities, regardless of the state of the economy. It’s a matter of adopting the right approach and mindset; after all, difficult economic times didn’t stop Walt Disney opening an amusement park and it worked out well for him!
It’s time to recognise that whilst there are many outside factors that contribute to professional women not being fully remunerated for their contributions (such as unconscious bias or the gender pay gap), their mindset and subsequent actions also clearly play a vital role.
There are three main reasons that women sometimes remain in the shadows:
- They overthink.
- They feel they are not good enough. Read our earlier blog for more tools and resources to deal with this issue.
- They actively look for reasons to delay taking action.
The truth about getting visible (exposure)
There’s often a misconception that becoming more visible means attention-seeking, but there’s no need for it to become a huge fanfare. If the female talent in your organisation begins to show up and shine on a consistent basis they will likely be trusted, respected, and remembered when it comes to promotion or new opportunities.
If one of your team delivered a fantastic presentation once, some senior leaders might have missed it, and it’s possible it could be forgotten in favour of more recent presentations. However, showing up consistently and being seen in the right places, puts you front of mind.
How you can support ongoing development
Up into my teens, I trained as a ballet dancer. To celebrate an anniversary of our ballet school an earlier graduate, Mark Silver, who had since become a Principal at the Royal Ballet, visited to share his wisdom. He said: “Ballet is not something you practise twice a week. You have to do it day in and day out; take a day off and you will notice, take two days off and everyone else will notice.”
When you identify talent within your team, encourage those individuals to become more visible so that they’re recognised for their contributions. Why not invite them to complete our scorecard to find out their visibility score?
At Elevate Talent we’re passionate about supporting ambitious, talented professional women to accelerate their careers and achieve their full potential; we know that by doing this the organisation they work for also benefits because it will likely increase retention, and improve team satisfaction which leads to enhanced client care – and in turn boost profitability.
More than a third of our graduates from 2022 told us they were promoted, accepted a sideways move to enrich their skill set or were given access to new opportunities. If you’d like to nurture your female talent pipeline get in touch (we’re now enrolling new members for the May 2023 cohort).
P.S. Come and join the conversation on LinkedIn
