Megan is trying to involve her husband more in childcare and household tasks.Michelle is negotiating a new contract with a prospective client.Maria needs more time for herself to recharge.Melissa would benefit from delegating a large project.Moana is ready to ask for a pay rise. So much in life requires the skills of influence, persuasion andContinueContinue reading “What Women Should Know About Negotiating”
Category Archives: Communication
How to Prepare an Elevator Speech
The theme of building relationships and being visible has surfaced across several coaching conversations, workshops and events over the past few weeks. Lois Frankel recommends spending five percent of your work time, networking and building relationships. That’s two hours of a 40-hour work week. One of the tools helpful in this regard is usingContinueContinue reading “How to Prepare an Elevator Speech”
How Humility Might be Holding You Back
“Oh, it was nothing”“Yes, but…”“I couldn’t have done it without….”“I got lucky.”“Anybody could have done that.” Leadership requires a combination of both confidence and humility. Humility tempers our confidence so that we don’t stray into arrogance. Humility can, however, become a barrier to career success if overplayed or overused, or worse still, if we’re notContinueContinue reading “How Humility Might be Holding You Back”
Who Gets Heard, Who Gets Credit, Who Gets Ahead, What Gets Done?
People have different conversational styles, influenced by the part of the country they grew up in, their ethnic backgrounds and those of their parents, their age, class, gender and so on. Deborah Tannen, is a Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. One of her many books, ‘Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men atContinueContinue reading “Who Gets Heard, Who Gets Credit, Who Gets Ahead, What Gets Done?”
The History of ‘Silencing’ Women and Ideas for Redefining Power
In classical Greek and Roman history oratory was by definition a male pursuit and the deeper male voice a prerequisite. A woman who spoke publicly, if it happened at all, was, by definition, not a woman. A friend loaned me this book, “Women and Power” by Professor Mary Beard. Writing about the very long historyContinueContinue reading “The History of ‘Silencing’ Women and Ideas for Redefining Power”
A Great Way to Kick Off Giving Feedback
In an earlier blog I wrote about the importance of seeking feedback for your development. It’s also helpful to know how best to give feedback to those you lead. The feedback sandwich, in which the area for development is sandwiched in between praise doesn’t work so well. You can seem disingenuous. Or people can dismissContinueContinue reading “A Great Way to Kick Off Giving Feedback”
How to Get More Feedback. And Yes… You Really Do Want It
Women can sometimes miss out on development opportunities because they are less likely to be offered feedback due to an assumption or fear that women will get emotional or upset about constructive feedback or criticism. (Tips on how best to give feedback, an important skill to develop, is a different blog post!) This means thatContinueContinue reading “How to Get More Feedback. And Yes… You Really Do Want It”
To Take the Minutes or Not To Take the Minutes. Six Strategies to Skirt Around Interfering Gender Biases
Women get asked more than men, and volunteer more, to do undervalued and time consuming tasks at work especially the ‘office housework’. One perhaps easily overlooked example of office housework is taking the meeting minutes. I was asked to take the minutes at a meeting recently where there was no admin resource. Now I acceptedContinueContinue reading “To Take the Minutes or Not To Take the Minutes. Six Strategies to Skirt Around Interfering Gender Biases”
BREAKGLASS COACHING 