How to Become a Successful Career Woman
Did you know that approximately 14.6% of executives in national companies are women? Surprisingly, women only hold 4.6% of the Chief Executive Officer positions. Today's young women are starting their careers more well-trained than men.
Research shows that firms with more women in executive positions generate a 53% higher return on equity, and a 42% higher return on sales.
Women are less likely than men to ask for a raise or aspire to top management.
Is this difference because many women give up their careers to take care of their families before reaching the top? Or, are women afraid because of the attitude toward them at work?
There's a new wave of successful women shaking up and redefining the workplace the way people used to do it.
Instead of being content to let others decide who they were, and how they should work, they found their voice, and sat down at the table. In short, women are committed to paving their own way, and doing so without regrets.
For many years, women have defined career success by their ability to conform to male-dominated business traditions and processes in the workplace.
Women are trying to play with policies in the workplace today, and have barriers to societal perceptions of how women should act and be seen.
The advancement of women in leadership positions pushes the boundaries of gender equality, tapping into their strengths and leadership characteristics in skill, experience and emotion.
Women pursue what they want from jobs and careers. The key is to have faith in all of your assets and abilities, not just the ones that are on paper.
The success of a woman actually has broken the ceiling glass, but still not broken. Historically, white and male-dominated culture has remained prevalent in companies and organizations.
There is a concept of 'think-manager-think male' which identifies male and masculine traits as perceived by men, and using women, associates them with successful leadership.
As a result of these entrenched gender stereotypes, people fail to see the leadership potential of women.
Ready to go to the next level in your career? Here are some tips on how you can enhance your career within the company.
Tips for Women to Achieve Success in Workplace
Don't stop learning
Take your time to further your education, whether it's structured searches into topics of interest to you, online courses to enhance your skills and knowledge, or honing your understanding of your company with a part-time course or executive education.
Maintaining a consistent attitude to study throughout your career path will help you keep your mind sharp, and stay up to date with current trends. You never know when you might fit some newly received information into a meeting, and impress someone else.
Believe in yourself
Believing that you can be successful is part of being successful. No matter how crazy your mind is right now, have faith in your abilities, and work to make your voice heard. Doing this will give you confidence, and your strength will bring your ideas to life.
You can remember a time when you were in your best situation. Evaluate what happened, and make a list of each of the strengths you displayed. This is the power of your signature.
Forget about your weaknesses, and try to use your strengths in every scenario that comes your way. This is a higher quality approach than trying to imitate others.
Create opportunities and get initiative
Taking the initiative in the workplace is often cited as a necessary professional tip. Few women are capable of building recognition around him.
In today's aggressive work environment, the potential to take initiative and suggest new thoughts is critical to positioning you alongside your colleagues.
Make sure you always take the time to look at all of the company's components, to understand areas that have been overlooked, or could be improved.
Sharing these thoughts with your superiors and staff will demonstrate your strengths in needed solutions, and business partnerships support you to build recognition within your profession, which will ultimately place you at the front of the group.
Risk taking
A woman's aversion to threats ends, when women emerge to manage the real risk. Watch a woman walking down the street at night, and she will scan ahead, and look at dark corners, alert for any threats.
Recognizing the hazards and planning to avoid them at all costs will limit your options.
Fear of failure will hold you back, what psychologists call 'anticipatory anxiety' - anything that increases the trauma of what went wrong can be devastating.
Optimistic and winning not because luck is on a woman's side, but because women are working very hard to get the positives right, rather than focusing on what might go wrong.
Get excited about new challenges. Be bold. Sometimes you fall short, but even so you will learn something along the way.
Be Your Own Boss
Lucky women have found that being the head encourages them to set their own personal rules.
As you push higher at work, you will get more manipulation, which will lead to success. When you are in control, you can create a happier, fuller, and more balanced administrative center for yourself and your employees.
Build Sisterhood
When you first become part of an establishment, there may be lots of other women as well. When women occupy senior roles, they often become lonely women. Accustomed to dealing with men, women usually don't look after themselves.
Then they start getting messages that maybe this isn't the location for someone like them. Maintain strong connections with other women in your field. But build your posse too, you'll need it over time.
When you're successful, don't pull up the ladder behind you - make sure you attract other women after you.
Don't Expect Perfection
Don't demand perfection from yourself, or others at your work. Trying to achieve perfection is often elusive and only leads to frustration and loss of self-confidence.
Blaming yourself for your shortcomings will only reduce your potential and your will to work, and it can also take a toll on your intellectual health.
Successful women understand they can't do everything right all the time; they take it and analyze it.
Speak
Uncomfortable conversation is definitely not fun. Some things are difficult to say, especially if you are a woman in business.
One of the reasons women don't want to communicate is because when they do, they expect to be kept away. This is because, some people ignore what women have to say.
Unfortunately, this has created a quiet way of life, where most women have given up their hobby of talking to other people at work, for fear of not being heard, or taken seriously.
Meanwhile, men benefit from the courage to speak their mind at work.
Successful women don't miraculously wake up one day and find their luck. Even the most effective women are sometimes afraid to speak up, they fear being seen as too aggressive, or their thoughts not being credible.
Summary
When you put motivation, drive, and passion into your job, you'll be working overtime with ease, and climbing the corporate ladder quickly.
Women who love their careers go to work with a smile, and that is the foundation for driving success in the workplace.