Raisa Ghazi is a public speaker & university guest lecturer in inclusive leadership & women's leadership. Sign up for her free course here.
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Harvard Business Review found (registration required) that women rank higher than men in most crucial leadership skills. Women didn’t score well on all essential leadership skills, however; importantly, women tend to develop less of a strategic perspective in the workplace—and this skill might be crucial to a woman’s success. According to leadership guru Tony Robbins, success is 80% having a strategy and 20% skills. Thus, developing this skill should be a top priority of every woman leader.
A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve long-term goals. A strategy for female leadership considers what barriers to career growth exist for women. And it will help women become remarkable and transformational leaders, as often happens when someone goes through a battle or a challenging time. So how should one write a strategy for women’s leadership? By identifying common barriers to women’s leadership (like the above-mentioned underdeveloped skills) and making an action plan to overcome them. Let’s take a look at what research tells us about what the focus points of such a strategy should be for women.
1. Self-Promotion
People who are skilled at self-promotion receive more opportunities and chances in their careers than people who don’t self-promote. Therefore, it is surprising to see a considerable gender gap concerning self-promotion. Studies have shown that men rate their performance 33% higher than women, who perform just as well objectively.
So, why is it that women don’t promote themselves as much or as often?
Well, it often comes down to factors like confidence and strategic incentives. Unfortunately, women often tend to be less confident in the workplace than men and less focused on strategic incentives, such as promotions and raises (but also because they do the extra work that usually doesn't lead to promotions). This needs to change if women are to climb up the corporate ladder at the same pace as men.
And so, one of the most innovative ways to improve women's leadership skills is by enhancing the ability to network. According to a study by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, individuals who regularly network are more satisfied with their careers.
2. Negotiating
One of the many factors contributing to the gender pay gap is the lack of negotiating done by women. Research shows that 20% (registration required) of women in the global workforce never even try to negotiate a better deal. Perhaps the most evident reason for the lack of negotiating by women is a study (registration required) done by the Harvard Business Review; they asked both men and women to associate the negotiation process with a selection of metaphors that they provided the candidates with. Most men chose "winning a ballgame," while most women chose "going to the dentist.” This depicts an apparent disparity between how the genders view the process of negotiating. However, knowing how to negotiate can open more doors for you. Research conducted by MIT found that even something as simple as pausing can act as an effective tool to shift the thinking of employers. It would make them more reflective about what you have to say.
3. Increasing Confidence Level
As mentioned, Harvard Business Review found (registration required) that women rank higher than men in most crucial leadership skills. Women may not score well on all essential leadership skills, among others, due to lower confidence levels. Women deal with many biases in the workplace that may cause them to be undervalued when it comes to their achievements or judged more harshly when it comes to their mistakes. Something happens even more so if you’re a mother in the workplace and dealing with maternal bias.
A way to increase confidence levels is to celebrate your wins. Many people tend to overly rely on external sources for validation. This is not always the best strategy. If you do well in something, then you need to reward yourself. Learn to pat yourself on the back once in a while. Self-validation is the best form of validation, and it only comes when you start to reward yourself for your achievements.
4. Developing An Executive Presence
Leaders typically aren’t chosen based on their actual competencies; instead, they are selected based on their style. According to research, we base our preferences for particular leaders based on their charisma/style. And thus, people who have a high executive presence are more likely to become leaders. What does this mean for women?
Executive presence is shown in many different ways, like your sense of purpose, passion for your job and active presence in a room. Don’t forget to add something to the conversation whenever you are in a meeting or with other team members; let your presence be seen and heard.
The thing with strategies is that they are only effective if you work on them consistently and even daily. An effective way of incorporating strategizing into your daily schedule is by allocating 30 minutes per day in your calendar toward strategizing. Simply placing it on your to-do list will not work. Instead, your strategy should be in a document that lists concrete goals and actions you will take to accomplish your goals, together with a timeline to indicate when you should be doing each task. Your goals should be measurable, and there should be moments where you assess your progress to determine how to go forward.
Strategizing isn’t a skill you will build overnight, but keep going! I promise you that in the end, it will be worth it.
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