DM Coaching and Development

Join the new European Professional Women's Network in London

Michelle Brailsford, an executive coach and friend is relaunching the EuropeanPWN in London 2009 and there are great opportunities to join and get involved at the ground level, either as a volunteer, new member or even on the board. EuropeanPWN operates in 17 countries with a  mission to promote the professional progress of women through all their career phases.  European PWN-London will be focusing in 2009 on providing multi-cultural and cross-sectoral networking events  and training workshops to showcase diverse models of success. For example, there will be events ranging from Accounting Comes Alive® which teaches women to be financially literate and skilled at using the language of business to Ariadne's Thread: Networking the feminine way and Implementing a Career Lattice:  Building lattices, not career ladders. If you are interested in joining EuropeanPWN, please visit the website above as they are looking for volunteers and board members. 

Mentees from Fresh Ideas Give the Scoop on What Mentoring is Really Like!

Tonight I am facilitating a mentoring competition for Fresh Ideas Events, an organisation dedicated to promoting women in business. In September, they started a fantastic mentoring competition for 10 lucky women who wanted to be mentored by 10 sucessful female entreprenuers. Their only responsibilty? Learn all they could from their mentor and blog about their experiences of going from 0 to 60 with their business ideas and what it was really like to be mentored by a successful woman. You can read more about thier experiences at  http://freshideasevents.com/mentorcomp_ It really was a fantastic competition and one I would have loved to enter myself! Maybe next year.....

Men at Work - Friend or Foe?

I was at a networking event recently and that perennial question of whether it was best to work amongst an all-women or all-men team reared it's ugly little head. I personally think a mixed team is best and know that is the individual players within the team, male or female, that make the difference to how they work together. It reminded me of how when I work with many women's group's, I am ultimately working in the realm of self-belief and confidence - which is the real issue for most women. For many women in male dominated fields, the "men" issue is a red herring. Blaming men as a group for gender inequalities in the workplace (as well as in the home!) is not going to get us any further in our careers - and may blind us to potenial support. As Betty Friedan, of the Feminine Mystique said when addressing a group of professional women "The enemy isn't men. The real enemy is women's denigration of themselves." Which men have been supportive of your career?

Look for Difference in a Mentor

Tonight I am speaking at a FreshIdeas event to professional women about what they should be looking for in a mentor. One thing I regrettably was not able to cover is the assumption that a mentor should be from the same company or industry background. While there are benefits to working with someone in your company you respect, this approach misses some of the main gains to be had from mentoring.

Just as with coaching, a good mentor need not have your industry expertise as this allows them to ask you questions that haven't been asked before rather than working with peers who all agree "we just don't do it that way here" - a type of collusion and opportunity blindness that mentors from different backgrounds will not share.  There is also less likelihood of them feeling threatened by your successes - a concern I hear from clients who don't want to appear as if they are vying for their boss's job.

Getting a Mentor Outside Your Industry

1. Search widely from across several sectors for mentors who seem approachable and who have successes that you respect.
2. Be open to giving and receiving feedback, not just about career issues, but also as to how the mentoring relationship is progressing.
3. Be ready for your assumptions about "how things are done" to be challenged. We learn more from those who stretch us than those who agree with everything we say. 
4. Plan an exit strategy so that neither party feels they are locked in for life. Many mentoring relationships have a shelf life of about a year, at which point it is probably a good idea for both parties to move on - though by all means stay in touch.
5. Even when in a good mentoring relationship, always keep your eyes open for who else you may want to approach "as a sounding board" either at the same time or after your current mentoring relationship has ended.   

   

"Hell is For Women Who Don't Help Other Women"

At a Microsoft and Women in Technology event where I was speaking, I heard a quote that I had not come across before, but just loved. It's was Madeline Albright's "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women". As in many things, Madeline was very right. I meet lots of women who would appreciate a guiding hand - perhaps through career advice, or a bit of insider knowledge or just plain old mentoring to help them climb another rung in the corporate ladder. But I also often hear of other more senior women seemingly pulling up the ladder after them. I often wonder, what are those who are already at the top afraid of? That there is only room for one token women in the boardroom? It's funny - it's almost as if we accept that there might be only one or two spots at the top for non-white, non-male faces, quicker than we accept that that "tradition" needs to change. What have you done to help other women in your career? How have you been helped by women who have gone before you?

"Small Talk" Can Lead to Big Wins!

I don't know anyone who loves to walk into a networking event not knowing a single soul. Some may be more comfortable and practised in doing it than others, but novices to expert net-workers all need to know how to work a room in order to develop their career.

The main thing to remember? Establishing rapport and commonalities is important and so much more useful than handing out business cards to all and sundry. Do you have a networking event to attend? If so, go with just a few guidelines:

1. Develop an "elevator speech". Some people say it can be up to a minute - but that is actually a really long time. I would go with 10 seconds or so. They key is to get them interested enough to ask more about you - not hearing you drone on about every service your company could possibly ever offer. It should emphasise the benefits of your service plain and simple, such as "I help companies save money at tax time" - is far more interesting than "I'm an accountant".
2. Avoid the hard sell. Do not go in thinking you have to leave with 5 new clients. Relationships take time to build and you have to show how you could be helpful to them in a wide range of areas - like by introducing them to others at the event or sending them relevant articles you have seen.
3. Stay informed on current affairs, so that you can keep abreast of small talk which can be a good icebreaker.
4. Actively listen and ask questions. Take an open pose, use good eye contact (don't look over their shoulder!) and stop interrupting or contradicting. As the saying goes, interesting people are those who are interested in others.   

Mentoring - What's in it for Mentors?

I am asked frequently about where to get good quality mentoring, but rarely am I approached about where people can volunteer to mentor. People even ask me " what's in it for the mentor?" As if the benefits of mentoring were purely one-sided? A recent study by the East Mentors Forum found that "62% of mentors said the experience had benefited by improving their own job performance by enhancing their own knowledge and understanding."

In my experience, mentoring often gives people a renewed job satisfaction as they pass on knowledge. It is also an outlet to realise just how far they have come in their own development - not something we tend to focus on when the next challenge is always just around the corner. It can also help the mentor keep their ear to the ground as to developments and morale "within the ranks" to as well as the potential to spot the upcoming stars. Women I work with assume that they are not "experienced enough" to mentor. As if total career confidence is just around the corner! People often erroneously think mentoring should solely come top brass but even if you are just a few years into a job, you still have knowledge to pass on. Entry level employees can mentor new hires  -  and new hires can mentor college students! I challenge all women to mentor someone - no matter how long you have been in your job or how much knowledge you have. It is always more than someone else - and you will get more than you thought out of the experience.

WEConnect Pairs Women-Owned Businesses with Corporates

I recently went to an event sponsored by the WEConnect, which is the leading UK supplier diversity initiative spearheading the connection of women-owned business and multinational corporations, such as Accenture, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Hewlett Packard. It is the UK's leading advocate of women-owned businesses as suppliers to global and national corporations and government bodies. WEConnect ensures majority-women-owned businesses (51%) are given fair and equal access to corporate and public sector procurement opportunities in the UK and that corporate and government bodies are able to benefit from the diversity, innovation and value - add that women-owned businesses bring. Read below to learn about my experience of WEConnect so far....

Be Proactive in Seeking out the Right Mentor

I am frequently asked about mentoring - most people have already bought into the idea that they would benefit from talking with someone who has a few years on them professionally, to help guide the way and act as a sounding board.

There are great benefits to being mentored - an overview of more than 100 mentoring surveys conducted by the East Mentors Forum and reported recently in the Sunday Times found that nearly half of all respondents reported that mentoring had increased their opportunities for career advancement and 75% said the experience was positive, citing higher salaries and increased job satisfaction among some of the most tangible benefits. In my experience, a grain of salt would encourage people to pro-actively seek out mentors - which has certainly worked for my clients as well as myself.

What Could the Association of Women Solicitors Do For You?

Have you looked at the website for the Association of Women Solicitors? It's a great resource for women in the legal profession which runs networking events and has a quality magazine - LINK. I wanted to point it out since very few of my female clients in law know about them (it's not great to be a best kept secret from a PR point of view :) but I have been impressed with what they do for their members.