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From Invisible to Invincible: Self-Promotion Strategies for Career Success · Work It Like A Mum

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm a working mom with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women job board and community.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: In this show, I'm honored to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Shy away from the real talk?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: No way.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: We cover it all.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED Talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, make sure you're cosy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Work it Like A Mum podcast.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries, ready to find your perfect job.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Now back to the show.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Work it Like A Mum podcast.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Today I'm chatting with Leanne Cooper, who is an international career coach for women, and she provides a life-changing career advancement to help her clients secure high-paying jobs that they love, enjoy, leading with confidence and authority, and be recognised and rewarded for their impact.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So today we're going to be chatting with Leanne about her journey into her new role as an international career coach and what brought her here, but also she's going to be offering lots of tips that you can implement today to thrive in your career and live the best life you can.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much, leanne, for joining me today.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: It's such a pleasure as always to chat with you and obviously learn more about your experience, but also, you know, get some of your wisdom as well about how people can advance their career with some of your tips thank you so much for having me.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I love these chats.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: We've done quite a few now, haven't?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: We linked in lives and podcasts and stuff, and I always really, really look forward to them.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you for that lovely introduction as well, and you did a really good job of sort of explaining what I do.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I think it's probably important at this point for me to explain a little bit around why I do this work and like what really motivates me, cause I'm you know I'm so passionate about this, and the reason is pretty simply, I see so many brilliant, talented, capable women that are not where they deserve to be professionally, women that are making do settling for less than they're capable of or less than they deserve.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: I'm just done with it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I'm sick of it, and it would be amazing if I could coach every single one of them, but I know that getting paid support isn't possible for everybody, so I thought it'd be great today to have a chat together about some things that are possible for all of us, some things that the people watching or listening can go away and do on their own.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: They'll have a real impact on the career progression so one of the things you typically see that you know when you're chatting to people what are the I guess, self-sabotaging things that yeah, so my clients tend to come to me when they've had enough.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: So quite often they've been working away in the background to try and achieve the goal whether that's like promotion their existing role or to move on to another organisation and they come to me when they've had enough.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: They've been trying to sort things on their own.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: They haven't been successful and usually it's like a key thing that's happened.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: So it might be that they've just been passed over for a promotion and they're absolutely fuming.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: They're like that should have been mine, like I deserve that promotion.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: They're like that should have been mine, like I deserve that promotion.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: They give it to that other person and they're just upset and frustrated and downhearted that they're not where they want to be, and usually what I see is a bit of a pattern of the same things.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: So people are not where they want to be because they're doing these key things, and I want to share what they are today and what people can do instead to try and break that pattern and not be in that situation where they're frustrated and fed up and they're not getting the advancement that they want in their career.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that is the thing isn't.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: It is that when people start getting really frustrated with their careers, it's when they just feel like they're sort of plodding along and not getting a lot for, you know, not getting a lot in terms of recognition, reward for something they feel they're working really hard on, and it takes its toll on you as well, doesn't it?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: like you know, you're turning up every day, you're working really hard, you're not getting where you want to be, and I think if you just keep doing the same thing, you're going to get the same outcome, aren't you?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: And it's important sometimes to let somebody shine a light or hold up a mirror and say look, this is what you're doing, here's what you could be doing differently, so hopefully I can, I can do that for you, absolutely yeah, I'm really well.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: You always bring such value to our chat, so I'm really excited to learn more amazing.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: So there's three key things that I see time and time again and, honestly, this this doesn't matter whether it's somebody at the sort of entry level, someone who's really senior in the career, it doesn't matter what industry it is.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: I see this pattern coming up and there's these three things.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to say what the three things are.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Then we'll work through each of them and what you can do instead.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: So the first thing is expecting their work to speak for themselves.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: That is a big thing.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I see such a lot and, honestly, like, even if your work is the most amazing work going and I'm sure it is it's just not enough to expect it to speak for itself.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: We've got to self-promote and, as much as you know, I'm a massive fan of flexible working, remote working.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: If you are at home, you have to self-promote twice as hard.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: You can't just sit in your home office working really hard and expect people to know what you're doing.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: So unless you can promote yourself effectively, confidently, you can promote yourself effectively, confidently, communicate your contributions and be vocal about that unique value that you're adding.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You're at risk, and you're at risk of career stagnation.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I mean and this is probably rightly or wrongly, you know, if I, if you work from home and somebody asks you for something, it just somehow magically it seems to magically appear, doesn't it?
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: In your inbox.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: You know, however, long later and it's hard to see the work that has gone into that behind the scenes if you're not sat next to somebody and, like you, I love flexible working and I work from home we're both, you know, we're both in our homes at the moment and I wondered do you think that's something?
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that is definitely a contributory factor in it.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: People just see the output and they don't see the the input that has gone into to get into that.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: That point we've got to make sure people realize that because if we don't, we we're at risk of career stagnation, salary disparities, it's sort of being invisible when things are changing and decision making processes.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: We risk having less credibility, less authority.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: We miss out on stuff like promotions and we get off overlooked for like opportunities and stuff.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: And I know that people listening to this are going to be thinking oh, the idea of self-promotion like that gives me the absolute ick.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I do not want to self-promote.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: And that's not surprising, like we were chatting about this before, weren't we?
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Like a lot of us have been brought up to be encouraged to not show off, to stay quiet, to just work hard and get on with it, and so it's not surprising that we find it hard to speak up for ourselves and the work that we're doing.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: But I just want to be really clear, like to people listening like when I say self-promoting, it doesn't mean you have to, like, stand on your chair in the middle of the office with a megaphone in your hand shouting out your wins, like there are other ways that we can do this effectively, and I work with my clients to find a way for them to do it that works for them.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: So, whether they're really introverted, extroverted and you know, whatever there's ways we can do it, I'll share a couple of tips.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna say it'd be brilliant if you could share some tips on what you could do to self-promote, whether you are in an office or, you know, in a nursing environment, or whether you work from home yeah, definitely.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: There's three sort of key things that I could share that'll help.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Three key tips for self-promotion and not just relying on your work to speak for itself.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: The first thing is be really intentional about your small talk.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Like, have a bit of a shift in your mindset from thinking that self-promotion is just big announcements and big bold statements.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: You can chat to somebody, like probably, if you are working from home, you'll have, you'll talk on teams or you'll have like a call, like a zoom call or teams call every week or whatever, what?
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: So, even if you are at home, when you're talking to your team, like, be really intentional about that small talk.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: So like when people say are you okay, right, or how are you, or whatever, rather than just good thanks, like add a little bit extra, like good thanks, I finally finished that project on X and it was really really good outcome.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Or I'm great, thank you, I've just finished training three new people, or you know, whatever it is you've been doing, be intentional with your small talk On a Friday.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: What you're doing at the weekend oh, I'm going to celebrate achieving this thing that I've done this week at work.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Like you can slip it into conversation and make sure people know what you're working on.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I like that it's still quite natural, isn't it?
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, and we're on autopilot a lot of the time, like people say.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: oh, good thanks.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: like actually put some context in there and say why are're good and like you know, if you're proud of yourself or you're pleased with something, or you've got a project over the line, don't be afraid to say, like really chuffed with myself because I've finished like that project that I was working on, or and that's quite infectious, isn't it?
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: if you say that, then someone else can be like oh, you know, you're responsible then yeah, you're responsible then for creating that safe space and you're saying it's a positive thing for us to share our achievements.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: I've just shared mine.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Maybe you can share one of yours, and let's support each other and let's cheer each other on rather than feeling like, actually, if I say something positive about myself, it's boastful or it's arrogant.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Like contribute to changing that culture.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Just, you know, a small step at a time.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: So that's the first thing be really intentional about your small talk.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: The second thing is protect time every month to review your own achievements, like look at where you've added value.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: It's quite easy, like in the day-to-day, to just get caught up doing your work, like we all have these days.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you, liz, but sometimes, like I'll be working all day, I'll be like I don't really know what I've got to show for today.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I just feel like I've been sat down at this screen all day and I don't know what I've got to show for it.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: So you have to bring that to the forefront of your mind to be really intentional about actually reflecting on what you have got to show for it.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: So book some time, make an appointment with yourself every month.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Take that time in your diary to look at where you you've added value, like and quantify it as well.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: So don't just say like you've saved some money, like how much money have you saved the company?
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: How much money have you made the company?
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: how many new people have you trained, how many new people have you recruited like, actually be specific about the value because it helps, doesn't it, when you then come to look for a new role, because you've got all that information and data, that is, you've written fresh, you can then put on your cv, take into an interview.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: It really does help that it helps with that as well.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know what it's like.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: We all sit there and like, all right, got an interview coming up.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Gonna need some examples.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: What did I do?
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: like five years ago we can't think of it, can we?
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that is really good for for your confidence building.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: It's really good for, like, prepping for interviews, appraisals and stuff like that.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And don't just keep that information to yourself.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Get into the habit of sharing it with your boss.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Like, pop an email over at the end of the month and say this is what I've worked on this month, this is what my focus is for next month.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Is there anything that you want to add?
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Make sure your boss knows.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Like there'll be some stuff that you're doing and your line manager won't even be aware of it.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Like I always used to encourage my direct reporters to do this when I worked in my corporate job and, honestly, I used to think that I was close to what they were doing.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: But I would get the messages at the end of the month and I would be like, oh, so it's like I didn't actually realize you've done that amazing.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Like that, that's brilliant.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: So send it to your boss.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Like, get it.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Create that new habit.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Don't wait to be invited for someone to say, like what good work have you done?
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: Like, just get into the habit of we're doing this new thing where I'm sending you an email every month, like you know what amazing stuff that I've done, like, why not?
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Why would you not want them to?
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: know, yeah, and actually if you're a manager as well, then that's something you can implement.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly like encourage your team to do that, because as close as you are to the detail and as great a relationship you have, there will definitely, for every single one of you, be things that your team are doing that you don't even realize that that they've done.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: So really, really important one.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: And then the, the yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: And then the third one if you're really struggling to actually to show, like self-promote and to show what you do, and if sharing it feels too hard, if you feel like it's too much of a big step to talk about it or to send that information to your line manager, another way around it is showing it to people.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: So, not you don't have to verbally tell people, but you can show them, so you can do this every single day.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So, like, if you've developed like a best practice of how to do something, you've got a tool or a system or you know a spreadsheet, whatever it is you've done, share that with other people.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Like, share best practices, resources, tools I've created this, it's really helped me, this thing and share it with other people and that's a way of like getting that attention back on you and getting that recognition that actually you've done this stuff.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Don't just use a tool on your own at home, this amazing tool that you've created, and let nobody know about it.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: So share stuff.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Teach people how to do the things that you can do.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Offer support with things so you know, maybe if you've got your own promotion, there'll be some things in the job spec from the role above that you can perhaps volunteer to do to shadow, so you can show that you're ready for that next step.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Share ideas to facilitate change, like contribute to like industry publications, white papers, like go off to different events and come back to your team and report what you've learned like there are so many ways to get like front of mind with people and to show people that you're an authority figure that you know you're an expert.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: It's simple, isn't it just getting that job description from that next role up and then acting like that person already really yeah, exactly, and I remember, like years ago I wanted to step up to be a team leader.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I was in a deputy role and I sat down with my team leader at the time and I'm like, what could I do?
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Like I know there's some stuff that I'm not allowed to do, but what could I do?
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And she said, well, you could start doing this task.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I'll have to check it afterwards, but you can start doing it and then, when the role becomes available, you've had exposure to it, like you've had some experience of doing it.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, think about some stuff that you can do that demonstrates and shows that your expertise, that you're an authority figure, that you've experienced that you, that you're doing all this brilliant stuff, and there's loads of ways like, have a bit of a brain dump of the things that you can do.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: That was the first thing, and that's all around not leaving your work to speak for itself and actually creating that habit of promoting yourself and the brilliant work that you're doing.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: So that was the first one, and the second thing that I see all the time is people like leaving their career in the hands of other people, so what you can do is take back control instead.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I posted about this recently.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Give us an example of what that means, what you mean by that yeah.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: So I saw a post on LinkedIn recently about some things that I hear people say all the time.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: So things like I'm just gonna wait and see what happens, or I'm just gonna wait and see what opportunities come up, or I am hoping to progress within the company, or I'm open-minded about my next steps, or I'm gonna go with the flow and see where I get to.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: And when I hear stuff like that, I think you're leaving your career in the hands of other people rather than making deliberate career decisions.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: You're lacking direction and strategy and you're just hoping somehow you're going to end up where you want to be by accident and you're waiting for opportunities to find you instead of creating them.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: So it's really important, like with your career, that you've got a plan to make sure you're in control.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: So let's say, for example, like I know there'll be people with loads of different scenarios listening to this, but if we take one scenario and that's somebody who works for organization, they want to stay working for the organization.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: They're looking for a promotion up the ladder.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Here are some things that you can do to, rather than hoping that you're going to get that promotion and seeing what happens, here are some things that you can do like get in the driver's seat really, and make sure that that's the outcome that you get to.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: So here's what I would do if that's you, if this is your scenario.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: So I would review my own job spec first of all and tick off all the things that I've done with specific examples.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: I would review the job spec of the role that I want to move into and review which elements I'm already demonstrating and I'd brainstorm ideas of how I could get exposure, learning, shadowing to the other elements.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I would do my own monthly review to make sure I'm clear on the value that I'm adding and link it back to the overall goals of the organisation.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: So look at what your organisation are wanting to achieve this year and link back to the work that you're doing and how that's contributing.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I'd gather every single bit of feedback that I'd ever been given, whether it's a voice note, an email, a text message, a letter, whatever.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Gather it all, everything that I've been given, and then I'd go proactively seek some more.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: So I'd open my mouth and say can you give me some feedback on how I dealt with this?
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: So what am I like to work with?
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: What did you think that was working with me was like on this project.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: So I'd get as much feedback as possible and I'd identify any skills or knowledge gaps that might hinder my progress into that next role and I'd address them.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: So if I'd identified right, okay, this is the next role for me.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: It's going to involve using this system and I don't know how to do it.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: I'd look at how I could bridge that gap and I'd learn it so that when I was being interviewed for that role, I could say, well, actually, no, I didn't know how to use that system.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: It's never been something that I've needed to do.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: However, I've gone away and I've upskilled and and now I'm proficient on it, as you know, and I don't see people doing that.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Very often I see people sat frustrated that they're not where they want to be, when there's all these things that we could go away and do and channel that energy into something positive rather than something that's negative.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's the next thing take that control.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: So many times I speak to people and they're not in control.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: They're leaving the career in the hands of other people.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: So they're hoping the line manager notices they work and they promote them.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: They're hoping that somebody sees them as suitable for opportunity and taps them on the shoulder.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: But you've got to be knocking on that door and pushing that door open and getting yourself through that door and being like I am the best person to be sat on that chair around that table.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Here's why.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: I do agree with you and I think that you made a really good point about the upskilling, because I think a lot of people they don't either think it or you know they don't want to do that, but actually it does require some effort sometimes, particularly if you, you know transfer careers't want to do that, but actually it does require some effort sometimes, particularly if you, you know transfer careers, transfer into a new area, there really often a skills gap and a knowledge gap and actually the people that can successfully pivot or make that next step over, the ones that actually invest some time, potentially some money, whatever it is, to upskill yeah, exactly that.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: And and you know it is hard because sometimes you might not have the money, you might not have the time, but if you can't do it there and then, like you can work towards it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: So I know somebody recently and they wanted to do print two qualification and they couldn't afford to do it straight away so they saved up for it.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: They had like a six month plan that they were going to save some money every month and then they were going to do it.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: I just think that if it's important to you, can you know you can find you can make the time like I've just written this book, as you know, and I got busy and gosh.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: At the beginning I was like there's no way I'm gonna.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I was really nervous that I wouldn't find the time.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: But then I listened to this podcast and it just said just do 30 minutes a day.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: 30 minutes a day.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: And actually it was tiring and sometimes that 30 minutes came quite late at night.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: But you, I could, on most days, find 30 minutes in my day and I think most people can find 30 minutes in a day to learn something new or do something that's important to them yeah, exactly, and you know what.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Some people have got hours and hours and that's great for them, but other people have got loads of commitments and they're not able to.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: But if you can just, like you say, protect like 30 minutes for you and your development, and then look at that 30 minutes, what's going to move the needle most, what's going to get me closer to where I want to be?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Because you know what, you're probably spending that 30 minutes anyway like doom scrolling or like watching something more intentional, becoming a bit more intentional with your time.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, and I remember years ago.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: My husband's laughing at me because I was having a moment about not having any time and then I was like sat watching like videos on tiktok or whatever platform it was at the time of like Kim Kardashian cooking pasta, and he's like you've got no time, but like you're watching this and I'm like yeah, you're right, like and actually you know what, and he's all like, you know, when you get that report from your phone and it's like three thousand a day and you know, oh my god, what ways that's all actually.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you can, you know, if you get that and you are spending a few you know however many hours a day on your phone, then, yeah, we definitely have time somewhere.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: I saw somebody recently post on LinkedIn and she's been talking about like she didn't have much child care and she really didn't have very many hours to work on her business so she had to be really strict with her phone and she shared what her phone time was and it was 14 minutes a day and I was like 14 minutes a day like that really puts me to shame because I'm on mine so much more than 14 minutes a day.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: That's something to aim for, though I like that at least.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is completely digressing now and I don't think about I.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I do YouTube videos on my phone.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: You know exercise and I sometimes I always wonder does that count in hours?
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: And then maybe it's not too bad yeah, I don't know 40 minutes is something to aim for.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Sorry, we've digressed oh, that's all right.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, like be attentional with your time and take control of your career.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: You know, we've all been there, like I've definitely been there where I felt frustrated, where I felt like disgruntled, where I felt unfulfilled, and I've used the energy and the time that I've got in a negative way to complain and to not take action.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: But if we can switch it up and use it in a positive way, there are so many things that we can do.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: You know you sit down and think about right well, where do I want to be?
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Like, what are the steps that I can take?
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: That the five things I just talked about there, like reviewing your current job spec, reviewing the job spec of the one ahead of you, reviewing your performance, gathering feedback, identifying skills and knowledge gap use your energy and your time on that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: That's the thing that's going to get you closer.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Like, start moaning about it won't.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: And it sounds quite harsh, and you know I'm not saying that with any judgment, because I've definitely been that person that's been in my husband's ear like, oh, I'm so sick of this and I'm not happy with that and I want this to change and we can easily go down that route.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: But actually we relinquish control of our career.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: If we do that like we need to get back in the driving seat, back in control.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Have a look at what we can do.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: That's going to impact the outcome that we want.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: So yeah, getting in the driver's seat, taking back control of your career and not leaving it to chance, not leaving it in the hands of other people, is a big thing and it's not.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: It's not necessarily, it's simple, but it's not necessarily easy.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: But there are small action steps that you can take.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: And then the last one, the last thing that I see all the time and I just want to raise for people listening is not asking for help and not accepting help like a hyper independence really comes with a cost, and I learned that the hard way.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: I saw asking for help as like a sign of weakness.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: I told myself, oh, you should be able to figure this out on your own.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And, as a result, I stayed stuck for a long time in a job that I didn't want to do, in a situation that I didn't want to go at being, because I wouldn't entertain the idea of letting somebody help me, because I saw that as being like, oh, you failed, like you should be able to sort this out.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Like, why can everybody else sort it out?
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: And you can.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: And, looking back, do you know what?
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: There was so much support available to me, so much help available, and I didn't ask for it.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: And then, even when people offered, I wouldn't take it like I was just hyper independent.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: No, it's fine.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: But, honestly, like there are people, there are things that are out there that can help you.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: So if I could get you to do one thing differently, it would be to be open to the concept of getting help, like none of us can do anything just on our own.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Like Liz, I know that you get help with stuff.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I get help with stuff, like everybody gets help.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Some people might not be vocal about the fact that they get help.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: But you know, everybody needs support and everyone needs help, and and it'd be lovely if I could support every single one of you, but I know that's not doable for everybody.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: So let's have a look at what things you could do in terms of support.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: So give us some examples, then, of like what people can access and help, so I worked for one of the big four banks for years and one of the like the perks of working there was we got access to mental performance coaches, career coaches.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: I didn't access any of that support for like for years and years like I just like we used to get emails reminding us you can book sessions and I used to just delete the email.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: So how many other people listening to this have got like with the organization's in-house support?
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: yeah, like corporate good corporate benefits yeah that you're not using them.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: So if you don't know what the benefits are, go and have a look like go and see what's available for you, because quite a lot of organizations now offer in-house support like coaches, mentors.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: So have a look at what's available with the organisation that you work for.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Also, a lot of my clients that come and work with me they have their coaching funded or part funded by their employer.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: So this tends to be organisations that don't have that in-house facility to support their employers but they want to help them develop, so they're happy to fund all of it or some of it.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: So you know, if there isn't anything in-house and you do want some coaching and mentoring support, have a look, exploring the possibility of asking for it.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: I help clients with this all the time.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: So I've got like a pdf that I can give you that offers some tips on how to approach the conversation.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I've even got an email template that you can send.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: You can fill in and send to your employer and so I can support with that conversation if it's something that you want.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Also, asking people within your organization to mentor you I used to mentor people.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: I had a mentor myself.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Like ask the question, like if somebody that you look up to, if there's somebody that's you know a few steps ahead of you, ask if they've got capacity to offer you some mentoring sessions, that's something else that might be available for you.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Have a look in your network as well.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Like who in your network has achieved what you want?
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: How can you reach out for them and have a chat?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Like I've done that loads of times.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I have people that reach out to me.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Like somebody's reached out to me.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: I've got a chat with them this afternoon.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: It's just like a 15 minute chat, and I always because a lot of people helped me when I wanted to transition my career and I didn't know what to do.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: So many people helped me.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: So I always try and pay it forward and help other people.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Like who can you just have a quick chat with in your network?
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Who can you reach out to?
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Like there's so many webinars and workshops like you put them on.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: I put them on, liz.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Like there's so many people that offer like free support community.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Like look at your community that you've created.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: It's amazing.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: They work it like a mum facebook group.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: You have had so many like trainings in there, haven't you that you've shared with people on such a wide range of topics.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: There is literally something for everybody in there, so have a look at what's available for you.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Free guides I do them, I know you do them.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: You've got a brilliant one about cv.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: You've got a brilliant one about optimizing your linkedin template, like use this stuff that's available for you, but this does come with a bit of a caveat.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Don't just consume the information.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: You have to actually take action.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: And a top tip that I would offer you around that is make getting someone to keep you accountable.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: You might not be able to work with a coach, but a friend, a colleague, someone that you trust, like your wife, your husband, like whatever.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Get someone to keep you accountable, because it's no good just consuming all this knowledge if you're not going to do anything different.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: That was my last one.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: So just to summarize the three things I would love you to focus on to help you to advance your career is mastering the art of self-promotion as opposed to relying on your work to speak for yourself, taking control of your career rather than leaving it in the hands of other people.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: And the third thing is asking for help and not being held back by hyper independence like this.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: This has been such a brilliant podcast episode, leon.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you, I'm really, yeah, is, I think you know.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping people have taken notes and, you know, absorbed some of your brilliant advice.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: So how do you work with people and where can they find and connect with you?
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: so, um, I am on linkedin pretty much every day.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: I post seven days a week on linkedin, so you'll see me on there.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: I'd love you to read.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I was saying, leanne's face is always the first one I see on my linkedin yeah, so you'll see me on there and leanne cooper, so I'd love for you to connect with me on there.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: I always reach out to all my connections and say hello, so let's have a chat good about your posts.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: A lot of it is like tips as well, isn't it?
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: There's obviously some personal stuff, but a lot of it you just follow you and you get so much value just by following you yeah, so I try and show up seven days a week with content that's going to support you to advance your career.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, give me connect with me.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: I'd love to speak to you on linkedin.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: In terms of working together, there's a couple of ways that I support women.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: So the first way is via the organization that you work for.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: So I partner with a lot of organizations to go in and deliver workshops, training and keynotes.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: So if you would like me to come into your organization, then let's have a chat about how we can make that happen.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: And then the other way is working with me directly.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: So either one-to-one coaching or as part of my group coaching program.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: So probably the best thing to do is to just reach out to me on linkedin.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Let's have a bit of a chat about where you are now, where you want to be instead, and we can talk about what will be the best route forward for you we'll put all the links in the show notes.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: We'll put some links as well to some of our previous linkedin lives as well that were really helpful.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, Amazing.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you so much for your time.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Leanne, oh, thank you for having me Lovely to chat to you.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: As always, I'm excited for the next one already.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I know so am I.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to another episode of the Work it Like a Mum podcast.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: If you're on linkedin, please send me a connection request at elizabeth willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: You can also follow my recruitment site investing in women on linkedin, facebook and instagram.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dreams.