Latest / Loud & Lifted / Quick Lift: Career Growth for Women: Build Your Roadmap, Lead Through Change

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Quick Lift: Career Growth for Women: Build Your Roadmap, Lead Through Change · Loud & Lifted

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  Welcome to Allowed and Lifted, the women in leadership
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  show where we trade fluff for practical tools.
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  I'm your host, Betsy Hamm. In this quick lift,
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  I recap my episode with career strategists on
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  your price. And under 10 minutes, I will hit
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  highlights of the discussion, how to reinvent
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  without starting over, building a career roadmap
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  you can use today, and how to lead through change
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  with courage and presence. Key takeaway number
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  one, authentic reinvention. Sunny talked about
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  how early in her career, she made a couple jumps
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  that maybe didn't seem like they went together
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  at the time. And when you do that, it's not starting
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  over. It's just a reinvention when you jump industries
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  or professions. And she said the best way to
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  go about this is to bring your full toolkit with
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  you. And switching careers usually gives us this
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  apprehension of, I don't have that experience
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  or I'm not sure how that works. But if you take
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  a step back and look at your toolkit and figure
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  out how you can market that in this new arena.
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  A lot of times the skills are transferable. Maybe
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  it's just the jargon that has changed and I certainly
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  have seen this. So her framework in order to
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  have that authentic reinvention is first inventory
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  the toolkit. List your core wins, what you've
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  achieved and what are your strengths and what
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  were those business outcomes tied to that? The
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  second part is translate the jargon. Sometimes
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  it's the same skill, but it's just a different
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  word or a different label. Like maybe you used
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  to talk about products, but now it's programs.
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  And maybe it was clients and now it's customers
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  or campaigns versus initiatives. Same thing,
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  different words. And sometimes we don't always
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  think that there's a dot connection when there
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  is. And a great example, probably about a year
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  ago, I had somebody from a bank reach out who
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  wanted me to be on their board of directors.
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  And first I thought, Why would a bank want me
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  to be on their board? I really don't have any
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  kind of experience in anything financial. And
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  then as I started talking to them, I understood
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  where they were coming from. They were a brand
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  who was growing, which was something that I had
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  been part of, but they also have multi locations
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  and various locations where they're trying to
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  have that consistency and that brand experience
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  and make sure that they're always delivering
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  that great product with great customer experience.
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  So there were a ton of similarities between writing
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  a doughnut company and a financial institution,
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  I just didn't see it at first. So talking through
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  that jargon, understanding that the strategies
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  were very similar in some capacities, but just
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  how you got there was going to look a little
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  different. The second key takeaway was the career
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  roadmap. Now, I love this because this is being
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  intentional about where you want to go and then
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  having a plan by how you're going to get there.
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  And Sunny talked about the fact that you just
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  need to start first with, okay, what are some
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  of your wins over the last few years? What were
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  those things that you were able to contribute
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  that when you go into an interview, you can talk
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  about? What do you currently enjoy about your
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  role and what do you not love? So if the opportunity
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  arises, whether it's in your current company
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  or somewhere else, you know, the things that
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  you're looking for, you know, what fills you,
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  you know, what you're able to add value on. And
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  it just gives you sort of that framework to start
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  with. The second piece she talked about is really
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  important because that's kind of the obvious,
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  right? You want to know where you are and where
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  you want to go based off of what you like or
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  what you have accomplished, but where's the market?
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  She talked about, you may have a severe passion
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  for something, but there's not any opportunities
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  or you'd have to relocate to the other end of
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  the country. And that's not something you want
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  to do right now. So understanding. where the
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  market is, what the industry is like, maybe checking
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  even comp ranges. There could be a job that you're
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  super interested in or a career that you know
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  you would love, but it just doesn't meet your
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  expectations or your needs from a salary standpoint.
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  So doing your homework and understanding what
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  the reality is of that particular role. The next
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  piece then is figure out what you need to do
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  in order to get that next role. And it doesn't
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  mean always being promoted. Sometimes we get
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  super focused on titles. I'm a manager. I want
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  to be a director. want to be VP. And sometimes
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  it's not about growing up, it's about growing
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  into being very specific on that skill set and
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  becoming an expert. That's certainly another
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  part of a career is just becoming more deep of
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  an expert. So understanding where you want to
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  go and how you're going to get there and then
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  what you need to do. Maybe there is some professional
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  development that you need. Maybe you need to
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  work on your eye and your image. Maybe there
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  is a certification that you need. Whatever it
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  is, you need to make sure that you're aligning
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  what your work is on that will help you get to
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  the next position. Maybe it's raising your hand
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  to be part of some projects that wouldn't typically
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  fall into your current scope, but if you can
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  get that exposure and get that understanding,
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  it's going to help you get to that next level.
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  So treat your career like a product launch or
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  a product roadmap and have those quarterly themes,
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  clear milestones, and make sure you're providing
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  updates to yourself if you're doing the things
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  that need to be done in order to get to that
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  next spot. Next up, Leading through change. I
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  loved Sonia's line about the best leaders don't
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  resist change, they learn to surf it. Leading
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  through change is about courage and presence
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  and authenticity. Sometimes when change is being
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  implemented within our organization, we just
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  have a checklist. We know we have to have this
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  meeting, we need to tell this person this has
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  to happen. But you have to keep it real and be
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  authentic with your team. Change is inevitable.
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  No matter what organization you're at, things
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  are going to change. And as a leader, there may
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  be times that you're not on board with the change.
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  However, you have to be. You have to get on board.
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  You have to get behind it. And you have to have
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  the empathy then with your team in order to get
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  them to come along. People don't generally embrace
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  change, even if it's goods. We're just creatures
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  of habit. So being able to walk through and talk
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  through those things is going to help your team
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  get there faster. But you have to be on board.
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  You have to deliver the message. You have to
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  be confident in what you're saying. And people
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  will come along. One tool that Sonia talked about,
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  which I thought was great, was just some breath
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  work. And this sounds maybe a little silly at
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  first on the surface, but it's so true. Sonia
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  talked about doing breath work on her own. If
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  she's having a stressful day or had a bad meeting
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  or whatever it is, just taking a minute, two
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  minutes and just breathing. There's a lot of
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  articles and videos about how to do this. So
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  I am certainly not going to pretend that I'm
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  the expert, but I know even just sometimes taking
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  a few deep breaths really kind of helps. to reset
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  everything. I thought it was interesting that
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  she also talked about doing this with your team.
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  Now I was trying to visualize doing this with
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  my team in the past and it could go one of two
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  ways. They could have been totally on board or
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  they could have looked at me like I was crazy,
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  but I think it's worth trying or at least trying
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  in a small group. And if you're not comfortable
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  with the breathing piece, it's just taking a
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  break. Sometimes when things get intense or people
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  aren't agreeing, we just need to call a timeout
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  essentially. Have people go grab water, bathroom
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  break, whatever it is, but sometimes you just
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  need that minute. and that pause to reset so
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  you're able to talk through the change or whatever
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  that difficult conversation is. The other piece
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  of dealing with change was really reframing.
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  the words that are being used and not having
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  a victim mentality, but having a visionary mentality.
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  And what's in your control? What can you influence?
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  And what's the next best step? Also, instead
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  of being reactive, let's be proactive. What risk
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  can I pre -solve this week? At the end of the
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  day, as a leader, it's all about being authentic
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  and creating those connections with your team.
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  And a line that she used, which I thought was
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  great, is, this change is big and I feel it too.
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  Here's how we're going to navigate it together.
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  what's stable, what's evolving, and what we need
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  to ask for help for. The last key takeaway is
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  one that keeps coming up, so it must be important.
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  And that was all about visibility. So this goes
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  back to Pi and the E for exposure. But she talked
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  about those already performing at the next level
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  are the ones who are getting promoted, and the
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  right people know about. their results. We've
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  had this conversation, right? You can be amazing
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  at your job and your performance, but if people
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  don't know or the right people don't know what
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  you're doing, then it doesn't really matter.
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  So our visibility checklist, it's making sure
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  your boss knows what you're working on. It's
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  making sure your boss's boss knows what you're
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  working on and also the outcomes. Sometimes as
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  we've talked in the past, we're afraid to promote
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  the good work that we're doing, but you have
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  to be able to be your own PR person and get that
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  out there. What's going on? on and there's a
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  way to do it and you have to find your voice
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  in the approach that you're comfortable with
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  where you feel like you're not taking credit
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  for the team or you're not being cocky but getting
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  that exposure to not only your boss and your
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  team members but people within the organization
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  or maybe even people outside of your organization
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  is all important. Reach out to anyone that you
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  don't know to schedule a coffee date. Maybe make
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  sure you're looking for a mentor or a sponsor.
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  But as always, visibility comes up as one of
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  the key things that we need to focus on in addition
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  to our performance as well as our image. The
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  key takeaways here reinvention is translation,
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  not tear down roadmaps, beat ruts, pair passion
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  with market reality. Courage plus the nervous
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  system tools equals presence under pressure and
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  visibility is your job and performance needs
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  a spotlight. If this resonated, share it with
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  the women you're rooting for. For more on career
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  growth for women in leadership development, subscribe
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  to Loud and Lifted and follow us on Instagram.
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  And if you haven't listened to Sanya's full episode
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  yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. Keep
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  surfing the wave and stay loud and lifted.