Latest / SisterSmart Leadership / 33: How to Design a Personal Board of Directors That Will Help You Rise into Senior Management

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33: How to Design a Personal Board of Directors That Will Help You Rise into Senior Management · SisterSmart Leadership

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  Speaker: When I say the word networking, most women either
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  roll their eyes at me or groan.
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  If you're feeling the same way, I have the most important
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  episode of all for you here.
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  Everyone's heard the phrase, your network is your net worth.
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  Then why do so few mid career women have the robust network that will
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  get them into senior management?
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  McKinsey, even female CEOs have networks that are several times
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  smaller than their male colleagues?
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  and the numbers get even worse the farther down the ladder you go in my experience.
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  So if men have this all figured out, why is this still something
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  that women shy away from?
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  In this episode, we are going to dig into some of the misconceptions
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  that women have about networking and why a personal board of directors is
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  important for every woman who wants to rise up into senior management.
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  You are going to want to stay with me through this whole episode because
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  I'll be talking about the essential mindset shifts that you need to take
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  to be able to go from nay to yay when it comes to this important work
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  and I will help you design your own personal board of directors to save you
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  from going to networking events and having to talk to a room full of strangers or
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  tooting your horn around the company.
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  Jill Avey: I'm Jill Avey, a career success coach, and this is Sister
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  Smart Leadership, the show that explores how women can rise from
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  director to vice president and beyond by fully leaning into their feminine
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  energy as their biggest advantage.
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  Let's get you one step closer to the recognition and promotion you deserve.
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  Speaker: I was at Columbia business school at a recruiting event.
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  When I first heard a consultant talk about a personal board of directors,
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  knowing this concept, I tried to apply it in my corporate career to make success.
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  I did a lot of what I see my clients doing now, keeping in touch with
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  only the people that I got along with well, because I had these few deep
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  relationships and we got along great and they were really big supporters of mine,
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  but my network was not broad enough.
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  I would go to evening industry events, hoping I would meet someone
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  that would be a valuable contact.
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  But the thing is it was so hit and miss that I never met the people
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  that I really needed to know.
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  Sometimes I never even met anybody that was of value.
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  So I tried attending conferences, hoping I would meet someone there
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  that would be a valuable contact.
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  Sometimes I would learn a lot from the conference, but I wouldn't come
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  away really knowing somebody that I wanted to keep in touch with that was
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  really going to help me in my career.
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  It was more hope than strategy.
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  And it's not what I recommend now.
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  Now I guide my clients through a process where they identify the people that they
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  need to build relationships with so that they're targeted in their efforts, not
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  wasting time with people who aren't going to help them get where they want to go.
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  And instead they build meaningful, lasting relationships with the
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  ones who are in a position to help.
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  Before we get into how to do that, let's first talk about our mindset
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  when it comes to networking.
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  the mindset that I most commonly see is women want to keep their head down and let
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  their good work tell the story for them.
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  They might be inconsistent in their efforts to develop
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  and maintain their network.
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  And maybe they meet once and they never reconnect.
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  The thing is that they don't see networking as actual work.
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  They see it as something that they do when they have the time, if they have
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  the time, and they never get to it.
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  They see it as self promotion or tooting their own horn, and that feels
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  cheesy, sleazy, and gross to them.
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  They think it's all about going to events and meeting random strangers,
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  that hope strategy that I used to use.
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  They aren't strategic or targeted about building a personal board of directors,
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  and they don't understand how creating real relationships works when networking.
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  So importantly, they never get to this work because they don't
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  have their mindset about it.
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  As I start our program, we shift to a new mindset.
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  So instead, we can embrace building a strong network as an
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  important piece of our visibility.
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  When we think about it as visibility, that's really an
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  important shift to make first.
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  Visibility is crucial for getting promoted.
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  And we need to understand that our work simply can't speak for itself.
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  Like our work can't go out and tell the story that needs to
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  be told about how it happened.
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  And so we need to get that word out for us.
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  And if you think about it, others are too busy to be paying attention
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  to everything that we're doing.
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  Even your manager cannot pay attention to every single thing.
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  That every employee is doing that works for them.
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  Even if they do it once, it doesn't mean that they're going to remember when
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  the time is right, like review time or when they're talking about promotions
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  in those rooms where you're not there.
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  we need to provide the context and storyline to the work that we've done,
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  ensuring that the right message is getting across to the right people.
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  And so I really want you to reframe networking from sleazy self
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  promotion to relationship building.
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  This is an important mindset shift.
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  And when you do this, it will open up a whole new world for you.
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  When others understand your work and how it's helping them,
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  they can do their job better.
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  So this increases collaboration, better handoffs and improved performance for
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  your relationships within the company.
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  See networking as a valuable part of your future success.
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  It makes everything go more smoothly and it paves the way for your next
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  special project and it helps you build the advocates that you'll
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  need for your next promotion.
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  So we're going to be strategic about how we do this so that your time is well
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  spent, not throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping that something sticks.
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  Your first step is to design your personal board of directors.
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  Then once you know what seats you have on your board, you can start
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  looking for the right kind of people that might fill those seats.
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  It's kind of like dating when you're going to have to meet several people and get
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  to know them and see if you click first before you have that final board member.
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  It's a bit of a numbers game at first, so you're going to have to
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  get out and talk to a lot of people.
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  We do this process in the Sister Smart Leadership Program, and it's often
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  the first time that somebody sat down and really thought about what kind
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  of network they need and how they're going to build that network, let alone
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  finding the time to do the outreach.
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  So first let's talk about what a personal board of directors actually is.
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  So it can be a formal or an informal thing.
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  They may not know each other at all.
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  They may not even know they're on your board of directors.
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  My board doesn't know that I consider them my board of directors.
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  They're just people that I keep in touch with.
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  It can be very informal.
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  So don't think about this as something fancy.
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  But there are people that actually gather their board together and have them
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  all meet and talk about their career.
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  And so you can do it any way that you would like.
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  Think about people that might be paid or unpaid.
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  mostly we think about unpaid people when we're in networking, but also
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  your coach counts as a person that might be on your board of directors.
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  And maybe you have other experts that help you as well.
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  It could be regular or ad hoc.
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  So you might have some people who are consistent members of your board,
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  and then you add in people for a certain promotion or a certain project
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  or a certain time in your life.
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  So we have different seasons for different relationships.
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  And think about the people that are internally to your company
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  and external to your company.
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  Former managers are a great example of external people.
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  And then your current manager would be a great example of your internal person.
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  So you may have, a mix of both here.
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  So Examples of board of director members would be an industry
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  expert, like a researcher or an academic, people like that.
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  Somebody who really brings a lot of knowledge to you.
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  maybe a colleague at, you know, like in the same stage of life.
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  It's great to have that peer that you can talk to about things
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  and you can strategize together.
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  That's a super helpful seat that I recommend to everybody.
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  I also recommend to everybody your greatest cheerleader.
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  This is an essential person to be on your board because you need that
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  person who believes in you, that thinks everything you do is the greatest.
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  Everyone needs that.
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  But you also need your critic.
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  if you can stomach it, your harshest critic is a great person
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  to put on your board of directors.
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  Some people choose their nicest critic instead, but it's really great to get
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  somebody who will push back on you.
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  Somebody who's a non fan of yours and somebody who will point out the
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  things that annoy them about you.
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  And that's pretty valuable feedback and we don't get that everywhere.
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  So if you've got that kind of person, that's a great person to really
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  develop that relationship with.
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  And, you know, Sometimes you find out they're much more of a
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  fan of yours than you thought.
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  Also an expert in the area where you want to grow.
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  So maybe you're going a certain direction and you're going to
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  need to know new information.
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  So knowing somebody who already has that information and you can tap
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  into them of how they learned it.
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  Someone who has access to resources that you need, maybe it's funding,
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  or maybe it's people, or maybe it's other kinds of resources.
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  So that's an excellent person to know, because maybe they can help you to be
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  able to access those kinds of resources.
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  someone who's older and younger.
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  So we really want a diverse group of people in our network.
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  And so if you have everybody on your network, that's, like minded and thinks
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  just like you, that's, I think we all know these days that diversity is really adds
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  a lot to to our way of thinking stretches us opens up our minds to other things.
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  A connector who has a wide network and is willing to make introductions.
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  can be very valuable.
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  Someone who can help you understand how others perceive you.
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  So this is often someone who is a kind person who is definitely
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  in your court that is willing to speak up and let you know.
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  how you're being perceived.
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  This is a very special relationship that can take a lot of time to develop.
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  A headhunter in your field.
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  So there are external recruiters and internal recruiters, probably
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  not going to be this, but there are external recruiters that may
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  specialize in your particular industry.
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  And these might be the kind of people that are interested in getting to know people
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  within the industry, just to So that they are building their own network and they
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  may not have anything for you right now, but they may be willing to get to know
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  you in advance of having a role open.
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  These people can, of course, be great for helping you to get that next job.
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  A communications or a messaging expert is always a good person to know, as
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  well as people who are great with tech.
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  Someone who inspires you to think bigger.
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  and inspires you to be you.
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  So this is a really important seat on your board because you want that
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  person who stretches and challenges you
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  as well, an influencer in your field, getting to know people on LinkedIn and
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  establishing yourself with a presence on LinkedIn is a great way to get
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  to know influencers in your field
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  and a role model.
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  So a role model may be somebody that you know, or maybe
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  something that you don't know.
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  So it could be somebody that's in the public eye that you just respect
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  and want to model yourself after.
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  these are lots of different things.
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  You may think of other seats on your personal board that that work for you.
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  So you get to make it what serves you.
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  And that's the important thing is really thinking about.
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  What do I need?
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  What do I want?
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  Who are the kind of people I want to hang around with?
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  Because you want these relationships to be important to you and to be people
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  that you look forward to talking to.
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  That's the key element here.
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  So in the SisterSmart Leadership Program, we use this framework of a plot of land.
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  So if you think about it, seeds are your dormant or weak ties.
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  So these might be people that you knew in the past that you
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  haven't talked to for a long time.
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  Or people that you just, know really loosely.
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  Maybe you've worked on a project together or you've met each other in passing
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  or it was a vendor or people like that that you don't work with currently.
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  So, weak ties are actually the most important connections in your
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  network because they are the people who are going to bring you to
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  people that you don't already know.
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  Then think about the grass level.
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  So this is where I like to put your colleagues, your allies, your
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  customers, clients, current vendors.
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  And then at the grass level, you may have some flowers sprout up.
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  So these could be your mentors.
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  And maybe you've got some trees that grow, a big, strong
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  tree, and that's your sponsors.
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  And so it takes time to cultivate all of this and to water it and give it some
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  fertilizer and, tend the plants a bit and, pull out the weeds, the people that
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  you decided you didn't really gel with and put those in the compost pile and.
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  So this takes some time.
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  So how do you manage all of this?
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  So I would love to give you an example from one of my clients
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  because I was really impressed with how how she organized things.
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  So early in her career, my client Callie worked in consulting.
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  So she had a large network and a natural tendency for keeping in touch.
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  And I think she can be an inspiration for us all.
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  When we worked together, she took the opportunity to evaluate her
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  relationships and being in a leadership program really helped her to carve
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  out that time that she hadn't taken while her career had grown and changed
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  so she could update her system.
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  So she broke her list into A, B, and C contacts and created
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  a schedule for each level.
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  She schedules monthly, 6 week and quarterly connects with her A contacts
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  and sometimes she said they don't need a whole conversation but it
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  allows her to keep in touch with them and have that check in time.
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  And one of the things that I love is her yearly survey which she
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  sends to her A and her B contacts.
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  She sends a lovely email with a catch up of her year, and it has both personal and
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  professional information and a few photos.
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  So it's really fun to read.
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  It never feels like a humblebrag email because she's so personal and infuses
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  it with her warmth and her humor.
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  The most creative part of her email is the link to her survey, which has questions
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  on it that allows her to catch up with the people who take the time to fill it out.
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  And it's really fun and different and I look forward to it every year.
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  So Callie told me that she finds that many people that she might have
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  otherwise written off because she hadn't heard from them in a long time, end up
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  responding to her holiday email or survey.
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  And so it helps her keep in touch with people that she would have
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  maybe otherwise lost contact with.
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  I think we all have people that we wonder about keeping in touch
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  with that inner critic voice tells you that they just don't care.
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  When actually they've just been busy.
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  So her yearly check in allows people that avenue to keep the relationship going.
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  Her advice to managing your network is to take a relaxed approach
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  so it doesn't feel too heavy.
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  And so you don't spend too much time on it.
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  So whether you want to make it a formal process or not.
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  By deciding that building your network is a valuable effort and creating the
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  time for this on your calendar, you too can develop the relationships that you
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  need to help you get your next promotion and have greater success in your role.
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  No matter what level you're at now, no one gets to the top alone.
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  And by intentionally investing in the right relationships, every
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  step along the way gets easier.
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  At the end of each episode, I like to give you three shifts
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  that you can make today to start.
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  taking action on what you've learned.
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  The first shift that you can make is to check in with your mindset.
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  Is your mindset in the old way of thinking or the new one
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  that I brought to you today?
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  What is one way that you can shift your mindset to this new
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  way that we've just talked to?
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  Your second shift is to start thinking about the relationships
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  that you have already.
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  Who are your go to people?
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  Who would be on your A list?
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  And the third shift is to identify one person that you
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  would like to get to know better.
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  Someone that could potentially be on your board of directors.
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  Make sure to tune in to the next few episodes in season three,
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  because we will be learning a lot more about developing your network.
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  And you'll also be hearing from an inspiring leader who
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  will share how she's done this.
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  What has inspired you to take action in this episode?
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  Share the next small step that you will take to start building
• 15:08
  your relationships with us.
• 15:10
  you're watching on YouTube.
• 15:11
  And if you're ready to start taking the next step in your career, how
• 15:15
  about joining the Sisters in Leadership community to help you get there?
• 15:18
  If you feel like this is the right time for your career to take off,
• 15:21
  Click the link in the show notes and set up a time for us to talk further.
• 15:25
  I offer a free 20 minute growth accelerator call where we can
• 15:28
  talk about where you are today.
• 15:30
  And I'll give you one actionable step that you can make to take step forward.
• 15:34
  If you want to dive deeper into women's leadership and how you can move up in
• 15:37
  your career, I hope you'll subscribe either on YouTube or wherever you
• 15:41
  listen to your favorite podcasts.
• 15:43
  I'm on a mission to help women get into leadership and stay there.
• 15:46
  And if that's aligned with you, I'd love to have you be part of this community
• 15:50
  and tune into more episodes on Sister Smart Leadership that will support you in
• 15:54
  becoming the leader that you want to be.
• 15:57
  If you're ready to fully lean into your feminine leadership and get promoted
• 16:00
  from director to vice president and beyond, hit that subscribe button so
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  you'll get all the episodes to come and check out the recommended video here
• 16:09
  to see how women are rising up without playing by the old rules that built these
• 16:13
  male dominated industries and systems.