There are distinct women’s leadership skills that will elevate women to advance in their leadership, career, and business. Knowing and honing these skills will not only give working women the confidence to go for any position or handle difficult situations, but they will also empower women to be seen and use their voice so they step into leadership. We already know that women are highly competent and their competence at what they do is rarely in question, however, what can limit us is our confidence or our ability to communicate both our competence and confidence to others.
These are two of the most important women’s leadership skills and imagine what would happen if these were mastered as much as we demonstrate our competence? I will tell what would happen; we will be unlimited and unstoppable where many more women would advance their career, business, and income.
Let’s do a quick assessment of your experiences and challenges for a moment. Answer the following:
- Have you ever been challenged, worried, or uncomfortable asking for money, a raise, or promotion?
- Do you ever feel not confident as a leader or question your identity as a leader?
- Have you ever wondered how to be more assertive or wished you were more assertive?
- Do you marvel at others ability to communicate directly or wonder how they do it?
- Have you ever found it hard to promote, pitch, or speak confidently about the work you do?
- Is handling conflict a challenge and do you wish you had the skills to handle conflict better?
- Has your executive presence or leadership presence ever held you back from growth?
- Do you find yourself accepting the conditioned norms as part of a work or societal culture or
do you challenge these for yourself and push the boundaries taking greater risk? - Is it common for you to wait to be acknowledged, tapped for leadership, or found out or do you actively pursue what you want and know is possible for you before people reach out to you?
- Does managing the emotions of work/life ups and downs or other’s emotions limit you as a leader?
If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these or the majority of them and answered the first options in question 8 and 9, then this is exactly what Women’s Leadership gives to women leaders building their career or business. In a way they are skills, tools, and methods that empower us to feel confident handling a variety of situations including conflict and to take the lead in going after what we want and deserve. These are not skills we were ever taught, yet all of them have the power to transform our income, leadership, and confidence to lead.
How Women’s Leadership Transforms a Women’s Confidence
I am going to repeat this phrase a lot to drive the point home that women are highly competent and their competence is almost never in question. So, then how can women be brilliant at what they do, but not have confidence? We can all understand the challenge with boldly communicating our competence as we have all been conditioned to be humble and in some cases to not stand out too much, but where does this struggle to feel confident leading and being seen come from? Perhaps it is cultural and societal conditioning, or perfectionism, or our need to please, to not make a mistake, to prove ourselves or to be accepted. However, imagine what would happen to your career or business, if that confidence was transformed and you felt confident?
This is where Women’s Leadership skills, training and coaching make the biggest impact; in elevating the confidence of women in business which allows them to step into and own their leadership. Once women have these skills, they show up in a larger way and therefore, produce greater results in advancing their career and growing their business. This shift from doubt, hesitation, limitation, fear, and a constricted state to the freedom of confidence and the skills to deliver it visibly, is what will unleash a woman’s full potential so she is seen by others. This confidence is built by knowing, developing, and practicing women’s leadership skills that give women the abilities to communicate, present, and promote themselves in their workplace or through their business.
The Big Vision and Why Women’s Leadership Skills are Important
As I was writing my newsletter to women leaders the other day, all of a sudden I had written a vision for a world where women everywhere were confident and where confidence was no longer a limitation for women in business. This would lead to a lot more women in leadership transforming the working world as we know it. Can you imagine how great it would be if women were self assured, prepared, and eager to step into leadership? A working world where women were not only the master at what they do, but also had the skills to lead and felt confident? In addition to feeling amazing and creating new opportunities of growth for more women, we would all be making more money and have a seat at the table to positively impact business.
Now that we have gone through the impact of the vision and what it would do for women, let’s examine why women’s leadership coaching and skills development are important. Women and men are raised differently, conditioned different to sometimes drastically opposing societal expectations, and face unique inequalities in the work world that men do not have to overcome. For a large majority of women, these skills do not come naturally, but for some they may be part of their personality or they may have been raised with them. This is all to say that these skills can be learned and are not a lack of ability, but rather a lack of opportunity to learn and then practice them.
Just the other day reviewing survey results, it was interesting to see the respondents answers because most women had a great understanding of leadership as well as the interest, but when it came to rating their own leadership skills, the group percentages dropped. When I inquired with the survey leader about this, they shared that there are not a lot of women in leadership in their company which means they are not being given the opportunity to practice or display their leadership.
We are progressing, but to hear this tells me, we still have a lot of work to do. It also solidifies that while men may be given leadership positions more freely, it is even more important for women to use the women’s leadership skills of: visibility, voice, networking, having an advocate or mentor, promoting oneself, asserting oneself as a leader, building their executive presence, and actively pursuing the next level. If you are a female entrepreneur, this applies to you as well because the market place is full, loud, and competitive; this means you have to stand out and put yourself out there with all the same skills.
Left to our nature, our conditioning, cultural and societal ideologies, and the work world as it is now, many a great women who would make incredible leaders are never noticed, called up, or positioned to lead. As career women and female entrepreneurs, it is going to be our resourcefulness, women’s leadership skills, and positioning ourselves for growth and success that is going to shift the tide to elevating more women into leadership and financial independence.
If we do not have or master some of these very important women’s leadership skills such as being assertive, a direct communicator, having leadership presence, confidence, and self promotion, we are limiting our true potential. The potential is there, the high level of competency is there, but often people are unaware of it and it is our job to demonstrate it, be vocal and visible, and ensure we are on their radar. For all you women entrepreneurs, you may not have ever thought you need leadership skills to grow your business, but all of these will add zeros to your income and grow your audience.
This is why women’s leadership skills are so important because they support every woman in achieving her peak potential which will advance her in business, career, and leadership, but it also has a community effect of advancing more women to equality, freedom, and global impact.
Women’s Leadership Skills Development Coaching Program
If you haven’t noticed yet, I am quite committed to this vision and to empowering women with the space to learn, develop, and practice women’s leadership skills so more women will be elevated in their career. This is why I will be offering a very exciting group program for women leaders and entrepreneurs to develop these essential career advancing women’s leadership skills. If you are someone who likes to learn privately, the whole program is also available in a 1:1 coaching format as well. In addition, if you are an employee resource group or company that is looking to support the advancement of women in your company, this program will also be available in a workshop format.
Details for its launch will be coming soon and if you want to know more or have inquiries, sign up for my newsletter or send me an email at [email protected].
I was reminded and saddened about how only one of these skills can make all the difference in what we earn or where our career goes when I signed on to a new contract a year and half a go. You see, I had asked to be paid for what I knew I was worth and really for what I would not settle for anything less than. I got what I had asked for and negotiated a little higher. The other team members were paid less, but more importantly, they were being paid way lower than they deserved. This skill of being able to ask for what you are worth, negotiate, and be confident in communicating your value are all women’s leadership skills. It made me sad to know they were paid less and I wish they had advocated for more.
Here’s to elevating working women everywhere with the leadership skills that will grow their business, advance their career, and launch them into leadership.
Your Women’s Leadership visionary and coach,
Jody
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