The COVID-19 pandemic, as we well know, has upended most of our operations, both on the home front and professionally. But a segment of the population has been impacted even more than most people. This segment comprises women employed across sectors. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, women’s job loss rate is 1.8 times higher than men’s job loss rates.
A disparity in numbers when it comes to gender diversity in the workplace is something we’re familiar with. The Leap Club has reported that about two-thirds of managers are mostly male. (https://gunnewsdaily.com) It’s difficult for women managers to rise through the ranks once the benchmark has been set.
However, there are business leaders who grab opportunities to change the game. Falguni Nayar, founder and CEO of Nykaa, was able to stay afloat and turn a profit. Now, Nykaa has joined the billion-dollar club along with other Indian startups.
So, how do you tackle a corporate environment not immediately accessible to aspiring businesswomen? Let’s find out!
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What’s Stopping Your Women Managers From Becoming A Successful Business Leader?
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How To Be A Successful Business Woman
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Equip Your Women Leaders With The Right Toolkit
What’s Stopping Your Women Managers From Becoming A Successful Business Leader?
Garima has been leading her organization’s product team for the past four years. Her team looks up to her for her work ethic, communication and interpersonal skills and her ability to listen well. Garima decides it’ll be best for her to venture out and start her own business.
She reaches out to her professional network expecting them to help her without qualms. Within the first few months, she realizes it was going to be harder than she thought. None of her connections had the bandwidth to aid her vision. Garima had the expertise, the vision and the plan. What she didn’t have was community support, unwavering trust in her abilities and faith in her idea. Ultimately, she gives up on the idea and settles back into her job.
Many women leaders can identify with Garima or they may think she should’ve pushed harder. It depends on who they are, their level of self-awareness and their determination to pursue their goals.
How To Be A Successful Business Woman
Career advice for women is varied across the board. Women leaders have heard things like “be aggressive” or “be firm”—personality traits that may not be shared by all—but it’s got more to do with skills as a business head.
Research suggests that women in leadership roles prove to be an asset to an organization. They lead to better business outcomes, smarter problem solving and meaningful collaboration. Women leaders can be inspiring, lifting others up while making the leap themselves.
Learn more about effective career strategies for women and how your organization can uplift its women leaders with these skills:
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Building Resilience
Resilience is the power to accept, accommodate and work with change. It’s about dealing with setbacks, overcoming challenges and adopting a positive attitude in a crisis situation. As a business leader, help women build resilience to tackle difficult situations, people and work conflicts.
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Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
There may be times when personal biases or prejudices stand in the way of doing business. Overcoming these limiting beliefs is a step toward improvement and development. People can work better knowing there’s nothing stopping them, not even themselves, from going after what they want.
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Trusting Your Voice
When we start something new, we have to believe in ourselves. Whether it’s setting up a new office, hiring a team or approaching investors, we need to trust our voice. Other stakeholders will be able to see the vision and idea of your business leaders once they’re confident about it. They’ll find it easier to communicate their expectations and stand by their words.
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Developing Self-Awareness
Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses is almost a superpower. If your employees can build the self-awareness to observe themselves objectively, they’ll likely make better progress in their careers. They should be able to take a step back when needed and assess the situation. It’s important for them to think about what they can do to improve or what they can change to reap better results.
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Supporting And Empowering Other Women
Women-led businesses like Sheroes aim to empower other women and support them in their endeavors. Building a community and working together to create a more supportive and welcoming world for women everywhere will help your organization be an industry leader. You don’t have to do it alone, seek help, lean on your employees and achieve organizational goals!
There’s no shortage of career tips for women in business, but at the end of the day, what matters is what you want, how you want it and most importantly, why you want it. You have to encourage your managers to take that first step outside their comfort zone.
Equip Your Women Leaders With The Right Toolkit
Harappa’s Women’s Leadership Program is designed for women managers with more than 10 years of experience across functions. Our program will help your leadership achieve transformative outcomes to drive peak performance. Some of these are embracing contentious conversations to build alliances, decoding power imbalances to negotiate effectively and building a strong professional network.
Invest in your employees today to make sure they stick around for the long haul. Create a healthy, robust and informative workplace for your employees across all levels by equipping them with the right skills, expertise and knowledge.
Explore Harappa Diaries to learn more about topics such as Must-Have Skills For Leadership, The Evolution Of Hero’s Journey, Top Women Leaders That Everyone Must Follow, The Importance Of Women’s Leadership & The Future Of Women At Work that will help organizations tap into their employee’s potential.