Are You Promotable? Why So Many Women Are Overlooked for Strategic Roles
You’ve heard time and time again that you’re great at your job. You like your boss and they consistently give you positive feedback. Your team tells you that you’re a rockstar at your role and they know they can count on you to get the job done right.
So, why are you getting passed up for promotions and leadership roles?
When you ask your boss to explain why you didn’t land a new position, they may not be able to articulate anything of consequence. The feedback is vague and not entirely actionable. Perhaps they tell you to explore confidence training, or chase down yet another certification. But is this what they’re also telling your male peers?
There’s a major disconnect between what women are being told is required of them to advance in their careers and what actually impacts promote-ability.
Let’s talk about what this disconnect means, and four ways you can take control of your professional growth.
What’s the Missing Link? Strategic Thinking.
Also known as business acumen, this critical component to career advancement is probably something your (male) boss has never mentioned in your annual reviews, or as a reason why you weren’t considered for a title change.
And this isn’t an isolated phenomenon. I see it all the time in my work coaching women who are aspiring toward leadership roles.
Susan Colantuono goes in depth about this in her Ted Talk, “The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get.” She discovered that male executives consider competencies like confidence and leadership training to be differentiators, while business and strategic acumen are “a given” when it comes to promotion. However, after asking an audience of 150 women if they’ve ever been told that business and strategic acumen are paramount to their career advancement, only three raised their hands.
Maybe you already suspected this, but didn’t have the words to describe it. Or maybe you’re having an “aha!” moment right now. Either way, once you “see” it, you can’t unsee it. And you’re not alone in that.
How to Take Control of Your Professional Growth
I invite you to let go of the idea that if you were just a little more confident, or had better presence, or were more likable, then you’d get the promotion.
While trainings on those topics are nice, they don’t get at the root cause of your career stagnation. Instead, focus on learning how to contribute differently than how you currently contribute functionally.
You’ll need to learn how to help the organization realize opportunities, avoid bad decisions and identify problems by asking the right questions, making suggestions and challenging ideas.
Now, this part is easier said than done. On one hand, what a relief to finally know the problem and understand the way you’re expected to contribute! On the other, how do you just flip a switch to start thinking strategically?
I want you to think of strategic thinking as a muscle. It’s not something we turn on and off, but a skill we need to develop and hone regularly in order to get stronger and more skilled at it.
Here are four ways to approach that process:
Invite yourself to higher-level conversations with the sole purpose of observing
Get outside of the tactical mindset and watch, listen and dissect the way strategic leaders are thinking about the business. Ask yourself what they’re doing differently than what you’re doing. Examine why someone was so effective at communicating an idea. Challenge yourself to understand why certain connections were made that you didn’t originally see.
Find someone who can be a sounding board
You’ll need to practice talking through decisions in new ways, so it’s important to have a confidant who can give you feedback as you learn to walk through your thought process aloud. I always push my coaching clients to preview presentations with me so I can help them pull out key points, refine the dialogue and keep them focused on the strategic message.
Learn to embrace a different perspective
Start thinking about the ways you can contribute to the company and its goals – not just the goals of your campaign, department, or team.
Engage a coach
It’s truly so difficult to learn a new way of thinking without having a mentor to hold you accountable, push your boundaries, and cultivate a skill set that might feel foreign. When I work with clients, my goal is to help them evolve in a way that they might not even know how to define just yet. In addition to strengthening their strategic-thinking muscle, I also focus on the emotional work and serve as an advocate (both behind the scenes when I meet with/coach their bosses, and in each 1:1 session). It always helps to have someone cheer you on from the sidelines, especially when doing something new.
If you work in a male-dominated industry and see a disproportionate number of men seated at the C-suite table, it’s probably a sign that you aren’t being told or helped to cultivate the skill set that will actually land you a bigger role.
Even if you enjoy your functional role right now, I encourage you to start thinking about the broader picture. Learning to see with a wider lens will set you up for career progression and help narrow the gap between you and your male counterparts.