There’s an old saying that women have to work twice as hard as men to get half as much. While this may have some truth to it, there are things that you may be doing –without realizing it– that limit your upward mobility at work.
Women have come a long way in the workplace. We have fought for the right to work alongside men, the right to be paid the same as them and the right to be treated with respect. There’s no reason why we can’t compete like a man. The question is: why don’t we?
Part of the answer lies in the fact that women unknowingly undermine their credibility and sabotage their careers. In other words, it’s not just the men in HR ruining our chance for a promotion; we do it to ourselves too.
If you find yourself repeatedly being skipped over for a promotion, the following top three mistakes that women make at work might help:
Working too hard
Women often complain that they do more work compared to other people. The truth is no one was ever promoted by hard work alone. According to Frankel, likeability, networking skills, and strategic thinking are some of the other factors needed to grow into a successful career. Instead of working hard all day, skipping lunch and breaks, give yourself permission to “waste” a little time. Spend at least five percent of your day building relationships.
Doing the work of others
Women tend to take responsibility for not only their work, but also the work of others. There’s only one problem with this: while we’re busy doing the grunt work, men are busy building their careers. Promotions are rewarded for a job done, not doing the job. Stop volunteering for low profile assignments. They won’t only zap your time, but also won’t improve your career. Try not to let others delegate their work to you. Practice saying “I’d love to, but I’m just swamped.” There’s no need to explain further. It’s their job, not yours.
Failing to capitalize on relationships
Men rely on relationships to open doors for them. Women view it as taking advantage of a friendship or business partner. You’d trust a referral from one of your business associates, then why wouldn’t the door swing the other way? When in doubt, ask permission to use a colleague’s name. For example, “I’m trying to set up a meeting with George Smith. Would it be all right if I mention that I know you?” See how easy that was?
I know a lot of men who do half the work but get promoted faster than anyone. They seem to possess the qualities you mentioned. they interact with the bosses more, they are charming, and they are quite popular. They are also strategic when it comes to their workload, so they work half the time, and they refuse to do the work of others. Thanks for the tips, I will certainly keep these in mind.
I think it’s all based on the crap we learn about girls from a young age through stuff like Disney. Girl-against-girl and the man is the ultimate prize/goal. We have to stop teaching kids these awful sexist lessons.
Networking is totally important, but it's also one of the things I find most challenging. It does feel weird to mix business with your relationships.
We, women, can do a lot! I think we just need empowerment! We just need inspiration to strive harder, do better and bring out out best 🙂 Women success stories really help. 😉
You go girl! If men can, why can’t we?!
This article has some really useful insights. I am often a little nervous of networking because I am afraid it will be "taking advantage of friendships," as this article says. I'll have to work to overcome that! 🙂
I think this article is completely right. I tend to over work myself and pick up work for others. I do it so much that, most of the time I don't notice. The reason for this is because I like things to be done in a specific way. I go through phases. I can be very frantic and bit of a perfectionist, especially in group projects. I like to be the one to review/correct things. It puts me at ease knowing that the job is done correctly.
Yeah.. I don’t know why, but at my past jobs I was always been too timid to ask for a raise. In retrospect, it’s probably because I didn’t give myself enough credit or think they’d give it to me, but in actuality, they probably would have!
I totally agree with the article author. Women tend to work more, to the point of taking others’ responsibilities but failed to develop and nurture good working relationships.
A colleague from my workplace has been in her position for more than 5 years and still, there are no signs of getting a promotion because her attitude stinks and that she prefers to stay in his cubicle. Yes she does her job, but she just can’t get enough “colleague votes” to be promoted. 😀
I know someone who has been working in the company for 12 years but never got promoted. I bet it’s cause half the office hates her. She’s very sarcastic, obnoxious and pessimistic.