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8 Tips for Advancing Women
 

1. CHANGE THE MINDSET AROUND WORK/LIFE

      “People don’t use work/family benefits because we find in our national studies that 39 percent of employees feel there’s a penalty,” says Galinsky. “If you ask bosses in a company whether there is a penalty, they’ll say no; ask employees and they’ll say yes, so where is the truth? It’s probably somewhere in the middle but closer to the employees.”

      PricewaterhouseCoopers, No. 12 in the top 50, couldn’t get people to take vacations or stop e-mailing, so they have closed offices down and shut off e-mail between Christmas and New Year’s; they make time off a value. Delotte, No. 19 in the top 50, has a mass career-customization program that enables people to rethink careers as being linear with fixed schedules.

      “The problem with the notion of off-ramps and on-ramps is that there is the ideal job and there are others,” says Galinsky. “It’s the industrial model of success where presence equals productivity. There is the ideal notion of how you do it, and an ideal way.”

      It’s not the only way. “My manager asked me to run the entire region – 15 teams in 15 states – and allowed me to do it out of Philadelphia. I had a sister who was dying at the time and my father who was very ill, and she was very conscious of the need for me to have some balance in my life,” says Saez.

      “She didn’t have to worry about if I would get the work done because she knew I would; she didn’t need for me to do it between 9 and 5,” she adds.

2. BUILD STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS

      “In any Fortune 500 company, the alignment process that you have to go to be successful can be five to 20 people depending on who’s in the zone,” says Nolan. “I made sure I had relationships that would facilitate productivity for me. This notion about growing vertically in organizations can lead to lack of confidence.”

      “You become comfortable in one particular discipline, and then when you need to cross over, if you’re not nimble because you haven’t started thinking about those tactical relationships, you’re probably not considered for a role because you don’t have dexterity,” she explains. “If you don’t have that dexterity, another counterpart – either male or female – will be chosen to get that work done.”

3. MOVE DIAGONALLY

      “A lot of my jobs were lateral,” says Snowden. “After spending 30 years in a company, you’d expect to have had senior-level or officer positions; I did not make officer until I left telecommunications and went to Eastman Kodak.”

      “I don’t think young people will stay as long as I did in one industry without being promoted. The expectation is that if they’re career-minded, they would be an officer,” she adds. “People have to know when it’s time to move, even though they may be happy and satisfied, because I was content. In being content, you stay wherever you are and leave it up to others to see your worth.”

4. COMMUNICATE CANDIDLY

      “Communication at home is as important as it is as work,” says Nolan. “You’re driving a car with passengers in the back; you’re not alone.”

      “Everybody needs to be able to put their thoughts aside and see the other person’s position, but it’s really hard when you’re at a standoff because no one wants to give,” says Snowden. “I’ve been the first one to give, but after I give, the other person can. Then we can come up with a compromise that’s going to be better than the [ideas] each of us had on our own.”

5. HAVE A GAME PLAN.

      “You have to work right to left; know where you want to go and look for experiences that are going to round you out. If it’s a book, does each chapter make sense?” says Nolan. “I’ve had great leadership. They’re tactical about delivering me assignments and feedback that are progressive. I ask for it on a regular basis, but just when you hit the point and you’re wondering what’s next, something comes because you’ve been talking about what the next steps are for you.”

6. FIND A MENTOR, BE A MENTOR

      “Every day that we are in leadership positions, particularly as women of color…we are leaving footprints in the lives of people,” says Saez. “We’ve got so many people thinking, ‘How did she get there? If she can get there, I can get there.”

7. NETWORK PROACTIVELY

      “You don’t want to be a solo person. I’ve seen that happen to people, where they do good work and that’s all they want to do. They go to work, keep their head down and they have no help,” says Snowden. “Networking is so important; you just have to do it. Pick and choose what you’re going to participate in and know why and network with different individuals.”

8. INVOLVE WOMEN IN DECISION MAKING

      “Have women involved in a visible way in setting goals for women, and then addressing the issues that they face in a visible way where there is real follow-through, not just lip service,” says Galinsky. “IBM sets up a group of women to say what stands in the way of their success, what we could do to make it more successful at this company, both in your personal life as well as in your work life. What could we do to also attract people like you as customers or as clients?”