06.06.2024 Christin Müller 20368

Successful as a woman at work: the mindset is important

Equal rights in the workplace? Germany is still decades away from this. But women can do a lot themselves to be more successful at work, says HR developer and coach Betty Wollgarten: for example, improve their promotion skills and clarify their relationship to power.

If we continue at the same pace as before, it will be another 30 years before the 100 largest German listed companies have as many female board members as male board members. And this despite the fact that there is no shortage of young female talent. This is the sobering conclusion reached by the Boston Consulting Group in a study. 

The gap between the sexes is also consistently deep when it comes to pay. On average across Germany, a woman earns 180 euros less per 1000 euros of income than a man in the same position. This gender pay gap and the unequal distribution of care work, which forces many women to work part-time, also has a negative impact on pensions.

The framework conditions for women's advancement are therefore disproportionately worse than for their male colleagues. Important starting points for improving career opportunities are, on the one hand, legal regulations regarding parenting, care and nursing duties as well as time policies. On the other hand, companies need to rethink their work culture with its conventions and stereotypes and establish more transparent selection procedures.

An important factor: How does each individual woman behave on the job?

Another relevant factor is how each individual woman behaves at work and in her private life - again and again, every day, in every situation.

With these five starting points, women can approach their advancement more successfully:

1. develop your promotion skills 

Women do not shy away from careers and promotion because they do not want to bear the responsibility or because they could not or did not want to lead. They do not lack leadership skills. Rather, they fail one step earlier: they lack promotion skills - in other words, they don't show themselves, talk about themselves and use opportunities to make their own skills visible.

Language and speaking play a major role here: speaking about yourself clearly and without embellishment is also a form of confidence. That's easier said than done: in depth, dealing with your own speech requires perseverance and courage. Who am I? What is [really] important to me? How do I express what is [really] important to me [now]? How do I set unmistakable boundaries without hurting the other person?

2. clarify your relationship to power 

The question of speaking also raises the question of power. The concept of power still triggers a diffuse feeling of unease among women. Many women shy away from the possibility of taking power for themselves or seeing it as a natural part of their career and development opportunities.

Power is something you would rather not touch. Power sounds dirty. The term alone has sinister connotations - especially against the backdrop of German history. However, it is not power that is the problem, but the abuse of power.

Women who want to rise must clarify their relationship to power. Power can be understood as potential, as the ability to do something. In physics, we speak of potential energy, which is used, for example, to drive a mill wheel - or to destroy an entire valley. This metaphor shows the proximity of shaping, creating and destroying, misusing. Bringing the creative power of power and the responsibility that goes with it to the fore brings power out of its dark back room and places it in the light of everyday action. This is a place where women also want to see themselves and make an impact.

You don't have to please everyone. But you do need to know what expectations you have of yourself.
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3. venture out of your comfort zone 

In order to have power over others or something else, in order to be able to shape things, I first have to gain power over myself. This is achieved through self-control. This means not letting myself put up with everything. For example, not believing everything I think and questioning my own beliefs (e.g. "I can't do it", "I can't do it", "I don't have enough experience yet"). It helps to jump in at the deep end from time to time, try something out and do things differently than usual. Venture out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

Lock your beloved self-doubts away in a safe from time to time so that they don't get lost and don't get in the way. The incessant thought that others must finally expose you as an impostor can be put outside to cool off and left out in the rain. Here and there, dare to actually attribute success to your competence and performance rather than to chance or luck.

4. choose your role yourself 

What is meant by choosing one's own role? Role expectations are constantly placed implicitly and explicitly on everyone by others. However, you can also choose your own role.

Realize that you don't have to meet every role expectation. You don't have to please everyone either. Also reflect on what expectations you have of yourself that may not be helpful. On the one hand, a role must suit me as a person, and on the other, it must serve the function that I have to fulfill. Person and function come together in the role, and performance can only be achieved through the interplay of these three factors.

As a hard-working little girl, I secure the sympathy of all team members. However, this role could stand in the way of my next promotion. When I lead my team as a fully caring mother figure, I feel comfortable in a bath of harmony. However, I won't score any points with the rival head of department.

5. build networks 

To manage all this, you need allies and supporters in a professional network. Networks that use female leadership and innovation to help break the so-called Thomas cycle, i.e. the phenomenon that describes how management levels are repeatedly recruited according to similarity (management levels usually remain very homogeneous in terms of gender, age, origin and education). Breaking this cycle requires the courage to try things out, information, contacts and continuous learning. Not only informal networks help here, but also professional ones such as the Fund Women in the financial sector or Team Nushu in business. Supported in this way, it can even be fun to get out of your comfort zone and jump in at the deep end.