admin Around the Globe, one will find many influential women in all fields of life. Some of these women may admit that luck has played a major role for them, but surely, that can’t be the only thing that helped them gain the influential status.
There are various strategies that help a women become more powerful and influential. To survive in a competing world, women have to gain powerful influence over people to make a point and stand for different ideologies.
Influencing Approach
Being influential is essentially a relationship skill. For women a major factor in understanding and developing their ability to be influential is to have an appreciation of your influencing style and approach.
Most women have a preferred way of working with others—influencing style. This will be based on habitual behaviours that develop because you have found that certain approaches, behaviours, and skills seem to work for you.
- Directive:
An expert-driven style where you assert your views and perspectives and expect others to follow.
- Collaborative:
A team-oriented style where your aim is to involve others in the influencing process.
- Persuasive reasoning:
An issue-driven style where your main aim is to get others to buy into your ideas.
- Inspirational:
A people-oriented style where the aim is to appeal to the emotions of others to get their buy-in.
A woman who understands her own natural style is important, but the real skill is to be able to flex between all four approaches to suit the situation and people who are being influenced. By being aware of their own influencing approach and ability to flex this appropriately will undoubtedly contribute to the next area—reputation.
Reputation
A reputation is built up over many years and is largely based on interactions with others. This means that women who desire to be influential must be aware of their behaviour and how people perceive them. in this case, the body language, voice and language used and the overall visual impression created must be taken into account in creating a reputation. For a woman to be known as positive and trustworthy, then she must demonstrate a range of characteristics that truly help to build this reputation.
To become an influential woman, below is the list of characteristics a leader must have.
• Integrity
• Sincerity
• Genuine
• Trustworthy
• Principled
• Honest
• Consistent
• Morally upright
• Speaks up and out
• Dependable
• Distinctive
• Compassionate
• Self-disclosing
• Demonstrates respect for self and others
• Acts with goodwill
• Reliable
• Visible
Resilience is Essential
Resilience is something that everyone often takes for granted until it’s gone! Perhaps you’re busy studying, or at work and at home, with a little bit of stress, but then something extra happens—maybe it’s money worries, family arguments, or illness that’s a trigger.
Sometimes, on reflection, what pushes us over the edge can seem almost trivial, but it is the extra or unexpected task. Suddenly, we feel under a huge amount of pressure, which has probably been building for months and we simply didn’t realize. One can develop resilience. Here are just two ideas that may be of value:
- Compartmentalize:
This approach was taken by some of the successful women who were interviewed, Essentially, it is about focus and using mindfulness to great effect. As one woman put it, “When I am at home, that’s where my focus is, totally. But when I’m in the office, that takes all of my energy and interest. I find that’s far better than trying to blend both—then I simply end up doing nothing well!” Multitasking may be much admired, but it can create more problems than it solves.
- The second idea is to top up on energy levels each week:
Unfortunately, trying to do too much—achieving the impossible—is something women are all too good at. However, it can ultimately be damaging.
Learning when to say “No.” A woman doesn’t have to accept everything that comes her way. Remember, “me time” and keeping healthy are key components to maintaining energy reserves and resilience. This will help women cope and bounce back in times of stress and pressure.
The Journey Does Matter
Not everyone spends enough time considering where they are going career wise. If one does reflect on what they want in their working life and understand their own values, then they are likely to achieve more. Of course, careers are not only about upward mobility. Not everyone wants to be a chief executive—though we definitely look forward to the day when there are more female CEOs! What does make a difference though, and the advice given by many of the women we interviewed, is to be ambitious. As one woman put it: “Go for gold.”
There are many people around you who will be more than willing to help with advice, expertise, and practical support—perhaps as a mentor or coach. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a mentor or coach is a short-term, limited option. Think about the approach taken by top tennis players and sports personalities who often work together with their coach season after season. It’s a key part of their success.
It’s never too late to take charge of your own career journey.
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