How women can succeed in a male-dominated work environment

Although we have seen gender equality in the workplace evolve throughout the centuries, unfortunately there are some male-dominated fields where women still struggle to succeed. Cornell University undertook a study to evaluate the kinds of issues women face in male-dominated careers. The results showed that women faced several challenges, including:

Being made to feel incompetent

• A lack of emotional and financial support
• Their voices not being heard
• Various types of mistreatments

These sorts of challenges can have a negative impact on mental health. You might find yourself suffering from a lack of self-confidence, anxiety, or loneliness, so it’s vital to take measures that will boost your mood and lower the risk of more serious emotional distress.

Ways to succeed and keep your mental health intact

If you find yourself in a male-dominated work environment, make sure you spend time with strong women. Perhaps you can create a group at work with other women where you can support each other both emotionally and with work issues. If this isn’t possible, join a female networking group so you can spend time with other like-minded professionals. This is a great way to improve your confidence and learn how to communicate openly.

It can be extremely lonely being in a male-dominated workplace but by seeking out a female role model or someone who has experienced similar challenges, you are less likely to feel alone. There are lots of great articles and books that can inspire you to stay emotionally strong and achieve your goals regardless of the barriers that might be put in your way.

Just because you might work in a male-dominated sector, it doesn’t mean that all the men will discriminate against you. Try to seek out the men who are willing to be your allies, support you, and help your voice be heard.

There may be times when you are afraid to speak up or share your opinions for fear that you’ll be ignored or, worse still, ridiculed, but it’s really important to continue speaking up. Let male colleagues or managers see that you value your own worth and don’t apologise for voicing your opinions.

Practice the art of confidence when you’re at home alone. Be assertive without being rude, speak authoritatively and work on positive body language. Try not to be a people pleaser and make sure you’re knowledgeable in your field of work. You might even want to take some training so that your male colleagues are more likely to respect your skills, especially if they are skills that your colleagues are lacking.

If you face conflict at work, try not to engage in it and remain professional at all times. It might be tempting to respond in the heat of the moment but even if your emotions are running high, resist making personal replies. This approach will make your colleagues respect you more, but they are also less likely to persist with any future conflicts.

Coping with unemployment

Worrying about unemployment is a frightening thought and, for some of us, a constant worry. With current economic pressures and the increase of online businesses, more and more companies are struggling to keep going. This sad reality means that, each year, many employees find themselves without a job.

Perhaps you’ve just left school or university and you’re only just beginning your career search. Whatever your circumstance, being out of work can be extremely daunting and can cause a huge amount of stress and anxiety. Initially, your greatest fear of being unemployed might be how you’re going to cope financially, but this could then lead on to more worrying issues.

Research is ongoing at the University of Cambridge to discover why unemployment is detrimental to our health and wellbeing.

How unemployment can affect us

Being out of work for long periods of time can take its toll on our mental wellbeing and it can affect us in different ways:

• The financial burden of not being able to pay our bills can create anxiety.
• Unsuccessful job applications and interviews can lead to a lack of self-worth and self-confidence.
• Our quality of life is affected and we’re no longer able to enjoy costly social activities, holidays or material goods.
• Financial stress can cause arguments at home with partners and family.

Owing to difficult situations and a feeling of hopelessness, the ongoing effects of being out of work can spiral out of control unless we take certain actions to deal with the problem.

Steps to coping with unemployment

Seek financial help – As soon as you find yourself out of work, get in touch with local or national organisations that can give you financial advice. You might find that you are entitled to certain benefits, and there are also temporary measures that can be put in place to help with paying your mortgage or rent. Speak to the bank and any lenders you may owe money to as most are usually understanding and might offer a short-term payment break. The Money Advice Service has a handy checklist to follow online.

Speak to a close friend or family member –  Talking to someone can help ease the burden and possibly offer an alternative perspective on your situation. They might even come up with some positive ideas that you hadn’t thought of so try not to keep everything bottled up.

Schedule fun time – Make sure you still schedule time for enjoying yourself. Not everything has to cost money. Go out walking, Skype or visit friends or take up a new hobby (there are lots of great YouTube videos on all sorts of topics to help you learn new skills). Also, many local leisure centres offer activities that are free if you’re in receipt of certain allowances.

Keep a routine – When you’re unemployed, it can be easy to fall out of a routine and this can result in a lack of motivation. You’ll find if you stick to a routine, it’s less likely feelings of a lack of self-worth will creep in. Getting up at a reasonable time in the morning, dressing as though you were going to work and planning tasks for the day will help you remain focused. Devote a few hours each day to your job search, contacting potential employers and preparing for interviews.

Stay positive – Try to avoid negativity and keep a positive frame of mind by practising positive affirmations, visualisation techniques and meditation. These kinds of activities can help reduce feelings of anxiety which, in turn, can lead to depression or serious physical conditions caused by ongoing stress.

Keep yourself healthy – By maintaining a healthy diet and undertaking regular exercise, both your physical and mental wellbeing will benefit. It’s scientifically proven that food and mood go hand in hand so make sure you’re eating the right things. Mind has lots of helpful tips for healthy eating.

Network – Networking is a great way to find potential job openings as well as giving you the opportunity to socialise and meet new people. Try and find some networking groups - there are lots of specific groups on social networking platforms as well as real life face to face groups. Keeping in touch with positive minded people can help keep you motivated. Join social media groups in the areas that you’re interested in as very often people post vacancies or offer advice online.

Do charity work – By helping others, you’ll not only feel like you have a sense of purpose, you could gain new skills and it could also impress a potential employer and give you the edge in an interview situation.

Avoiding a stressful September

Have you noticed how less stressed everyone is during the summer? Whether it’s the fine weather or the promise of a break away in the sun, somehow life seems easier during the summer months. Come September, however, and we soon see the stress start to escalate again…

Master our two simple exercises and help make your September as stress-free as possible.

Focus for fifteen minutes

It’s easy to get distracted in today’s busy, digital workplace. We’ve often got our fingers in many pies and we’re multitasking more than ever before. We challenge you to take a step back and focus for fifteen minutes each day. Think about what you want to actually achieve, rather than busying yourself with lots of things concurrently. Concentrate on the quality of your outputs, rather than the quantity of tasks you’re engaged with at any one time.

Yes, the rest of your day can be spent juggling, but we reckon after just a quarter of an hour spent on executing one single task on your to-do list, you will feel more positive and productive than you will the rest of the day.

This is what we want you to do during the fifteen minutes:

Remove yourself away from all distractions, switch off all competing technology and just concern yourself with the task in hand. If you start to daydream, click your fingers as a cue to bring your focus back to the task you’re doing. When your fifteen minutes is done, review your work.

Expect to feel a sense of pride from a job well done that will reduce any anxiety and stress. Realising what you can achieve in just fifteen minutes will also enable you to review your own workload – and that of your team – with a renewed clarity and focus going forward.

Connect with your colleagues

We guarantee that if you’re feeling the September stress, your work colleagues will be too. We want you to spend five to ten minutes each day connecting with someone you work with. You can use the five minutes to discuss a work-related topic or to find out more about them as individuals outside of work. What you discuss is not important, it’s the time spent together that will build the bonds you need to create a stress-free working environment going forward.

By taking the time to get to know the people we work with, we can gain a deeper appreciation of them as individuals, which leads to improved working relationships. The better we know people, the easier it is to communicate with them during times of stress and the more manageable our work issues will become as a result.

Taking time to connect with others may seem like a frivolous waste of time, but believe us, it’s five minutes well-spent. Stronger work relationships help us make more informed and grounded business decisions.

So, with September just days away – set yourself a challenge: to make it as stress free as possible.

Mentoring - how to be a good one and how to choose one

Years ago ‘mentoring’ was as simple as helping a new colleague feel welcome or listening to your co-worker as they let off steam about a manager or an increasing workload. Today, mentoring is regarded as a valuable and measurable tool to assist in an employee’s professional development.

Done properly, mentors provide a sounding board at critical career points, supporting and guiding on a specific career path. They help provide us with a unique perspective on the challenges we face, due to their understanding of us as individuals and – usually – an appreciation of the business or sector we work in.

A recent survey by the Accountemps recruitment company found that 86% of executives saw having a mentor as an important tool for career development. That said, only a quarter of those surveyed actually had someone they could regularly turn to for advice and guidance. 

This could be for one of two reasons:

1. We don’t know how to find a good mentor, or
2. There aren’t many good mentors about

Finding a good mentor isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are a number of factors that you need to consider.

People need to be clear about what they actually need in a mentor

What skills are you looking to develop? What gaps in your knowledge and experience are you looking to fill? You need to be honest with yourself about what you need from a mentor in order to find one who can support you in the right way. As we develop and grow, so too will our mentoring requirements change. Some mentors will grow with us and sometimes we will need to draw on more than one mentor to help us develop and fulfil our true potential. Set yourself a twelve month plan about what you hope to gain out of a mentor/mentee relationship and be sure to review it – with your mentor – at regular intervals during the year as you would any other development intervention.

People should consider working styles when choosing a mentor

Choosing a mentor based on the person you want to be is dangerous – you shouldn’t be looking to fundamentally change the way you are, but more to learn certain skills, such as empathy, collaboration and reflection, that will help you do your job better. By choosing a mentor with a complimentary work style you will avoid personality clashes and ensure that you get the most out of their support and guidance.

People should look for mentors who can listen as much as they talk

A successful mentoring relationship is a 360 one. Your mentor needn’t have been down the same career path that you have, nor should they just feed you the answers to the challenges you face. They are there to act as a sounding board and provide valuable insight that helps you reach your own conclusions. This can only be done if the communication is open, genuine and two-way.

So what does it take to be a great mentor?

Mentoring is a different relationship than the traditional manager / worker one and to become a great mentor you have to see the mentee as an individual, rather than a subordinate. You have to be prepared to look beneath the mentee’s work performance and develop an appreciation of their personal life to truly understand what drives the business decisions they make and shapes the way they behave at work.

Forbes.com describes a great mentor as someone who is ‘honest and unafraid to tell you hard truths about yourself and your work’. They ‘push you to take risks and aim higher’.

More often than not, the best quality that a mentor can have is the ability to inspire. To make people aspire to be better people and to give them the confidence to believe they can achieve what they set out to do.

Great mentors get as much value out of the relationship as mentees do. Some of this value is obvious: improved relationship management skills, deeper insight into how people think and operate, as well as experience in challenging, exploring and testing alternative theories and perspectives, which they can then replicate in their own work.

If you’re looking for more information on how to get the best out of people, this TEDTalk playlist is worth a look.

Ways to deal with difficult personalities

Our differences are what set us apart from each other – they add a vibrancy and a dynamic to the workplace that just would not be enjoyed, were we all the same. Diversity brings challenge and discussion that enables us to produce work that is thorough and rigorous.

However, this multiplicity may mean that there are one or two personalities within our work environment that we find difficult to work with. Rather than let this cause conflict, it’s better to have a plan – and be armed with the communication skills you need to deal with even the most trying of colleagues!

This article from Psychology today outlines ten top tips for dealing with difficult people in the workplace – it’s a great place to start in identifying what personality type you are dealing with. Here’s the list:

1. Keep your cool 
2. 'Fly like an eagle"
3. Shift from being reactive to proactive 
4. Pick your battles
5. Separate the person from the issue 
6. Put the spotlight on them 
7. Use appropriate humour
8. Change from following to leading 
9. Confront bullies
10. Set consequence 

It’s a good starting point, but when deciding which approach will work best for you, do bear in mind that there are two types of difficult conversation that you could find yourself facing. It helps to prepare an approach for each, beforehand!

Planned conversations

Knowing that you are going to encounter a difficult conversation can be daunting, but it does give you time to prepare. Make sure you have your facts straight beforehand – plan what you want to get across and how you are going to say it. Think carefully how you will respond to questions, accusations or challenges. 

Unplanned conversations

Being ‘cornered’ on the spur of the moment can automatically put us on the defensive, which means we deal with matters emotionally, rather than rationally. Try and reflect on how you react in such circumstances before they arise and put some steps in place that will prepare you, such as mindfulness techniques or a ‘holding’ response that will help you communication rationally if you’re ever put on the spot.

Be self-aware…

With a little bit of self-awareness and a willingness to develop your own communication skills, it is possible to be able to navigate interactions with difficult people. The following qualities are invaluable when communicating with others:

Assertiveness

We’re not talking about being bossy or bullish – assertiveness is about putting your point of view across clearly and with passion. Our assertiveness webpage gives you some tips on how to develop your own assertiveness.

Empathy

Empathy is a willingness to see things from another’s’ perspective, an appreciation of how you would feel were roles reversed. Read more about the habits of empathic people >

Negotiation

Aiming for a win-win outcome really helps when developing relationships at work. Creating an outcome where everyone can benefit is a powerful leadership tool. Read more >

Verbal / Non-Verbal Language

How you communicate with others is about so much more than the words you use – it’s about your non-verbal cues as well. This previous blog outlines some counselling skills that will help you connect with others.

Keep calm and carry on…

Difficult conversations and interactions with others can escalate quickly. Here are some tips to help you stay calm and in the moment >


Dealing with difficult people is not something that people relish, however with planning and preparation it needn’t detract from the job you have to do – or indeed impact on your working relationships.

Networking matters – how to leave a good impression

We often hear the saying that you only get one chance to make a first impression. While this is true, it does imply that once we’ve made an initial connection with someone, we’re home and dry. Yes, the foundations of good business relationships can be laid on first meeting, however keeping these connections alive through networking is an ongoing process – rather than a one-off event.

As with all relationships, business associations need to be nurtured and fed regularly if they are to flourish. The alternative is that we only connect with people when we need them for something and our work colleagues will soon get wise to this!

That aside, if we view networking as simply something we do when have a specific outcome in mind, it can become a more daunting task. Much better to embrace networking as part of our working life than think of it as a means to an end.

It’s good practice to build networking activities into your weekly work schedule, when you’re not looking to gain anything – this way you can focus on what you can do for others, rather than on what you expect from them.

We’ve developed some tips for building authentic networking connections that always leave a good impression

It’s not all about you

Make sure the focus is on others, not yourself. When building new relationships it’s easy to slip back into our comfort zone and talk about things we know most about – in many cases, that means talking about ourselves! The best way to excel at networking is to turn the tables and make sure that we always keeps others at the core of the conversation. By all means, share your views when asked, but make a real effort to include others in discussion through asking questions and bringing people in to give their perspectives too.

Listen more than you talk

We are given two ears and one mouth for a reason, and the rule of thumb when networking is to listen for twice as long as you spend talking. Relationships are about give and take, so make sure you give others the time and space to express themselves before sharing what’s on your mind. Active listening skills, such as keeping eye contact with others, and interjecting with questions or verbal cues – such as ‘mmm’ or a nod of the head, show that you are paying attention.

Stay in the room

Value the time that you spend networking with others. Be present in the conversations, turn your phone to silent and don’t look around the room, or down at your watch, unless absolutely necessary. People will very quickly pick up on your body language and your non-verbal cues, as much as they will the words that come out of your mouth.

Be a name dropper

When talking to new people make an extra special effort to use their name, to show that you’re paying attention and are making a personal connection with them. This serves two purposes: people respond better to those who address them by name, they’re more likely to remember you and it’ll make them feel good; it also means you're more likely to remember their name again in the future. There’s nothing worse than meeting up with a new contact, only to struggle with their name. If you find this a problem, this article may help.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to get the most out of your networking experiences, why not read this blog from the guardian newspaper?  It describes a three-pronged approach to networking - the ARE strategy. It stands for anchor (finding common ground), reveal (share interesting information about yourselves with others) and encourage (getting others to join in the conversation).

Remember, mutually beneficial business relationships are not built overnight. We need to put the same time and energy into nurturing our connections at work as we do those in our home-life. Put other people first and your networking efforts will soon pay dividends.