Work-life challenges for female comms leaders

📈 Annita’s promotion looked perfect on paper. New title. Bigger team. Expanded scope. More projects But six months in, she realized the reality: She had more work, not more power. 📅 Her calendar doubled, her inbox tripled,   But her influence stayed exactly the same. 🧯 She was in every crisis meeting, But absent from every pre-meeting where real decisions were made. 🛠️ Decisions were still made two levels above her. She was invited to fix problems, not set direction. She was celebrated as reliable, not trusted as visionary. ⁉️ This is the trap: 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. Companies say “she’s ready to do more,” but not “she’s ready to lead more.” It’s why so many female leaders are exhausted yet invisible: 👉 Carrying the load but not holding the reins. Now, how can you break out of the workload trap: 1. 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲    Before accepting new responsibilities, ask: What decisions does this role now let me make? If the answer is none, negotiate, or say no. A title without authority is an anchor.     2. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲    Shift from measuring effort (“I worked 14 hours”) to impact (“I changed X outcome”). Attach your wins to the business bottom line, not your stamina. 3. 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗸𝘀    Don’t ask for more pay alone, ask for a seat in the rooms where direction is set. Visibility is the currency that multiplies everything else.     4. 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸    Be deliberate about what you take on. Quiet yeses to low-visibility firefighting keep you stuck in operations; visible bets on strategy move you up.     This is why Uma, Grace, and I built: ⭐ 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 – 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱⭐ https://lnkd.in/gAZnvAYq To decode how power really moves, and teach the strategies that shift you from fallback to frontrunner. Because the hardest worker isn’t always promoted. 👊The most strategically positioned is.

Have you ever found yourself saying "yes" to a project when your plate was already overflowing? Or apologizing profusely before declining a meeting? If you're nodding along (or maybe even wincing a little), welcome to the club! As women leaders, many of us have earned black belts in the martial art of stretching ourselves too thin. Managing time expectations is fundamentally different for women leaders. When we set boundaries, we risk being labeled "not a team player" – labels that somehow rarely seem to stick to our male counterparts. Women leaders also shoulder a disproportionate load of "office housework" – those necessary but invisible tasks like mentoring junior staff, planning celebrations, or taking notes in meetings. (One study found women spend about 200+ more hours annually on these non-promotable tasks than men at the same level. That's basically a part-time job you never applied for!) But here's the truth: your ability to lead effectively depends on setting clear expectations for your time. It's not selfish – it’s smart. Here are 5 strategies you can use to protect your time like a mama bear without growling at every request that comes your way.

“You’re not crazy.” I say this at least once a week to coaching and consulting clients. And the women in the Raise the Tide™ program for Comms. leaders echo it to each other along with proof points for their fellow friends and program participants regularly. When we hear consistently enough that we should … - be grateful we’re even invited into the meeting. - to do things differently than we know is best-practice. - to fulfill the strange request that doesn’t feel like it’s PR/communications responsibility, but based on the very confident way it’s requested, you question if you’re just thinking of it wrong. - to just do what’s asked. To not push back so hard. - to soften our "hard edges", to talk up more in meetings, to be more likable but also more authoritative, to exude more executive presence and influence with authority, etc. etc. etc. And on and on …. We’re essentially being gaslight daily. But if you're the communications leader at the company (PR, Internal Comm, Crisis, etc.). You know more about communications than anyone else in the organization. And you are an imperfect leader, but a leader all the same as the other leaders at your company. Trust that. You’re not crazy. They are, and they’re gaslighting you into believing you’re in the wrong. But I get it, sometimes you need to know if you’re thinking of it all wrong. If you’re the one that’s nuts. It can be lonely out there as a comms. leader. You're in a misunderstood and oversimplified field. And when you have enough people subtly and overtly indicating that you might be thinking of things incorrectly, it can really wear you down. You might need another mind to turn to regularly to think these things through and figure out a plan to address the crazy … If this is you, reach out to see if you might be a fit for coaching or for the group program for women leaders and emerging leaders in our field, Raise the Tide. But for today, consider this your reminder: You’re not crazy. It’s not you. Fight on Superheroes. You got this.

Whenever I meet with women and especially women of color in organizations, one thing stands out for me- they are ambitious about their careers. However, they feel stalled because of managers and works cultures that are not inclusive. McKinsey & Company’s recent article on the truth about women’s ambition and representation in corporate America reinforced my observations – so I decided to include their research in my monthly insights. The research reveals that the notion that work and life are incompatible, and that one comes at the expense of the other, is outdated. Women are more ambitious than ever and workplace flexibility is fuelling them. Despite this, women, and especially women of color, remain underrepresented in the corporate pipeline.  Slow progress for women to the manager and director levels, together with director level women leaving at a higher rate than men at the same level, result in fewer women in line for the most senior level positions. Clearly their careers are not stalled because of a lack of ambition but instead because of work cultures that are not conducive to their advancement. Article highlights: -         For the ninth consecutive year, women face their biggest hurdle at the first critical step up to manager. This year, for every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, 87 women were promoted. And for women of color progress is lagging even further behind their peers. In 2023, 73 women of color were promoted compared to 91 White women (for every 100 men promoted). -         Women experience microaggressions at a significantly higher than men. 78% of women who experience microaggressions self-shield or change their appearance to conform in an attempt to be accepted and enable their success. Black women are twice as likely as White women to have to change something about themselves in order to conform. -         For women, hybrid or remote work is about a lot more than flexibility. When women work remotely, they face fewer microaggressions and have higher levels of psychological safety. To strengthen the pipeline and progress of women, the article from McKinsey suggests that companies should focus on 5 key areas: -         Tracking outcomes for women’s representation -         Empowering managers to be effective people leaders -         Addressing microaggressions head-on -         Unlocking the full potential of flexible work -         Fixing the broken rung, once and for all To learn more about these focus areas and how you can advance women at your organization, click on the link below to read the full article: https://lnkd.in/dWSb5jxf #WomenInLeadership #DEI #InclusiveWorkplace #WomenEmpowerment #DiversityEquityInclusion

Women are often known for their exceptional organizational and execution skills, and we often have a strong sense of responsibility and a commitment to deliver results. Unfortunately, this often leads to women being labeled as a 'doer' rather than a strategic thinker, therefore being assigned more operational tasks, unintentionally diverting us from larger, more strategic opportunities. There are steps we can take as female leaders to avoid this outcome. Speaking from first-hand experience, learning to delegate and assign work to your team and others becomes increasingly important as you progress in your career. 1. If it's something that should be done by others, but you're doing it because you're good at it, pause, and delegate it. Efficiency isn't always effectiveness. Your time is often better spent on strategic initiatives that match your capabilities. 2. If it's something that should be done by your team, but you're doing it because they're too busy, then it's time to discuss resourcing and tradeoffs. But bring data: 'Here's what we're not delivering because we're understaffed for X objective.' 3. If another team should own it but you're the 'go-to' problem solver, talk to your cross-functional counterpart and make sure ownership and accountability are clear. Your strategic priorities aren't negotiable just because you're capable of doing their work. Positioning ourselves as strategic leaders isn't just about seeing the bigger picture -- it's about refusing to be confined to tactical execution when we've already proven our strategic value. #leadership #communication #growth

Those of you who know me won't be surprised that among the 6 Takeaways from the Ad Age Leading Women Awards panels, I'm first quoted under the "Be Honest" subhead. For those who know me less well, I'll let you in on a little secret - I'm a pathological truth-teller. During our panel on "leading through personal challenges" with Jeanine Poggi Stacey Ryan Cornelius and Ruth Bernstein, I shared a few personal perspectives acquired from my own trials by fire. 1. Asking for help does not make you a "less than" working mom. Many a time I felt guilt about missing dinner or asking my nanny to handle the doctor appointments. While my 5 and 7 year old kids may have whined, their 19 and 21 incarnations view me as an inspiration and life mentor. I've been gifted innumerable "bad ass bitch," "girl boss," and "resilience" key chains, birthday cards and mugs to prove it. 2. Own your own destiny. When asked what gave me the courage to leave the "safety and security of the large, "hold-co" agency world to start my own business" I chuckled (smirked?) before responding that, "anyone, especially a senior woman over 40, who still believes that a large agency or corporate job, provides a greater measure of security in 2024 is deluding themselves. I have been able to provide myself and my family greater stability in the past 5.5 years since founding Eden Collective than at any other time in the past 20." 3. The challenge is not just about the challenge of navigating societal expectations for women as caregivers. It is fundamentally about society's expectations, or rather gender stereotypes, for how a woman should "behave" in a professional context. Direct, passionate, confident, outspoken (fill in the blank). There is a lot of research on this double bind. On the one hand, incorporating this feedback and modulating your style to fit the circumstance is an important part of personal and professional growth. On the other hand, when the context requires you to compromise your core being or demands you be a thing that is alien to you, it's time to get the hell out as fast as you can. If they don't get you first... https://lnkd.in/dkrScQTH