My client Jenny*, a woman in her 30s with slate-gray eyes and a warm smile, had a flawless professional resume. She grew up in a multi-cultural household and spoke 3 languages. She’d studied International Communications in college, and then had gotten a law degree so she would be “valuable to any employer”, as she told me during our first session.
For the past 4 years Jenny had been employed at one of the biggest international business consulting firms in the world. She liked her coworkers, and her manager gave her a ton of autonomy, which are two factors that can greatly contribute to overall job satisfaction. But Jenny was unhappy. She had been stuck at the same level for 3 of her 4 years at the company, with no significant promotions. She was frustrated and confused, and uncertain if she should quit her job or stay and try to make progress up the company’s ladder.
I asked Jenny to share her most recent performance review with me. According to Jenny, during the meeting with her manager, he had barely glanced at her metrics. He just gave her a “thumbs up” without any further instruction about how she could improve or grow in her role. She left his office feeling even more frustrated.
I was stumped by the discrepancy between the good feedback about Jenny’s work and her stalled progress at the company, but I asked her not to give up. I knew we would find the missing piece of the puzzle.
Our next session (by Zoom) took place during Jenny’s lunch hour. She appeared onscreen with a huge bag from Taco Bell. When I asked her about it she told me she didn’t actually like the food, but her coworker had offered to buy her lunch, and since he was treating her, she didn’t feel like she could ask for what she really wanted.
That’s when it happened: Jenny’s face completely changed. She looked stunned, like she’d just walked right into a wall.
I asked her what was happening, and she told me this: “I think maybe I haven’t been asking for the things I want at work!” I asked her if she’d ever told her boss that she wanted to be considered for a higher position. “I never have,” she said, “I thought my work would speak for itself!”
You’d be surprised how much I hear women say this. Allowing your work to “speak for itself” is NOT a good career strategy, especially for women who are employed in highly male-dominated industries and companies. Speaking up for yourself and advocating for what you want next on your career path is crucial. Think of it like this: right now there are people in your work environment who would love to help you climb up to the next level. But like you, they’re extremely busy and consumed with their own tasks and projects. They might not see what’s right in front of them, namely your hard work and career potential, unless you draw their attention to it!
Jenny and I decided to craft a short Power Pitch that she could use with her boss to let him know she wanted to move up. We gathered stats from her performance review and threw in more recent data, including a ton of client testimonials that rated Jenny’s work as “Excellent”. Jenny booked a sit-down meeting with her boss, and made her case. He didn’t say much during her presentation. He seemed to be thinking about something. The next day he gave Jenny one of his biggest clients to work with on her own. She was deeply engaged with the work for 4 months and received high praise from the client. When the job was done she went to her boss and told him it was now or never: she wanted a promotion, or she would leave the company.
I’m sure you can guess what happened next. Jenny was promoted to the next level in the company, and 6 months later she was promoted again. I checked in with her recently to see how she’s doing, and she told me that the best part of her job is mentoring the younger women coming up behind her. She has a soft touch, but gives them one piece of stern advice: “Speak up for your damn work!”. She also organizes monthly lunches for them, and always asks what they want to eat (spoiler alert: it’s never Taco Bell!).
*name and some details changed for privacy
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