How will you #choosetochallenge?
We celebrated International Women’s Day in March, the theme for this year being #choosetochallenge.
A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions — all day, every day. We can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all #ChooseToChallenge for #IWD2021 — International Women’s Day
We had Ruchi Tandon, an L&D Consultant and Coach for Leadership Development, Personal & Career Growth; share with us how we can #choosetochallenge this Women’s Day.
I #choosetochallenge to be ‘respected’ instead of ‘liked’ at the workplace.
If you are often smiling, talk softly, and don’t point fingers, you are ‘liked’ at the workplace. But are you ‘respected’? Just being ‘liked’ at the workplace will mean that no one will take you seriously, and often treat you like a child.
You are respected when you stand by your opinions and voice them, thus creating more impact.
Our culture has taught us to be ‘good girls’ who smile quietly, but we should learn to not let these beliefs come in the way of growing in our careers.
I #choosetochallenge low-confidence and anxiety.
When we hear of ‘Fake it till you make it’, we should remember that it’s not about deceiving others but creating a sense of self-confidence within us.
This can be done by positive & powerful body postures, especially before meetings and presentations:
We had a question from one of our participants: “How long should we do this?” Ruchi aptly mentioned that once we start doing this, over time we start sensing reduced anxiety in critical situations, and this becomes natural to us — we don’t have to consciously think of following this.
I #choosetochallenge my Imposter Syndrome
When we asked our audience this question, this is the response we got:
Not surprisingly, many of us face imposter syndrome. Here are some ways you can overcome it:
I #choosetochallenge myself to think of how my decisions will affect my career path in the long term.
See if this situation sounds familiar to you:
Many of us question our qualifications after returning from maternity leave/ moving from part-time to full-time: “Why do I want to rock the boat? Will I be able to balance my work and life once I take this new role?”
Ruchi suggests asking yourself this question:
What will make me happy? Will the title of VP make me happy 10 years down the line?
or
I don’t care about designations, my family is important.
It doesn’t have to be ‘this’ or ‘that’ — Explore the ‘and’ too.
Your decisions should not only be based on whether you want to grow now but how this will affect your career path 10 years down the line.
Ask your partner to help you — so you can continue to maintain your work-life balance. Importantly, don’t feel guilty about choosing your priorities. You can’t be perfect all the time, no one has it all.
I #choosetochallenge Risk-Aversion.
As girls, we are often told: “Be careful when you go out”, “Be careful when you do this”, and so on. This fosters a sense of risk-aversion within us which affects other areas of our life too.
We can challenge this by understanding that playing safe is the biggest risk we would be taking.
I #choosetochallenge a Fixed-Mindset.
When we have a fixed mindset, we are so afraid of being called a ‘failure’ that we don’t try things we believe we won’t be that good at. This limits our ability to grow and learn.
Instead, when you have a growth mindset, you believe more in your effort than in your natural ability — and are willing to learn new things, even if that means challenging your identity and beliefs about yourself.
As children, if we were told ‘You are smart’ that becomes a part of us. So when we make one mistake, it feels like the end of the world. So we avoid doing things that threaten our identity and get stuck in the fixed mindset trap.
Take this quiz to determine if you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
I #choosetochallenge Perfectionism.
At times, we get so engrossed in the details that we forget to look at the big picture.
Track your success: “What did I achieve in the last 6 months” — this will you a big picture idea of how your life is going vs how you want it to go. This will tell you what you need to be actually focussing on.
Perfection kills — we always hope to improve it a little more with the next iteration, However, because of this our other tasks suffer, or we end up burning the midnight oil.
She suggested using a technique called the ‘Delayed Start’: Deliberately start things late, so you don’t spend more time than needed on the essential elements of the task.
I #choosetochallenge the bias that I don’t have an Executive Presence.
Have you ever been told that you don’t have an ‘executive presence’, or that you look too young for this role?
Ruchi shared an example with us:
You: “For the work that I’m doing, I need to be in the weekly exec meeting — because of the impact I’m making”
Manager: “You are too friendly with the juniors. There will be a compromise on confidentiality.”
You: “The above statement is biased. I suggest you see how it goes for 6 months, and then come to a conclusion”
Work on developing your executive presence: the way you carry yourself confidently, the way you present your opinions assertively, and the way you handle disagreements in your team. Don’t let biases hold you back.
I #choosetochallenge Reactionary Thinking.
Don’t spend all your time in your to-do list. Plan for the long term. Schedule free time for just ‘thinking’: for example while you’re sipping your morning coffee. Don’t think of what needs to be done ‘now’ but focus on what you want to be doing in the long term and why you want to be doing it.
Tell yourself “It doesn’t matter” — Don’t bother so much about font and alignment in a presentation:It doesn’t matter. If there is a mess in the house: It doesn’t matter.
To be strategic, you have to move away from being too detail-oriented. You have to see the big picture.
How will you #choosetochallenge?
Watch how we #choosetochallenge here:
Additional Resources:
Hi, I’m Manasi! I am a Technical Lead at Synamedia and a Network Leader, Head of Marketing, at Lean In Bangalore.
I love books and a great cup of coffee to go with it. I love traveling and am a big believer in investing in experiences and memories.
