[quote style=”boxed”]”I want to move ahead in my career, communicate with confidence when speaking in a room, writing e-mails, delivering a presentation. I want to attract a new opportunity / role based on my expertise and track record, believing in myself and able to demonstrate my work knowledge.” [/quote]
Because deep down you know, there are opportunities with your name written all over it and you are ready to get visible and own the industry and market you are in.
Who you are
You are a smart, motivated professional and have set your mind to landing a more challenging leadership role with more face time, getting visible and paid what you’re worth now, because your current income level is based on what you were worth then before all your experience now. You have the openness, faith and “no-excuses” attitude to raise your game now.
You want to improve your communication skills by feeling relaxed when attending or conducting meetings, speaking to clients, peers or direct reports, running presentations or delegating. Additionally, the dynamic of working in an aggressive or male-dominated environment or foreign culture which is unfamiliar to you, may play a key role in how comfortable you feel when in the room.
It’s time to start high-fiving yourself because deep down you know, you have what it takes to look beyond the trees and see the big picture to consistently meet your goals, while learning to ask for support without feeling pushy and finally investing in yourself.
What your issues tend to be
You feel stuck at times, lacking confidence in your communication, unsure if you’re 100% qualified to take the leap into something bigger than where you are today. Deep down, you feel you are not maximizing your potential and struggle with self-sabotaging thoughts questioning whether your level of expertise is meaty enough for today’s job market. You want to advance to a new level, but need more focus and discipline on where you should be headed and step-by-step guidance to get there.
You don’t always feel like you fit in when speaking and are unsure if you are doing a good job in communicating your ideas and whether they will be accepted. You worry about how you are perceived. When speaking in front of a roomful of people or in meetings you tend to panic and find it difficult to concentrate on what you have to say because you are more concerned with what others are thinking of you and have some self-doubt about your abilities during these moments.
What you need most right now
You need an action plan to get you out from behind your computer, leveraging your knowledge, experience, lessons learned which you are not seeing in yourself right now. Your primary focus needs to be on recognizing all of your bench strengths and value-adds that you uniquely bring to the table. It’s all about high-fiving yourself everywhere your feet land and practicing self-promotion techniques which will attract others to want to learn more about YOU.
You need a mindset shift about how you see yourself and support with difficult conversations and critical feedback to build on your strengths and recognize your weaknesses so you can take your career to the next level. You want to walk into any room and demonstrate your work knowledge, while still enjoying the camaraderie of your peers, direct reports or clients, comfortably speaking to them when presenting, running meetings, delegating, asking their help or simply brainstorming. Then it’s all about having a tactical toolkit in your hip pocket when working with others, maintaining an authentic internal and external dialogue asking for what you need, pitching and communicating your ideas assertively with your unique feminine flair and your natural M-O. You need to pull yourself out of “worker bee” mode and be a big picture thinker who is BE not DO. You need a network which will serve as a pipeline to new opportunities and a tribe you can continually rely on for support. Then it’s all about getting comfortable and focused to consistently move to higher-levels in your career.