It can be frustrating, upsetting and downright unjust if there really is an unspoken limit imposed upon your ambitions. If you don’t want to put up with it, what are your options?
identify what your company or organisation says it really values
If you want to climb higher start to gather evidence on
What behaviours are valued and rewarded within your company or industry
Where your competencies align with company mission, culture and values
How you currently display these attributes
be your own best advocate
If you feel your value is being overlooked, or that promotion evading you, time to get proactive.
Set clear goals for yourself, adopt a mentor, explore what options are available to build the competencies you need to progress.
You could decide to:
Ask directly for feedback
Let key people know about your specific ambitions
Work with them to set goals and objectives
Involve them in reviewing your progress
Make your achievements more visible around the office or online
Be persistent, refuse to be overlooked
First off, focus on those goals that are most do-able to gather momentum from your successes. Publish acknowledgements of your successes, one step at a time, climbing can be hard work.
Build your network
Extending your professional networks means broadening your options. Why wouldn’t you? I suppose, you wouldn’t if it felt too daunting, or else you felt you didn’t have the time.
The thing is, it needn’t cost much to share a few minutes of valuable information or practical or moral support. More cynically, when we support others, they’re more likely to support us. The law of reciprocity and all that.
Get involved with colleagues in other teams
Reach out to new people regularly formally and informally
Actively build your external networks
At the very least, if you’re unable to break through current limitations you may be opening up possibilities elsewhere and building a support network in the process.
Build your reputation
If our goal is to be perceived as someone with the potential to be a future manager or leader, then others need to know of our capabilities. Let your potential be obvious.
Aside from having great communication skills, technical knowledge and experience, great leaders are usually strategic thinkers.
They’re able to inspire others with their vision of the future and able to pre-empt problems as well as find solutions – how can you display these sorts of qualities too?
Imagining your ideal future, can also help remind you of your incentives for confronting the situation.
Get clear about what needs to be different, which may include..
Speaking up
Taking a lead
Seeking high-profile projects
Contributing in meetings
Being strategic in sharing your ideas with peers as well as those in higher positions
Putting your proposals or insights in writing where necessary
On the other hand, it may of course be nothing to do with your professional behaviours.
Know your rights
If you feel that you’re the victim of discriminatory behaviour, at some point you need to face those difficult conversations. You owe it to yourself to try to find ways to explain the effect upon your morale and your career -
Undoubtedly, that may not feel easy at all. It often takes real courage to speak up, it may even feel pointless to do so. This also explains why the first time that many companies realise there is a problem is when you decide to leave or when things have been escalated to formal grievance levels.
Finding the right support earlier on may result in swifter and less drastic resolutions. Once you have decided to take yourself seriously, you can garner the facts around the situation. Don’t suffer in silence, seek help where you need to – and be political.
Taking yourself seriously means deciding not to put up with further frustration and failure. It means asking for what you want, querying unprofessional behaviour and understanding what you can do about being on the receiving end of it. Inform yourself of company policies and the law so that you know where you stand. Acas is a great place to find free, up-to-date and external advice - www.acas.org.uk
find the win-win
Acting upon unconscious bias is illegal. On the other hand, Those involved may not even be aware of how their behaviours affect your right to be taken seriously where your work is of equal merit.
If you have been very poorly treated, there may be a great deal of anger or hurt involved. While wanting to prove how badly someone has behaved may feel like a win in the short term, play for the longer game. Give them an opportunity to appreciate your point of view, to remedy their actions. Their reputation and that of your company or organisation is also on the line.
As a tactic, this may mean giving them the benefit of the doubt in the first place. If your considered and forensic case is dismissed then you will have to take things further, but at least your behaviour will be seen as reasonable and fair by any adjudicating bodies involved at a later stage.
Whatever the outcome, rising above the strong emotions involved, staying calm, remaining objective and professional stands you in far better stead in terms of your wider future career.
Summary
To summarise, to break the glass ceiling you need to be your own best champion. It means taking yourself seriously and managing your career and future possibilities on your own terms.
For some that means getting clearer about the competencies and knowledge most valued by your company or organisation and being more active in displaying yourself as ideal for promotion. For others it means seeking the right support where you need to, finding yourself a mentor and involving your manager where you can. Your challenge is to find fair and do-able ways to make your case.
If you are more fortunate, where you have invested your time creating strong professional networks formally and informally, hammers often remain the very last resort to smashing ceilings.
read more about successful networking...
