Quick Lift: Career Growth for Women: Build Your Roadmap, Lead Through Change

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Welcome to Allowed and Lifted, the women in leadership

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show where we trade fluff for practical tools.

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I'm your host, Betsy Hamm. In this quick lift,

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I recap my episode with career strategists on

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your price. And under 10 minutes, I will hit

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highlights of the discussion, how to reinvent

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without starting over, building a career roadmap

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you can use today, and how to lead through change

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with courage and presence. Key takeaway number

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one, authentic reinvention. Sunny talked about

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how early in her career, she made a couple jumps

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that maybe didn't seem like they went together

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at the time. And when you do that, it's not starting

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over. It's just a reinvention when you jump industries

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or professions. And she said the best way to

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go about this is to bring your full toolkit with

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you. And switching careers usually gives us this

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apprehension of, I don't have that experience

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or I'm not sure how that works. But if you take

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a step back and look at your toolkit and figure

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out how you can market that in this new arena.

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A lot of times the skills are transferable. Maybe

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it's just the jargon that has changed and I certainly

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have seen this. So her framework in order to

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have that authentic reinvention is first inventory

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the toolkit. List your core wins, what you've

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achieved and what are your strengths and what

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were those business outcomes tied to that? The

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second part is translate the jargon. Sometimes

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it's the same skill, but it's just a different

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word or a different label. Like maybe you used

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to talk about products, but now it's programs.

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And maybe it was clients and now it's customers

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or campaigns versus initiatives. Same thing,

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different words. And sometimes we don't always

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think that there's a dot connection when there

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is. And a great example, probably about a year

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ago, I had somebody from a bank reach out who

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wanted me to be on their board of directors.

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And first I thought, Why would a bank want me

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to be on their board? I really don't have any

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kind of experience in anything financial. And

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then as I started talking to them, I understood

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where they were coming from. They were a brand

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who was growing, which was something that I had

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been part of, but they also have multi locations

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and various locations where they're trying to

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have that consistency and that brand experience

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and make sure that they're always delivering

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that great product with great customer experience.

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So there were a ton of similarities between writing

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a doughnut company and a financial institution,

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I just didn't see it at first. So talking through

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that jargon, understanding that the strategies

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were very similar in some capacities, but just

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how you got there was going to look a little

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different. The second key takeaway was the career

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roadmap. Now, I love this because this is being

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intentional about where you want to go and then

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having a plan by how you're going to get there.

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And Sunny talked about the fact that you just

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need to start first with, okay, what are some

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of your wins over the last few years? What were

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those things that you were able to contribute

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that when you go into an interview, you can talk

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about? What do you currently enjoy about your

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role and what do you not love? So if the opportunity

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arises, whether it's in your current company

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or somewhere else, you know, the things that

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you're looking for, you know, what fills you,

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you know, what you're able to add value on. And

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it just gives you sort of that framework to start

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with. The second piece she talked about is really

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important because that's kind of the obvious,

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right? You want to know where you are and where

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you want to go based off of what you like or

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what you have accomplished, but where's the market?

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She talked about, you may have a severe passion

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for something, but there's not any opportunities

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or you'd have to relocate to the other end of

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the country. And that's not something you want

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to do right now. So understanding. where the

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market is, what the industry is like, maybe checking

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even comp ranges. There could be a job that you're

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super interested in or a career that you know

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you would love, but it just doesn't meet your

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expectations or your needs from a salary standpoint.

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So doing your homework and understanding what

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the reality is of that particular role. The next

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piece then is figure out what you need to do

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in order to get that next role. And it doesn't

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mean always being promoted. Sometimes we get

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super focused on titles. I'm a manager. I want

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to be a director. want to be VP. And sometimes

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it's not about growing up, it's about growing

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into being very specific on that skill set and

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becoming an expert. That's certainly another

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part of a career is just becoming more deep of

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an expert. So understanding where you want to

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go and how you're going to get there and then

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what you need to do. Maybe there is some professional

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development that you need. Maybe you need to

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work on your eye and your image. Maybe there

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is a certification that you need. Whatever it

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is, you need to make sure that you're aligning

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what your work is on that will help you get to

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the next position. Maybe it's raising your hand

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to be part of some projects that wouldn't typically

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fall into your current scope, but if you can

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get that exposure and get that understanding,

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it's going to help you get to that next level.

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So treat your career like a product launch or

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a product roadmap and have those quarterly themes,

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clear milestones, and make sure you're providing

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updates to yourself if you're doing the things

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that need to be done in order to get to that

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next spot. Next up, Leading through change. I

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loved Sonia's line about the best leaders don't

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resist change, they learn to surf it. Leading

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through change is about courage and presence

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and authenticity. Sometimes when change is being

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implemented within our organization, we just

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have a checklist. We know we have to have this

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meeting, we need to tell this person this has

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to happen. But you have to keep it real and be

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authentic with your team. Change is inevitable.

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No matter what organization you're at, things

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are going to change. And as a leader, there may

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be times that you're not on board with the change.

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However, you have to be. You have to get on board.

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You have to get behind it. And you have to have

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the empathy then with your team in order to get

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them to come along. People don't generally embrace

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change, even if it's goods. We're just creatures

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of habit. So being able to walk through and talk

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through those things is going to help your team

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get there faster. But you have to be on board.

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You have to deliver the message. You have to

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be confident in what you're saying. And people

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will come along. One tool that Sonia talked about,

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which I thought was great, was just some breath

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work. And this sounds maybe a little silly at

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first on the surface, but it's so true. Sonia

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talked about doing breath work on her own. If

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she's having a stressful day or had a bad meeting

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or whatever it is, just taking a minute, two

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minutes and just breathing. There's a lot of

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articles and videos about how to do this. So

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I am certainly not going to pretend that I'm

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the expert, but I know even just sometimes taking

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a few deep breaths really kind of helps. to reset

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everything. I thought it was interesting that

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she also talked about doing this with your team.

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Now I was trying to visualize doing this with

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my team in the past and it could go one of two

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ways. They could have been totally on board or

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they could have looked at me like I was crazy,

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but I think it's worth trying or at least trying

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in a small group. And if you're not comfortable

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with the breathing piece, it's just taking a

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break. Sometimes when things get intense or people

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aren't agreeing, we just need to call a timeout

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essentially. Have people go grab water, bathroom

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break, whatever it is, but sometimes you just

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need that minute. and that pause to reset so

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you're able to talk through the change or whatever

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that difficult conversation is. The other piece

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of dealing with change was really reframing.

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the words that are being used and not having

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a victim mentality, but having a visionary mentality.

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And what's in your control? What can you influence?

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And what's the next best step? Also, instead

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of being reactive, let's be proactive. What risk

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can I pre -solve this week? At the end of the

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day, as a leader, it's all about being authentic

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and creating those connections with your team.

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And a line that she used, which I thought was

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great, is, this change is big and I feel it too.

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Here's how we're going to navigate it together.

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what's stable, what's evolving, and what we need

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to ask for help for. The last key takeaway is

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one that keeps coming up, so it must be important.

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And that was all about visibility. So this goes

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back to Pi and the E for exposure. But she talked

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about those already performing at the next level

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are the ones who are getting promoted, and the

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right people know about. their results. We've

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had this conversation, right? You can be amazing

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at your job and your performance, but if people

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don't know or the right people don't know what

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you're doing, then it doesn't really matter.

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So our visibility checklist, it's making sure

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your boss knows what you're working on. It's

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making sure your boss's boss knows what you're

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working on and also the outcomes. Sometimes as

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we've talked in the past, we're afraid to promote

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the good work that we're doing, but you have

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to be able to be your own PR person and get that

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out there. What's going on? on and there's a

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way to do it and you have to find your voice

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in the approach that you're comfortable with

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where you feel like you're not taking credit

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for the team or you're not being cocky but getting

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that exposure to not only your boss and your

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team members but people within the organization

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or maybe even people outside of your organization

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is all important. Reach out to anyone that you

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don't know to schedule a coffee date. Maybe make

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sure you're looking for a mentor or a sponsor.

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But as always, visibility comes up as one of

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the key things that we need to focus on in addition

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to our performance as well as our image. The

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key takeaways here reinvention is translation,

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not tear down roadmaps, beat ruts, pair passion

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with market reality. Courage plus the nervous

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system tools equals presence under pressure and

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visibility is your job and performance needs

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a spotlight. If this resonated, share it with

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the women you're rooting for. For more on career

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growth for women in leadership development, subscribe

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to Loud and Lifted and follow us on Instagram.

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And if you haven't listened to Sanya's full episode

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yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. Keep

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surfing the wave and stay loud and lifted.