For many career women who balance childcare and/or elder care needs at home, socializing with colleagues over a round of golf or drinks just isn’t feasible. However, ignoring the importance of finding opportunities to build strong career alliances isn’t a solution.
Today, I want to talk about how career women can build strategic alliances, even when time is short. But first …
Why is it important for women to build strategic alliances?
Building strategic alliances is crucial for women’s career growth and influence. With strong relationships, women are better equipped to get the input and support they need to navigate complex work environments.
When I talk to women about why they’re not getting themselves out in front of the right people, two themes generally come up. One is time, the other is culture. Many women are over-committed to their work and family and community, and even the thought of socializing after work is exhausting. For others, the “beers after work” culture, which is so common in male-dominated work environments, is unappealing because it doesn’t align with the relational style they prefer, which is about cultivating meaningful, long-term connections.
But ladies, here’s the truth: Whether you like it or not, you must build strategic alliances that support your desired career path. The good news is that every woman can build these alliances and enjoy doing it.
Three types of strategic alliances
I recommend that professional women cultivate these three types of strategic alliances: sponsors, mentors and peers. (For more about this topic, see my article, Sponsors and mentors: Why striving women need both.)
Sponsors are influential people who advocate for you when you’re not in the room. They provide guidance on how to navigate the corporate environment and help put you in situations that can propel your career.
Mentors influence you personally and/or professionally. They typically have specialized knowledge or expertise and excel in one or more domains and use this expertise and experience to help you navigate challenges.
Peers are other professionals in a similar career stage as you. Peers are an important source of support, advice and shared understanding for women building their careers and managing workplace dynamics.
How busy career women can build strategic alliances
Step 1: Shift your mindset
Women often hold back because they don’t want to put themselves out there. But so many of you have a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share. How many people could you help by sharing what you know? Whether it’s speaking at events, writing, hosting podcasts, being on podcasts or mentoring up-and-comers, start thinking about how you can become a thought leader in your area.
It’s also helpful to focus on giving before asking, which is something women are great at because we value long-term connections over immediate transactional benefits. Plus, this avoids putting you in the situation of being “that person” who only calls when she needs something.
Step 2: Develop a strategic plan
You don’t have to say yes to every (or any) golf day, karaoke night or conference you get invited to. Instead, be strategic.
Ask yourself:
- What do I have to share?
- Who could benefit from me sharing this information? (Start general, then get specific.)
- Where are these people who could benefit from me sharing this information?
- Who are the key decision makers in my industry?
- How will I connect with the key decision makers in my industry?
- How can I seek diverse perspectives across my industry and adjacent industries?
- How do I want to leverage digital networking, such as LinkedIn, women’s leadership forums and online masterminds?
- What connections do I want to do in person?
- What thought leadership activities would suit me best?
- Where are the opportunities to engage in the thought leadership activities that suit me best?
- Which connections of mine could benefit from an introduction to each other?
Use the brainstorming exercise above to figure out who and where your people are and start there. From your list, who are your peers and who could be sponsors or mentors? Who can you meet at events and who can you meet for coffee or brunch?
Think about what time you do have to build your strategic alliances and start mapping out how you’d fit your people into that time. Can you dedicate an hour a week to picking up the phone and checking in with one or two people? Who do you want to check in with monthly? Quarterly? Annually? What events do you want to attend in each of these time frames?
If you do all this, you’ll have a networking plan before you know it! You can’t do all the networking events (and you probably don’t want to), but by being intentional, you can cultivate meaningful relationships with the right sponsors, mentors and peers.
Story time: Mr. Shut Down
One of my amazing clients is one of the only female senior executives in her organization. One of her colleagues shuts her down in meetings all the time. It doesn’t matter what she says, he shuts her down in front of others because they have an oil and water relationship. Is she going to change his behaviour? Unlikely. In our time working together, I’ve pushed her to get involved in her industry to build her reputation as a leader. And over the past year, she’s had many opportunities to participate in conferences, sit on panels and deliver keynotes.
She puts herself out there and is being recognized in her industry, beyond her organization. It doesn’t matter what Mr. Shut Down does internally because her plan to build strategic alliances simply doesn’t include him.
Step 3: Overcome your self-promotion barriers
What are you most proud of accomplishing at work last quarter? Women tend to have a hard time answering this type of question. Either they draw a blank or they tell me what their team did. And while it’s great to be humble and give credit where credit is due, not everything is a team effort. It’s okay to tell people about your successes!
Men love to brag about themselves and share their accomplishments, so why can’t we?
To get in the habit of this, I recommend:
- Creating a brag bag, which is a list of your accomplishments that you can use to prepare for interviews or important meetings where you’ll need to talk about your skills and abilities.
- Creating a couple of bite-sized statements about what you do and memorizing them. This makes it easier to succinctly introduce yourself (and what you do) at networking events.
- Celebrating your successes.
- Becoming the example that you never had, by mentoring or sponsoring young/other leaders. To help others grow, you’ll have no choice to share your accomplishments and how you achieved them, which is great practice.
You don’t have to overcome your self-promotion barriers alone. Why not talk to a coach about how to overcome your self-promotion barriers? Or join a women-focused network such as the WIL Empowered community? Or if you’re not ready for that, do some self-guided learning with one of these books: Brag!: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It by Peggy Klaus and Bragging Rights: How to Talk About Your Work Using Purposeful Self-Promotion by Lisa Bragg.
Step 4: Build your strategic alliances
Put your plan into action and get connecting! Start now and create a system that allows you to continue, even when things get busy. Who says you can’t put a whole year of coffees, conferences and catch-ups in your calendar right now? If you’re an “If it gets scheduled, it gets done’ type of person, this will have a huge positive impact on your quest to cultivate strategic alliances now and into the future.
Are you ready to get started?
If you want to take charge and grow your career on your own terms, you’ll need help along the way. Cultivating meaningful, long-term alliances is an important part of this journey. If you’re not sure where to get started, or you’d like to develop a plan through some targeted coaching sessions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me for a no obligation call. It never hurts to practice your skills in a safe space.
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Hi, I’m Vicki Bradley, an executive coach in Toronto and the Founder and CEO of Women in Leadership Empowered.
I work with women pursuing success in leadership roles and the presidents and CEOs who understand that strong businesses are built with strong, diverse leadership.
WIL Empowered is a group coaching program where we focus on all four aspects of leadership development through coaching, networking, peer to peer mentoring and developing soft skills. Our mission is to help women develop the skills, motivation and accountability required to succeed in their business and personal lives.
Take our five-minute leadership quiz to discover where your leadership skills are now and where you’d like them to be this time next year.
To learn more about WIL Empowered, visit our website at WILempowered.com or reach out to Vicki@wilempowered.com to set up a call.
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