Don't Just Cope. Conquer 3 Common Career Frustrations

TLDR: This blog highlights three common career frustrations that women cope with: overcoming career stagnation, standing out in job searches, and reducing work-related overwhelm. And provides actionable tips for conquering them including prioritizing tasks based on business impact and aligning work with strategic outcomes.

I have a question for you.

If you were to choose one of these three descriptors, which one would it be?

1. I'm really strong in business, financial, and strategic acumen, and I demonstrate it.
2. I believe that I have business, financial, and strategic acumen, but I don't demonstrate it sufficiently.
3. I need to develop greater business, financial, and strategic acumen so I can demonstrate it.
   
   

I've asked thousands of women all around the world those questions.

In probably 80 percent of the workshops that I delivered, the women in the room were identified as high potential or top talent. In 20%, they had self selected by being career committed and courageous and ambitious enough to apply into the program.

In both cases, the answers were surprisingly similar.

• The vast majority of women identified themselves as needing to develop greater business, financial, and strategic acumen, or what I call business savvy. In hindsight, I would say that would be about 70 percent.
• About 25 percent of the women in the room thought they were pretty strong on business savvy, but didn't demonstrate it sufficiently.
• And at the most, another 5 percent  said they had business savvy and demonstrated it sufficiently.

Oftentimes I'd have guest speakers in the room, highly successful women at the top of their organization. And they would always be in that group who said they have and demonstrate business savvy.

That's no accident.

Conquer Career Frustrations

And it's part of the message I want to make sure that you get from this blog.

Because...

• If you are feeling stuck where you are.
• If you feel like your career is languishing,
• If you're frustrated because men are moving ahead and you aren't,
• If you're already actively looking for your next job.
• And even if you're enjoying the job you have, but feeling overwhelmed.

there are three ways that increased business savvy and demonstrating it more consistently will help.

1. If you feel like you're languishing because you aren't getting the respect or recognition you think you deserve, chances are pretty good that by showing up with increased business savvy, people will sit up and take notice of you in a different and more positive way.

2. If you're looking for your next opportunity, either inside the company where you are or externally, enhanced business savvy will help you demonstrate on your resume/CV/LinkedIn profile and in interviews that you have what it takes to contribute to the hiring manager's team or the other organization in significant ways that are valued.

3. If you're feeling overwhelmed by work, enhanced business savvy helps you differentiate between the need to do and the nice to do and between high priority and low priority activities. Now you may think that you already do that, but when you start making those decisions through the lens of enhanced business, financial, and strategic  acumen, they will likely be different than how you view them today. They will be more pointed and significantly help you decrease the overwhelm.

What's a Woman To Do?

Well, here are three things.

Reduce the Overwhelm. First in order to reduce the overwhelm, ask yourself these questions.

1. What's the impact of this task on the business? Will it help forward key outcomes? Is it aligned with my positional purpose?
2. Will I be able to draw a line between the results of this work and the key outcomes for the business so I'm able to demonstrate or more strongly demonstrate my business financial and strategic outcome?
3. Will I be able to draw a line between this work, my key outcomes, and the organization's strategy, especially its key strategic outcomes, in order to better demonstrate my business savvy.

The work that gets the most yeses passes your high-priority filter.

If the answer is no, delegate it if you are able to. If you aren't, let it go to the bottom of your pile or see if AI can be employed to get it done.

Be the Desired Candidate. When it comes to presenting yourself to the world as part of a job search, either through a CV, resume, or LinkedIn profile; enhanced Business Savvy tells the world not only what kind of a person you are,  but also your track record for success - making contributions to business outcomes.

Remember, no manager is going to hire you on the basis of your strengths alone. They will hire you on the basis of your outcomes; your business savvy combined with your strengths and how well they think you fit the organization. 

Get Unstuck. And as it relates to feeling stuck or not getting the respect you need. The old adage of continuing to do what you've always done and expecting different results isn't going to work for you.

Take action to strengthen your business acumen. Understand what the sustainable business cycle is. Understand why your job exists. Understand how the outcomes by which you're measured roll up to outcomes that are reported to shareholders or owners or the board.

Once you have, you are positioned on a springboard to enhanced financial and strategic acumen.

So here's to your continued career success. Here's to getting out of a position where you aren't valued or where career opportunities aren't coming to you. And here's to living every day in a more focused and intentional way that decreases the overwhelm that you might be feeling today. 

Catch you next time,

Susan