In 2008 Catalyst came out with a research paper entitled: “Unwritten Rules: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Your Career.”

Over the next few weeks I will break down the paper into a series of blogs to help you determine how these unwritten rules play a role in your career development.

This week let’s start with chapter one - Learning to Play by the Rules.

Laura Sabattini, the author of this paper, states the following:

Advancing in today’s business world is often as much about learning and playing by the rules as it is about talent and results. Some rules are explicitly stated in organizational handbooks, performance review procedures, or by senior leadership. But other rules are left implicit - unwritten - for employees to decipher on their own. Those who do not have the tools to access this maze of “unwritten rules” and the important knowledge these rules provide remain left out, no matter how competent they are.

As we have discussed many times on this blog, and Catalyst research backs up, a lack of access to informal networks is one of the barriers to women’s advancement. The “unwritten rules” in your organization are most likely found within these informal networks, especially in male-dominated companies and organizations.

So, what can we do. Think about what some of the “unwritten rules” are within your organization. Sabattini suggests you ask the following questions:
1. Does everyone within the organization have access to unwritten rules to advancement?
2. Are current unwritten rules consistent with the organization’s values and with attracting and retaining the best talent?
3. Do some rules need to change?

Identifying the unwritten rules and any conflict the “old” rules have with the current vision of your company, may be a first step in providing a more inclusive workplace. A more inclusive workplace will better attract the best and the brightest. And at the end of the day isn’t that what everyone wants?

Next week - What are the Unwritten Rules?

The Gender Gap: 10 Surprising Stats on Women in the Workplace 
was published on Tuesday February 16th , 2010 at Job Profile.

While there is no doubt that women have come a long way from the discrimination and struggles they faced in the previous century when it came to getting an education and finding a job, the sad reality is that when you look at the hard facts, there is still a fair amount of inequality when it comes to women's role in the working world. Whether you're a working woman yourself or just want to help support the rights of women, these facts are a surefire wake-up call that women still don't always get a fair shake when it comes to getting paid, attaining promotions, or entering certain fields. Take a moment to read through these ten eye-opening stats to see where women really are in the working world and get some inspiration to see where changes need to be made and where advancements can be lauded for this generation and the next.

1. Women comprise 46% of the total U.S. labor force. With almost half of the workforce being women, female employees aren't exactly a rarity. For most women today, getting a job is an expected part of life. This is a big change from past decades. In 1900, fewer than 20% of women participated in the labor market while today the number is around 75% and growing.

2. Women make only 77.5 cents for every dollar that men earn. This figure comes from data on the 2003 census. Despite this gap, many economists feel that the gap between pay for men and women is due to different personal choices men and women make about personal fulfillment, child rearing and hours at work. Whichever you choose to believe, the reality is that the gap is slowly but surely closing as women become increasingly educated and dual income families become the norm, but this isn't much consolation to those who feel discriminated against today.

3. The more education a woman has, the greater the disparity in her wages. This certainly doesn't mean women should shy away from professional positions, but they should be aware that they may have to battle harder for equal pay. Women in professional specialty occupations were found to earn just 72.7% of what men in the same position earned, and women in upper level executive, administrative and managerial occupations earned even less at 72.3%. If you compare this against the average of 77.5%, the numbers speak for themselves, and this graphic from the New York Times makes it even easier to see.

4. Women may work longer to receive the promotions that provide access to higher pay. One example provided by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that women often have to work three years longer in a teaching position to be promoted to a principal than their male counterparts. Some studies suggest that this is because women and men adapt different strategies when it comes to management and pursuing promotions, yet other studies connect it less to work and more to gender-based biases.

5. Women business owners employ 35% more people than all the Fortune 500 companies combined. If you're like most people, you don't picture a woman when you think about a business owner. Yet there are about 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., a number that comprises nearly 40% of all businesses. The idea that women don't make good managers just doesn't hold up when you look at these kinds of numbers, with women managing a large number of employees and making healthy profits while doing so.

6. Women account for 46% of the labor force, but 59% of workers making less than $8 an hour. What does it mean? It means that many women are taking on jobs that pay well under a living wage. With nearly 16% of U.S. households having women who are divorced, widowed or never married as the sole providers, this leaves many women at a distinct disadvantage and struggling to make ends meet as they dominate jobs in low paying fields.

7. Only 53% of employers provide at least some replacement pay during periods of maternity leave. Despite the fact that the arrival of a child means extra bills and expenses, many employers don't provide women with any benefits if they to leave work temporarily to have a child. While there is no law requiring companies to offer paid maternity leave, considering it is an issue that primarily affects women, it's certainly a blow to their income potential and ability to care for their families and themselves.

8. Four in ten businesses worldwide have no women in senior management. This shouldn't be a surprise given the way many countries feel about women in the workplace. Here in the United States, however, women still feel the stress of trying to break into upper management, with 93% of the 439 senior women executives surveyed by Korn/Ferry International in 1992 feeling that a glass ceiling for women still existed. Yet new studies report that women outnumber men as managers in fields like human resources, health administration and education--perhaps stemming from reports that many businesses have seen a direct financial impact from hiring women.

9. Women earned less than men in 99% of all occupations. In virtually every field that women choose to enter, they can expect to earn less over their lifetime than their male counterparts. This means that over 47 years of full-time work, this gap amounts to an estimated loss in wages for women of $700,000 for high school graduates, $1.2 million for college grads, and $2 million for professional school grads--a staggering amount.

10. Minority women fare the worst when it comes to equal pay. African-American women earn 64 cents to every dollar earned by white men and Hispanic women just 52 cents per dollar. Whether it's attitudes about race or gender that are at play, it's clear that something needs to be done to level the playing field.

The statistics used in this blog post were all U.S. based. However, when we look at the statistics for Canada the numbers are similar. The one large difference is that in Canada we are privileged to more maternity leave. This raises an interesting point. I often hear one of the reasons why a woman’s career stalls in Canada is the fact that she takes a year out of her career for each child born into the family. However, if you look at that the data above, obviously a shortened maternity leave (as in the U.S.) does not change the other statistics.

What can you do to help other women succeed, given what we know by the statistics presented that women are not on equal footing? Think about it and leave a comment with your suggestions.

The Globe and Mail editorial on Saturday, January 9, 2010, entitled, Leaders must recruit leaders, takes a in depth look at where women stand in Canada’s workforce.

The article is a great read with lots of statistics to support the argument. It speaks to the lack of female representation at the top of many corporations and in government offices even though “women have flooded into universities, poured into the workforce and have won critical battles in areas of non-discriminatory treatment and equal pay.”

The conclusion of the article - “One single reform can trump all those incremental efforts. That happens when leaders - CEOs, board chairmen, political party leaders and others - personally commit themselves to hiring and promoting women.”

If you are in a leadership role at your company what are you doing to commit to the hiring and promotion of women? Is your CEO engaged in this space? What can you personally do to help bring awareness to this type of engagement? Perhaps a small step forward might be forwarding this Globe and Mail article to our CEOs and political leaders.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think the best strategy might be to bring awareness to lack of role models for women in politics and business.

January is National Mentoring Month. This concept began in 1997 by Harvard University and in 2002 was formally put in place by the U.S. and adopted by other countries including Canada.

January was chosen as it is the month when people make all kinds of resolutions and the organizers thought, “Why not resolve to mentor?” The beginning of a new year is a wonderful opportunity to seek out a mentor or to be a mentor in order to help fulfill your own or others business goals.

To help you get started Catalyst has just come out with a research paper, entitled, “Making Mentoring Work”, with the added benefit of tools to help you achieve success in your mentoring relationships.  Check it out and see what your own company has to offer by way of formalized mentoring programs, that you can tap into.

Lack of mentoring opportunities is a frequent barrier to advancement for women and other minority groups. A lack of role models is also seen as a barrier to advancement for women. If you are willing to mentor someone in your organization and want to formalize it, talk to your Human Resource department to find out if a formal process exists. If not, take in this latest research and lead the charge.

The other piece to National Mentoring Month is a Mentor Appreciation Day to thank those people who have mentored you over the years and helped you accomplish your goals.

So, here is your assignment. Sit down and think about all the wonderful people who have contributed to your career over the past year. Write them a short thank you for their contribution and tell them how their mentoring helped you achieve your goals. I promise the exercise will be rewarding for you and your mentors.

For more information check out these past posts on mentoring:

Build a Network of Mentors

How Important is it to Have a Mentor

We all know how much time meetings take up in our business lives. We sometimes run from meeting to meeting, wondering how on earth we are to get anything done if we spend all day in meetings. I’m sure you have caught yourself thinking there must be a better way.

Here are seven meeting etiquette tips written by Lyndsay Swinton over at Management for the Rest of Us . Lyndsay offers up these 7 business meeting etiquette tips to brush up your meeting skills and be more productive.

1. Dinner jacket or dinner on your jacket
First decide on how formal your meeting will be. Advance warn attendees about special requirements, for example dress code, to ensure people understand what’s expected and can prepare accordingly.

2. Too many cooks ... and not enough bottle washers
There is a skill in inviting the right people to a meeting. Only invite bosses, and the work will never be done, so make sure you invite the right mix of decision makers, experts, implementers and stakeholders to enable post meeting action.

5. Empty barrels make the most noise
Good facilitation skills are important when you have people fond of their own voice. Use meeting ground-rules to help avoid speaking for the sake of speaking. Or maybe don’t invite them in the first place! How about introducing stand-up meetings? Brilliant for daily catch-up or review meetings, as conversations shorten when legs tire.

7. AOB
Let’s be blunt - Any Other Business can also mean Any Old Bull unless you keep tight hold of the halter. Ask for AOB points at the start of the meeting and only give them airtime if there is time. Check if any points have already been covered, then get the group to prioritize each AOB point and put a time limit on them.

Try these seven tips out at the next meeting you plan. Set the standard for more productive meetings in your company and you may get out of the meeting in minutes rather than hours.

If you have any tips to add to this list please leave a comment and let us know what works best for you.

Happy New Year to all WiNfluence followers! As we start off a new year and a new decade it is important to set goals for yourself both professionally and personally.

Click on this wonderful new and free e-book, What Matters Now, put together by Seth Godin, with a little help from his friends. Godin asked many people to contribute by choosing a theme and providing their insights on that theme. It is well worth the read and I hope it will inspire you to come up with some great goals for the year ahead.

I’m sharing with you some of the professional goals I am setting for 2010, which came from inspiration in Godin’s e-book.

• I will become an evangelist helping to educate the industry on the value of having women involved at all levels of the organization.
• I will help the industry recognize that diverse teams work for everyone and having a balance of different strengths on one team is what team work is really all about, helping to eliminate ‘group think.’
• I will be more generous with my time and try and help others be successful, understanding that helping people develop their strengths instead of working on their weaknesses works best.
• I will risk more and fear less. I will change the motto from "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" TO "if it ain't broke - break it."
• When speaking I will try and build more passion into my topics and use less over-laden slides with too much information.
• I will listen more and talk less.
• I will thank people more for helping me be successful and I will celebrate successes and focus on how to make things work better and focus less on things that don't work.

Share your goals for 2010 with followers of WiNfluence by leaving a comment. What goals will help you be successful in 2010?

Last week I attended training entitled, “Improving People Performance.”  One session focused on our circle of influence and I’d like to share a model we studied in class, which I found quite helpful.

The model of situational leadership was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard.

This leadership model is useful for developing people on a specific goal or work assignment and is a process for helping people become self-motivated and self-directed.

The development level is a combination of competence and commitment. The leader assesses the development level of the employee relating to the completion of a specific task. An assessment is made of the development level of competence and commitment. Once the assessment is determined a leadership style is correctly matched to the development level.

The development levels are divided into four categories: D1, D2, D3 and D4.

Each level has its own characteristics:
D1 = low competence/high commitment (low skill level, lacking motivation or confidence) - this person may be very hopeful, inexperienced, curious, new/unskilled, optimistic, excited, eager and enthusiastic.
D2 = low to some competence/low commitment (has desire or incentive but low skill)- this person may appear overwhelmed, confused, unmotivated, frustrated, disillusioned, discouraged and have flashes of competence.
D3 = moderate to high competence/variable commitment (can complete task but lacks confidence) - this person may be self-critical, cautious, doubtful, capable, contributing, insecure, tentative/unsure and bored/apathetic.
D4 = high competence/high commitment (experience and motivated) - this person may be justifiably confident, consistently competent, inspired and inspires others, expert, autonomous, self-assured, accomplished, self-reliant and self-directed.

We then turn to the four leadership levels, which are a combination of directive and supportive behaviours.

Again, each level has it own characteristics:

S1 = high directive/low supportive (Directing) - at this level the leader would need to take on a more defining, planning/prioritizing, orienting, teaching, checking and giving feedback role.
S2 = high directive/high supportive (Coaching) - at this level the leader would need to take on a more exploring, explaining, redirecting, sharing feedback, encouraging and praising role.
S3 = Low directive/high supportive (Supporting) - at this level the leader would need to take on a more asking/listening, reassuring, collaborating, facilitating self-reliant problem solving, encouraging feedback and appreciating role.
S4 = low directive/low supportive (Delegating) - at this level the leader would need to take on a more allowing/trusting, confirming, empowering, affirming, acknowledging and challenging role.

The overall goal is to match the appropriate leadership style to an individual’s development level. An effective leader is able to move between leadership styles understanding that her/his employee will have different development levels for different work assignments.

Try the model out and see if it works for you. Feel free to leave a comment about whether this model has worked for you in the past or provide suggestions for leadership styles that you use and find effective. Remember we all learn from each other!

WiNfluence will take a short break over the holidays. Happy Holidays to all our followers. We’ll be back in 2010!

If your career plan includes obtaining a seat on the board of a corporation you may want to look at the advice put together by Janet McFarland at the Globe and Mail in an article,  “Seven tips for women who want to get on boards.”

The tips include:

1. Network, network, network:
Directors are still typically chosen based on personal recommendations, so get known. But don't despair about not being close friends with everyone in Corporate Canada. Research has found recommendations leading to board appointments come most often from more distant acquaintances and people with “weak ties,” rather than close personal friends.

2. Find mentors:
Seek mentoring and networking opportunities with senior male executives, especially CEOs and retired CEOs. Networking with other women can offer valuable support and encouragement, but may not give you the right contacts for board appointments.

3. Volunteer:
One way to start being noticed is by volunteering in your community with a non-profit board - but choose carefully. One senior director recommends picking one you feel passionate about, because a key role of directors is to assist with fund-raising. And many people find it's easier to lobby for donations when they really care.

4. Be a leader:
Take leadership positions on the non-profit boards you join, or spearhead important initiatives or special projects. Simply sitting on a board may not be enough to impress others or make you stand out from the crowd.

5. Target Crown corporations:
Public companies want directors with prior board experience, and first-timers are increasingly getting it from Crown corporation boards. Their size, complexity and (in some cases) business-orientation help make you a safer bet for those considering appointing you to a corporate board for the first time.

6. Promote yourself:
Make sure people know you're interested in joining boards, and communicate your strengths. Confidence sells. Board members say only a lucky few can expect to be courted for boards without making an effort to seek the positions.

7. Focus on your career choices:
First and foremost, your work experience will qualify you for a corporate board. Recruiters say they are often contacted by people who are not ready yet or qualified for public company board appointments. Many companies want people with significant executive experience, preferably running companies or major divisions. Other popular criteria for director searches include specific industry experience, accounting expertise or international experience (especially in Asian markets). Although some anticipate emerging hot areas like executive compensation and information technology will grow in popularity in director searches, those niche areas are so far less often cited.

Some of these tips are a good idea for anyone career building with a goal of promotion in mind. Others are very specific to board appointments. Good luck!

In the past month I have had the privilege to attend two Skills Work for Women! Networking Dinners, one in Port Elgin and one at Centennial College in Toronto. These dinners bring together young female students from Grs. 9-12 with mentors from the community who are working in the skilled trades and technologies.

The mentors talk about a day-in-the-life of their chosen career and encourage young women to look at the skilled trades and technologies as a career choice.

After listening to each of the thirty mentor’s unique stories I recognized that each job we do, no matter how unrelated, provides us with experience and skills we take into our next position. The career paths vary from mentor to mentor and some have taken a very round-about journey to get to their present position. One woman at the WiN-Durham dinner started with a Masters in Psychology and Human Resources, realized she didn’t like the work and then took an apprenticeship as a mechanic. She now owns a very successful automotive shop that supports female mechanics and caters to a female clientele. Wow! That is quite a career path.

As we move from job to job and possibly change careers I think it is really important to evaluate what skills are transferable and how they can relate to your new position. Going through this exercise will not only help you prepare for interviews but make you more aware of your own skill set and how it can be transferred from career to career.

Take a few minutes and think about your different jobs over the years. What skills did you pick up along the way? Maybe it was your first student job and you learned a great deal about interpersonal skills and how to talk to the public. Write them down as you go through each position you have held. I bet you’ll be surprised at the talents and skills you have transferred over the years and by the size of that very long list. Keep the list handy for that next performance appraisal or job interview. Enjoy the exercise!