The Status of Women website states: This theme reflects the government’s action to encourage more women and girls to participate in leadership roles, thereby helping them thrive, reach their full potential, fulfill their dreams and build a more prosperous Canada.

So, how are we doing in Canada? Are women participating in leadership roles and reaching their full potential? According to the latest Canadian Census, released by Catalyst Canada, the answer would be NO.

The report states the following:
In 2009, women held 14.0 percent of board seats at Financial Post 500 companies, an increase of one percentage point since 2007. In both 2007 and 2009, more than 40 percent of companies had no women directors. Similar to 2007, women held just 3.2 percent of board chair seats in 2009. Finally, while women's representation on private company boards increased 4 percentage points from 2007, crown companies continue to have the highest representation of women on their boards compared to other types of companies.

As you can see this is not a significant increase to make any real difference in today’s business world.

So what can you do to help? Well, make sure you take the time today to reflect on women’s advancement in Canada over the past 100 years. Make sure you celebrate the contributions women are making in today’s business world and help them get the recognition they deserve.  Take some ownership in how “you” can help increase the numbers in this report for the coming year.

We can all do something, maybe if we call commit to doing a little, we will see that significant increase in women in leadership roles and women will be able to reach their full potential, fulfill their dreams and build a more prosperous Canada, and help the government achieve their stated action.

Other stories of interest on this topic:
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2634810
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/774098--women-directors-still-few-far-between

http://www.catalyst.org/etc/wordpress/?p=183

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?

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 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 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

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.

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?

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!

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!

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!

The authors, Linda M. Poverny and Susan Picascia talk about how tears are still viewed as  inappropriate in the workplace and offer up the following coaching tips to control tears: 

1. Anticipate situations when possible. Not all situations that bring tears to our eyes are the same. Some emotionally charged encounters can be anticipated. In these instances it is extremely useful to spend time rehearsing various responses with someone else. Be prepared. Use what you know about the person and situation to construct likely scenarios. And practice. If you can hear yourself responding to what you fear most, you will lessen your anxiety and defuse your fear while developing confidence that you can respond effectively.

2. Increase your self-awareness. Women often cry without really knowing why. We cry when, actually, we are angry. Devote some energy and time to identifying your feelings more accurately. The more able you are to distinguish one feeling from another, the more you will feel able to control tears. You will find yourself less overwhelmed by feelings and thereby less likely to cry. 

If, as you examine your feelings, anger is what you are avoiding, work at becoming more assertive, so you more accurately and appropriately express your anger. When you feel that sensation of crying start to build, take a deep breath and immediately ask yourself, "What exactly is angering me? What do I need to do to resolve the situation?" Re-focus on the problem. This can help calm you down. 

3. Cultivate a sense of optimism—things generally work out. Women often cry when they feel overwhelmed with work, unrecognized, or anxious and fearful about their performance. If this is you, remember, crying will not make a dent in what is really wrong. Make a list of the actual and perceived issues and problems creating your feelings. Seek out others such as a mentor, outside friend, business coach or networking group. Use them to assist with gaining a broader perspective that includes a healthy dose of optimistic alternatives. Few things in the workplace are life and death issues. Back up and give yourself some perspective. 

4. Compartmentalize. If you well up frequently or easily cry at the office, your personal life may be intruding on your business life. Although somewhat artificial, it is important to create and then maintain a boundary between your personal and professional worlds. Being at work can be a great diversion. Think of work as a rest stop from the personal issues. Give yourself permission to focus on something other than your personal life. Away from the office, seek support and help from friends, family, religious leaders, a psychotherapist, family counselor, or the employee assistance program. Don’t forget that it took time for the problem to develop; it will take time to solve. 

Compartmentalizing feelings is a good skill to learn. Practice not acting on a feeling you have. Focus instead on the other person. Learn to delay and restrain the sense of urgency to act on feelings. It’s a skill men have developed to a much larger degree than women, and often makes them seem uncaring and unfeeling. However, women can use this skill to time the expression of their feelings—and having control over your feelings provides a wonderful sense of confidence.

Women are sensitive to perceived personal criticism. Even though criticism hurts, again, crying doesn’t make it hurt less, so we need to re-train ourselves. Have in your repertoire a practice that helps you calm down when you need to. A good one to cultivate is mindfulness. By focusing on your breathing and utilizing relaxation techniques, you can slow down reactions, gain control and think more clearly.

A complimentary strategy is focusing on content instead of the criticism, or redirecting your thoughts. For example, comment on how you can get the reports in more quickly rather than on the remark about “You’re too slow.” Or focus on how the negotiations are proceeding, instead of on your boss's question about, “Why haven’t you booked the business?" Finally, you might say to a colleague, “Matt, at the moment I’m not as concerned with your interpretation as I am with this scheduling problem."

5. Acknowledge your feelings or excuse yourself. If you find yourself starting to cry when you don’t want to, say, “As you can see, I feel strongly about this. Let’s focus on how we might get along better through this tough time.” Or, if you’re feeling you can’t gain control—say, “As you can see I feel strongly about this. I’d like to take a time out and talk about it again later. I appreciate your understanding.” Then leave and book another appointment at a later time.

How do you feel about tears in the workplace? Is it appropriate to cry in certain circumstances i.e., - the death of a co-worker, but inappropriate to cry because you are upset or angry? How do you stop yourself from crying? Offer up your views and tips and tricks by leaving a comment.

In Elizabeth Payne’s Ottawa Citizen article, “Men and women are from the same planet, actually,” she reports on Lise Eliot’s Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps - and What We Can Do About It.

Payne’s article states, “In her book, the Harvard-trained neuroscientist who teaches at the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, shatters myths about gender differences. Yes, boys' and girls' brains are different, she writes, but not as different as the gender gap would suggest. Hard-wiring alone is not responsible for the gender divide, which means nurture, not nature -- including parents', educators' and society's expectations -- is a major factor in the differences between boys and girls and men and women.

Eliot makes a plea for parents and others to recognize the subtle ways in which society helps exaggerate differences in boys and girls and how that does them a disservice. "The earlier we can step in and tweak kids' growing neurons and synapses, the better our chances of raising both boys and girls with well-balanced sets of skills."

Everyone needs to take responsibility for gender stereotyping and identify it when we see it in our schools, children’s activities, etc. and make sure we are not perpetuating the myths about gender differences in our own interactions with children.

Where do you see gender stereotyping? What do you think can be done to debunk the myths around gender differences? Leave a comment and give your perspective on this highly debated topic.

The Global Gender Gap Reports, published for the past four years by the World Economic Forum, measures gender based disparities and tracks their progress over that time period.

The report is broken down into four key areas: Economic Participation and Opportunity; Educational Attainment; Political Empowerment; and Health and Survival.

Canada’s highest ranking category was Economic Participation and Opportunity, with a tenth place finish. This category measures labour force participation, wage equality for similar work, estimated earned income, legislators, senior officials and managers, and professional and technical workers.

Other rankings for Canada included 38th for Educational Attainment; 60th for Health and Survival and 62th for Political Empowerment.

The report indicates Canadian women’s labour force participation has increased from 73 percent to 75 percent and women’s estimated annual earned income increased from US $25,448 to US $26,055. Canada also posted gains in political empowerment with a small increase in the percentage of women in Parliament from 21 percent to 22 percent.

Having digested all of this, here is my question: Why is Canada ranked 25th? Canada should be a leader in global gender empowerment and equality. Canada should look at case studies of what the other 24 higher ranking countries are doing and implement changes. Let’s use this report to do better, to check out where the gaps are and build programs to overcome them. My challenge to Canada is to be in the top five next year, not the top 25.

Women now make up approximately one-half of the labour force in Canada. Earning an estimated annual income of US $26,055 with only 22 percent of women in Parliament is hardly something to give us bragging rights.

The report makes the following statement:

“Girls and women make up one half of the world’s population—without their engagement, empowerment and contribution, we cannot hope to effectively meet these challenges nor achieve rapid economic recovery.”

Let’s ensure Canada leads this charge in engaging, empowering and valuing the skills and talent of their female human resource pool to make Canada all it can be.

Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion about areas that you think Canada could do better.

I was at a great WiN-Durham meeting recently that focussed on career development and I thought I’d pass along some of the excellent points made to help you with your own career development.

The session started off with a great definition of career development:

Managing your career either within or between organizations, as an ongoing, lifelong process to help you learn, make improvements and achieve more in your career.

The key point here is that managing your career is up to you.  You need to take responsibility for the management of your own career.

So what are the steps to career development?

1. Know yourself. Make lists of your interests, values, skills, assets, resources and personality traits.
2. Explore possibilities. Research, try things out, narrow your choices and find a few that fit.
3. Make choices. Set goals, develop a plan and address barriers.
4. Make it happen. Put your plan into action, learn along the way and achieve your goals.

Easy enough, now what resources do you use to help you get through all these steps?

• Your boss. Although your boss can’t manage your career for you, if you take the opportunity to honestly talk about your goals and career aspirations he or she can help you. Ask for feedback on your performance and most importantly, act on that feedback. Ask to be stepped up and to be considered for special project opportunities.
• Education or skill upgrades. Take advantage of night classes or on-line courses that might help you achieve your goals. There are also lots of business books out there that can be a great resource.
• Network. Join employee resource groups and get involved with company activities. Often these are great places to “rub elbows” with people higher up in the organization.
• Check out your company’s competency list that defines leadership within your organization. Use this list to assess your own personal performance. Ask a couple of peers, your supervisor and another manager in the organization to sit down with you and help you determine your strengths and weaknesses. Listen and act upon the suggestions for improvement and how you might integrate these suggestions into your day-to-day work.
• Talk to your Human Resources department for help. They will have various books and tools that can help you be successful.
• Find a mentor. Find someone who will help you with your development plan and provide you with honest and constructive feedback on your progress.

Good luck. Don’t forget to stop along the way and celebrate your successes. Share your success stories with others by leaving a comment about how career development planning has helped you in your career.

When done in a positive and constructive way coaching improves job performance, workplace relationships and promotes a more positive work environment. Coaching is all about one person helping another excel.

Here are some tips for coaching others:

• Consider the environment - you might want to find a private location to chat
• Use positive language
• Provide constructive feedback with specific examples of the behaviour
• Present more questions than answers.
• Challenge the person being coached to consider new perspectives and different approaches.

If you are being coached remember to:

• Use empathic listening
• Paraphrase
• Validate the perceptions you are being given
• Thank the person for providing the feedback.

For some, coaching is very uncomfortable especially when dealing with a personal issue such as personal hygiene or coaching a superior. The Practical Coach video offers a two-minute challenge and suggests the following:

1. State the problem
2. Pause and wait for a response
3. Remind the person of the problem and don’t get sidetracked
4. Ask for solutions
5. Agree to a path forward and follow up on it.

Coaching should:

• increase employees’ self esteem and confidence, leaving  them feeling motivated and committed to doing their best
• lead to team harmony
• be a lesson in self-improvement and self-discovery.

Be willing to coach and be coached in your workplace. Share some of your experiences with others. How did it make you feel the first time? Do you have tips for others to help them feel more comfortable and be better coaches? How has being coached helped you in your career development?