How Women Can Stay Motivated in a Male-Dominated Business Environment

by Sophie Garrod

Just because you’re outnumbered by male colleagues should not stop you wanting to challenge for the big roles and climb that corporate ladder.

No matter what industry you’re in, here are 5 strategies that will help you advance your career and keep motivated to reach the top.

1. Ask for what you want

Women tend to be politer and less assertive in getting what they want from their employer. This seems to be the opposite for male counterparts.

Now I’m not saying that men are rude and aggressive, I’m making the point that they are more to the point and are not as afraid to make their demands.

One of the hot topics at present is the pay gap between men and women. It’s clearly not right for men to get paid more for a job that a woman is doing or can do just as well.

Having said that, perhaps part of the difference comes from men being more assertive in asking for that raise.

How can this keep you motivated? Easy.

Ask for what you want.

Don’t be put off for asking what you want.

If you want that promotion, tell your manager that you think you’re best suited for the role and want to be considered for the job.

Once you start being more assertive, you will be seen as a leader and this is very motivational.

2. Speak up

Sounds obvious but it really does help.

Make sure you are speaking up in meetings and give your opinion. Your views are just as important as everyone else’s around that table.

Don’t allow people to interrupt you. The more that you value what you’re talking about, the more it will come across in what you’re saying and people will listen.

And don’t feel like you need to apologise!

Harvard Business Review found that women tend to apologise way more than men, even for things they haven’t done wrong.

How crazy is that?

Use this as motivation and make sure you are getting yourself heard as much as everyone else.

3. Acknowledge that your work is great

I’m talking to you, the woman who always does an excellent job but never looks to take the credit.
On one hand I’m like ‘You go girl!’ but on the other, I want you to own it. If you’ve done something brilliant, you should be recognised for it.

It’s great and all to praise your colleagues because it’s good to be a part of a great team, but at the same time, you must be responsible for your success.

The bigger role you play, the more confident you become in what you can do. Seeing how awesome you are and translating it into results is highly motivational.

This applies to women working as an employee or as part of their own business looking to win over a new client. For example, eCommerce businesses choose an Amazon expert that proves how great they are at making more sales rather than saying ‘I got lucky that this product took off.’

Take responsibility for your accomplishments.

4. Get networking

Don’t just stand there and let the men get all the good contacts. Sure, they may be playing golf and you don’t like golf, but do you think every man that goes to these events likes it?

No!

It’s not about how great your swing is, it’s just business. Men attend these events because they see it as a way to further their careers.

It will be no different for you. Next time a networking opportunity arises, put your name forward and be part of it.

From the contact’s point of view, it will be refreshing to see a new face representing the business.
Your approach may even be more favourable than your male counterparts, giving you the contact rather than them.

Again, I’m not against men, but how awesome does that sound?

5. Share your successes with other women

The more success you get, the more you should share it with the women you know.

There are way too many negative stories in the media about women in the workplace and enough is enough. It’s time that women should celebrated for their accomplishments and to get this started, success stories should be shared with other women.

Empowering womankind is highly motivational, wouldn’t you agree? Eventually, every role you can think of will have just as many women as men.

For that to happen, you need to share your stories and inspire them that it is possible to achieve great things. And that is so exciting.

You are still going to need to work hard but by doing so, other women will follow suit.

We are going to be so successful in the coming years and I can’t wait to see your achievements be headline news.

Photo credit:

Tim Gouw