Belinda MJ. Brown

Timid, self-centered, alone: how women can overcome false stereotypes in the workplace

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Insights, Leadership, Women Success

Only about 15% of executive officers in America are women. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that women don’t have what it takes to lead a company or hold high leadership roles. Yet the number of women in leadership roles is lacking. There are many factors that keep women from attaining the career and job position they want, and timidness may be one of them. Consider these tips to give yourself the boost you need to achieve your goals and break the glass ceiling:

1. Promote your work

Women often fear coming off as self-obsessed when they talk about their achievements, more so than men. In many ways, society does tend to view men who brag about their success more favorably than women who do so. But one of the best ways of moving up in your company and career is to make your accomplishments known. To avoid negative reactions, it’s key to focus on promoting your work, not yourself. Instead of emphasizing your successes, awards, and degrees, talk about projects and work you did, and how they benefited your company as a whole. This way, you show that your work provides valuable contributions without looking like you’re bragging about yourself.

2. Find a strong network

Because men have dominated many fields for so long, they tend to have easier access to strong professional networks. Clubs, fraternities, and men’s organizations often provide them a strong network of professionals that they can reach out to for career help. As a woman, it may be more difficult to find this network, but it can certainly be done. Think outside the box, and reach out to old professors, college alumni, members of organizations you volunteer with, and other women in your field.

3. Don’t wait for things to come to you

Even if you do a great job of promoting yourself, building your network, and doing overall excellent work, you still may not simply be given the job or promotion that you want. Women sometimes tend to do everything right, but then back off and wait for their efforts to be recognized. If you want a promotion, speak to your supervisor about it, and ask how you can improve your performance. If you’re really getting nowhere, maybe it’s time to look at similar companies that have openings you are interested in, and go where your skills will be recognized.

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How to engage your employees

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Business Success, Career Success, Insights, Leadership, Team Success

Faire participer vos employés et leur remonter le moral est l’un des principaux objectifs de chaque dirigeant. Les meilleurs employés sont ceux qui aiment leur travail, s’efforcent de bien faire et sortent des sentiers battus. En tant que leader, vous encouragez le développement de toutes ces fonctionnalités chez un employé et savez que l’engagement des employés est la clé d’un milieu de travail réussi. Mais pour que vos employés soient vraiment impliqués dans leur travail et heureux sur leur lieu de travail, il faut plus que quelques pizzas ou des primes de vacances. Utilisez ces méthodes pour faire sentir à vos employés qu’ils font partie intégrante de votre équipe et pour les inciter à aller au-delà:

1. Travaillez toujours avec eux, pas sur eux

No one particularly enjoys someone standing over them telling them what to do, even if they love their work. A boss with great leadership skills will join in the nitty-gritty work and make the work their mission as well as their employees’. If you can demonstrate that you too are willing to work hard and care about your work, employees will be much more motivated about their role.

2. Be someone employees can talk to

Any problem in a workplace, big or small, probably won’t be solved if no one ever brings it up. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to deal with problems or issues amongst your employees, but you can’t even begin to do so if you don’t know what those problems are. Employees need to feel not only that they can approach you with concerns, but also that you will listen to them and take action.

3. Employé d’abord, société ensuite

Personne ne veut se sentir comme un seul rouage dans une machine géante. Oui, les entreprises sont alimentées par le travail des employés, mais les entreprises fonctionnent aussi comme une chose vivante, en constante évolution et en adaptant. Ce sont les employés humains qui rendent possible le succès d’une entreprise, en proposant constamment de nouvelles idées, méthodes et solutions. Assurez-vous que les employés sont à l’aise d’exprimer ces idées, et pas seulement de se conformer aux anciennes méthodes et pratiques. Un environnement ouvert et créatif est idéal pour réussir.

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Emotional Intelligence: The Engine That Powers Your Future

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Business Success, Career Success, Leadership, Women Success

Emotional Intelligence: The Engine That Powers Your Future

My late and often lamented friend, Gridley Harriss, was a wealth of pointed platitudes ready to shed light on virtually any topic. One of his favorites, and he shared it often, was,

Your attitude determines your altitude.

There’s a lot of life defining truth contained in those five words.

Henry Ford, another man of well-chosen words, put it this way,

Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are probably right.

Are you a prisoner or the master of your attitudes?

One way or another, your attitudes are pushing you, either forward towards endless possibilities or backward into the prison of self-doubt and victimhood. Which way are your attitudes pushing you? You can choose, you know?
Attitudes are the initial step in translating our emotions into thought first, then action. Positive attitudes propel us, while negative attitudes not only slow us down, they shorten our lives. With strong emotional intelligence we can control them.
Most people when asked to define emotional intelligence, either have never heard of it or aren’t quite sure what it means. The fact is, the further you progress in life both professionally and personally, the more important emotional intelligence becomes. Research shows that ultimately emotional intelligence is more important than intellectual intelligence in achieving maximum success. So what is this thing called emotional intelligence anyway?

Emotional intelligence measures individual ability to empower success in life by understanding and controlling the emotions of self and others through self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, relationship management, empathy and self-confidence.

Unfortunately, most of our focus is on intellectual intelligence, IQ, and emotional intelligence, EQ, is left virtually unnoticed. Research into what makes people successful strongly suggests that this is a mistake of epic proportions. A look at the lives of highly successful people clearly indicates that factual knowledge is far from enough. Even more important than what you know is how effectively you share that knowledge in your relationships. People at the top seldom get there without an emotionally intelligent approach to other people.

Emotional Intelligence Orlando
Starting even in the womb, our emotions are forming. Each event in our life, no matter how minor, triggers an emotional response. We remember those responses, and if the results seemed satisfactory, we repeat them. Over time, the same or similar events trigger the same or similar emotional responses until that emotional response becomes our standard operating procedure. Many times that is a good thing, but far too often it isn’t. When our emotions hold us back, it’s time to understand them and learn to control them. Emotions consume energy, and negative emotions consume by far the most. Why spend your energy on things that are not only getting you know where but actually forcing you backward?
I don’t like the word no. Oh, I don’t mind using it, I just don’t like hearing it. Given as an answer to something I very much want to do, some form of anger is a well-established first response. Each “no” I hear is a wall that must be torn down! Let me give you an example.

My wife, Janet, and I enjoy eating out with our friends George and Linda. Late last week we introduced them to a restaurant we both enjoy. We ordered, then waited…waited…and waited some more.
Slow service, combined with meaningless excuses, is a form of “no” I detest, particularly when it hampers my ability to impress someone. Possibly because I’ve been a teacher at various times in my life, the need to educate the service provider often overpowers me. After years of embarrassing confrontations, I’m almost in control, almost, but not that day. Both the server and the manager got a carefully worded lecture on the benefits of good service.
By the way, the food was good when it came. We enjoyed our meal. I apologize to the server, and complemented her to the manager. Furthermore, she got a large tip. Giving in to negative emotions can be expensive. Let’s analyze the situation.
Deeply embedded in this “no” experience was damage to my self-esteem. My reputation was at stake with George and Linda, and in my eyes, I wasn’t looking good. Something had to be done put myself back on top. Hence, the lectures.
I really don’t like myself very much when I act that way. To make matters worse, those with me often wish they were at another table, though the 50% discount on our meals was appreciated. Consequently, understanding the source of that emotion is the first step towards controlling it.
Digging that deep has taken time, but I’ve come to understand the cause. Because I understand the cause, certain childhood experiences that I interpreted negatively, I’m able to recognize the signs and usually prevent a negative emotional response.

So what emotions are holding you back today?

Don’t let them. You were designed to succeed. Don’t let your emotions and attitudes hold you back. Put a name to your emotion, in my case anger, and figure out its source. Learn to recognize the signs, for me a sense of rising frustration and threat to my self-esteem, and choose a more positive response.
If your potential is weighted down with negative, “I can’t” emotions you can do the following things:

1. Accept responsibility for your life and the need for action.

2. Identify the repressive emotion and battle it with an opposite response. For example, when I feel my frustration rising, signaling an embarrassing confrontation, I can say, “It’s not like me to act that way.” Simple as it may sound, it works.

3. Develop and post a series of “I can” messages to reinforce a goal you want to achieve. In my case, “I can” exercise patience and understanding when confronted with poor service.

If these suggestions work and you’d like to learn more contact Dale Dale Opt-In

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How to use your career accomplishments to achieve greater success

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Career Success, Insights

career accomplishments (1)If you want to achieve greater success, you need to monitor and control your own actions once in a while.

Keeping track of you small and big accomplishments is important. Now that you have a list of your career achievements, it is time to use it for even greater success. It might feel like focusing on the past, but sometimes this can be the best way to set your long term plan for the future.

Sometimes we all feel like we are not moving forward – it might really be the case. You need to regroup, evaluate and make a plan for the strategic changes and actions you need to take. Open your document with the list of career achievements and let the evaluation begin – it looks a lot like a SWAT analysis, but here you will only be investigating the factors that depend on your own actions.

1. Find what’s common – Probably your list is structured based on the small things you made possible for every project you worked on. Your biggest strengths are the things that you have noted for more than 1 project. Maximizing ROI, meeting deadlines for every project, optimizing the process, etc. All those common things should go in a new list – the one that focuses on the stable growth of your professionalism. Most of your long term goals are not defined as small achievements so you need to find which one of those cover the main expectations you set for yourself. You will hopefully find that you are indeed moving forward and you are going at the right direction and speed.

2. Find what’s missing – Now that you have compared your strong points with your strategic goals, you might find that some achievements are not on your list yet. Make a new list – think of it as an inspiring to-do list. Those are some steps that require extra attention from your side. You need to evaluate if those missing points are still relevant based on your plan. If they are, you should first think of what had stopped you from achieving them until now – when you address the reasons, you will be able to find solutions. Keep in mind that this step is not about making yourself feel week, it’s about giving yourself the power to become more successful.

3. Make a list of goals – Now that you know your strengths and weaknesses, it is time to plan your next steps. If you feel like you need more training – take it! If you find that an industry approved certificate would help you become better and more successful – you better start preparing for the exam. This list of goals should be a complimenting addition to your strategic career plan – make sure there are no contradictions between them.

4. Revisit and edit the list of achievements – Hopefully, making this list is an inspiration for you. This is why you need to reevaluate it at least once a year. Always remember to look at the bigger picture and don’t focus on the small rocks on the road. As your career changes and progresses, it is normal that some goals would become irrelevant or more important than you first thought. This small control mechanism will reassure you that you are focussed on the right things and can help you achieve even greater success.

 

Sometimes when we feel like our career is not moving forward, this might really be the case. This would be a good moment for you to evaluate your bigger plans and how you feel about them. Don’t forget that you should comply only with your own term of what success is. If you decide to start a transition to a new career, but don’t know how to do it – professional help is a good idea. It would save you a lot of time and sleepless nights and will ensure you are confident and happy with your decision.

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Role models: Women executives in Fortune 1000

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Leadership, Women Success

femmes cadresSavez-vous combien de femmes PDG figurent dans la grande liste des entreprises Fortune 1000? Au 1er juin 2014, il y en a 49.

Cela signifie que 951 entreprises ont des PDG de sexe masculin. La disproportion est grande et il vous faudra sortir de votre zone de confort. c’est notre choix en tant que femmes de devenir des modèles pour les prochaines générations de dirigeants, femmes et hommes.

Voici la liste des 49 meilleures femmes cadres dans le monde:


I’m sharing this list with you because I feel like there are three important conclusion we all can make:

1. Women today are reaching the tops a lot more than ever before – The last sixty years have witnessed revolutionary changes in the status of women in business:

A research called Women in Business: A Historical Perspective” found the following
“Between the end of World War II in 1945 and 1995, women entered the workforce in still larger numbers. More significantly, bit by bit some women also began to assume managerial positions in American corporations that operated around the world. The watershed moment was the 1970s, when female entrepreneurship was invigorated by the feminist movement and national legislation that encouraged equal opportunity. By the late 1980s, women owned half of all American businesses. By 1989, they accounted for more than a third of MBAs earned in the United States in a single year. A decade later, the number of American companies owned or controlled by women had grown dramatically. By then, three American women headed companies with earnings that exceeded $1 billion.”

2. Women at the top are subject to controversy for being who they are –  but this is an opportunity for women as it gives the impulse to change culture in organizations. We have talked about feminism before  but don’t overthink it – it is usually women  who think differently for themselves, not their coworkers or managers. We live in a world where media is still using gender specific images and we can’t do much to change it.

3. Women need to focus on those successes that drive them to reaching their goals.  The women on the list most probably didn’t invest their energy into fighting against controversy. They were focused, holding their strategic plan and implementing it every step on the way to the top. Remember that positive energy attracts positive energy but negativity and fighting not only attracts negativity but it also drains your energy. Invest this energy to use the system for your own good and don’t fight it.

I believe that women have power and their biggest limitation is themselves. I do not feel that women are persecuted or not supported, I think opportunities are out there and pitying ourselves and blaming society for not reaching our goals is too limiting and dis-empowering. Use the list above as an inspiration and a clear indication that success is accessible and waiting for you.

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Women Empowered Series – Yasmine Verbeckt on hypnotherapy

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Women Success

Every month Belinda MJ.Brown interviews a “Woman Empowered” who will share her passion, her tips to succeed and her news. Our objective with this series is to provide Men and Women with material to explore the feminine vision of success, balance and life in order to create new opportunities not only for Women but for organizations and communities.

This month we are speaking with Yasmine Verbeckt – the woman behind “Happy in Hypnosis”. She shares why she loves helping people progress and evolve and what makes it the best part of her job.

 

 

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Pursuing professional success in a non-friendly environment

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Career Success

professional successNot every workplace is a friendly workplace. That doesn’t necessary make success there impossible.

Your career is thriving – you transferred to a bigger company on a better position and this is great. But what happens if you find that your new colleagues are not so happy to meet you and work with you? You can’t just give up and start searching for a new position somewhere else. There are different successful tactics that will help you manage this situation the best way possible.

Working with people who don’t like you is really hard but it shouldn’t put a pause on your career and success. There is always a working strategy that you could use and make things better. All you need to do is identify the source of problems, understand the problem and act on it. Sound easy, right?

Why we meet hostility at the workplace is dependent on a lot of factors. Most commonly we can say they are inner and outer in regarding to you. This invokes the need of two different strategies that you might need to use. Make sure you have identified the right one.

Internal – These are the factors that find their root in you. I’ve met a lot of them . It doesn’t matter what the situation is – you have the power to choose your experience. You need to address it properly. Hold a meeting and explain to your team how you work – don’t make them feel intimidated, share which part of you, be vulnerable and ask them to be open-minded. Educate them about how you manage, what are your expectations and your goals and first of all LISTEN and learn to know them.  You want to create a constructive and positive work environment. It might make you feel like the weak person in the interaction, but it is not about you – it is about them embracing the change and more open to future communication. It can be really hard to address the internal factors in a new hostile workplace, but it is also really important. And to be honest – you have a better chance of changing the situation around if you set strong foundations and an effective communication process at the first place.

External factors – Here I would include all the problems that make it irrelevant if it were you or someone else in this position. Maybe the team is used to having managers who change frequently, maybe they don’t want to lose the big level of independence? Or someone from the company who they know better and like was trying to get this position but you were offered it instead. Let’s not forget that there are also people who will hate you no matter what and just try to sabotage every step you take in the company – probably because they are not confident in their capabilities. Based on the problem you will need a fitting solution. Sometimes a simple chat with the colleague might help, sometimes it just never goes away. But whatever the problem – don’t forget your integrity. When hostility is based on factors that don’t depend on you, treat them as any other distraction – be aware of them, evaluate them and face them appropriately.

Finally, don’t forget that your personal comfort is more important than anything else. We spend way too many hours a day at the office for them to be miserable. If you feel like you are not capable to change how your colleagues perceive you, start looking for a change – be it a company or a career change.

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Team goals – why having common goals is important

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Business Success, Leadership, Team Success, Women Success

Team Goals

Your team needs common goals. Otherwise it becomes a group of individuals with their own agenda.

Being a  manager requires a lot of soft skills as you need to make sure that your team is comfortable with the goals that you are setting for each member individually. It is great if you could separate tasks for every person and have the project moving forward regardless of any personal delay. This would also allow you to monitor who is underperforming and control problems and situations as they happen.

But working by the piece is not the best practice – it can be a positive experience for small projects but not in the real-life environment. You need to have a better working strategy and make sure that each and every one on the team is focused on achieving results. Separating tasks individually means you are setting personal goals – if they meet them, then they are not responsible for any lack of result in another field. This is why setting a common goal for your team is of high importance.

Common goals is what separates a high performing team from a bad project experience. You need to make sure no man is an island or your project might fail. Common goals are important not only because they develop creativity and innovation but because they bring people together and encourage them to communicate problems and results. This allows for a much earlier and faster recognition of problems in the project development.

 

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Here are some tips:

1. Group co-dependent goals – Marketing and Sales should work separately and together. They have their own agenda but the goal is common – selling the best way possible using all resources and knowledge available. You know that achieving some goals requires tasks to be completed successfully by more than one department or team member. Those are the smaller common goals that you need to set for your team. This would mean in addition no more name calling on who is responsible for a delay or a project failure. If two or three team members know that they have to work together or they results would not be accepted as a success, they would also feel more motivated to control and communicate with their colleagues.

2. Set milestones – Milestones are practically team goals. Those are the steps that need to be finished by a certain date and this is the way you track results. Set personal and common milestones that would help your team members to keep on track and would allow them the flexibility to work together as much as needed.

3. Set clear common goal expectations – The biggest and most important common goal for a team is to finish the project successfully. But this shouldn’t be the only goal. Think of additional motivations – maybe a day off for everyone, a team building experience, a bigger project, company-wide recognition. There are a lot of things that can bring people together and focus them on results and not on personal comfort. Because personal comfort is what a lot of team members would like to have – knowing they finish their direct tasks and are not responsible for the project execution any further than that.

4. Hold goal tracking meetings – These would be a great opportunity to identify problems, to find solutions and just to feel better as a group. Discussions should be focused on the goal, not on the project itself. Talk about the problems that you have met, what each one of you could do to help meet the goal. Make sure that people feel comfortable and don’t feel the need to defend themselves.

Having common team goals is a great way to increase engagement, interactions and communication between your colleagues. There are a lot of creative examples that can be implemented – a board by the coffee machine with the number of successful days, a scoreboard that compares you to the best teams ever, or a totally irrelevant goal that might seem silly to others but not to your team. You could find ideas in the common humor and jokes that your colleagues have, things you all like, etc. The list is never-ending – you just need to find what suits your team best and start focusing.

After all, what makes a good team great is the ability to focus on the common goal. No sports team has ever won a major game by having the separate players focus on personal achievements and neglecting the big picture – they are all in for the win. As you and your team are.

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Women Empowered Series – Eva Guez Cooper on Living her Dream

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Leadership, Women Success

Every month I interview a “Woman Empowered” who will share her passion, her tips to succeed and her news. I have devoted the past few years to assist and empower women leaders all around the world. My objective with this series is to provide Men and Women with material to explore the feminine vision of success, balance and life in order to create new opportunities not only for Women but for organizations and communities.

This month our guest is Eva Guez Cooper – she is Director of Leisure at Hilton and Waldorf Astoria and the President of  Unique Lifestyle Experiences – a company focused on travel as a way “to open the mind and the senses and live unique experiences to change your life”. Learn about her journey to the dream life and what keeps her inspired:

 

Are you willing to make a step towards your own success but feel insecure? Join our Woman Success Factor Course and start working on your goals! Learn more here!

 

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Why Should You Keep a List of Your Career Achievements

Posted on Posted by Belinda MJ. Brown Categories Career Success, Leadership, Women Success

career achievementsWe keep lists of everything – daily tasks, ideas, reminders. But we don’t keep a list of our achievements.

 

Every day we write down so many things that we don’t want to forget but we miss the big picture. Post-it notes and agendas are not only for casual errands. We need to learn to keep a list of the big things we accomplished. Maybe we see that as a form of  narcissism and we are afraid that we will look bad for everyone else reading them. It doesn’t matter – a list of achievements can come in handy when you are in different situations.

 

1. Keep track of your career – You are wondering if you are taking the right steps and if your strategy is taking you where you want to be? Check the list – do you feel like you are adding something new, does it seem like those accomplishments are adequate for your career track? Keeping this list would give you a great way to monitor and control your goals. Prepare a list of milestones to go with the list of achievements – base it on your expectations. This is the easiest way to keep control of your career and discover problems as soon as they start to be noticeable. This being said, don’t obsess over following your milestone agenda – a month or two difference from your plan is normal. Even a year could be acceptable – if you know you are doing the right things and following the right steps.

2. Prepare to show your success – Whether you want a raise or a new position at a different company, knowing your great accomplishments will go a long way. Look at your list and select the best and most relevant success stories that you have to offer. Those should be all projects and tasks that would not have been done without your personal involvement – select achievements that show just how valuable you are. Make sure to focus on 2 or 3 entries, because otherwise it might have the opposite effect. Knowing how to select the most relevant examples is an achievement itself.

3. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date – Your virtual resume can open a lot of doors even if you are not in the mood for knocking on them. This is where recruiters, managers, and colleagues, spend a lot of time.  The summary section on your profile is a great place to display those achievements. This is the first thing that people would read on your page – if you are not compelling enough, might be the last. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you work with the biggest companies in the world, but if your achievements are of a big scale.

4. Sometimes you just need to be reassured – It happens to all of us. We forget how great we are and start thinking that we don’t do anything right. In such a moment you should take a deep breath, open your list of achievements and start reading. Every point has a story and you know it best. You know how much you had to fight for it, what did you do and how did it make you feel. Going through those past success stories is also a great creativity boost – you will remember times when you were basing your decisions on different factors. Try to implement one of those models in your current activities – it might help or it might show you that you went a long way.

You can read the testimonial one of our former clients who started to implement an achievement list to prepare his annual performance reviews. His story was simple: he was qualified, delivering quality work and remained unseen for over 5 years. Consequently, he was not getting promoted expecting his hierarchy to notice him and his great work. After our coaching he recorded small successes, his impact on a project and found himself excited and confident about his next performance review…He got promoted less than 6 months later,  gained exposure within the organization and most importantly has change his mindset about success: it is not about chance, it is about choice!

Keeping a list of your achievements is a great thing to do – I recommend it to everyone, no matter what your career goal is. It’s like keeping track of your savings account – you need to if you are investing the right amount to achieve your milestone in time.

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