Keys to Success — More than Hard Work
A common mistake made by women all over the world is to believe that their hard work will speak for itself. AND, that they will be recognized for their efforts with more opportunities and money.
This is just not the case.
At a high level, the path to success in the workplace involves:
- Achieving results — not necessarily equated to working hard (don’t confuse activity with outcomes)
- Achieving results in areas critical to your business
- Confidently sharing your results with others, especially key decision makers
- Targeted networking — internally and externally with both men and women
- Having both a sponsor and a few mentors
- Continually expanding your skill set through seeking challenging assignments, learning, and actively seeking different types of professional development activities.
This advice is abundantly available all across the world — from the Midwest (in the USA) to the Middle East. Here are two articles providing more direction.
- An article I wrote from the Midwest; and
- A great article from the Middle East.
“Women work, work, and work, but they don’t get noticed because they don’t speak up and talk about what they’ve been doing,” said Sheela Jeevam, a Dubai-based graphic designer.
Some working women unconsciously behave or react at work in self-defeating ways that hold them back from achieving their potential. This undermines their credibility and sabotages their careers, experts say.
A common behavior is the tendency to act modestly about work accomplishments, which projects a lack of self-confidence, making them seem unprepared to take on new challenges or major projects in the workplace, said Gaj Ravichandra, psychologist and General Manager of HR Solutions in Middle East and Africa.
Don’t damage your career with hard work.
How have you gotten ahead in your career? Please share your approach and advice. Our readers would love to hear from you.