Supporting Women in business and STEM

As a white middle-aged woman, being a coach is the only time in my life where I have been among the majority demographic in my sector. At all other times, I've been in the minority

• focusing on science and maths in my education

• working in accountancy and technology consulting, and

• running my own business

Having lived that life, and with the beauty of hindsight, there are certain things that either helped or would have helped make the journey easier. And that’s the focus of this blog.

What can help women build the life and career they want when they work in sectors where, as a woman, they are in the minority?

...and for me, that means women who choose to run their own businesses or who work in sectors that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM).

Ultimately,

My wish is for every woman to feel empowered

to truly embrace their uniqueness,

be their authentic selves at work, and

build the life and career they want

So what support do women working in the minority need to do that?

What are the areas where a bit of support would make that more simple, manageable and comfortable?

Well, I’m afraid I can’t resist a cheesy acronym, so here we go -

• Work/Life Balance – finding ways to achieve that

• Others – creating the relationships you need to succeed

• Managing the bias, assumptions, and inequality

• Enablers – developing the qualities you need to succeed

• Navigating your career and life journey

...and here's a bit more detail for each with links to some of my other blogs to help you help yourself.

Work/Life Balance

Finding ways to balance all the competing priorities on your time and energy.

This comes up all the time in coaching and not just for Women in business and STEM!

How do we as humans, living in a hectic and full world achieve a happy balance and get the results we want in all areas of our lives?

Blogs

• What will you learn from your Circle of Life

• What do you need

• From Overwhelm to Clarity in 10 manageable steps

• The ABC of stress management

• Why self-care is a necessity and not a luxury

• Get better at time management and be more productive

Others

Developing flexible and inclusive communication skills, that allow you to create the relationships you need to succeed.

Building a network, having influence and impact, developing authentic and inclusive leadership skills, understanding how to build and maintain high-performing teams, working well with difference, embracing diversity and being a role model.

Blogs

• 3 good reasons to develop your relationship skills and an approach to help you do that

• 5 ingredients for high-performing teams that feel great to work in

• Leading with emotional intelligence

• Want better teamwork and relationships? What can you learn from how people work?

• Getting on with different people - 4 differences that regularly cause issues

Managing the bias, challenges and assumptions

Providing support to help you understand people and find the inner strength, resilience and strategies to challenge inequality and bias when it rears its head and face the assumptions and challenges that arise from being a woman working as part of the minority.

Blogs

• The NLP communication model...probably the most useful thing I've ever learnt

• Why am I me? Why do I think, act and react the way I do? And can I change?

• 5 step process for dealing with negative emotions

• Negative emotions - core learning that. helps me let go of them

Enablers

Removing common blockers like perfectionism and imposter syndrome and developing the core qualities we all need to succeed like emotional intelligence and resilience.

I'll be covering each of the 10 components of Emotional Intelligence over the coming weeks with blogs on those blockers after that. If you want to make sure you see all of my future blogs, you can subscribe to my monthly round-up email here.

In the meantime, why not check out these blogs

• Do you need a day with your possibility fairy?

• Using the magic triad to change how you feel...more confident for example

• In need of a bit of motivation?...this might help

• Emotional Intelligence - handy for just about everything!

Navigating your career

Helping you to take ownership of your career and make progress to where you want to be.

Understanding and playing to your values and strengths, owning and visibly demonstrating your value and capability. Finding and pursuing your path.

Blogs

• Are you acting 'on purpose'

• 4 Bs of career management - Bring, Be, Buying, Become

• Strengths, Weaknesses, Personal Brand? Think Toaster!

• 3 steps for creating a well-defined, achievable goal

• OPA! A simple model for successful change and goal achievement

So that's my selection of some of the things that I think can help.

They’ve obviously all been key for me as a woman in STEM, as that's how I've got the content for all those blogs :) I hope you find something in the mix that will help you help yourself and...I would say this wouldn't I...while self-help is helpful, working with a coach is a more efficient, effective, engaging, empowering and enjoyable way to make the changes you need for the life and career that you want.

If you'd like to

• Explore coaching and delve deeper into any of the ideas covered in these blogs, then you can book a free 45-minute call here.

• Try out my monthly emails that provide a roundup of my blogs as well as other insights, you can sign up here.