Invenio: Coaching and Mentoring October 2016 IIC&M

Crack it,

smash it,

dissolve it

A study by the ILM discovered that 73% of women believe a glass ceiling (obstacles) is preventing them from reaching senior positions. The ILM survey identified that women are held back by lower confidence and lower ambitions and hard factors such as maternity and child care related issues. Some articles even go so far as to say that the glass ceiling only exists in women’s heads.

Fact is, fewer women than men aim for and/or reach senior management positions.

When I researched this topic, I was reminded of Henry Ford’s famous quote: “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” Whether the glass ceiling is real, a collective myth or a figment of a woman’s imagination does not really matter. For the women who feel that it exists, it is very real and influences their career and often life decisions.

For each woman the glass ceiling is likely to be slightly different. Each woman has her own set of limiting beliefs (e.g. how ambitious she can be, how much she is worth) and her own external obstacles depending on the environment (e.g. company, chosen career field, country) she lives and works in.

In this and the following article I want to explore what we as women can do to break through our glass ceilings, external or internal, real or imagined, and achieve the success we want in your chosen career or life path.

In order to deal with our glass ceiling we first have to identify and get to know it.

So, what or where is your glass ceiling?

What is holding you back?

This is not an easy exercise to do and takes a bit of time and effort. Ideally, write down any thoughts that come to mind when you ask yourself the above question. I invite you to review the area of your life that you feel most dissatisfied with. It can be in your career, your studies, your home life, your fitness, or any other area of your life. What are you telling yourself about this area of your life? Listen out for any phrases like: ‘I can’t go any further because’, ‘I am held back by’, ‘there is no point, because’, ‘I am not’, ‘it is very hard for me to’. If you can write all these down and really get to know your glass ceiling.

One of the findings of the ILM survey was that a lot of women did not want to become managers or take leadership positions which was a really interesting finding in itself.

Therefore, before we deal with the glass ceiling we need to be absolutely clear on whether we really want that success or that goal (or any other goal beyond our glass ceilings).

How important is 'breaking through' your glass ceiling to you?

To achieve our goals, we need to dedicate time and effort to them. We often have to be prepared to sacrifice other activities in the short or long term. The same goes for breaking through glass ceilings.

If you totally and utterly want to move beyond your currently perceived glass ceiling, then there are a number of things you can do to either break it or at least start getting it to crack in places.

Some ideas I want to offer you are:

Break or put cracks into your glass ceiling

For each statement you wrote down earlier on what is holding you back, do the following:

•For each obstacle, write down what it would or could take to get rid of it, put a crack in it or move beyond it.

•Ask yourself, what belief would be more useful to have instead or what would your ideal scenario be? And what evidence would you need to support this?

Be as creative as you can and accept any thought that comes to mind. If you find this difficult, imagine a friend wrote down all those obstacle statements and she asked you to help her find ways to deal with her obstacles or glass ceiling.

Invenio: Coaching and Mentoring October 2016 IIC&M | Page 9