Reentering the Workplace Post-COVID: What Women Can Do to Stay Off of the “Sticky Floors”

In my June post, I discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the workplace and promised to share four strategies that can help women maximize their effectiveness at this inflection point of the pandemic. As you review the recommended actions below, keep in mind that SHAMBAUGH Leadership coined the concept of “sticky floors,” which are self-limiting beliefs that that hold women back from being their best selves, reaching their priority goals, and achieving their true potential. To avoid getting stuck on sticky floors, women often need to reframe or unpack their assumptions, so that their usual way of looking at or doing things can evolve. Consider these tips to do that:

Reframe Your Beliefs About Yourself and What’s Possible

Women we coach at SHAMBAUGH sometimes unknowingly fail to recognize their own limits. This is particularly true when it comes to juggling work-life issues. When women take on more than a reasonable load, failing to focus on key priorities and take care of themselves, it can lead to overwhelm and fatigue.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though, since women often have more power and influence in their organization than they think they do. Perception of your unique value begins with your own story and beliefs about what you can and can’t do. Before setting self-imposed limits, check your assumptions about yourself and the situations you’re in. Many of these may be false, so it’s important to avoid bringing negative or self-limiting narratives from the past into your current situation.

Manage and Prioritize Your Time by Setting Boundaries

Know it’s impossible to ever get everything knocked off your to-do list. Therefore, it’s essential to avoid setting unrealistic expectations for yourself. Examine your workload so that you can be clear and realistic about what’s possible and reasonable to accomplish in a single day or week. Then have those important conversations with your manager at work or partner at home so that everyone is on the same page about what you will and won’t be able to tackle. Reprioritize anything that isn’t critical or central to your work or personal goals. Here are a few tactics to help you set better boundaries:

• Compartmentalize your cognitive load. Bring context to each activity and compartmentalize by task/function, rather than trying to blend everything into your day simultaneously. Start with the highest priority items and work down the ladder of importance—for example, strategic initiatives, then brainstorming, information gathering, and so on.
• Make your work structure efficient. By using block scheduling in your calendar—denoting that you are “busy” to block out downtime, not just meetings—you can create a margin in your day, creating space in between your calls and meetings. You can’t work straight through and expect to make good decisions and not get fatigued.
• Know when your energy is the best. Time chunking is another productivity tactic that can create boundaries in your day. This involves breaking your time up into larger “chunks” for tasks to help avoid succumbing to constant interruptions. When selecting which chunks of time to use for different activities, focus on the challenge or most important aspect of your job—or those things you have put off or procrastinated on—and tackle them when you have your best energy.
• Give yourself permission to do what you need. As a professional woman and working mom or caretaker, you must focus on your own priorities, not just those handed to you by others. Give yourself permission to let a few balls drop—a break from the grind—and begin by asking for what you need without feeling guilty. You may not get what you want right away, but if you’re not even asking, you’ll never receive it. (And for any men reading, step up and help clear a path for women colleagues and family members to get the breaks and time for self-care that they deserve.)

 

Build and Leverage Social Capital

Given the growing popularity of a hybrid environment that blends office-based work with remote work, professional relationships have a renewed and even more important purpose. When working from home, for example, we are not always visible or in-person with colleagues, so we need those relationships I refer to as a “board of directors”—people who will endorse you or amplify your ideas and voice when you not in the room—even more. Here are some steps to take to build and leverage your social capital in the current work environment:

• Examine your lines of influence. Are the lines pointing in (people asking you for support) or pointing out (people supporting you)? You want a balance.
• Become familiar with the unfamiliar. Multiple studies show that teams with greater cognitive diversity drive better decision making and problem solving. Make it a point to reach out to someone you need to know, or who needs to know you. Find a common point of connection—personal or professional—and build from there.
• Build partnerships with men. Know that 80 percent of influencers are men, which is why it’s critical to bring them into the conversation/solution. Help them to understand their value as it relates to your common goals. Make it easy for them to participate; for example, invite them to join you at women’s leadership events or tap them as a thought partner.

 

Get on the Right Escalator

Getting on the right escalator means moving in the right direction toward what’s best for you. Success is not always a linear career ladder, but more of a jungle gym. The world and workplace are dynamic and changing more rapidly now than many of us have seen in our lifetime—along with your personal priorities. Many women we coach erroneously believe that someone else will take care of their career or decide which escalator is best for them. But putting your career in someone else’s hands is risky with so many changes and reorganizations happening today.

In my book, Make Room for Her, I interviewed a number of women execs and CEOs from all walks of life. Those that were successful chose a path that was right for them—it gave them their energy and sense of purpose.

Sometimes we need to step off one ladder and shift over to another to align with our true strengths/passions and life priorities. It’s important to have a peripheral vison. Be aware of the changes happening around you, as well as what’s important to you, by taking these steps:

• Clarify what’s important to you. Only you really know the direction you want to go, and when your intuition tells you it’s time to move on or it’s time for a change. Don’t assume others know; clarify and set expectations with your manager or management team.
• Get feedback from mentors and peers. You can learn a lot about your strengths, as well as your blind spots and key differentiators, by asking others for honest feedback. Use this to help you choose your next steps with your strengths in mind.
• Don’t be afraid to get off the wrong escalator. The most important thing is to understand what you care most about and be willing to align your actions with that purpose. Believe in yourself and your own values and priorities. Remember, a career is a myriad of different experiences and paths that should ideally align with your whole life and what matters to you!

 

Contact me directly at rshambaugh@shambaughleadership.com or link to SHAMBAUGH’s offerings to learn more about SHAMBAUGH’s coaching for women as well as our eWILL Program, which are timely in demand solutions for helping women to navigate the new work environment. I’d be happy to speak at your company on how women can champion their life/career and lean into their highest leadership.   

For more practical tips and strategies for women to strike the right balance between family and work, read my Harvard Business Review article “Are Chore Wars at Home Holding You Back at Work”, which is also featured in HBR’s Working Parent book Advice for Working Moms.

Rebecca Shambaugh is President of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, and Founder of Women in Leadership and Learning. Rebecca is a contributing writer to Harvard Business Review, the HuffPost, and a TEDx speaker. Rebecca has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, Training Magazine, and US News and World Report.  She is author of the best-selling books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor and Make Room for Her: Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results.

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