Confidence in the workplace Examining the confidence gap

Confidence in the workplace Examining the confidence eu-agrarpolitikConfidence in the workplace Examining the confidence gapWe are conditioned to admire those who are seemingly self-assured. We are encouraged to share our views. We are often told to have more confidence in ourselves and taught to believe that if we act with determination and authority, we will be more successful in our endeavors. But, what does confidence mean in todays workplace and does it actually pay to be confident?Over the past few years, the idea of confidence in the workplace and the role it plays in a persons career trajectory has become a focal point, especially in how it varies for men and women. According to one study from Advances in Physiology Education, men tend to overestimate their intelligence and academic abilities, while women tend to underestimate both. Yet, the quality of performance between men and women is essentially the same. This disparity in self-concept is what, some say, ultimately leads to under participation from women in academic and professional settings, particularly in STEM fields, and over participation from men.Even though I have reached the level of corpotarif scientist, the highest technical rank a scientist can achieve at 3M, I am not immune from feeling anxious. Whenever I take on a significant role, my irrational inner voice, like a well-honed muscle memory triggered by years of practice, surfaces to unhelpfully inform me I dont think you can do it Its like an involuntary reflex an uninvited guest that invades your mind-space before you can even register its on its way. And, voila. At that moment, all your accomplishments, your qualifications, and proven abilities give way to your number one concern Can I do it?Im here to tell you that, yes, you can do it. Heres what you can do at that moment Take a breath. Hit pause. Channel your rational voice, the one that reminds you how far you have already come, how you got here and how much more you are capable of. For me, this works because I know myself and my track record I will bring everything I can bring to make it work. Ill learn more about the topic than anyone else Ill devote more time planning how Ill approach it than anyone else Ill ask the right people, the right questions. In short, I can rely on myself to know Ill do whatever it takes to optimize success.Im sharing this because I know I am not alone. I have had many women mentees, coworkers and teammates over the years who have admitted theyve felt unsure of themselves when embarking on a new endeavor. Based on observations, Ive also noticed women tend to vocalize their lack of confidence, at times in self-deprecating ways, more often than our male colleagues. Ive come to believe that often, we do this just to seek validation and reassurance.The solution may not be rooted in learn how to be more confident so much as learn how to handle these feelings when they emerge. A recent study explored how perceptions of a womans self-c onfidence translate into professional success and influence. It found that in professional settings, men who are viewed as confident tend to excel. However, a womans self-confidence doesnt have as much bearing on how successful she is, or how confident she appears to others. Rather, it argues a womans influence is determined by perceptions of how warm, nurturing, and social she is (assuming the job capabilities are even). Therefore, encouraging women to be more confident could actually hinder their career progression. Im not suggesting that women should conform to a standard that others impose. But I do think what is critical is to be yourself. Bringing your most authentic self, and being comfortable with who you are, is a form of confidence in of itself.I recently joined a panel hosted by 3M on World Intellectual Property Day to discuss women in innovation and creativity. The panel touched upon how women inventors hold a small share of patents, and at the current rate of progress, gender equality is estimated to be more than 75 years away. Clearly, we have some work to do in science. But while this number seems high, it is reflective of other statistics. In fact, out of the top Fortune 500 companies, only 24 are led by women. Thats not all women are 18% less likely to be promoted to management positions. There has been ample research now proving that diverse organizations result in much better business outcomes.Despite possessing the same skills and ambitions as their male counterparts, women arent reaching the same levels of success. Heres what we can do to help fix this gapStop trying to define confidence Confidence, like many things, is a relative concept that comes in many forms. The definition of confidence and how it is experienced is different for everyone. The gap is in our understanding. Whats important is for women (and men) to stay authentic to themselves. Being comfortable with who you are (and what you are capable of) exudes its own brand of conf idence. Just as all men dont fit into the same confidence box, nor do all women.Recognize people for their abilities, not their characteristics There is a gap in the way we assess and evaluate. Whats important is to recognize talent and skills in colleagues, rather than confidence levels. Self-help game plans to help women overcome their reservations and exude more confidence is missing the point. If we judge women and men on their abilities and contributions rather than character traits, we secure a more even playing field.Embrace diversity Offices and workplaces should strive to eliminate any unfair pay gaps and celebrate inclusivity and diversity of thought and styles, starting at the top. There is a lot to lose if everyone is forced to think and act the same way.A final thought as we look to the future for women in science and in industry we can all commit to being conscious of what we are projecting on our children, starting at an early age. If we are unconsciously telling ou r daughters to act certain ways and rewarding our sons for certain behaviors, we maybe seeding a gender gap from the start.According to 3Ms State of Science Index, 82% of adults said they would encourage kids to pursue a career in science. Yet, there is still a lack of female representation in the science world. Could this be because we arent encouraging our children in the same way? According to the same survey, 43% of women regret not pursuing a science career. It would be great if we could work to change that in the future.There are many opinions when it comes to confidence and gender in the workplace, but one thing is certain, in many workplaces the current environment tends to be disadvantageous for women. It is up, as leaders and as employees, to us to change that. And it cant just be women leading the charge. 3Ms Womens Leadership Forum (WLF) and its Men as Advocates Program convenes both men and women to promote diversity in leadership and a great example of employees engagi ng in conversation to address this important issue. If we work to create environments in which all can succeed, we will move towards a more diverse, productive future. Lets strive to close the gap on acceptance, understanding, and empowerment.Dr. Jayshree Seth is a corporate scientist at 3M and the companys first-ever Chief Science Advocate. With 61 patents to her name, she leads technology development for sustainable products in 3Ms Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division (IATD). She is a frequent speaker on topics of innovation, leadership, and career development.

Career Experience Is Not a Number

Career Experience Is Not a NumberCareer Experience Is Not a NumberMake certain your resume and interviews represent the lessons youve learned and applied, not the years you spent on the job.I woke up the other day and found out Im middle-aged. Heres what happened. A friend of mine said, Dan, now that youre middle-aged, how do you feel about such-and-such a topic? I said, What are you talking about? He said, Im serious, I want to know your thoughts on this topic. I said, Im not talking about that part. Im talking about that crack about being middle-aged. He said, Dan, how old are you? I said, Im 46. He said, Dan, I have bad news for you. Not only are you middle-aged, youve been middle-aged for several years now.Well Ill be darned. The whole thing happened so fast I didnt even know it. Guess I have to order the Corvette. Barb is not going to be too excited to hear about that. Now that Ive come to grips with being middle-aged I have a few thoughts on experience.The most vital being that experience is not the time you invested in a task (or a company) but what you learned from doing that task and the ability to apply that learning elsewhere.Define what words mean.To me, experience means extracting lessons from one set of circumstances and applying them successfully in another set of circumstances. Consequently, experience is a function of being able to step back, reflect on what has been learned, and determine how that lesson can best be applied in future situations.Experience is not a function of ageThe most experienced person in a group is not the one who has gone through the most situations or is the oldest, but rather the person who is the most effective at extracting lessons from one life situation and successfully applying them in another life situation.I used to get jealous of people who achieved amazing results at a far younger age than I welches at. I used to think they were just lucky. However, Ive learned to dig for the truth behind their success, and Iv e found that experience can be gained at all age levels.A few examplesGoogle Inc.Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google Inc., became millionaires in their 20s and billionaires by the age of 31. Recently they ranked in the top five of the Forbes 400 richest people in the U.S. They were just lucky, right? Well, shortly after Sergey and Larry met at Stanford in the spring of 1995 at the ages of 21 and 22, they became intensely focused on organizing information on the world wide web in a way that a reader could get the content he or she wanted as fast as possible. They wanted to democratize information. With this single clear goal in mind, they applied lessons they had learned from earlier in life and began to develop a mathematical system for gathering content on the web and organizing it in a way that was useful to the viewer. Thus, Google was born in 1997. And as they learned more about how to improve their search engine, they applied those lessons back to their business. Today they are 35 years old and are two of the most influential business people on the planet.Author Jason JenningsJason Jennings wrote his first book, Its Not the BIG that Eat the Smallits the FAST that eat the SLOW, at the age of 44. Within a few weeks that book went to number one on Amazon.com and hit The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times Bestsellers Lists. Published in 32 languages, USA Today named it one of the top 25 books of the year. How lucky can a person get? First book and it became an instant bestseller. He seemed lucky until I dug into the details.In his 20s, he was the Worlds youngest owner of a radio station group. Later, he founded Jennings-McGlothlin Company, a consulting firm that, within three years, became the largest media consultancy in the world. Jason combined lessons he learned on how to interview top performers, craft their ideas together in meaningful ways, and communicate those powerful messages in ways that could make a huge differe nce for the readers of his books. His purpose was to search for the very best companies in the world on a given topic, interview the executives responsible for running those companies and then artfully combine the best of the best ideas for readers to use in their organizations. He has since followed that book with two more bestsellers Less is More and Think Big, Act Small. His fourth book, Hit the Ground Running, will be in bookstores soon. He has spent more than 25 years extracting lessons from one set of circumstances and applying them to others. Its really not luck. Its a proactive approach to improving ones level of experience.Pixar Animation StudiosEd Catmull didnt really taste great business success until the age of 50. In 1970 at the age of 25, Catmull established a clear dream to create a feature-length computer animated film. The only problem was that in 1970 you could barely get a computer to put out a still image. Over the next 25 years Catmull worked with a variety of i nvestors, computer technologists and animators steadily to extract lessons at each point in the journey and apply them to furthering the dream. In the end, he built Pixar Animation Studios and created the first-ever computer animated feature-length film, Toy Story, in 1995. That film went to No. one at the box office. Over the next 13 years, Pixar made eight more films, and each of them went to No. one at the box office.Experience can be strengthened like a muscleRegardless of your age, you can strengthen your level of business experience right now. Heres the processThe process for gaining experienceRecall a situation you have been in at any point in your life.Identify the lesson you learned from that situation.Clarify how you can use that lesson in your current work situation.I know it seems simple, and that may be why so few folks do it. Youre busy doing your job, and you have a ton of responsibilities, and Im asking you to take out a sheet of paper and start proactively writing d own memories, extracting lessons and applying them to your work. Ok, weve established that this seems a little crazy. Now do it. Give it a try. Actually give it about 10 tries. Within 60 minutes I believe you will land on a powerful insight that can improve your performance. And you will dramatically improve your level of experience.The difference between investing time and gaining experience occurs when you step back from a situation, extract a lesson, and apply that learning in another situation. Going forward, I encourage you to auszeit after each situation you find yourself in, and ask, What lesson can I take away from this event, and how can I apply it to improve results in another area of my life?Good things come to those who wait.My dads not doing well right now. Hes been living in a nursing home for the past few months. When I visit him, I push him in his wheelchair all over the campus. When I put my arms around my dad and tell him I love him, memories of growing up with him start to flood back to me.My dads favorite saying was, Good things come to those who wait. When I was about five years old, my dad bought our first electric typewriter. I can picture him sitting there writing, Good things come to those who wait. When I was 16 and wanted to borrow his car, he said, Good things come to those who wait. That was code for, Youre not getting my car. When I wanted to buy my own car at 18, he explained that waiting was better because my money could be used to help pay my way through school. Just now Im starting to realize the true economic brilliance of my dads advice. Here are a few paraphrases of my dads philosophyGood things come to those who wait to buy something until they can pay cash for it.Good things come to those who patiently invest in improving their craft and not worry about how well other people are doing.Really, really good things come to those who clarify a purpose and sustain their focus within that purpose for long, long periods of time.A s you read the examples above you may have noticed a pattern. Whether the story was about Google or Pixar or Jason Jennings, they all had one thing in common. They clarified a purpose in terms of adding value to other people, and then they stayed focused within that purpose for a very long period. Over the course of many years, their experience level for that particular purpose grew and grew and grew until one day they had each separated themselves from all the others in terms of the value they could contribute.My purpose is to help people achieve remarkable results by explaining simple, practical processes of two to seven steps that they can use to improve their performance regardless of their title, function, education, industry or age. It sounds so simple when I write that, but its really the challenge of a lifetime. Each process has to be so simple that any person can understand it but so useful that every person who wants to improve his or her performance will gain value by giv ing it a try. Now the key for me is continually to gain more experience at crafting and honing the content and delivery of these practical processes.Whether you own a business, run a business or manage a part of a business, what is the purpose you are going to operate within for a very, very long period of time? After you identify that purpose, then stick with it. Someday you will have more experience within that area of focus than any other person in the world. And that will be your ultimate business driver. Find your purpose, stay patient, and gain experience. Thats how to generate extraordinary results.

Candidate Forgiveness

Candidate Forgiveness Candidate Forgiveness At current rates of unemployment, being without a job bears less stigma. It’s called “candidate forgiveness,” and companies are in the mood to practice it.Where do you find the silver lining in the darkest economic cloud since the Great Depression?It’s hard to think of positives. Supposedly, the roads are less crowded as fewer commuters make their way to and from work. (Although that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case here in Los Angeles!) Those of us who are employed might have a better selection of office furniture and supplies to choose from now that the competition is diminished. But all in all, there is very little to celebrate when more than 15 million Americans are unemployed.There is one upside for current job seekers: Being unemployed has become so common that recruiters and hiring managers are less likely to consider it a negative. We call it “candidate forgiveness”; while it’s traditionally easier to find a job when you have one already recruiters today are more willing to overlook the fact that a candidate is unemployed when he applies for a position.As a recruiter, I can attest to the difficulty I have had selling an unemployed candidate to a top-notch company when employment numbers are more robust. In a strong economy, recruiters prefer “passive” candidates - those who were employed and not looking. I’ve drawn a lot of analogies to dating in my articles about the job search ; this scenario would resemble the guy who already has a girlfriend and seems like the perfect boyfriend. If you missed last year’s dance, you need not apply for prom king.But circumstances have changed, and so have the sentiments of recruiters. With so much great talent on the streets, finding the right candidate is more about finding the right skill set and less about whether the candidate employed or unemployed. In fact, it’s harder than ever to poach an employed candidate away from seemingly stable employment.But this period of candidate forgi veness won’t last forever, and some of the circumstances of unemployment are more forgivable than others. Take advantage of candidate forgiveness while you can by framing your employment in the best possible way for the recruiter.Some key points: It is important to clarify that it was a company-wide layoff. It’s even better to know the numbers - “50 percent of the staff” or “over 1,500 people.” Have strong references lined up (preferably supervisors) who can back up your story. Obtain their personal e-mail addresses before you part ways so you can stay in touch down the road. Contact your references so that they know who might be calling and the position you are considering. Get their permission to use them as references. (If you are hired, be sure to follow up with a thank-you note.) Be prepared to compromise. Decide what benefits or working conditions are important to you and which are superfluous. Set standards where you think they’re important, but be realistic, too. It’s not 2007 anymore. While it is most important to get back to work, if you have a choice, pick the job that will continue to enhance your skills. This will be of value in your next job search or if you are ever laid off again. Yes, this recession has leveled the playing field for unemployed candidates, but you should use this to your advantage while you can â€" before the economy recovers. Let’s hope that’s soon.