10 Ways for Women to Get Ahead at Work – Reba McEntire
Succeeding at work involves building great relationships, which many women excel at! These ways for women to get ahead at work are based on inspirational quotations from Reba McEntire — who is both a talented diva and a smart businesswoman.
About success, McEntire says, “Be different, stand out, and work your butt off.”
Allowing yourself to be different and stand out is more difficult than working hard, but authenticity offers rewards that hard work doesn’t. To learn how to work smarter and reveal your authentic self, read Lois Frankel’s Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers – she’s written several fantastic books in the “Nice Girls” series. And, read on for ten ways to succeed at work for women…
10 Ways for Women to Get Ahead at Work – Reba McEntire
1. Give yourself permission to move from girlhood to womanhood. Do you sometimes feel like a young girl even though you’re a grown woman? Frankel says, “Tell yourself that you are not only allowed, but entitled to act in ways that move you toward goal attainment.” To get ahead at work, take control of your education, professional development, and career choices. Own your age!
2. Ask for professional feedback. If you’re concerned about your job performance, ask a trusted colleague for feedback. In Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Frankel suggests asking an open-ended question, such as: “Tell me what I did in that meeting that helped me or hindered me from achieving my goals.” Negative feedback can make you a healthier, more well-rounded woman — so don’t be afraid of it.
3. Know the rules of the game at your workplace. Workplaces have spoken and unspoken rules, and women need to know what they are. For instance, is it taboo to go home before 4 pm? Can budgets be flexed, or must they be strictly adhered to? The more you know which rules can be bent, the farther you’ll go at work.
4. Don’t take slights, criticisms, or mistakes personally. If you’re taken to task because of a mistake at work (real or perceived), don’t take it personally. Imagine you’re protected by a Plexiglass shield; you can see out, but negativity and criticism can’t touch you. To succeed at work, don’t retreat after making a mistake.
5. Build solid professional relationships. “If you’re not spending 5% of your day building relationships, you’re doing something wrong,” says Frankel. Since women are generally very good at building relationships, this is an easy way for us to succeed! Unless, of course, we’re coping with negative or bossy coworkers.
6. Speak up when people delegate inappropriately to you. Learn how to say no and recognize inappropriate delegation at work. Practice saying “no” unapologetically: ”You know, I’d love to help you out with this but I’m just swamped.” Then, stop talking. Here’s how Reba McEntire puts it: “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”
7. Prepare requests in advance. If you’re asking for a new client project, a job promotion, a raise, etc., make sure you rehearse in advance. When you ask for anything at work, be direct, straightforward, and accompany each request with two or three legitimate reasons why you should be given it.
8. Embrace – don’t avoid – office politics. Office politics, according to Frankel, is simply about going out of your way to help someone and give them what they need. In return, they’ll do the same. Understand that professional relationships have a built-in quid pro quo. To take it a step further and learn to read nonverbal signals from your coworkers.
9. Ask for introductions. To get ahead at work, speak up when you want to meet a potential or current client, the president of the company, or the boss’s husband! The more you ask for referrals, phone numbers, and sources, the easier it’ll get.
10. Don’t let your emotions dictate your responses at work. “When people get annoyed or angry with us, it’s often for the purpose of getting us to do what they want. Don’t fall for the ploy,” writes Frankel. To succceed at work, let go of your need to be liked and your fear of confrontation. Let people be annoyed with — or even mad at – you.
One last inspiration from Reba McEntire:
“Growing up is not being so determined to make everybody happy.”
If you have any thoughts or questions on these ways for women to get ahead at work, please comment below…
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