Why is it so hard to advance?
May 08, 2024
I can’t believe we are still here…
For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager roles, only 87 women are promoted.
This means that men end up holding 62% of manager-level positions, while women hold just 38%.
And it has a knock-on effect for the rest of their working lives.
In short, fewer women get anywhere near senior management level because they’re getting stuck on every rung of the corporate ladder.
This is called the Broken Rung Phenomenon.
We’ve deep dived into this in past newsletters, but it’s safe to say there are many factors contributing to this…
…and regardless of the root cause, the fact remains that many women are held back because of it.
Overcoming the impact.
When your boss or organisation constantly overlook you for promotions, it's a surefire way to kill your motivation, right?
You’re not getting the recognition you deserve, so you feel resentful.
You then start to doubt your abilities, leading to a crisis of confidence that makes it difficult to put yourself forward for new opportunities.
You then disengage, believing your contributions don't matter. Work starts to suck (or suck more than usual).
It becomes harder and harder to bring your A-game to the office every day.
It’s no wonder so many women are constantly scrolling Seek on their lunch breaks.
Are you one of them?
But here’s the thing, there is a way out of this. And it doesn’t have to be hard.
It starts with a mindset shift and I’m going to call it the “WIN/WIN girlfriend” approach.
Catchy hey?
The WIN/WIN girlfriend approach boils down to one key lesson:
No matter what circumstance you're in, you can always WIN. You’re not a victim to your circumstance.
Read that again.
You either get the recognition and opportunities you want in your current role, or you find it at another organisation.
Either way, you win. You’ve just tossed the ladder out the window. No need for that broken thing anymore.
But…too many women think they need to fix the ladder (i.e. repair the broken rungs).
They do this by getting extra qualifications, more experience. They slog it out silently until their ladder is shiny and new and hope they are finally “recognised”.
The problem is, they aren’t fixing the ladder (which is inherently broken), they are trying to fix themselves, thinking they are the problem.
I say “stuff that”!
Instead, you need to fly.
To fly, you need to believe in yourself, you need to believe you can fly.
Consider this, some of the best (most well paid and respected) leaders in the world weren’t overly educated, experienced or “skilled” before they started a job.
Look at Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva. She dropped out of Uni at 19, at 25 she co-founded the company and 10 years later it’s worth over $13 billion.
When I hire people, I glance at their background, it’s important (of course) but it’s not the top thing I look for.
More importantly, it’s how well you solve problems, your willingness to learn if you don’t know something, and belief that you can overcome challenges.
The problem is, if you don’t believe in yourself, you won’t be able to convince others to believe in you. This is especially a problem when selling yourself in a resume or during an interview; or even to your boss.
Often, we climb the rungs at a different company in hope that we run from the real problem, but often without solving the internal battles. Many find themselves in a job, or industry, they don’t love and they lose sight of a career they might love - read the Career Hack section for a proven way to solve this.
When I created the Career Accelerator Program, I designed it knowing that often people need to find a way to believe in themselves first, because often the Broken Rung Phenomenon has slowly crushed their belief.
You go from feeling you could charge up the ladder, take on the world, to feeling like there is an invisible forcefield stopping you from moving forward.
That’s why getting a promotion, or changing careers, feels so hard. You need to address the self-doubt, and a lack of career clarity, before you can move forward.
The great thing is that it’s pretty easy to solve this, because I’m guessing you have a pretty amazing attitude, work ethic and ability to get sh*t done.
To find out more, check out the program here and then find a time to chat with me to see if it’s a good fit for you.