Women Leadership 101

When we talk about hard work, the first maxim that comes to our mind is the popular sayings - ‘There is no substitute to hard work’. While there is no denying that hard work is essential, it does not really mean that there are no other elements that are important for success.

There is indeed no substitute to hard work but people don’t get promoted for working late nights and putting in extra hours alone. The mantra today is to ‘work smart’ and not just ‘work hard’.

Many women complain about the fact that they work much harder than their male colleagues but still do not get the same recognition as the male colleagues do. They crib about the fact that all the important assignments are allotted to the male colleagues just because they spend time with the boss over a drink and chat about the baseball game.

What women also fail to understand or internalize is the fact that there are other aspects to rising up the corporate ladder other than just hard work. These are aspects like relationship building, networking, team play and strategic thinking. And while these activities may not be considered hard work they are equally, if not more, important in making your way through the corporate jungle.

Those who consider hard work to be the only road to success get only hard work to do. Those who prosper and eventually get promoted are the ones who know the business strategy of building relationships, networking and team play. And therefore some casual talk, team outings, coffee breaks and other such initiatives are necessary to move forward on the corporate ladder.

Women tend to generally be hard pressed for time and have other aspects like household chores, picking up children from the crèche and other things on their mind while at work. That sometimes leads to a situation where they want to finish the pending work and head for home as soon as they can. And this is also one of the reasons why they do not have time to network or engage in the much required team activities.

A good strategy is to divide your time between the classic definition of work and other aspects like networking and team work that you currently consider as ‘wasting time.’ Use that time to build relationships with seniors and peers as well. Organizing your work schedule helps as much as hard work does. Define your working hours religiously and extend them only in extreme cases. If more work comes your way during the course of the day, schedule that for later rather than dropping what you had planned or working late hours. Emergencies, of course, are exceptions to the rule.