5 Steps to use role models to facilitate career goals achievement

LEVEL UP!
Written By Katharina Engelhardt

Role Models are important to encourage more women to become leaders.

Gender stereotypes and gender-typical role expectations of women (and men) continue to be commonplace in all organizations. However, women are not only pushed into certain roles, but they often take on typical roles themselves, familiar from the family, because these are socially and emotionally familiar to them. Taking on traditional roles such as girl, daughter, mother, wife or partner promises a sense of female identity and social recognition in the professional environment. The conscious or subconscious assumption of such roles is a risk for women; it can also become a trap.

The career path for women in leadership positions often runs as a tightrope walk between different models of femininity and technical professionalism.

Even if a woman starts out very self-confident, she encounters traditional emotional role expectations and can find herself in dead ends, especially as a junior executive. Traditional roles entail risks, but also open up micropolitical scope for action, because women can potentially be influential in all roles, depending on the situation. In a conflict, for example, acting in a de-escalating mother role may be favorable, while in negotiations with business partners a charming demeanor can create trust and good relations. Confidently playing with traditional women's roles requires that they are reflected upon micropolitically and used with role distance. A reflected relationship to one's own effectiveness and power is a prerequisite for success in any case. Because it always depends on who is directing. Role models can help

Male and female role models play a decisive role in bringing more women into leadership positions.

Let’s imagine it would be precisely same-sex top executives who could induce career-oriented behavior in young talents. I read about a Researchers at the University of Mannheim that proved such a connection. The study investigated that men, when given the choice, are more willing to compete with other participants than women. And it turned out that this changes when women are given the opportunity to observe a successful female role model before making such a decision. For example, the test persons were shown videos of tennis player Serena Williams in which they talk about how great it feels to win. Afterwards, significantly more female test subjects opted for the competitive situation. On the other hand, it had the opposite effect when a female group was shown videos with male role models. While no influence could be detected among the male study participants, even fewer women subsequently chose the competitive situation.

The situation in German companies is comparable to this: The lack of leading women can mean a lack of encouraging role models. Germany's business leaders are male just looking into the most recent Allbright results.

However: The right role models can help women to achieve their goals.

Generally, there are two types of role models: positive role models, who serve as examples of what we "should" do, and negative role models, who serve as examples of things we "shouldn't" do.

As a career coach, I can help you find the role model that inspires and motivates you to achieve your personal career goal. Let´s keep in mind: The best role model is the one who has already achieved the goal you have in mind. For example your goal could be that you want to be able to present your projects in an interesting and lively way so that others can see what you have achieved. My tried and proven 5-step approach to this is:

5 Steps to use role models to facilitate career goals achievement

Step 1: Determine a goal

Write about a goal you are currently working towards.
What specifically do you want to achieve? An ease in presenting? Generate enthusiasm in your presentations? Have no inhibitions about talking about your Successes! Even if this seems a bit exhausting, the clearer the goal, the clearer are the actions that will follow. Answering this question is often the most difficult part of the whole process.

Step 2: Identify a role model

Who is someone who would be a suitable role model to inspire you to achieve your goal? This person can be dead or alive, they can be someone you know or someone you don't know (e.g. a famous person). Has anyone inspired you with their talks? Do you see someone where it is clear what the successes are without it seeming like selling? Is there someone you would like to work for because it is so natural how successes are communicated?

Step 3 Check your motives

Why would this person be suitable? What made this person become the way they are?  This step serves to gain clarity and take another critical look at the target.

Step 4 Ideation

What can you learn from this role model with regard to your own goal? What specifically does your role model do? Let's take our example again with the presentation of our own successes. When does your role model talk about it, how does your role model talk about it. What words, what gestures do they use.

Step 5 Target setting

Imagine that this role model would motivate you to achieve your goal. What are three things they could say that would spur you on to continue pursuing your goal? These then are the three steps you implement if they fit. How could you begin to bring some of those qualities into your everyday life? Finally, what one specific action will you choose to move forwards with as of today?

Next steps:

Last word: Reading books, memoirs, autobiographies or watching/listening to podcasts, radio, films and documentaries about the people you admire can give you plenty of ideas and inspiration on how to grow.

In my course become the leader you want to be the participants spend a good amount of time to define their leadership vision and step one is to review the personal role model as said in the positive and the negative way.

If being visible is one of your challenges, I can support you with my new 4-weeks class: #bevisible - Strategy And Mindset To Increase Visibility.

Visibility plays a key role in many areas: whether you want to find new customers, put a spotlight on a certain topic, build up an expert status or achieve a promotion or salary increase - without visibility, all this is difficult.

But how do you actually get started on the topic of visibility? That's what the course #bevisible - Strategy And Mindset To Increase Visibility is all about:
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This course is ideal for women who understand that visibility is one of the keys to success  - but something is holding them back. The solution to this is easy: You just need to get started to promote yourself authentically.

This course runs from 31st October to 27th of November (4 weeks). Please apply to participate for free in the beta round of this new course here.
Click here if you are interested in the program to get the most recent information. Here is a link to book a discovery session with me to find out if I am the right coach for you.

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Katharina Engelhardt
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