How to make the most of a boardroom job

1st May, 2012 - Posted by admin - Comments Off

Many women are struggling to make their mark on managerial positions because of two main reasons, one business expert has attested.

Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris, director of FemaleBreadWinners.com, first explained that a lack of role models is proving a large stumbling block.

Another barrier for concern in the eyes of Dr Doyle-Morris is that many women are distracted by the long hours culture of managerial positions.

“So, the male model of being very visible and working long hours doesn’t tend to sit with the way women want to work,” she explained.

Dr Doyle-Morris added that commitments outside of the workplace can also mean that staying past 5pm is something some women simply cannot achieve.

Should women get past these stumbling blocks and find themselves in a boardroom, there are many pieces of advice to ensure they achieve as much as their male counterparts.

Here are just a few tips:

Make staff members comfortable within a workplace

Unhappy members of staff are highly likely to have a negative knock-on effect to the productivity that is achieved by a company.

Managers can easily avoid this by listening to the queries and problems that employees have about their current line of work.

Perhaps a person feels like they have an excessive workload which they are struggling to balance or are being made to do a job that they do not like. Could these tasks not be restructured so that everyone is comfortable with what is expected of them?

Career progression should always be available

Even if an opportunity of promotion is currently impossible to achieve due to a tight workplace structure, just giving employees the chance to work towards an aim could make the world of difference.

Set up career-development courses which the whole workforce can get involved in, should they choose to.

Not only will this expand a person’s knowledge of a job, but helps to give them a greater chance of securing a promotion if and when an opportunity comes along.

No promotions on offer? Then create some

There will be some office spaces which have members of staff who feel comfortable in their line of work for years at a time.

Managers cannot be expected to force these people out of their positions – after all experience is highly important – but can new opportunities not be created instead?

For example, if an office has a number of sales managers who are governed by one head of sales manager, the opening is there to create senior sales manager roles.

It may not seem like much on paper, but people will surely make more of an effort inside a workplace if their career ladder has more rungs to climb up instead of only giant leaps and bounds.

A strict manager can have negative effects

There is nothing wrong with putting across a sense of authority in a workplace, but overstepping the work will only lead to resentment and a lack of motivation in the office space.

Ease up on keeping an eye on when every worker is entering and leaving a workplace – surely being one minute late or going a moment before clocking off time will not have catastrophic consequences.

Of course, if a member of staff is seen to be flouting the rules in a workplace time and time again, it may be time for a manager to step in. But will it not be better for everyone to talk with an employee in private rather than in front of their peers?

Award success to maintain workplace motivation

Ok, this does not mean giving out treats and presents every time when a little bit of sweet success is achieved in a workplace.

However, when the productivity of a team goes through the roof or the annual sales figures jump to unseen heights, surely the members of staff should be rewarded as much as the company’s name and profits.

This does not need to be anything over the top either – a small gesture is sure to be enough to make employees feel like their hard work has been acknowledged and appreciated.

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