I spend a lot of time coaching women around confidence, giving them tools to build their confidence and shining a light on the role gender bias plays in making us doubt ourselves.  But confidence issues often start a long time before women enter the workplace and the pressure that girls face today thanks to social media is huge.

In this episode I interview Laura Sercombe, the inspiring CEO of GFS (Girl’s Friendly Society), a charity that works with girls to inspire and empower them to live their best lives.  This year my business has been making a donation to fund a girl to attend one of GFS’s confidence building sessions for every participant in our open Be Bolder courses, so it was great to explore this topic with Laura.

We talked about why there is a need for the work GFS does, what’s causing girls as young as 6 to struggle with their confidence and the importance of positive role models and safe spaces where girls can be themselves.

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Up to 50% of people have introverted tendencies yet meetings are still designed in a way that doesn’t allow them to contribute effectively.  In this episode, I’m talking to Emma Taggart, a leadership and career coach for introverted leaders about what introverts bring to the workplace and leadership, how to have confidence as an introvert and how we can run meetings in a more inclusive and effective way.

It's a super practical conversation that I highly recommend, whether you recognise your own introverted tendencies or you want to run a team that brings the best out in everyone, regardless of their thinking style.

About Emma Taggart:

Emma Taggart is a leadership and career coach for introverted leaders. She helps ambitious people with a quiet, reserved and unassuming style to feel confident in their capabilities and progress their careers without changing who they are.

Before training as a coach Emma was policy director at a breast cancer charity, chief of...

This is the episode I wish I’d heard when I was in my first few years of managing people and teams.  It would have made my life so much easier.

In this episode I cover:

• How to claim the authority that comes with your role
• My favourite tool for going into challenging conversations with confidence
• Why it is important to set expectations and hold people accountable
• Why your team’s happiness is not down to you

Please do share this episode with any newer managers you know.

Other episodes you might like:

Episode 125 - How to set and hold your boundaries

Episode 115 – How to give feedback well

Episode 61 – Become great at delegating

WORK WITH ME AND MY TEAM

We partner with you to:

• Develop your women leaders and prepare them to advance within the organisation
• Build women’s confidence - particularly your early and mid career level women
• Empower men and leaders to become allies for gender equity

We also offer individuals:

• Be...

Do you find yourself feeling tongue-tied and inarticulate when under pressure?  Do you feel stress every time your email or phones flashes up with a certain person calling?  Are you able to calmly respond in those situations or are you reacting?  In this episode I’m going to share what’s going on when you’re reacting and how to respond calmly and powerfully.

In this episode I cover:

• The importance of knowing your stress response and what triggers it
• My favourite tools for remaining calm
• How to respond instead of reacting
• Recovering from a stressful situation

WORK WITH ME

As well as coaching women leaders to have more influence, make more impact and be kinder to themselves in my programme Influence & Impact, I also give keynotes and run workshops, courses and programmes to organisations wanting to develop, support and retain women and close the gender pay gap.

• Get in touch to find out more or book a call with me.
• Keynotes, training and...

When I read the Careers After Babies report I knew we had to talk about it on the podcast.  The stories and statistics within it show the stark reality of how many women’s careers are impacted by motherhood.  It’s a must read for anyone in the workplace who has children, wants to have children or wants to be a leader or employer that supports working parents.

I’m joined by guest Jess Heagren, author of the Careers After Babies report to discuss its findings and what we can do to improve this situation.  We talk about how equal parenting and shared parental leave make a huge difference, why we see a drop in women at management level after parenthood and how long it takes careers to recover after having a child.

MORE ABOUT JESS

Jess Heagren is an ex Financial Services Director, mother of four, award-winning CEO of That Works For Me, and author of landmark report Careers After Babies. On a personal mission to keep more parents in the...

I’ve republished this episode as it is the perfect episode for International Women’s Day 2023.  It has received more feedback than any other episode and for good reason.

Mary Ann is the author of the best-selling book The Authority Gap: Why We Still Take Women Less Seriously Than Men, a BBC Radio 4 presenter, speaker and advocate for women’s equality in the workplace.

We discuss:

• The impact of the book The Authority Gap and why it’s so important that male leaders read it
• Conversational manspreading
• Whether woman need to change how they behave to be seen as more competent
• Unconscious bias about women, by women and how to be aware of it
• What men can gain by narrowing the authority gap

Mary Ann shares so many fascinating studies that demonstrate the authority gap in action which are both surprising and validating for women's experiences at work.

MORE ABOUT MARY ANN

Mary Ann Sieghart is the author of the best-selling book The Authority Gap:...

I’ve republished the most shared episode of last year for International Women’s Day 2023 and I’d encourage you to share it with your colleagues, whatever their gender.

Men can be really powerful allies for gender equality in the workplace.  This episode shares some practical ways men can support the women they work with.

Listen for:

• Why gender equality matters in the workplace
• The different stages of allyship
• What men can do as colleagues to promote gender equality in their organisation
• How managers and leaders can reduce gender inequity
• Ways men can support women at home to positively impact their careers

You can get in touch with Carla about male allyship workshops, inclusion week talks and supporting the women in your organisation at [email protected]

You can find out about the Embracing Equity Toolkit here.

WORK WITH CARLA

As well as coaching women leaders to have more influence, make more impact and be kinder to themselves in my open...

Gender bias in workplace feedback is a pervasive and often overlooked issue, with many women in the workplace receiving feedback that can hinder their professional development and advancement.

Recent studies have found that negative personality-based reviews are up to 76% more likely to occur in women's reviews, compared to only 2% in men's reviews.

In addition, men are more likely to receive actionable feedback that prepares them for leadership roles, while women tend to receive feedback that is more general and non-actionable. It is no wonder that many women struggle with confidence in the workplace due to the feedback they are receiving.

In this episode, l explored the differences between the feedback that men and women receive and the impact of that on their career development. I also covered the practical steps that can be taken to address these gender biases in the workplace and help women to succeed.

LINKS

• Women get nicer feedback and it holds then back
• ...

Really excited to share this news...

For every woman who joins an open Be Bolder course in 2023 we will be donating £47 to enable a girl to attend a session run by GFS that helps to build their confidence and self-esteem.

GFS is a charity that runs weekly groups for girls, in the most disadvantaged parts of England and Wales. A GFS girl is valued for exactly who she is, and the sessions grow her confidence to be her true self in the challenging years ahead.

So by joining or sending team members on Be Bolder you're also supporting a girl to build her confidence.

It's really important to me that if I'm spending so much of my life and energy on this business it makes as much impact as possible. I know it makes a positive impact on the women we work with but I want it to do more and this is the start of building more philanthropy into the business model.

Find out more about the brilliant GFS.

Ever sat in a meeting with a contribution to make but talked yourself out of it only to hear someone else make it later?

In this episode I explore what we can find it hard to speak up in meetings and share some practical steps you can take to contribute more confidently in meetings. 

We’ll be exploring the role your Inner Critic and unhelpful beliefs can play, how your thinking style impacts your ability to speak up and recognising that not all rooms are safe to speak up in.

Please share it with anyone else you know who would find it helpful. 

If you want the support, tools and strategies to put it into action then the Be Bolder course is perfect for you as we have a 90 minute session on exactly this!

BE BOLDER – JOIN US IN MARCH

Increase your confidence and assertiveness at work in Be Bolder, my 4 session course for women. Our next cohort begins on Tuesday 7 March.

Learn how to set healthy boundaries, say no more often, speak up more confidently...