The biggest myth about work/life balance is that your work and your life are constantly at loggerheads. Have you ever thought about how your career benefits from your personal life and how your personal life benefits from your career?

In my corporate days in banking, I was asked to speak at the launch of women’s network. I had two questions: what’s a women’s network and why me. Once the Corporate Communications department explained that purpose of the network was to help promote women's careers within the bank, I replied, “Sounds like a brilliant idea.”

Looking back I am embarrassed to say that my head was so stuck in the sand, I hadn’t appreciated what was happening (or not happening) around me! The answer to the second question took me even more by surprise. “Christine, the reason we’d like you to speak is you’re a female managing director and you have a family. We want to know how you did it?” In my head, I replied, “Did what, what are you talking about?”

Upon reflection, what I discovered is that for the past several decades, every time I had learned a skill in my personal life, I then applied it in my professional life. Likewise, when I learned a new skill in my professional life, I’d then apply it in my personal life. It felt like I had a lot to learn in both environments so this was the quickest way to get up to speed in both areas of life.

As an example I learned about communication and leadership at home. I had to be super clear with my kids about expectations and discipline. My kids never hesitated to call me out if my actions were inconsistent with my words!  “Mum, you lied. You said this, but did that.”

What a great leadership lesson to take back into the workplace. Always practice what you preach. If you break this rule, you lose credibility as a leader and your colleagues won't be as direct as your children in letting you know you've lost your way.

At work I learned how to delegate and how to motivate and manage a team. These were crucial skills to be able to apply to my 'home team'. As a new mother I initially got caught up in the thinking that I had to do everything in order to be a good mother.

On the brink of a melt-down, I realised I needed to delegate, let others in to help, and give them opportunities to learn (including the kids themselves). Just like at work, I had to think strategically, "where can I add the most value given my skills, interests and talents and the most important needs of the family". A focused strategic approach is a winning formula for our careers as well as for our personal lives.

Take time to appreciate the full you and and how your work/life combination enables you to have a greater impact on all those around you - colleagues, bosses, clients, friends and family.

The theme of this year's 10th Annual George Washington University Women in Business conference is Transform & Transcend.  What role does confidence play in our ability to change, transform and take risks in an environment of uncertainty? How can we transcend above our fears so that we can become better versions of ourselves?
 
One of the biggest myths about confidence is that some of us are born confident while others are born less than confident. This is false. None of us is born confident. This fact has enormous positive implications for our career prospects.  Why is confidence so important?  Career progression is linked to competence and confidence in equal measure. 

The more confident you are the more likely you are to reach your career goals.  The thing is it’s generally not one big action that you didn’t take (because you weren’t confident) but rather an accumulation of many smaller actions. Perhaps you were reluctant to apply for a role because you didn’t feel you could meet 100% of the criteria.  Perhaps you didn’t take the initiative to contact someone who perhaps could help you secure that next exciting role because you felt slightly intimidated.

Now more than ever in this business environment of non-stop change, it’s crucial to be confident about doing new things and taking on new challenges.  This is a skill set and attitude that employers are looking for – the ability to embrace and leverage change.  Disruption and change is the new normal.

What’s standing between you and that better version of yourself – that version who is confident and does take risks? It’s fear. The good news here is that you have a clear CHOICE. You can choose to be paralysed by fear or take a deep breath and take action despite fear.  It’s less about confidence, therefore, and more about courage. It’s having the courage to take action despite fear. Interestingly the root of the word courage is ‘cor’, the Latin word for heart, like the French word ‘coeur’. It’s less about logic and the mind, and more about the heart.

One of the best ways to build up your confidence is to ‘Do It Afraid’. This was a term coined by the Katty Kay and Claire Shipman in their book Closing the Confidence Gap.  Doing things that are scary means that it’s an opportunity to grow and learn.  If you didn’t have that uncertain feeling, it probably means you’re not stretching yourself. 
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It’s not about ignoring the fear but rather accepting the fear and then taking that scary action anyway.  What’s scary today will become routine tomorrow. To continue to grow in our competence and confidence, it’s important that we continually seek out new opportunities and experiences which seem a bit daunting. This is how we know we’re on the path to personal and professional growth, a prerequisite for career progression and success

The principles for engaging an audience are the same, regardless of whether it is in person or virtually.  There are good and bad in-person presentations. Equally, there are good and bad webinars.  The key is to follow the principles of engagement.

If you run or are looking to run a webinar for colleagues or clients, think about the outcome you’re after. What does success look like? How do you want your colleagues and clients to feel after the webinar?  The overall objective of any presentation is of course to make sure the participants are engaged. Webinars can be an incredibly effective medium as long as the key principles of engagement are followed.  The online audience is a discerning one – as a presenter you’re only ever one click away from being disconnected, so keeping the audience engaged has to always be in the front of your mind.

So what are these principles of engagement? Through my experience running career-development webinars for global companies for nearly a decade, I’ve compiled a checklist of best practices:

Engaging with versus talking at  -  There are a number of different ways that we learn and process information. Being talked at is the least effective way to learn. A one-way online presentation, therefore, without any interaction through polls, raising your hand or chat is the least effective way to engage an audience.  I recommend six to eight polls per webinar session, giving the audience time during the webinar to reflect on the material and concepts you’re presenting.  By sharing the results of each poll, you’re also building a community. Although the polls are anonymous, the audience can see where they fall in the pack.  “Ah, I’m not alone. Others have had the same experience I’ve had.”

Leveraging your voice and images  -  Remember that the audience does not have the benefit of in-person cues, thus your slides and your voice play an even greater role when running a webinar. Use these to your advantage.  Make the slides interesting through colourful and fun images that reflect and underpin the content you’re presenting.  Avoid putting your audience to sleep through bullet points and massive amounts of text (‘death by powerpoint’). It’s important to keep your voice animated throughout, as if you were having a conversation with someone.  If you’re not interested and enthusiastic about your subject matter, your audience won’t be either.

Providing an easy, logical framework  -  Self-reflection is a higher level of learning than passively listening or following instructions.  This is why creating an easy and logical framework for the participants to work through the issues is critical. The framework I have found useful is the following:  what’s the issue, where are you on the spectrum, why does it matter and then the ‘how to’.  Jumping straight to the ‘how to’ does not allow the audience time to reflect on how the issue impacts them on an individual level.  The more participants can make the link between why it’s important and meaningful to them, the greater the chances are that they will be motivated to learn and behave differently.

Adding personal stories  -  So often we forget that as humans we are first and foremost emotional creatures. Adding personal stories connects the audience to the material.  Maya Angelou (poet, singer, and civil rights activist) reminds us that “Others will forget what you said, but never will forget how you made them feel.” Storytelling is the best way to create chemistry with people. A great anecdote hooks people, takes them on an emotional journey and conveys a memorable message.  Personal stories show our vulnerability, one of the most powerful ways to get others to like us and follow us.  In effect we are building a level of trust with the participants. With trust they will listen to what we have to say. Without trust they will discount what we have to say.

Referring to participants by name  -  By referring to someone by their first name, we are making it personal.  During the webinar acknowledge comments made on the chat referring to someone by name,  “Susan, thanks for your asking about xyz. We’ll cover that in the next slide.”  “Johannes, thanks for your comment on career progression.”  When the audience raises their hands, acknowledge of few of the raised hands by name as well.  “I can see by the number of hands raised -  Nita, Mohammed and Sadir – that you’ve also had the same thing happen to you. Thanks for sharing.”  The audience no longer feels like part of a faceless group but rather an integral part of the community experience.

Today’s audiences increasingly want to be part of the experience. They are keen to have their voices heard (which is one of the reasons social media has become so popular).  I have found that even for in person presentations, the audience prefers a more engaging workshop format rather than standing behind the podium and ‘preaching’.   ‘Good’ webinars are essentially workshops that apply the key principles of engagement in order to connect with colleagues and clients across geographically boundaries and time zones.

References
Learning & teaching methods
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/11/20/how-do-people-learn-most-effectively/#27f8e09e1f05
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teacher-talking-time
Landsberg, Max, Tao of Coaching: Boost Your Effectiveness At Work By Inspiring And Developing Those Around You, Profile Books, September 8, 2015
 
Meaning & Motivation
Sinek, Simon, Start with Why, Penguin, 6 Oct. 2011
Start with why -- how great leaders inspire action Ted Talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
 
Vulnerability
Brown, Brene, Dare to Lead, Random House, October 9, 2018
The Power of Vulnerability Ted Talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o
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During the Women in Fund Finance panel discussion in London on Return to Work after taking leave (whether that be maternity/paternity, career break, bereavement, etc) there were a number of insightful themes that emerged. As chair of the panel, here are my top three observations:

Managing your network – Don’t burn any bridges. Your network includes the people who know you, know the value you bring and trust you. This is one of your most valuable assets. Trust is the platform to have productive conversations around leave and potential changes to your work schedule upon return. Be sure to consider the business needs in your suggestions and proposals and keep the focus on the impact and outcomes you can deliver rather than the time you spend at your desk or in the office.

Combatting lack of confidence  - Taking leave can negatively impact your confidence. One approach to minimising any decrease in confidence is to stop and reflect what you’ve GAINED from the leave. What perspective perhaps do you have now that you didn’t have before, and how is that a benefit to the business? You may also have learned things about yourself that you hadn’t realised before, making you a more rounded person with a higher level of emotional intelligence (and we certainly need more of that in the workplace!). 

​Designing your leave & return in a way that meets YOUR needs – We are all individuals. Each of us has our own unique needs, interests and talents.  Design your leave and return in a way that supports you being at your best, at home and at work. Getting the home/life integration right for you means that the time you spend at home will then support your performance at work and vice versa. Think about the IMPACT you want to make, in your personal life and in your professional life. Time is a limited resource. Focus on the things that really matter to you. One size definitely doesn’t fit all!

Looking ahead, what changes might we see when it comes to leave & returning to work? A number of mega trends are occurring simultaneously (technology advancement, millennial demands for more flexible working/leave and demand for talent) which may accelerate the change in the way society views leave.  The assumption that someone who takes leave is not committed, not a hard worker, or not interested in career progression is increasing looking out of date. The other mega trend is of course that we are living longer, and thus likely to be working longer. It’s in this context that we need to consider the topic of leave from both the perspective of the employee as well as the employer.

This past summer my husband & I cycled from Rotterdam to Vienna – 1,400 miles in total, self-guided, with all of our belongings in the paniers on our bikes!   It was an amazing trip, working as a team, taking each day at a time and dipping into the local cultures, which cycling allows you (forces you?) to do.
We cycled on average 60 miles a day, some days more, some days less. The longest daily ride was 75 miles. What I came to appreciate is that my career prepared me well for the physical and mental challenge of such an adventure
Here of the five key skills or mindsets I identified as having been developed in my professional life which supported my long-distance cycling:
1.       Solving problems - The original plan was to take a train from Brussels to Andermatt, Switzerland, the source of the Rhine. Due to maintenance work on the regional train lines, it was not possible to take a bicycle fully assembled on the train. After much discussion with the unfriendly staff at Brussels train station we learned that there were regional trains running as normal to Rotterdam. We ended up starting in Rotterdam & following the Rhine route to Germany where we then crossed over to the Danube.
2.       Playing to my strengths - My navigation skills are quite poor. I relied on hubby for that. On the other hand, my foreign language skills and ability to be resourceful and ask for help are quite strong. I was in charge of booking the night's accommodation, checking us in and negotiating with the hotel owners for a fan (it was in the upper 30's for almost the entire trip!)   You can't be an expert at everything. Focus on what you do best.
3.       Accepting that not all days can be brilliant - You shouldn't make a decision about a job, or a career or other important decisions based on one bad day. We all have them – that's life!  When stepping back, the trip was brilliant. On one individual day, or one individual moment, I may have preferred being somewhere else. One particularly hot day we were cycling in Switzerland. It was a Sunday and we struggled to keep hydrated as everything seemed to be closed.  Deep breath…tomorrow will be better..
4.       Doing proper research and preparation – While we didn't research every part of the trip (there's never enough time to do all the preparation you'd like to do),  we did ensure our fitness levels were good and that we packed a few key essential items for the trip, leveraging the knowledge of our neighbour who has decades of cycling experience.  Collaborating and networking tend to yield the short cuts.  Like a colleague's advice, our neighbour's advice saved us many hours of research.
5.       Prioritising based on desired outcomes – Start at the end. Over dinner each evening we discussed what our goal would be for the next day.  Which city did we want to end up in at the end of the day's ride? Based on that, we then had to plan our entire day so that we could arrive in the town at a sensible hour.  We needed to ensure we struck the right balance between seeing the sites we wanted to see, avoiding bad weather where possible & ensuring we had decent access to food and water based in the size of towns we were cycling through.   And after four weeks literally on the road, I came home with a renewed sense of confidence. I'm not sure what challenges life is going to throw at me, but I feel ready!  We are now thinking about our next cycling adventure… Washington State to California?
For more information about cycling routes in Europe: http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos
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Networking is one of the key skills needed to navigate the workplace: it is essential to help you not only move in the direction you want to move in, but also to give you visibility of potential opportunities. Not knowing where you want to go, is also a perfect reason to get networking!

People are a great resource. They provide you with the shortcuts in life... you can read websites and public information, but people will tell you the 'real dea'l and will be able to address your specific questions.  So often I hear my coaching clients say, “I don’t have time to network”. I ask, “Can you afford not to network?”

In that context here are my five top tips for effective networking:

1. Figure out what your networking strategy is based on your career strategy. In this way it will be more targeted and fruitful.
2. Introduce yourself with a sentence about what you are interested in or the direction you’re looking to move into. That’s the piece others will want to connect with you on!
3. Give before you take. Think about how you could help others, perhaps by sharing a connection, a piece of information, a recommendation, etc
4. Listen to the person in front of you. Listening is a gift!
5. Connect the dots between ‘your story’ and the story of the person you’re chatting with.

Maya Angelou, American poet, sums up what effective networking looks like:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

As produced for the The George Washington University Women in Business Spring 2018 Conference:  As the theme for this year’s 9th Annual GW Women in Business Conference is #MakeYourMark, it’s a good time to think about your strategy for participating in the conference.  What are you hoping to get out of the event? Where are your areas of confusion? In what way are you hoping to get more clarity?  In addition to attending, listening and asking questions at the various sessions, how might you gain more specific insight into how to make your mark in a future career? You guessed it – it’s through networking. Click here to continue reading ​www.gwwibspringconference.com/new-blog/

Yes, we made it...54 miles from London to Brighton in under 6 hours, graced with beautiful sunshine and amazing team spirit.  But the best part of the day wasn't actually reaching the finish line... it was witnessing the 4,000+ other riders who took time out of their lives to support a cause they believed in.  Their efforts and the variety of charities represented was inspiring.  Credit is also due to the organisers Skyline, who seemed to manage the mind-boggling logistics with ease.

The feeling of "I'm doing this in memory of my mother, my father, a friend, or for those less fortunate than me” was present throughout.  Riders were good spirited, even when vying for a lane through the traffic or on the wrong end of an accident!  Our training paid off as we passed a number of younger riders, especially up the hills and over the South Downs!  Having said that, our son Zach (perhaps the youngest of the day’s riders) somehow managed to pull away from his parents all too easily despite much less training; such is youth.
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A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR DONORS!   We reached our £2,000 ($3,250) target! Without YOUR SUPPORT we would not have been able to experience such a heartening event and the warmth of knowing that we have enhanced the chances for a street child in Uganda to forge a better path in life through education.

With appreciation!

Christine, Tom & Zach
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