Guest Post by Nozomi Morgan
When I work with clients who feel particularly stuck in their position at the office, we have the “glass ceiling” conversation. It can be extremely frustrating to feel like you’re doing everything you can and still not getting the recognition or promotion that you seek.
However, we often perceive that we’re operating within a glass ceiling situation when really, we’re the ones holding ourselves back – not an external force.
Leadership is a Way of Life
Within a corporate structure, the higher-ups are continually searching for talented up-and-comers to groom for positions of leadership. Are you doing your part to make yourself as attractive a candidate as possible?
I frequently tell my clients that leadership isn’t a switch you can simply turn on and off. Rather, leadership is a lifestyle that you live every moment of every day. I don’t like to call it a skill, because it’s essentially a collection of habits that you go through on a daily and even hourly basis. It’s a routine and a foundation.
This means that leadership can’t necessarily be easily learned. New routines and habits often fall to the back burner when we become tired; mentally, physically or emotionally so. And if your old habits weren’t born of a leadership mindset, it’s easy to step back into a victim’s pattern of thinking with thoughts like, “my boss sucks,” or “why is this awful thing happening to me?” or “I hate my teammates.”
Break the Old Habits
When I work with clients, we continually endeavor to get away from the old routine. The old routine is what created any perception of a glass ceiling in the first place.
Those old habits, of course, are easy to fall back on: they require that you take on very little responsibility… and a life without much responsibility requires much less effort. But my intention in working with a client is to build a foundation that has them thinking, acting and living as a leader every single day.
There’s Nothing Stopping You from Moving Up
Truly, there is nothing really stopping you from getting where you want to
There may definitely be a certain set of circumstances that make it more challenging for you to easily excel in a certain area. The odds may be lower for women or minorities to be promoted in the workplace, but there are still opportunities to be successful. There are people who have accomplished what you wish to accomplish, despite the odds.
When we tell ourselves things like, “Oh, that’s the way it is. Women don’t succeed and men do,” we often don’t take into consideration that those things can be changed. Accepting that “this is the way it is” is being lazy. That laziness is the glass ceiling: through the old habits and ways of thinking, we’re reinforcing the glass ceiling with our beliefs.
No one is stopping you from moving upward in your career except you.
Set the Bar at a Higher Level
Now, I’m not saying that this will be easy. As a female minority I understand that there are certain unspoken agreements in the workplace that some people have to overcome.
However, if you’re willing to set your own bar higher, you can accomplish what you wish to accomplish. If you’re willing to do the work, make a commitment to yourself and take a stand for the leader you know yourself to be, there is an opportunity for you and you will see tremendous reward.
The only person who’s holding you back from achieving your goals is you. If you’re ready to bust through any habits and create leadership routines, let’s talk. I work one-on-one with professionals just like you who are ready to bust through the glass ceiling. Click HERE to set up a time to chat with me, and I’ll show you a few action steps you can take right away to get noticed at work.
NOZOMI MORGAN BIO
Nozomi Morgan (@nozomimorgan) is a Speaker and certified Executive Coach. She speaks and coaches on l
eadership development and cross-cultural business communication. She works with experiencedprofessionals from all over the world — from C-suite executives to up-and-coming managers and multinational teams within global corporations to overcome the tension and frustration that can naturally arise from cultural differences. Visit www.nozomimorgan.com to learn more about Nozomi. There, you can download the free Leadership Discovery Tool.