Self-advocating at work is becoming more important than ever. We know the Global Pandemic has inadvertently created a more selfish society, where people are not as prepared to stick their neck out for someone as they might have previously done. Ultimately, in the context of work, if we don’t believe in ourselves or express our needs, it’s hard for anyone else to believe in us or know what’s important to us.
WHAT IS SELF-ADVOCACY?
Self-advocacy is best described as the professional approach towards speaking about yourself and communicating your worth. Self-advocacy helps you present yourself in a way that will make for a positive and lasting impression.
In the workplace, there are several situations when advocating for oneself is critical, here are four common place examples:
- Performance review, which normally impacts on remuneration (including salary and bonus) and sometimes results in an overall score achieved based on achievement of objectives that were set at the beginning of the year (more often than not, these objectives have not been looked at for 11 months!). This is your opportunity to showcase all you have achieved throughout the year, as well as discuss any challenges you have overcome and your overall contribution to the team and the business.
- Career development conversations, a future looking discussion about areas to grow, learn and progress. Developmental conversations should be ongoing throughout the year. This is your chance to talk about what you want to develop, what your strengths are and really talk about things that are important to you to work on over the coming year. Managers often have a lot more oversight of upcoming projects that you could get involved in and utilise your skills and strengths but may not have considered you otherwise.
- Interviews, either internally or externally. You are the only person in the room who can truly represent your experience, your skills and strengths. This is your moment to shine, being prepared with examples your most proud of will not only help you answer the interview questions but it will aid your chance of success.
- When dealing with a difficult situation or when we feel pressured or threatened by another person. This can lead to a lack of our sense of value, and we feel powerless to do anything. This is often the most difficult time to self-advocate. Especially if we don’t have supporters around us or, as one of my clients has noticed when they did attempt to deal with a difficult individual it was met with threats against them so as to brush things under the carpet.
SO, HOW DO YOU SELF-ADVOCATE?
Some of this is about our self-talk, the more you can change your inner voice to be that of a coach rather than criticising ourselves the more you will believe in yourself.
Finding supporters and others who can advocate when you’re not in the room. It’s not enough to have sponsorship at work, although this certainly helps, you do need to have people who will advocate for you in scenarios where you may not be present (e.g. compensation reviews which are often done with a very select few in the room). You need to be able to represent yourself, express your own needs, and communicate what’s important to you and what your aspirations are. Your manager can’t help you if they don’t know what’s important to you.
Sharing your strengths is also valuable in these conversations – things that you think you’re good at and talk with your manager how you can make more of an impact and utilise these strengths (potentially on other projects that are available within the organisation). Most importantly, speak up about your ambitions. You might be unsure about taking on a leadership role but is there any harm in trying? You can be that ground-breaker who is the ‘first to…’ [insert whatever the barrier is that’s stopping you].
If the situation falls into the fourth category, think bigger picture first. Identify the outcomes you want from the conversation; what do you want to get from the conversation? What do you want the other person to hear from you? You may need to spend some time on this one as it can be highly emotive. Think about what an ideal outcome is for you taking on this issue? What steps do you need to take to address this – it might be much more complex than you think? Ask yourself, ‘what do I know as facts vs what is the story I am telling myself about this situation’? The more you can keep it objective, the easier it will be to self-advocate.
WHAT CAN LEADERS DO?
- Listen with intent. Don’t make assumptions about what someone’s needs are, nor assume you know what they may or may not want. Remain open and curious to what each team member raises with you, also listen when your team members come to you with an ask – it might be a promotion or salary rise request, a change in contract, sharing their career aspirations – whatever it is, truly listen. Find out what each team members’ ambitions are and what their strengths are – reflect on how you can support their development either directly or via other projects within the organisation.
- Shockingly, only 25% of women have a career conversation about how to develop their leadership skills. It’s hard to say if this is because a lack of self-advocacy and whereby a leader ‘assumes’ women don’t want to progress because they never speak about it OR if this is because there is a lack of role models demonstrating a different type of leadership that inspire women to want to develop their own leadership skills. As a leader, don’t make any assumptions about what your team wants – female, male or non-binary – keep asking questions and listen attentively when your team members come to you about themselves.
- If you do find yourself managing individuals through a difficult situation, whether that be conflict between two members of the team or perhaps a team member who you don’t see eye to eye with, come from a place of compassion. What are the potential outcomes of the situation and how can you best manage it to achieve the ideal outcome? Do you need to gain some external perspective from a confidante within the organisation?
- Crucially, as a leader, be mindful of people in your team who might be dealing with mental health issues who do not have the capacity to self-advocate. It’s so much harder to speak up if you have a low sense of self or if all you are purely in survival mode. This includes people in your team who are going through a range of mental, emotional and physical health issues that you may or may not be aware of. For example, a career development conversation, thinking about the year ahead may trigger overwhelm. Keep it very short term, what’s one thing that they’re enjoying about work at the moment and they would like to do more of? How could this positively impact on the team?
- Finally, remember, people in your team who have disabilities or who come from minority backgrounds are less likely to self-advocate. Your role here is to always ask questions, listen and, again, don’t make any assumptions of what individual needs are.
The goal of self-advocacy is for you to identify what you want then develop and carry out a plan to help you get it. Leaders, it’s your job to listen and support where you can.
