60% of women asked questioned whether they actually want to progress when considering what they perceive is currently required to move up in their organization. Ouch!
(Forbes)
Whatever gender you choose, is the current set of challenges in the working world affecting your motivation for ambition? Are we taking everything even more seriously?
Earlier this year I sat in an audience of mixed genders all of whom worked in people and culture. Out of the 400 or so people present you could count on one hand the people who put their arms up when asked the question, “Who here is excited about the future of their career?” I was flabbergasted! I wanted to grab the mic and sort this ridiculousness out!
Emma Codd, Diversity and Inclusion lead at Deloitte, shared in a recent Forbes article six tips to unlock more ambition in this era of a pandemic. The regular blog readers amongst you will know what is coming next in my challenge of these…she shared in summary;
- Make flexible working the norm.
- Lead with empathy and trust.
- Promote networking, mentorship and sponsorship as ways to learn and grow.
- Create learning opportunities that fit within employees’ daily lives.
- Ensure that reward, succession, and promotion processes address unconscious bias.
- Above all, make diversity, respect, and inclusion non-negotiables.
My challenge? ALL SIX ARE OUT OF YOUR PERSONAL CONTROL AND ARE INSTEAD DEMANDS ON YOUR EMPLOYER.
There I said it. Ambition, real excitement for your future doesn’t come from flexible hours or a gold star from your boss. It comes from within you, from your inner passion. If you have moments where you feel demotivated or simply not that excited for your working future what are YOU doing about it?
I love this piece of research shared by Psychology today – in a study researching the link between humour and creativity, ‘Comedians generated 20 percent more ideas than the professional designers. Also, the ideas they produced were rated as 25 percent more creative. When business teams mentally limbered up like comedians it boosted idea output by 37 percent’.
What is making me share this? Positivity and fun, the use of humour is a choice. We can all get bogged down in the seriousness of work and forget that we have a choice. When we choose lighter energy, when we choose to look above and ahead everything changes. As I share every week here and in our Courageous Success webinars and 1:1’s, for as long as we look outside of ourselves for our confidence, validation, belonging and congratulations we will forever feel just slightly lost, off track or in this case unambitious.
Greg Orme, Programme Director at London Business School, shared recently, ‘When you’re a baby you giggle on average 400 times a day. When you grow up and go to work this drops to just 15. Recent research shows there is a steep reduction in our sense of humour around the age of 23. It’s no coincidence this is when most of us get a “serious job”. At work, people sustain themselves on a starvation diet of laughter’.
iAM and our challenge and support with people results in an 88% impact on positivity and happiness at work. People report an average 85% impact on their work performance. They feel excited to be them, by being where they are and look forward to creating THEIR OWN exciting future…they make a choice.
Be you.