Open the door to recognition

Why do we find it difficult to claim our successes?

I’m often struck by the words we women choose when talking about our work.

Here’s what I hear:

Hesitation, which makes us sound less confident

🤔      Filler words (um, er…) at crucial moments

🤔      Diluters like “I tried to…” when actually, you did.

🤔      Letting seeds of doubt creep in… “I don’t know if that was clear”.

Diminishing language that downplays the significance of what we do: 

😬       Verbs such as ‘think’ when really, you know

😬       Disclaimers like “I’m not an expert, but…” or “It’s not a big deal, but…”

😬       Surplus-to-needs words such as “just”, “basically”, or “a little”.

Here are 3 ways of immediately increasing your presence, and credibility:

🌱       Choose power verbs to talk about your work: led, innovated, fostered, orchestrated, activated, created, mobilised… There are many lovely ones to choose from!

🌱       In an interview or performance review, if it’s a project you led it’s OK to say “I” and speak from the first person, rather than “we”.

🌱       Gradually remove filler words and diminishing language. Awareness that you use them is the first, important step.

The words we choose matter. And so does our work.

Articulating our successes opens the door to recognition, visibility, and empowerment.

And it inspires others.

Before you give your next report, think about the language you’ll use.

And get ready to shine.

If you want a partner to help you shine, get in touch. I’d love to hear from you :)

Photo by Edu Lauton on Unsplash