Episode 18 : Leveraging Your Power
April 4, 2022
As your level of expertise has grown, as you have gained more experience in the workplace, in your field, and in various industries, it may have grown wider, How do you focus back on what you've achieved? Come join me in this episode and listen to how I ended up with what I have now and what I've achieved in 25 years. . .
Welcome, welcome, everybody. Thank you for coming to the last session for the women of color in STEM virtual summit, winter 2021. We have been talking about the power of you. And really what does that mean on so many levels. And tonight, I'm going to be talking about leveraging your power. And the reason I selected this particular topic was we often talk about the power and privilege of white people, specifically white men, but we still have our own power. And I want to make sure we really focus on that we really understand the power we have, and if we're leveraging it. And so it really is important that you understand you do have power, and how are you currently utilizing it? So some of the questions and comments that came up, particularly last night, and even with Lee Lee's session was, well, how do I get into the boys club? Or these things are happening to me? How do I get them to stop or I don't want backlash, you have options, you have a voice. And there are decisions you can make. And that that is leads into your power. So I have a slide deck, we're kind of going to use it, we're, we're going to use it, we are going to use it. But I completely tore apart what I was originally going to talk to you about. Because it has changed. So for some of you, you may be an early career. So you're like less than five years of experience, maybe less than three years of experience. Many of you have 10 or more years of experience. And if you have a PhD, and you have like five years of work experience, you're into 10 or more years of experience. And what I want you to think about is really think about your level of expertise. I'm gonna do it this way. All right, let's do this, your level of expertise, as it has grown, as you have gained more experience in the workplace, in your field, in various industries, right, it is grown, and it may have grown hot or deeper. It may have grown wider, but it has definitely grown. And what I want to talk about is really how do you focus back on what you've achieved? Because again, the questions were, how do I brag or say my accomplishments, but now seem as though I'm bragging, I want to be humble? From the question I can already tell, you probably aren't owning all of the great things that you've already achieved. And so what I'm going to do is actually my timeline that I pulled together to show you what I've achieved in 25 years. And I want you to do a similar approach. And I'll show you what I mean. And we're going to get started in this. And so you can see what I mean and what what is really going to go on tonight, and how you can use this same process to go through ask questions and really, really get started in owning and leveraging your power. So I'm Michele Heyward founder positive hire, we're early stage tech startup, where we connect experienced black Latina and indigenous women who are scientists, engineers, and technology professionals to management roles in corporate America, my background is actually civil engineering. I built a power grid here in the US, before that I did a short stint in technical sales, hated it. But that's all I do now as a founder. And prior to that, I did a short stint in technology transfer with NASA's North Eastern Technology Transfer Center, which then was in westborough, Massachusetts. And so part of that story is in my timeline, but many people don't know about those things, because I don't talk about them. And how many of you are doing that? So put a one in the chat if you don't tell people about all the things, half a third of the things you've accomplished? What percentage do you tell them, you accomplish, you have a degree, you have a job, you have a degree, and you have a job, those are probably the only things you're really sharing with people. Right? So that's the purpose of this session, public support, we're also gonna look at the public support or BLM blacklivesmatter internal changes that you'll see in the org, really hone in on your power and then the steps you need to take to leverage your power.
So this supposed to be tired of something else, obviously, like I told you, I already did this. So we're going to talk about your power, your employer accountability, your power again, and then your opportunity. So looking at public supportive black lives matter how many of you put it to an HIV use a different number, put it to in the chat. If your company made a statement saying we've support black lives, we support Black Lives, black lives do matter. We support our black employees. How many of you put it to have your employer sent out a message like this? How many of you don't don't respond to this?
When?
What day is this? When did y'all start? Y'all must have just started that this year. Y'all must have started, like right now, like when y'all hit send to this email? Because you hadn't seen that before? Right? So you have companies that are sending out these messages. And sometimes they're yours. And sometimes they weren't, because a lot of companies didn't. You also received messages from different brands in different industries. That said, they said the same thing. And I want you to take note of what they said and how they said, and what I mean is, did they acknowledge George Floyd was killed? Or was he murdered? Because that is a huge difference? Did they call out racism or systemic racism? Did they say black lives or they say everybody matters to us? Because these are instances of where you are seeing whether or not the culture of belonging, at least in your Communications Group, because the Communications Group generally writes the messaging, it goes through legal and then then finally, you know, they massage it with some of the CEO or their C suite people. Right? And so what what what does that messaging really say? Because there are key words you have to look at to really understand the depth or the lack thereof, of coming from your management team, when it comes to black lives really matters in your organization? All right.
Now, what was your response? When your manager, your director, executive, VP, C suite people came to you, and asked you how they could help you. And I want you to keep that in mind. If they've made a public statement. did have they come to you? Or have they come to you? Number two, what was your response? Or did you not have a response? And if and if you didn't have a response? Why didn't you have a response? These are the some of the things I want you to go through because they get to your psychological safety and your physical safety in your workplace. Because some of the things I'm going to talk about leveraging your power, you may not have it yet in your organization, and some and honestly, you may not be able to get that opportunity to leverage your power in our organization, because it is not a safe place for you. Period. Is is literally where you're getting a paycheck. Okay. And so I do realize that and I'm not going to undermine that. But yes, many were lip service. I just thought that thought of the black squares on Instagram. Exactly. Exactly. When it became popular. Yes, I do hear you. I do hear you. When it became popular for sure. I got on committees and in other organizations. Yes. Okay. What were your organization's goals? Did they announce that we're going to donate to the NAACP, we're going to support X, Y, and Z nonprofit. We're going to go out and recruit from HBCUs and Hispanic supporting institutions, so HSI what were their goals? How many of them announced any goals about retaining the talent internal to the organization? How many of them talked about creating a place of belonging within your organization? Right. How many of them talk about we have work to do and I own the responsibility and will be accountable for these changes within the organization? Yeah, I'm getting cricket. See I got crickets cool. Some of what you may have seen were er G's for a form. And who says sponsor for that er G.
And so what I really want to do is like see who are the players within your organization. For those changes that are white man, they still haven't figured out the goals when volunteers are running the show. Things are slow. Okay. Support black founder support goals on advancement. I got on commit. Okay, so, what I want you to do is really look at what those goals Are if and if they still haven't figured out the goals like, hey, it's been almost a year. You haven't figured out goals? Here's some for you. And guess what? You can give them goals. And you can give them guidelines, when you inquire about where are the goals? What's the timeline, and who is running the show, like who's the who's responsible, who's the committee, some people are always still have a committee. And the committee has met once in 2020. And they have no plans of meeting right now in 2021. So you want to go back and revisit those and really follow up and I'm really good at this. I remember when I was in corporate This is not a black lives matter. event, this was an internal call, something came out where it says hey, such and such, who was over our division or business unit was doing a call a talking about our finances or something. They decided in the office, they didn't want to pay for a system or do multiple calls, will all employees over several sessions would be able to join. Instead, what they did, they held one, they sent out an email, another email left out everybody that worked on construction sites, after email, and decided they were only host hold this call with people that work in office. So I noticed I never got an email with the link, I hit Reply All. Hey, this was scheduled for such and such I never received an email wasn't recorded. People reply directly back to me like you didn't miss anything. The call was horrible. and respond to that, for me from an executive assistant was, oh, we didn't invite everybody. And I was like, I don't understand how you do a call for employees, and then cut off your employees. So they had to host a second call. Thanks to Michele Heyward, hitting reply all. So sometimes, you just ask one question, hit reply, and ask for a date. I'm serious. And I reply, all they loved. That reply all means, guess what? We're still waiting, there are going to be people that are going to respond to you directly, they're not going to do the reply all like you did, they're going to respond to you directly. And those people, I want you to start having conversations with them and researching them. Are they your allies? Are they your accomplices? And are they your sponsors in organization? And ally will look out for you, an accomplice will commit the crime with you to make change. And that sponsor will remove barriers for you. So the power oftentimes, I would ain't never said when they were going to do Did you inquire there is power in utilizing your voice. And sometimes it's not even your voice. So in the organization, you're going to see some internal changes, some of the changes, you may have seen where the mission statement has changed the policies, so revised policies, or like some of you said, they are they created a group of volunteers who are not being compensated. So that means they're black and brown people, probably mostly women who are doing this work. Okay. They're changing practices, they're developing metrics. And info is to be shared sometime in the future. And you'd like you know what, this is the future. I'm so glad we're here. What I want you to also do for those of you that are larger corporations that have 10 k report, they have annual reports, pull out those reports, search them and see if they mentioned any of these mission changes, policy changes, practices, or metrics. So they were shared out to all the investors within an organization. Now they didn't they didn't love me.
Trust me, they didn't love me. Because this is truly truly important that you do this, because now you're tracking what they are not doing to match up with what they said back in June of 2020. Right. Oh, we didn't have it in a budget when you set the budget in October. This happened in June, June, July, August, September, October, you had three to four months, you had a sufficient amount of time to create a budget. Okay. Now, let's let's focus on your power, your performance, your position, your past. And what I mean by your performance, we are judged generally much more harshly, we have smaller rooms for error. And so our performance, we usually are higher performers, especially over on the stem side. And so I really want you to focus on your performance in the past. Don't worry about where you are right now, don't worry about 2021. Because your power is built upon what you've done in the past. And some of you like why would a new employer guess what they hired?
Based on your performance in the past? That is your power that you built upon. Your position is not necessarily your job title, right? Your position is truly about when people come to you as an authority, as a subject matter expert, as knowledgeable, as I know, sometimes is the person that's gonna hit Reply All on an email, what's your position, in an organization, in your industry sometimes, or your region that really helps you leverage your power? So what is that position you have, in your current or former employer? Did people come to you when there were issues in a system process, or a contract, or even a production line, right? That people come to you to start something in the middle of an issue, or to put a nice bow on and at the end, right. So really look at how are you positioned in your organization, when it comes to our our, they always give you all of that extra work, that doesn't help you get a promotion or a raise? We you're We are, we are stakes, we are stuck our necks out and usually get get can't get get away with exactly. And so it's really important to understand your position in organization. Because if you it helps you understand how far out you can stick your neck and be able to have a neck to retract back like your turtle. I'm just saying. So really understand what is your position. And the last part of your power is your passion. What are you passionate about. And that's not always related to your to your job, right?
You can love what you do. get me wrong, but you're passionate about seeing X, Y, and Z happen happen in health tech, or biotech. You are passionate about the next development or evolution of 5g. Or some of you might be like to get 5g that's already done. We on six g now you're on six G and you're looking at the next level of technology. What are you passionate about Where's where your passions lie. Because where you find your passion, oftentimes, you find that extra to push forward, and then generate new ideas and create new relationships. And really to pull together everything you really need to move forward. Hey, thanks for joining. So really think about what is your passion, right. And it may not be tied to your career, it may not be tied to a job. But it still is something you're very, very focused on. And you feel it in your bones. So what I'm gonna do right now, I'm gonna take you down my career timeline, Michelle's career timeline. And we're going to talk through some of some ways of how I built my power. Right? And why I wasn't afraid to hit reply on emails. And and it's not going to be the same for you. And how did I get to that point. And so much, I was a subject matter expert for a department of 50 and a heart to replace spot. Once I realized the power, that power of my work, life change. And oftentimes, we are doing the work and we don't understand the power we have. And I will say it was not just in those 50 that apartment of 50. I guarantee you probably in that division, they knew that if they lost you, you're out sick, you're not available, how critical you were to the organization. And so if you look at that, I would say it went further than that. 50 because it's hitting the bottom line. It's about generating revenue for them for that organization, probably, or productivity, but it's definitely a driving force, a driver, a number that's driving that. So I went back 25 years I know I only look 30 and I'm still 30 this year next year I'll be 30 but I have a special man With an older nephew, he, he and I, we have to talk he I need him to age slower. I'm just gonna say that. Okay, so I started in 1995. And that's what I graduated high school. And, and so you don't have to do this? Well, you don't have to start at high school. I just started at high school. But what but I do want you to build out your career timeline. And you can do this in Canva. You can do this in what do I say on a on a foam board or a poster board with magazines and a glue gun? Right? You can do this over on? What is the other thing we always have boards. I can't remember Pinterest, you can do it on Pinterest. But I want you to pull it pull together your timeline of your career. And I started 95 because I graduated high school, but I also started college. And so we often don't talk much about an educational Oh, I'm an engineer. Not everybody can do that. You're a scientist, not everybody can do that. You have a math degree? We really can't do that. Right? So if did you want to get a master's degree and a PhD? What are those things that you're like, ah, whatever, that you really downplay, and you really need to own. And so really build out this timeline. But what you can see I really want to focus on is 2011. I said fail. I was struggling at work, absolutely, positively struggling at work. And I own that I even asked for help. I will say, Oh, no, no, you'll get it. And then I felt I was going to get help. And then in swoop what became who became my sponsor, in 2011. And once I had that sponsor, life changed, and he was working stuff on the back end for me. And so I push more for black women and brown women to have sponsors more than I do mentors, because we encounter so many barriers, and we have such small margins of error. We need somebody to be advocating for us and protecting us more in the workplace than anybody else. And so I like mentors, and cute, they're nice. But I need a sponsor.
And that is one thing with this power with organization saying, say, Black Lives Matter. Our black employees matter, we're going to do these er G's bad. So you're going to build out this plan, because some of you need to understand how great and how fantastic you are, and how much you've already accomplished in your life. And you don't have to be humble, because this is your truth. This is what is and and you haven't even looked at it in totality. So I went from 2011 and failing to to 2013 to be in the goat greatest of all time. And I own that ish. Right? I remember I went to the next job in 2014 and got this email saying your new role is this, but it won't be in a update in HR. And my boss came up to me. He's like, Hey, you see such You said you got a promotion? I said No, I didn't. I got a pay cut. Because he didn't say I said that's more work. And I literally refuse to take that job title. I literally going and Michelle's a project manager like hi Michele Heyward, I'm the construction engineer. If you're not gonna pay me, I'm not doing the work. And guess what, I didn't do the work. Unless it benefited me. I literally you, it was like, I set boundaries. I was I was wearing my micro braids. I was doing what Michelle wants to do. Because at this point, you felt I understood my power. I understood what I knew how good I was. And that I literally could take that someplace else. And so I want you to take this and you can make it way deeper than this. Right? You can make it way deeper than this. And you could have narratives for every single milestone you lay out. Like, oh my god, this is when X, Y and Z was on my team that undermined it me are this is when I got to lead the team. And I was really able to do A, B and C, write those narratives in there. Because too often, we aren't telling those stories either. And those narratives matter so much. So start with a timeline, and then go to a narrative. And the milestones aren't necessarily by year. The milestones can be by projects. It can be by accomplishments, it can be by hitting certain goals that you have for yourself, or that you hit or exceed It inside of an organization. So tell those stories and lay down those narratives. I need to do that. Yes, I want all of you to do this because some of the questions and comments over the last five days, were about not being brag, or I haven't achieved enough, or how do i do X, Y, and Z or how I get C. I became an I remember, I remember it the greatest all time, like literally how good Let me tell you how I solidify, I was good. The client rep sent an email to my VP didn't copy me on it. And the VP became my, my, my sponsor. The VP forwarded to my divisional boss copied me on the message, and I got a bonus. So So and I spent the bonus of that bonus taking a client out, because you could not undo that email that said what it said, that made me ago, I'm just gonna say it, if some people have said it to you, and you have brushed that, brushed it off, like, Oh, no, you're cute. No, they said I could you, we could not have done it without you. If you hadn't worked late, we would have missed the deadline. Without you, we would not have been able to do one, two or three, you did not claim your greatness. And because you did not claim greatness, that accomplishment, you have not understood the power that you already harnessed from your your current and previous performance, okay? And I need you to go back and lay this timeline out and write those narratives, so that you understand that you already have that power, it is showing up in your performance. And so I'm gonna go past this part. So we looked at my performance. My position was if you don't pay me, you trying to play me, that's not what I'm gonna do.
But also what my position I'm in, in the year 2011 2013. This is when I made it a point where I screwed up stuff, I took accountability, on a call. And when I said it was not me, people believe me. But I only couldn't do this, I could only do this.
Because I had a sponsor, because I had somebody advocating for me, I had somebody protecting me. And so again, your ask if you do not have a sponsor is to have to go and ask three people in your organization for sponsor, if you have a sponsor, go ask three more people. Matter of fact, matter of fact, ss for two or three people in your organization, two or three people in your industry to be your sponsors, you like industry? Yeah, who who's the issue in your industry, everybody else is asking them to mentor them. Like now I want you to be my sponsor, I want to get over to this position at this company. And they got these little raggedy rules right here that nobody else in our organization has had to meet. But that's what they telling me, I need you to move that out of the way and you will have specific ask for that sponsor. Because, again, your performance and your position and your passion are your power. And you have not owned your performance. You have not realized what your position is, and it's not a job title in the organization. And you usually know what your passion is, but you may not have focused on it yet. All right. And I see we have one question, give me one. Okay. How do you ask someone to be your sponsor? Let's see. Hi, Angela. This is Michelle. I hope you're doing well. I would love for us to have a meeting. Um, I have a short discussion on my coffee chat. How about to see at 11:30am? Okay, great. I'll talk to you then. Angela. I love how you've done X, Y and Z in the company. And I'm looking for a sponsor for what the company said. When it comes to black lives. They're looking to do one, two and three within the organization. And I love that what I'm trying to do in the organization that aligns is x, y and z. I'm having some I would like some additional support in reaching these goals. And I'm looking for somebody such issue. Who's very well known. I would say well, no, I will say who's very knowledgeable and experienced in this area to be my sponsor. And What am I looking for, for a sponsor? Number one, we meet once a quarter. Number two, we have milestones where I hit certain things that you want me to have done. And number three, you're open and honest about what I do. But more importantly, I understand that you have to authority to remove barriers that I consistently come across. For instance, when I tell X, Y, and Z, I want a promotion, they give me all of these extra things to do. And I do all of them. And they consistently come back and tell me the same thing over again, yet, I'm always training my manager, I love for you to assist me. Does that answer your question? So that's just some of the things you can do, you want to be very specific, because the person you're looking to be your sponsor is a least I would like for it to be an executive VP level. And maybe a senior director, but executive VP is really where I would like most of you to start. If you're like, Michelle, I'm at the executive VP level, I would say probably go to maybe somebody on your board of directors in our organization, you can also look at somebody in the C suite as well. But that is where I would tell you or recommend, not tell but recommend you go to literally get to get that sponsor. Let them know what you want. Let them know what you need me to bury, you encounter. And to help you overcome those. That is what I mean, and and so we want to get into a little bit of that as well. So I just wanted to I know you had the question I'm gonna give you I got the answer. Because I knew it was coming. So we look at your timeline. Y'all like Michelle. But January, December, we talk about goals. I know. And it has been a very, very difficult 2020 I liked it's been hard. It was like, oh, y'all just do it a pandemic, what are hard lives? Okay, cool, whatever. Um, but it truly has been a very difficult year for us. And for those of us that were already in the job market in the 2000s when the bubble burst in Oh, eight with the housing market crash. And now right now, it was like, what is really going on? How much more do I have to take? And so I want you to take a step forward, because you already built out this timeline. And now I really want you to really focus and look at what are your goals? And like what's the definition of a goal, pretty much just have a finite time that you want to reach a finite time by setting deadlines that you want to reach. And as analytical people we can go a little bit too hard and a little bit too deep. So but I do want you to say okay, I'm not 100% at that deadline I'm about 30% 50% 70% and just revise and just go back through it and just keep pushing forward to towards the goal and reset the deadline or just realize the hater in your head showed up showed out and it's stopping you from reaching that goal. And you're like you know I need help dealing with the hater in my head and or I need help with moving have a really have a creating a strategy to hitting this goal or goals. Okay, so just take accountability of that sometimes it's not just a barrier sometimes you need assistance to move and hit those goals and what is that assistance look like? So you want to make sure your goal shows up in a smart formats specific measurable assignable realistic time bound. assignable can be a lot of different a for in SMART goal can be a lot of different things are can be too I usually stick a realistic because
I'm going to become CEO at like two years in and you can absolutely still become CEO, you just have to start your own company. And you'll be CEO, or you have to but being CEO of Fortune 500 is highly unlikely. If the company is it's well established. I'll put it to you that way. So just what is that realistic and again, lastly, time time down. Now, I just talked about okay you have goals, you need resources and people are resources. And when I talk about allies or accomplices, an ally is not as forceful but not as pushy, but they Li will use their their privilege to get you information. And to help you along the way. an accomplice will sit down with you will really ease drop some time they will go the extra mile because they're in it for you to win more than an ally. A sponsor will remove those barriers for you to work That career goal? And I'm specifically talking about career goals. So what are those resources that you need? Your personal brand is a resource. So you're like, Michelle, what do you mean personal brand? So many of you. And it's not like the colors you wear in your signature hairstyle or the perfume? You're not that your personal brand, meaning what do people say about you, when you're not in the room?
Oh, we have this new project coming on, we need, we need X, Y, and Z to run it. Because your brand is the person that knows how to lead this. Right. So your personal brand, and you're like, Michelle, I don't know how to create that. Number one, people don't even know the work you do. Number two, they don't know where you want to go in the organization. And number three, they don't know how you've impacted the revenue of the organization. And so when you're looking at building your personal brand, you can be the mechanical engineer who does X, Y, and Z within the organization and help it grow. Right. So what is that? Brian? What do you want to be known for in an organization and or your industry? Right? So don't you know, you're at the bare minimum in your organization, not your division, not your team, not your group in your organization. If your organization is a global 250,000 people, you will have to build that brand. And start in your group on your team in your department, in your division throughout the organization to build that personal brand. But what does that look like right now? resources, you want to get special assignments and projects and make sure you're compensated for those? Don't just take an intern role? Or we want to see how you do that? Don't give it to me? If you're not if you're not sure, then don't give me this isn't there's no practice, you're gonna give me the title, you want to give me my pay? That's it. Okay. I know, we've had somebody who said, other people are getting the better project, tell them, I want this project. I want this, this is mine. Well, we're still deciding, like, I know, you still decided I already told you what it is. And you go tell your sponsor, this is what you want, right? You want to tell your sponsor, I need executive coaching, and I need the company to pay for it. Here are the three options for that executive coaching or coaching program, right. And as part of the training, industry events, you may not be invited to certain industry event, even virtually, you want in on on the I triple E presidents or C suite meeting. And you're gonna sit at the table, you want to ask two or three questions. And Matter of fact, your sponsor who's going to get you there is going to be there. And they're going to make sure when you're there, nobody speaks over you. You get what I'm saying. So you're going to go in there with very specific ask for your sponsor. It was it was funny, I was I don't know how many of you on clubhouse. But somebody was over there talking about how in the Obama administration of women group together, like, who was who was going to support the other person's ID in a meeting. And honestly, we're usually the only woman, right? There is no other woman. So the person that you may, your positioning comes into this, right? Who else will partner with you? So that you're hurting, you're seen. Sometimes it's an ally, sometimes an accomplice. And it could be it could be a white, it could be a white man. I know. One of my former co workers is a he's a gay white man. And he was he was telling me a few months ago, we were talking to Linda Graham. And he was like, Michelle, I'm so tired. He was like, we're about the same age. He's but he's been in industry, I think a little bit longer than me probably close to 30 years. Now, let me take that back. Let me because he'd be real mad, let's just say 25. And he goes, I'm always a gay guy. And there's always one black woman. He said, no matter what team I'm on, and he was like, it's 2020. He said, it still has not changed. He's I can get married now. He's like, but I said, He's like we're still and he said, and we're still not in a management roles. He's like, when does it change? And so I really want you to think about positioning and who are your accomplices in it in the workplace? Because when we say white men, they're heterosexual 99.9% of the time. So who can help you in that positioning in that room so your voice is heard? So think about that money, Bill. cardi B and ask them for money, period. That is raisins. That's promotions that said attend events that escaped certifications and go ask them? Well, you know, 2020 has been difficult. Yeah, I see Chet and Brad and chat. Oh, well, they were on a plan.
I said, I'm gonna plan to this my plan, my 2021 plan. But you know, what they say hashtag BLM. utilize that leverage that when you're presenting an idea, you should go into the room knowing you already knowing you have support? Because you already did that. Were Yes, exactly. And that's one other thing, if when you have a sponsor, and you can do this with a mentor, I would do it with a sponsor, because that sponsor is going to be the one talking about you advocating for you behind the door, I would do a dry run on that presentation with a sponsor. So they have points before you do the presentation. And they're in a pre meeting to the, to the meeting, right? To say, Oh, no, no, it's quite clear that Kelly has what it takes. She's going to definitely focus on productivity and revenue, not only here in the Americas, but actually over in Europe and Asia. How does your sponsor know this, because they already looked at your presentation already gave you feedback, told you what information to put in. And they already advocated for you. So use that sponsor, even then, use that song, say, hey, there's some brand roundtables that go on behind closed doors, I want to take that one of those opportunities to talk for 10 minutes about sustainability within the organization, when it comes to painting of such and such events, because it can grow the company within all across all divisions by $1.2 billion in an eight to 12 month period. How do you calculate that? You go to the county that does make that looks good. Definitely. Let's talk about that. And I'll get you in around. So you a mentor may not be able to do this, a mentor can give you advice and steps that sponsor can get you in that damn room, they can get you in a meeting, they can get you that money. I literally was talking to another engineer, she might be on here tonight. And she was had asked asked her manager about funding her for her PMP. And I was like, and he told her they didn't have the money for him. I said, Okay, cool. I said, you know, anybody in HR, she was like, Well, no, the person I know, left that she had a good relationship with. I said, you still have you know how to contact the person that left in HR? She says, Yes, I say, contact that person in HR, and ask them who in HR, you should go to because you need the company to pay for your certification training and the test. She comes back to me like, Yeah, I did what you said they sent me to person HR and the company gonna pay for it. There's more than one decision maker in an organization, you have to make sure you know who that person is. You have to make sure that person understands your personal brand, your position in the organization, and you're letting them know what you need. Again, fight the hater in your head. Understand is still is a boys club, but you still have power and you can leverage that power. Utilize your voice. All right. Your voice? Yes. Using your voice yes or no, in the chat. Want to do this, I'm not gonna do it. Okay, I want you to use your voice. And that can be via email, that can be in meetings that can be a one on one conversations, using your voice to discuss where you want to go in the organization, in your career in the industry. Why? Too often we're doing the job. But we're not driving where we want to go in our careers. And so once you have that sponsor or sponsors on board, you're using your voice to share with them your why why you want to go there, how you plan on getting there, and what you need to get there. And so when you're meeting with your with these people, you want to know your why, your how, and the what. And I know the question was asked, Well, how do I get a sponsor? And what do I say to a sponsor? You want to frame it in these ways? Why do you want them as a sponsor? How can they help you get to the goal or goals you have within the organization for your career. Even in the industry, because they truly could be well known in the industry, right? And what specifically you need from them? And let me tell you something, you're going to ask for small shit down. Well, I was thinking, another two days out. And he like two days I was, well, no, I would like to spend two years with my family and husband over in the UK app, post, Pat, post a pandemic, where I'll be working in our Italy plant working on the Lamborghini, I would also need you to find a job for my husband, who's also an engineer and the company to cover our relocation costs while we're there and provide two trips home for my, my, my spouse, and I and our two kids. How many of you have dreamt about doing an international assignment, and nobody even knows, but you that you have that dream, that hope and aspiration, you want to be very, very specific about what you want, know him and know Hi, and do not ask for small shit. Because you are in here to leverage your power you already have performed, they already see this, what's in it for the sponsors? Guess what, Angela? You said black lives matter? Prove it.
But what's in it for the sponsor, really, you already have your performance, you've already proven that you are worthy of them sponsoring you. Right? They have another strong player on their team, performing well in that organization that they're willing to put their brand behind. And at the end of the day, when they need something from you, they will come sometimes is sometimes women are often the go giver, there's a book called The go giver, how you all you give, give, give give before you ask. Let them guess what he needs, that sponsor needs to be given to you. Right? So they've gotten all of this other stuff from you. They haven't compensated many of you appropriately. This is your ass because the organization has already gotten all of this out of you. And if they asked you like I've done X, Y, and Z, I'm doing director level work and I'm an engineer for right? If you want to be have something more specific, we're sending a sponsor. Right now I started with black lives matter, because that's what the organization said they were behind. And that's what they were going to do. leverage that to me right now. I wouldn't worry about what's in it for the sponsors, because the smartest person in the organization and leadership in our organization said they were about you letting them figure out that in 2022 what why what I was trying to figure out what was what was in it for me as a sponsor, Black Lives Matter. If they forget 78 minute recording, I couldn't look at it. I just, you know what's in it for you seven, eight, every time they ask you send an eight minute video. Yeah, you have given it's time to receive in abundance. Exactly. And so you really and that sponsor is again there for your protection as well. So you can fail. Because I can tell you some petty people, okay, now, a little on career strategy. I have no idea where we are on time, I'm way late. So we're gonna run through this. So you're gonna have a career strategy. And a career strategy is a behavior, activity or experience designed to help a person meet career goals. A career strategy represents a conscious choice by individual s this type of investment she or he or they are willing to make in attempting to reach career objectives. So there's going to be some give and take, there's going to be some sacrifice. There is no work life balance, there's work life sacrifice. What are you willing to give up in order to get X, Y and Z in your career? Your strategy, your career strategy? s s? These are some questions to ask yourself. This is, I think, are some more pertinent questions. Whose help do you need to reach your career goals? What kind of help do you need? When should the help be provided? Sometimes you don't need to help right now. You're building out that plan that strategy, you know in q2 of 2022, you want to be looking for housing in Italy. Because you don't when the kids finished school in June, y'all gonna be on a plane in July and have them ready for school in August, so whenever they go to school and you're in Italy, okay, um, how should the help be provided? Is it written? Is it verbal? Is it financial? Right? What does that help look like? And so these are some things to really ask, especially when it comes back to your sponsor, when it comes to your career strategy and what you really need, then you want to execute it. Your next steps, the accountability, you're going to have some levels of accountability. And so is your sponsor. Alright? your level of accountability and your organization's level of accountability, let the sponsor a little bit further down. Safety. How safe Do you feel in asking for this? Not at all, or somewhat at all. And if you have questions, go ahead and drop the questions in the chat. Where? Where do you need to focus on right now? And where do you want to go? Who do you need to help you? And how do you need them to help you be very, very specific? And we'll get into questions. Now this one ran a bit longer than I anticipated. I hope that was helpful. We got can your manager be your sponsor?
Yes,
your your manager can absolutely be your sponsor, your manager needs to be that one person who can remove those barriers for you. They have to be, but right now. I would say a lot of people are asking a lot of organizations are saying, Hey, we're in. We're doing X, Y, and Z for our black and brown employees. Call them on it. What if you feel too overwhelmed to even have time to plan out your career? That's fine. Your career plan does not have to be like 20 years out? What do you need in the next? What do you need in 2021? For the next 10 months? Literally, what do you need? How much vacation time do you need?
How much time do you need out of the office? Do you need time during the day to homeschool and you need a company to split out your day, where you're gonna start at six in the morning, oh, six to eight, get the kids in school from eight till 11, then you're back online from from like one to five, or you're not back online until five to nine, right? So if it's really overwhelming, what do you need right now from your employer and go ask them for it. So it does not have to be long and drawn out. I took that out. It was it was already long, I thought it was gonna be really short. But be very look at your immediate need of short term needs, which is 12 months, up to 12 months. everything after that is immediate up until your five year and after five year I call it long term. Okay. I hope that helped any any more questions. So really, really leverage your performance. Right? You've already proven this in your industry, even if it's a new employer, they would not have hired you if you could not do the job. And that is part of your power. You have to use your voice to let them know and start building those relationships or leveraging more relationships. How can we utilize your services, shoot me an email, I didn't share that part. Here, put my email address in the chat. You can shoot me an email at Michele Heyward, at positive hire.co if I don't think you're a good fit, meaning, you need somebody that helps you with conflict resolution. I have somebody for that. If you need somebody, you're more on the C suite. I have somebody for that. So it depends on what your needs are and where you are. And if I'm not able to help you, I have I have other black and brown women coaches, executive coaches that can definitely Stephen assists and assist. So risk management on projects. It really depends what your needs are. All right, so Michelle, one owl, died. Heyward, at positive hire.co. Any other questions? One last thing is if you want to get the replays tonight as the last night, they are $67. It goes up to $127 at midnight, so you get access to them for 12 months, and they're yours. Go through them. I wish that what if you're being recognized? How do you harness that? Oh, I love that. I love that you're being recognized. Okay. What do you want? Number one, identify what do you want and again, who can help you get what you want, and go ask them, but have a very clear and succinct ask. Don't be very verbose. Most times. As analytical people we are very straight to the point. So if you're being recognized now For one, especially in the organization, exponential organization, I will add it into your signature line. And I will hyperlink to have the link to your award or wherever the newsletter internally to the organization where you can find out more information about how you're being you've been recognized, right? And then ask a very, very clear ass and decide who was that person to help you. With that. That's that's how we do it. The other way you can do it too, is go to somebody else who, who you already have a relationship with life. I'd like for you to do an introduction to me. I'm going to send you the introduction to make right and the introduction goes, Hey, Bob, I want to introduce you to Trisha Trisha has been named black engineer of the year. You can read more here the link She is currently I'm looking for opportunity in the nanotechnology division, leading as a as a senior engineering manager or director of engineering, dealing with AI and nanotech, something like that. So you literally write up the introduction for them and put in that recognition. Have somebody else today introduce my app, you know, I'm gonna save you time, Bob, I'm gonna write the intro for you. You can add anything you want to but make it like three to five sentences. Like I hope your kids are doing well. I want to introduce you to she she does X, Y and Z and is interested in 123. I told her you were the person to come talk to you have a very very succinct ass. Any other questions? All right, we are decay. These go very fast and very slow at the same time.
So we will be back in March, we will be back with our webinar series. We take a break in June, July, somewhere in there, we take one month off, but we have some great things, how long are replays free, the replays are free until tomorrow. So usually the replays are only free for 24 hours. It's the only one that's only free for 24 hours. We made. We made like from Sunday till Saturday, Sunday till today free until Saturday, because of Texas. We are in Louisiana, all the states hit by such horrendous weather in the south because I know we'd be the same way if that was South Carolina. And so we made it there tomorrow at midnight eastern Yeah, 11:59pm eastern time, you can be in the video, but you can't be pressing the video because like it began, they are free until then. So that's like nine hours of content to watch. So you have to do nine hours in one day. So if you're looking for something very specific, they are all up except for this one, this one won't be up until about 11pm Eastern Standard Time. Okay. Who and this year we have some other things coming, we're going to release our job board and we will have a membership site coming out later. A paid membership as well. So we'll be sending that stuff out because there is so that you have consistent support with your career throughout the year. So that way. It makes sense. So we're going to make these things happen in 2021. So it was 20 2020 with some nails that's all I'm gonna say. All right. Yes, that sounds great. I know I want to tell you I'm hopefully I can sleep tonight. All right, everybody. Have a great weekend. Oh, I forgot one other thing. Do y'all want to do a meet and greet tomorrow? Hold on, don't go yet we're doing a meet and greet we want to do is zoom meetings. And you can come in and interact and engage with other women here and we'll do either in rooms, meeting rooms of two to three people it is at 7pm eastern standard time I just keep the same timezone. 7pm. Eastern, Eastern Standard Time Zone is free. We'll do a provide an hour depending on how many people show up. Then we'll do about 10 to 15 minute intervals. So if you can be there at the beginning at seven that helps a lot. If you run a little bit late. It depends if somebody else shows up, but then with that I can pair you off and try to randomly do that throughout this. I am glad it has been amazing for you. The the gist of this is not to make you feel good. The gist of this is to make you feel good and give you actionable steps and wind beneath your wings to really push you forward in in your career. So that's why We consistently do these once a year, we did it twice last year, because it was 2020. Okay. All right, everybody. I will stay on just for a few minutes. If you if you haven't clicked on the link to join us for tomorrow's meeting. Great. I know we have eight ladies signed up so far. So we can probably do like three rounds with eight if they all each show up. But it'd be great if we could have about 20 of you show up tomorrow. And this is not being emailed out. So you can tell a friend but I'm not gonna email it out. Because those of you that showed up and you were sharing in the chat, you're more likely interested in engaging and meeting other women virtually face to face. And so it's just close to those of you that showed up the last two nights. Okay. So if you got a friend and they didn't show up on Thursday and Friday, send it to your friend today show any day. It's gonna be really confused. My two devices mean I can type fast. Angela, I'm not messing with you. I'm not messing with you. I see your two names tonight. I don't always get to see them. I usually scroll. I'm usually further down. Okay. All right, ladies. That is it. I will see you tomorrow night at 7pm. Bye, everybody. You're very very welcome.
So this supposed to be tired of something else, obviously, like I told you, I already did this. So we're going to talk about your power, your employer accountability, your power again, and then your opportunity. So looking at public supportive black lives matter how many of you put it to an HIV use a different number, put it to in the chat. If your company made a statement saying we've support black lives, we support Black Lives, black lives do matter. We support our black employees. How many of you put it to have your employer sent out a message like this? How many of you don't don't respond to this?
When?
What day is this? When did y'all start? Y'all must have just started that this year. Y'all must have started, like right now, like when y'all hit send to this email? Because you hadn't seen that before? Right? So you have companies that are sending out these messages. And sometimes they're yours. And sometimes they weren't, because a lot of companies didn't. You also received messages from different brands in different industries. That said, they said the same thing. And I want you to take note of what they said and how they said, and what I mean is, did they acknowledge George Floyd was killed? Or was he murdered? Because that is a huge difference? Did they call out racism or systemic racism? Did they say black lives or they say everybody matters to us? Because these are instances of where you are seeing whether or not the culture of belonging, at least in your Communications Group, because the Communications Group generally writes the messaging, it goes through legal and then then finally, you know, they massage it with some of the CEO or their C suite people. Right? And so what what what does that messaging really say? Because there are key words you have to look at to really understand the depth or the lack thereof, of coming from your management team, when it comes to black lives really matters in your organization? All right.
Now, what was your response? When your manager, your director, executive, VP, C suite people came to you, and asked you how they could help you. And I want you to keep that in mind. If they've made a public statement. did have they come to you? Or have they come to you? Number two, what was your response? Or did you not have a response? And if and if you didn't have a response? Why didn't you have a response? These are the some of the things I want you to go through because they get to your psychological safety and your physical safety in your workplace. Because some of the things I'm going to talk about leveraging your power, you may not have it yet in your organization, and some and honestly, you may not be able to get that opportunity to leverage your power in our organization, because it is not a safe place for you. Period. Is is literally where you're getting a paycheck. Okay. And so I do realize that and I'm not going to undermine that. But yes, many were lip service. I just thought that thought of the black squares on Instagram. Exactly. Exactly. When it became popular. Yes, I do hear you. I do hear you. When it became popular for sure. I got on committees and in other organizations. Yes. Okay. What were your organization's goals? Did they announce that we're going to donate to the NAACP, we're going to support X, Y, and Z nonprofit. We're going to go out and recruit from HBCUs and Hispanic supporting institutions, so HSI what were their goals? How many of them announced any goals about retaining the talent internal to the organization? How many of them talked about creating a place of belonging within your organization? Right. How many of them talk about we have work to do and I own the responsibility and will be accountable for these changes within the organization? Yeah, I'm getting cricket. See I got crickets cool. Some of what you may have seen were er G's for a form. And who says sponsor for that er G.
And so what I really want to do is like see who are the players within your organization. For those changes that are white man, they still haven't figured out the goals when volunteers are running the show. Things are slow. Okay. Support black founder support goals on advancement. I got on commit. Okay, so, what I want you to do is really look at what those goals Are if and if they still haven't figured out the goals like, hey, it's been almost a year. You haven't figured out goals? Here's some for you. And guess what? You can give them goals. And you can give them guidelines, when you inquire about where are the goals? What's the timeline, and who is running the show, like who's the who's responsible, who's the committee, some people are always still have a committee. And the committee has met once in 2020. And they have no plans of meeting right now in 2021. So you want to go back and revisit those and really follow up and I'm really good at this. I remember when I was in corporate This is not a black lives matter. event, this was an internal call, something came out where it says hey, such and such, who was over our division or business unit was doing a call a talking about our finances or something. They decided in the office, they didn't want to pay for a system or do multiple calls, will all employees over several sessions would be able to join. Instead, what they did, they held one, they sent out an email, another email left out everybody that worked on construction sites, after email, and decided they were only host hold this call with people that work in office. So I noticed I never got an email with the link, I hit Reply All. Hey, this was scheduled for such and such I never received an email wasn't recorded. People reply directly back to me like you didn't miss anything. The call was horrible. and respond to that, for me from an executive assistant was, oh, we didn't invite everybody. And I was like, I don't understand how you do a call for employees, and then cut off your employees. So they had to host a second call. Thanks to Michele Heyward, hitting reply all. So sometimes, you just ask one question, hit reply, and ask for a date. I'm serious. And I reply, all they loved. That reply all means, guess what? We're still waiting, there are going to be people that are going to respond to you directly, they're not going to do the reply all like you did, they're going to respond to you directly. And those people, I want you to start having conversations with them and researching them. Are they your allies? Are they your accomplices? And are they your sponsors in organization? And ally will look out for you, an accomplice will commit the crime with you to make change. And that sponsor will remove barriers for you. So the power oftentimes, I would ain't never said when they were going to do Did you inquire there is power in utilizing your voice. And sometimes it's not even your voice. So in the organization, you're going to see some internal changes, some of the changes, you may have seen where the mission statement has changed the policies, so revised policies, or like some of you said, they are they created a group of volunteers who are not being compensated. So that means they're black and brown people, probably mostly women who are doing this work. Okay. They're changing practices, they're developing metrics. And info is to be shared sometime in the future. And you'd like you know what, this is the future. I'm so glad we're here. What I want you to also do for those of you that are larger corporations that have 10 k report, they have annual reports, pull out those reports, search them and see if they mentioned any of these mission changes, policy changes, practices, or metrics. So they were shared out to all the investors within an organization. Now they didn't they didn't love me.
Trust me, they didn't love me. Because this is truly truly important that you do this, because now you're tracking what they are not doing to match up with what they said back in June of 2020. Right. Oh, we didn't have it in a budget when you set the budget in October. This happened in June, June, July, August, September, October, you had three to four months, you had a sufficient amount of time to create a budget. Okay. Now, let's let's focus on your power, your performance, your position, your past. And what I mean by your performance, we are judged generally much more harshly, we have smaller rooms for error. And so our performance, we usually are higher performers, especially over on the stem side. And so I really want you to focus on your performance in the past. Don't worry about where you are right now, don't worry about 2021. Because your power is built upon what you've done in the past. And some of you like why would a new employer guess what they hired?
Based on your performance in the past? That is your power that you built upon. Your position is not necessarily your job title, right? Your position is truly about when people come to you as an authority, as a subject matter expert, as knowledgeable, as I know, sometimes is the person that's gonna hit Reply All on an email, what's your position, in an organization, in your industry sometimes, or your region that really helps you leverage your power? So what is that position you have, in your current or former employer? Did people come to you when there were issues in a system process, or a contract, or even a production line, right? That people come to you to start something in the middle of an issue, or to put a nice bow on and at the end, right. So really look at how are you positioned in your organization, when it comes to our our, they always give you all of that extra work, that doesn't help you get a promotion or a raise? We you're We are, we are stakes, we are stuck our necks out and usually get get can't get get away with exactly. And so it's really important to understand your position in organization. Because if you it helps you understand how far out you can stick your neck and be able to have a neck to retract back like your turtle. I'm just saying. So really understand what is your position. And the last part of your power is your passion. What are you passionate about. And that's not always related to your to your job, right?
You can love what you do. get me wrong, but you're passionate about seeing X, Y, and Z happen happen in health tech, or biotech. You are passionate about the next development or evolution of 5g. Or some of you might be like to get 5g that's already done. We on six g now you're on six G and you're looking at the next level of technology. What are you passionate about Where's where your passions lie. Because where you find your passion, oftentimes, you find that extra to push forward, and then generate new ideas and create new relationships. And really to pull together everything you really need to move forward. Hey, thanks for joining. So really think about what is your passion, right. And it may not be tied to your career, it may not be tied to a job. But it still is something you're very, very focused on. And you feel it in your bones. So what I'm gonna do right now, I'm gonna take you down my career timeline, Michelle's career timeline. And we're going to talk through some of some ways of how I built my power. Right? And why I wasn't afraid to hit reply on emails. And and it's not going to be the same for you. And how did I get to that point. And so much, I was a subject matter expert for a department of 50 and a heart to replace spot. Once I realized the power, that power of my work, life change. And oftentimes, we are doing the work and we don't understand the power we have. And I will say it was not just in those 50 that apartment of 50. I guarantee you probably in that division, they knew that if they lost you, you're out sick, you're not available, how critical you were to the organization. And so if you look at that, I would say it went further than that. 50 because it's hitting the bottom line. It's about generating revenue for them for that organization, probably, or productivity, but it's definitely a driving force, a driver, a number that's driving that. So I went back 25 years I know I only look 30 and I'm still 30 this year next year I'll be 30 but I have a special man With an older nephew, he, he and I, we have to talk he I need him to age slower. I'm just gonna say that. Okay, so I started in 1995. And that's what I graduated high school. And, and so you don't have to do this? Well, you don't have to start at high school. I just started at high school. But what but I do want you to build out your career timeline. And you can do this in Canva. You can do this in what do I say on a on a foam board or a poster board with magazines and a glue gun? Right? You can do this over on? What is the other thing we always have boards. I can't remember Pinterest, you can do it on Pinterest. But I want you to pull it pull together your timeline of your career. And I started 95 because I graduated high school, but I also started college. And so we often don't talk much about an educational Oh, I'm an engineer. Not everybody can do that. You're a scientist, not everybody can do that. You have a math degree? We really can't do that. Right? So if did you want to get a master's degree and a PhD? What are those things that you're like, ah, whatever, that you really downplay, and you really need to own. And so really build out this timeline. But what you can see I really want to focus on is 2011. I said fail. I was struggling at work, absolutely, positively struggling at work. And I own that I even asked for help. I will say, Oh, no, no, you'll get it. And then I felt I was going to get help. And then in swoop what became who became my sponsor, in 2011. And once I had that sponsor, life changed, and he was working stuff on the back end for me. And so I push more for black women and brown women to have sponsors more than I do mentors, because we encounter so many barriers, and we have such small margins of error. We need somebody to be advocating for us and protecting us more in the workplace than anybody else. And so I like mentors, and cute, they're nice. But I need a sponsor.
And that is one thing with this power with organization saying, say, Black Lives Matter. Our black employees matter, we're going to do these er G's bad. So you're going to build out this plan, because some of you need to understand how great and how fantastic you are, and how much you've already accomplished in your life. And you don't have to be humble, because this is your truth. This is what is and and you haven't even looked at it in totality. So I went from 2011 and failing to to 2013 to be in the goat greatest of all time. And I own that ish. Right? I remember I went to the next job in 2014 and got this email saying your new role is this, but it won't be in a update in HR. And my boss came up to me. He's like, Hey, you see such You said you got a promotion? I said No, I didn't. I got a pay cut. Because he didn't say I said that's more work. And I literally refuse to take that job title. I literally going and Michelle's a project manager like hi Michele Heyward, I'm the construction engineer. If you're not gonna pay me, I'm not doing the work. And guess what, I didn't do the work. Unless it benefited me. I literally you, it was like, I set boundaries. I was I was wearing my micro braids. I was doing what Michelle wants to do. Because at this point, you felt I understood my power. I understood what I knew how good I was. And that I literally could take that someplace else. And so I want you to take this and you can make it way deeper than this. Right? You can make it way deeper than this. And you could have narratives for every single milestone you lay out. Like, oh my god, this is when X, Y and Z was on my team that undermined it me are this is when I got to lead the team. And I was really able to do A, B and C, write those narratives in there. Because too often, we aren't telling those stories either. And those narratives matter so much. So start with a timeline, and then go to a narrative. And the milestones aren't necessarily by year. The milestones can be by projects. It can be by accomplishments, it can be by hitting certain goals that you have for yourself, or that you hit or exceed It inside of an organization. So tell those stories and lay down those narratives. I need to do that. Yes, I want all of you to do this because some of the questions and comments over the last five days, were about not being brag, or I haven't achieved enough, or how do i do X, Y, and Z or how I get C. I became an I remember, I remember it the greatest all time, like literally how good Let me tell you how I solidify, I was good. The client rep sent an email to my VP didn't copy me on it. And the VP became my, my, my sponsor. The VP forwarded to my divisional boss copied me on the message, and I got a bonus. So So and I spent the bonus of that bonus taking a client out, because you could not undo that email that said what it said, that made me ago, I'm just gonna say it, if some people have said it to you, and you have brushed that, brushed it off, like, Oh, no, you're cute. No, they said I could you, we could not have done it without you. If you hadn't worked late, we would have missed the deadline. Without you, we would not have been able to do one, two or three, you did not claim your greatness. And because you did not claim greatness, that accomplishment, you have not understood the power that you already harnessed from your your current and previous performance, okay? And I need you to go back and lay this timeline out and write those narratives, so that you understand that you already have that power, it is showing up in your performance. And so I'm gonna go past this part. So we looked at my performance. My position was if you don't pay me, you trying to play me, that's not what I'm gonna do.
But also what my position I'm in, in the year 2011 2013. This is when I made it a point where I screwed up stuff, I took accountability, on a call. And when I said it was not me, people believe me. But I only couldn't do this, I could only do this.
Because I had a sponsor, because I had somebody advocating for me, I had somebody protecting me. And so again, your ask if you do not have a sponsor is to have to go and ask three people in your organization for sponsor, if you have a sponsor, go ask three more people. Matter of fact, matter of fact, ss for two or three people in your organization, two or three people in your industry to be your sponsors, you like industry? Yeah, who who's the issue in your industry, everybody else is asking them to mentor them. Like now I want you to be my sponsor, I want to get over to this position at this company. And they got these little raggedy rules right here that nobody else in our organization has had to meet. But that's what they telling me, I need you to move that out of the way and you will have specific ask for that sponsor. Because, again, your performance and your position and your passion are your power. And you have not owned your performance. You have not realized what your position is, and it's not a job title in the organization. And you usually know what your passion is, but you may not have focused on it yet. All right. And I see we have one question, give me one. Okay. How do you ask someone to be your sponsor? Let's see. Hi, Angela. This is Michelle. I hope you're doing well. I would love for us to have a meeting. Um, I have a short discussion on my coffee chat. How about to see at 11:30am? Okay, great. I'll talk to you then. Angela. I love how you've done X, Y and Z in the company. And I'm looking for a sponsor for what the company said. When it comes to black lives. They're looking to do one, two and three within the organization. And I love that what I'm trying to do in the organization that aligns is x, y and z. I'm having some I would like some additional support in reaching these goals. And I'm looking for somebody such issue. Who's very well known. I would say well, no, I will say who's very knowledgeable and experienced in this area to be my sponsor. And What am I looking for, for a sponsor? Number one, we meet once a quarter. Number two, we have milestones where I hit certain things that you want me to have done. And number three, you're open and honest about what I do. But more importantly, I understand that you have to authority to remove barriers that I consistently come across. For instance, when I tell X, Y, and Z, I want a promotion, they give me all of these extra things to do. And I do all of them. And they consistently come back and tell me the same thing over again, yet, I'm always training my manager, I love for you to assist me. Does that answer your question? So that's just some of the things you can do, you want to be very specific, because the person you're looking to be your sponsor is a least I would like for it to be an executive VP level. And maybe a senior director, but executive VP is really where I would like most of you to start. If you're like, Michelle, I'm at the executive VP level, I would say probably go to maybe somebody on your board of directors in our organization, you can also look at somebody in the C suite as well. But that is where I would tell you or recommend, not tell but recommend you go to literally get to get that sponsor. Let them know what you want. Let them know what you need me to bury, you encounter. And to help you overcome those. That is what I mean, and and so we want to get into a little bit of that as well. So I just wanted to I know you had the question I'm gonna give you I got the answer. Because I knew it was coming. So we look at your timeline. Y'all like Michelle. But January, December, we talk about goals. I know. And it has been a very, very difficult 2020 I liked it's been hard. It was like, oh, y'all just do it a pandemic, what are hard lives? Okay, cool, whatever. Um, but it truly has been a very difficult year for us. And for those of us that were already in the job market in the 2000s when the bubble burst in Oh, eight with the housing market crash. And now right now, it was like, what is really going on? How much more do I have to take? And so I want you to take a step forward, because you already built out this timeline. And now I really want you to really focus and look at what are your goals? And like what's the definition of a goal, pretty much just have a finite time that you want to reach a finite time by setting deadlines that you want to reach. And as analytical people we can go a little bit too hard and a little bit too deep. So but I do want you to say okay, I'm not 100% at that deadline I'm about 30% 50% 70% and just revise and just go back through it and just keep pushing forward to towards the goal and reset the deadline or just realize the hater in your head showed up showed out and it's stopping you from reaching that goal. And you're like you know I need help dealing with the hater in my head and or I need help with moving have a really have a creating a strategy to hitting this goal or goals. Okay, so just take accountability of that sometimes it's not just a barrier sometimes you need assistance to move and hit those goals and what is that assistance look like? So you want to make sure your goal shows up in a smart formats specific measurable assignable realistic time bound. assignable can be a lot of different a for in SMART goal can be a lot of different things are can be too I usually stick a realistic because
I'm going to become CEO at like two years in and you can absolutely still become CEO, you just have to start your own company. And you'll be CEO, or you have to but being CEO of Fortune 500 is highly unlikely. If the company is it's well established. I'll put it to you that way. So just what is that realistic and again, lastly, time time down. Now, I just talked about okay you have goals, you need resources and people are resources. And when I talk about allies or accomplices, an ally is not as forceful but not as pushy, but they Li will use their their privilege to get you information. And to help you along the way. an accomplice will sit down with you will really ease drop some time they will go the extra mile because they're in it for you to win more than an ally. A sponsor will remove those barriers for you to work That career goal? And I'm specifically talking about career goals. So what are those resources that you need? Your personal brand is a resource. So you're like, Michelle, what do you mean personal brand? So many of you. And it's not like the colors you wear in your signature hairstyle or the perfume? You're not that your personal brand, meaning what do people say about you, when you're not in the room?
Oh, we have this new project coming on, we need, we need X, Y, and Z to run it. Because your brand is the person that knows how to lead this. Right. So your personal brand, and you're like, Michelle, I don't know how to create that. Number one, people don't even know the work you do. Number two, they don't know where you want to go in the organization. And number three, they don't know how you've impacted the revenue of the organization. And so when you're looking at building your personal brand, you can be the mechanical engineer who does X, Y, and Z within the organization and help it grow. Right. So what is that? Brian? What do you want to be known for in an organization and or your industry? Right? So don't you know, you're at the bare minimum in your organization, not your division, not your team, not your group in your organization. If your organization is a global 250,000 people, you will have to build that brand. And start in your group on your team in your department, in your division throughout the organization to build that personal brand. But what does that look like right now? resources, you want to get special assignments and projects and make sure you're compensated for those? Don't just take an intern role? Or we want to see how you do that? Don't give it to me? If you're not if you're not sure, then don't give me this isn't there's no practice, you're gonna give me the title, you want to give me my pay? That's it. Okay. I know, we've had somebody who said, other people are getting the better project, tell them, I want this project. I want this, this is mine. Well, we're still deciding, like, I know, you still decided I already told you what it is. And you go tell your sponsor, this is what you want, right? You want to tell your sponsor, I need executive coaching, and I need the company to pay for it. Here are the three options for that executive coaching or coaching program, right. And as part of the training, industry events, you may not be invited to certain industry event, even virtually, you want in on on the I triple E presidents or C suite meeting. And you're gonna sit at the table, you want to ask two or three questions. And Matter of fact, your sponsor who's going to get you there is going to be there. And they're going to make sure when you're there, nobody speaks over you. You get what I'm saying. So you're going to go in there with very specific ask for your sponsor. It was it was funny, I was I don't know how many of you on clubhouse. But somebody was over there talking about how in the Obama administration of women group together, like, who was who was going to support the other person's ID in a meeting. And honestly, we're usually the only woman, right? There is no other woman. So the person that you may, your positioning comes into this, right? Who else will partner with you? So that you're hurting, you're seen. Sometimes it's an ally, sometimes an accomplice. And it could be it could be a white, it could be a white man. I know. One of my former co workers is a he's a gay white man. And he was he was telling me a few months ago, we were talking to Linda Graham. And he was like, Michelle, I'm so tired. He was like, we're about the same age. He's but he's been in industry, I think a little bit longer than me probably close to 30 years. Now, let me take that back. Let me because he'd be real mad, let's just say 25. And he goes, I'm always a gay guy. And there's always one black woman. He said, no matter what team I'm on, and he was like, it's 2020. He said, it still has not changed. He's I can get married now. He's like, but I said, He's like we're still and he said, and we're still not in a management roles. He's like, when does it change? And so I really want you to think about positioning and who are your accomplices in it in the workplace? Because when we say white men, they're heterosexual 99.9% of the time. So who can help you in that positioning in that room so your voice is heard? So think about that money, Bill. cardi B and ask them for money, period. That is raisins. That's promotions that said attend events that escaped certifications and go ask them? Well, you know, 2020 has been difficult. Yeah, I see Chet and Brad and chat. Oh, well, they were on a plan.
I said, I'm gonna plan to this my plan, my 2021 plan. But you know, what they say hashtag BLM. utilize that leverage that when you're presenting an idea, you should go into the room knowing you already knowing you have support? Because you already did that. Were Yes, exactly. And that's one other thing, if when you have a sponsor, and you can do this with a mentor, I would do it with a sponsor, because that sponsor is going to be the one talking about you advocating for you behind the door, I would do a dry run on that presentation with a sponsor. So they have points before you do the presentation. And they're in a pre meeting to the, to the meeting, right? To say, Oh, no, no, it's quite clear that Kelly has what it takes. She's going to definitely focus on productivity and revenue, not only here in the Americas, but actually over in Europe and Asia. How does your sponsor know this, because they already looked at your presentation already gave you feedback, told you what information to put in. And they already advocated for you. So use that sponsor, even then, use that song, say, hey, there's some brand roundtables that go on behind closed doors, I want to take that one of those opportunities to talk for 10 minutes about sustainability within the organization, when it comes to painting of such and such events, because it can grow the company within all across all divisions by $1.2 billion in an eight to 12 month period. How do you calculate that? You go to the county that does make that looks good. Definitely. Let's talk about that. And I'll get you in around. So you a mentor may not be able to do this, a mentor can give you advice and steps that sponsor can get you in that damn room, they can get you in a meeting, they can get you that money. I literally was talking to another engineer, she might be on here tonight. And she was had asked asked her manager about funding her for her PMP. And I was like, and he told her they didn't have the money for him. I said, Okay, cool. I said, you know, anybody in HR, she was like, Well, no, the person I know, left that she had a good relationship with. I said, you still have you know how to contact the person that left in HR? She says, Yes, I say, contact that person in HR, and ask them who in HR, you should go to because you need the company to pay for your certification training and the test. She comes back to me like, Yeah, I did what you said they sent me to person HR and the company gonna pay for it. There's more than one decision maker in an organization, you have to make sure you know who that person is. You have to make sure that person understands your personal brand, your position in the organization, and you're letting them know what you need. Again, fight the hater in your head. Understand is still is a boys club, but you still have power and you can leverage that power. Utilize your voice. All right. Your voice? Yes. Using your voice yes or no, in the chat. Want to do this, I'm not gonna do it. Okay, I want you to use your voice. And that can be via email, that can be in meetings that can be a one on one conversations, using your voice to discuss where you want to go in the organization, in your career in the industry. Why? Too often we're doing the job. But we're not driving where we want to go in our careers. And so once you have that sponsor or sponsors on board, you're using your voice to share with them your why why you want to go there, how you plan on getting there, and what you need to get there. And so when you're meeting with your with these people, you want to know your why, your how, and the what. And I know the question was asked, Well, how do I get a sponsor? And what do I say to a sponsor? You want to frame it in these ways? Why do you want them as a sponsor? How can they help you get to the goal or goals you have within the organization for your career. Even in the industry, because they truly could be well known in the industry, right? And what specifically you need from them? And let me tell you something, you're going to ask for small shit down. Well, I was thinking, another two days out. And he like two days I was, well, no, I would like to spend two years with my family and husband over in the UK app, post, Pat, post a pandemic, where I'll be working in our Italy plant working on the Lamborghini, I would also need you to find a job for my husband, who's also an engineer and the company to cover our relocation costs while we're there and provide two trips home for my, my, my spouse, and I and our two kids. How many of you have dreamt about doing an international assignment, and nobody even knows, but you that you have that dream, that hope and aspiration, you want to be very, very specific about what you want, know him and know Hi, and do not ask for small shit. Because you are in here to leverage your power you already have performed, they already see this, what's in it for the sponsors? Guess what, Angela? You said black lives matter? Prove it.
But what's in it for the sponsor, really, you already have your performance, you've already proven that you are worthy of them sponsoring you. Right? They have another strong player on their team, performing well in that organization that they're willing to put their brand behind. And at the end of the day, when they need something from you, they will come sometimes is sometimes women are often the go giver, there's a book called The go giver, how you all you give, give, give give before you ask. Let them guess what he needs, that sponsor needs to be given to you. Right? So they've gotten all of this other stuff from you. They haven't compensated many of you appropriately. This is your ass because the organization has already gotten all of this out of you. And if they asked you like I've done X, Y, and Z, I'm doing director level work and I'm an engineer for right? If you want to be have something more specific, we're sending a sponsor. Right now I started with black lives matter, because that's what the organization said they were behind. And that's what they were going to do. leverage that to me right now. I wouldn't worry about what's in it for the sponsors, because the smartest person in the organization and leadership in our organization said they were about you letting them figure out that in 2022 what why what I was trying to figure out what was what was in it for me as a sponsor, Black Lives Matter. If they forget 78 minute recording, I couldn't look at it. I just, you know what's in it for you seven, eight, every time they ask you send an eight minute video. Yeah, you have given it's time to receive in abundance. Exactly. And so you really and that sponsor is again there for your protection as well. So you can fail. Because I can tell you some petty people, okay, now, a little on career strategy. I have no idea where we are on time, I'm way late. So we're gonna run through this. So you're gonna have a career strategy. And a career strategy is a behavior, activity or experience designed to help a person meet career goals. A career strategy represents a conscious choice by individual s this type of investment she or he or they are willing to make in attempting to reach career objectives. So there's going to be some give and take, there's going to be some sacrifice. There is no work life balance, there's work life sacrifice. What are you willing to give up in order to get X, Y and Z in your career? Your strategy, your career strategy? s s? These are some questions to ask yourself. This is, I think, are some more pertinent questions. Whose help do you need to reach your career goals? What kind of help do you need? When should the help be provided? Sometimes you don't need to help right now. You're building out that plan that strategy, you know in q2 of 2022, you want to be looking for housing in Italy. Because you don't when the kids finished school in June, y'all gonna be on a plane in July and have them ready for school in August, so whenever they go to school and you're in Italy, okay, um, how should the help be provided? Is it written? Is it verbal? Is it financial? Right? What does that help look like? And so these are some things to really ask, especially when it comes back to your sponsor, when it comes to your career strategy and what you really need, then you want to execute it. Your next steps, the accountability, you're going to have some levels of accountability. And so is your sponsor. Alright? your level of accountability and your organization's level of accountability, let the sponsor a little bit further down. Safety. How safe Do you feel in asking for this? Not at all, or somewhat at all. And if you have questions, go ahead and drop the questions in the chat. Where? Where do you need to focus on right now? And where do you want to go? Who do you need to help you? And how do you need them to help you be very, very specific? And we'll get into questions. Now this one ran a bit longer than I anticipated. I hope that was helpful. We got can your manager be your sponsor?
Yes,
your your manager can absolutely be your sponsor, your manager needs to be that one person who can remove those barriers for you. They have to be, but right now. I would say a lot of people are asking a lot of organizations are saying, Hey, we're in. We're doing X, Y, and Z for our black and brown employees. Call them on it. What if you feel too overwhelmed to even have time to plan out your career? That's fine. Your career plan does not have to be like 20 years out? What do you need in the next? What do you need in 2021? For the next 10 months? Literally, what do you need? How much vacation time do you need?
How much time do you need out of the office? Do you need time during the day to homeschool and you need a company to split out your day, where you're gonna start at six in the morning, oh, six to eight, get the kids in school from eight till 11, then you're back online from from like one to five, or you're not back online until five to nine, right? So if it's really overwhelming, what do you need right now from your employer and go ask them for it. So it does not have to be long and drawn out. I took that out. It was it was already long, I thought it was gonna be really short. But be very look at your immediate need of short term needs, which is 12 months, up to 12 months. everything after that is immediate up until your five year and after five year I call it long term. Okay. I hope that helped any any more questions. So really, really leverage your performance. Right? You've already proven this in your industry, even if it's a new employer, they would not have hired you if you could not do the job. And that is part of your power. You have to use your voice to let them know and start building those relationships or leveraging more relationships. How can we utilize your services, shoot me an email, I didn't share that part. Here, put my email address in the chat. You can shoot me an email at Michele Heyward, at positive hire.co if I don't think you're a good fit, meaning, you need somebody that helps you with conflict resolution. I have somebody for that. If you need somebody, you're more on the C suite. I have somebody for that. So it depends on what your needs are and where you are. And if I'm not able to help you, I have I have other black and brown women coaches, executive coaches that can definitely Stephen assists and assist. So risk management on projects. It really depends what your needs are. All right, so Michelle, one owl, died. Heyward, at positive hire.co. Any other questions? One last thing is if you want to get the replays tonight as the last night, they are $67. It goes up to $127 at midnight, so you get access to them for 12 months, and they're yours. Go through them. I wish that what if you're being recognized? How do you harness that? Oh, I love that. I love that you're being recognized. Okay. What do you want? Number one, identify what do you want and again, who can help you get what you want, and go ask them, but have a very clear and succinct ask. Don't be very verbose. Most times. As analytical people we are very straight to the point. So if you're being recognized now For one, especially in the organization, exponential organization, I will add it into your signature line. And I will hyperlink to have the link to your award or wherever the newsletter internally to the organization where you can find out more information about how you're being you've been recognized, right? And then ask a very, very clear ass and decide who was that person to help you. With that. That's that's how we do it. The other way you can do it too, is go to somebody else who, who you already have a relationship with life. I'd like for you to do an introduction to me. I'm going to send you the introduction to make right and the introduction goes, Hey, Bob, I want to introduce you to Trisha Trisha has been named black engineer of the year. You can read more here the link She is currently I'm looking for opportunity in the nanotechnology division, leading as a as a senior engineering manager or director of engineering, dealing with AI and nanotech, something like that. So you literally write up the introduction for them and put in that recognition. Have somebody else today introduce my app, you know, I'm gonna save you time, Bob, I'm gonna write the intro for you. You can add anything you want to but make it like three to five sentences. Like I hope your kids are doing well. I want to introduce you to she she does X, Y and Z and is interested in 123. I told her you were the person to come talk to you have a very very succinct ass. Any other questions? All right, we are decay. These go very fast and very slow at the same time.
So we will be back in March, we will be back with our webinar series. We take a break in June, July, somewhere in there, we take one month off, but we have some great things, how long are replays free, the replays are free until tomorrow. So usually the replays are only free for 24 hours. It's the only one that's only free for 24 hours. We made. We made like from Sunday till Saturday, Sunday till today free until Saturday, because of Texas. We are in Louisiana, all the states hit by such horrendous weather in the south because I know we'd be the same way if that was South Carolina. And so we made it there tomorrow at midnight eastern Yeah, 11:59pm eastern time, you can be in the video, but you can't be pressing the video because like it began, they are free until then. So that's like nine hours of content to watch. So you have to do nine hours in one day. So if you're looking for something very specific, they are all up except for this one, this one won't be up until about 11pm Eastern Standard Time. Okay. Who and this year we have some other things coming, we're going to release our job board and we will have a membership site coming out later. A paid membership as well. So we'll be sending that stuff out because there is so that you have consistent support with your career throughout the year. So that way. It makes sense. So we're going to make these things happen in 2021. So it was 20 2020 with some nails that's all I'm gonna say. All right. Yes, that sounds great. I know I want to tell you I'm hopefully I can sleep tonight. All right, everybody. Have a great weekend. Oh, I forgot one other thing. Do y'all want to do a meet and greet tomorrow? Hold on, don't go yet we're doing a meet and greet we want to do is zoom meetings. And you can come in and interact and engage with other women here and we'll do either in rooms, meeting rooms of two to three people it is at 7pm eastern standard time I just keep the same timezone. 7pm. Eastern, Eastern Standard Time Zone is free. We'll do a provide an hour depending on how many people show up. Then we'll do about 10 to 15 minute intervals. So if you can be there at the beginning at seven that helps a lot. If you run a little bit late. It depends if somebody else shows up, but then with that I can pair you off and try to randomly do that throughout this. I am glad it has been amazing for you. The the gist of this is not to make you feel good. The gist of this is to make you feel good and give you actionable steps and wind beneath your wings to really push you forward in in your career. So that's why We consistently do these once a year, we did it twice last year, because it was 2020. Okay. All right, everybody. I will stay on just for a few minutes. If you if you haven't clicked on the link to join us for tomorrow's meeting. Great. I know we have eight ladies signed up so far. So we can probably do like three rounds with eight if they all each show up. But it'd be great if we could have about 20 of you show up tomorrow. And this is not being emailed out. So you can tell a friend but I'm not gonna email it out. Because those of you that showed up and you were sharing in the chat, you're more likely interested in engaging and meeting other women virtually face to face. And so it's just close to those of you that showed up the last two nights. Okay. So if you got a friend and they didn't show up on Thursday and Friday, send it to your friend today show any day. It's gonna be really confused. My two devices mean I can type fast. Angela, I'm not messing with you. I'm not messing with you. I see your two names tonight. I don't always get to see them. I usually scroll. I'm usually further down. Okay. All right, ladies. That is it. I will see you tomorrow night at 7pm. Bye, everybody. You're very very welcome.