Women; fine tune your networking skills

With International Women’s Day earlier this week there has been a large amount of focus on women in business. The gender pay gap is slowly reducing with recent research reporting the figure moving from 9.6% in 2014 to 9.4% in April 2015. However we suggest that women are more proactive taking steps to negotiate themselves a better deal and therefore provide themselves with new opportunities. Here are our three top tips:

1. Use your networks effectively: We all have relationships that vary in strength. The strong relationships give us access to support and are trusting in nature whereas the weaker relationships can quite simply be acquaintances with whom we rarely talk. Do not disregard these weaker relationships! These connections can help us to extend our reach and meet new people that can lead to new support networks and opportunities. This can also make new relationships seem more authentic rather than forced!
2. Reassess your negotiating skills: Studies show that women achieve more when taking a communal approach to negotiating by linking requests to the benefits of their negotiating partner and the business. Ensure that you listen to the other side of the negotiation and invest in the relationship. Try to think creatively and view the situation as a problem to be solved rather than a negotiation.
3. Hear ‘no’ as not yet! It is so easy to take the word ‘no’ as a rejection, making us hesitant in putting ourselves and ideas ‘out there.’ Try to review the way you take rejection. Rejection is not a reflection on you personally and although it can feel this way at the time sometimes a ‘no’ from one situation can lead you to finding new opportunities elsewhere. Reflect on the experience and use this to grow as a person.

There is never a bad time to stop, take a step back and reflect on ourselves. HR180 urge women to use their skills to negotiate a better deal for themselves or their teams and to use their network to their advantage to achieve both personal success and success in the workplace!