WORKING GIRLS’ BLOG

2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

A look back over a fantastic year at WGN HQ!

WE WELCOMED A NEW TEAM MEMBER

We were delighted to welcome Maranatha to the team this year!

Maranatha joins our PR & Communications team, bringing with her expertise of working with brands to create audience-centric content through a digital-first lens. Maranatha has brought a fabulous energy to the team and has already made brilliant contributions to the network… bring on more next year!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

THE WGN TEAM HAD A VERY BUSY SUMMER!

A MASTERCLASS IN PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

We loved the interactive session that Emma Brookes ran in September, combining her academic background in psychology with her real life experience as a People Director at Sky.

Here is a look back at two of the most helpful tools Emma shared - a Personal Styles Colour Wheel and Kahler’s Five Drivers. Identifying your dominant colours and primary drivers can provide a powerful insight - revealing truths about the people you work with, but also about yourself!

WE TOOK SPEED MENTORING IRL!

In November we were delighted to be able to bring WGN member favourite ‘Speed Mentoring’ to life! Following the success of our virtual Speed Mentoring session in December 2020, we were so happy to be able to host the event in person this year. Attendees were mentored at speed by a group of inspiring women who shared advice and stories from their varied careers.

Read our November ‘Member Spotlight’ blog post below to hear all the takeaways from WGN Member Mary, where she shares some of the mentor’s fantastic advice.

Thank you to our incredible mentors!

GIVING BACK

As many of you know, Working Girls’ Network is a not-for-profit organisation. What you may not know, is that we have also always been dedicated to supporting a whole range of causes close to our heart, through donating a portion of proceeds from our ticket sales to charity.

Thanks to our members, this year alone we have supported these fantastic charities: Women for Women International's Ukraine appeal, Women in Sport, Restless Development, The Black Comms Network.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR MEMBERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN 2022!

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - NOVEMBER 2022

WGN Member Mary shares her key takeaways from November’s Speed Mentoring event

Thanks to WGN for organising this event, and to the inspiring women that chatted to us. Some of my favourite takeaways from the session:

• Don't try and plan your career down to a tee. You can't. Opportunities will often crop up when you least expect it, sometimes taking you in a direction you'd never considered before. It's ok to just go with the flow.

• Deciding if and when to pursue a specialism doesn't have to be the pivotal moment in your career. You can turn back if you change your mind, and your experience in that area will have given you transferable skills to use elsewhere.

• We all doubt ourselves sometimes. It doesn't matter whether you're the intern or the MD, creeping thoughts or bouts of worry around your role and responsibilities are inevitable but...

• Your job is not going to kill you! That fear that creeps up ahead of a tricky client call or a public speaking moment stems from thousands of years ago when we faced ACTUAL predators and feared for our lives. Janet (not a real person) from (insert fictional client account name) might be scary but she's not actually going to harm you. You'll be fine.

HOW TO GET THE BEST FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WORK WITH - SEPTEMBER 2022

As the world moves towards hybrid working it can be different to find ways to connect with the people we work with. Emma Brookes is the People Director at Sky and she led an interactive workshop about how we can get the best out of the people with work with.

“I’m not going to assume people know what I’m thinking. I’ll start challenging directly”. WGN Member

Emma shared some best practice tips and tools managers can use at any level. Pulling from research on working and personality styles. People in the room were open about their struggles – the endless comparison and the need to be perfect when working in a male-dominated industry. Others talked about their need to please people and how career drivers can evolve or change depending on the demands of the job or the further up the ladder you climb. The key thread that ran through this discussion landed on the need for diversity of thought, skills and styles. A mixture of personalities often drives better outcomes. So it's important to seek out someone with a different outlook for advice because no one style is superior to the other.

“I didn’t know what to expect but I really enjoyed the parts with the personality quiz. I’ve often heard about the colour personality model but I haven’t understood what it meant in practice. I found the link between the model and actionable steps interesting. I’ve realised that I am a blue person.” WGN Member

Having challenging conversations at work is never easy, whether that’s to do with a pay rise, poor performance or internal disputes. So, if we leave feedback as a quarterly or yearly event then it can magnify the good and the bad. It is often better to schedule frequent check-ins, keeping these discussions as natural as possible. Nobody wants to be read through a script. It’s understandable to find these exchanges daunting but putting off difficult conversations often leads to worse outcomes.

“I’m going to try to listen and reflect more”. WGN Member

These newly developed skills can be honed during informal coaching sessions. Using coaching techniques is a way of supporting others to work out how they can achieve their goals - coach will play a supporting role by asking questions and probing someone to help them think of their own solutions. If you are looking to be more of a coach to your team, then remember to always ask probing questions, empower the other person to figure out their options. So start employing these coaching techniques now!

“I’m not going to put off giving feedback”. WGN Member

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - JULY 2022

Celia Venables @shoutybear PR and social media consultant

“When I returned from maternity leave with my first child, my world was turned upside down. New management couldn’t get their head around my approved flexible working request and suggested that my role should reduce to a third, pulling the rug from everything I had achieved 2.5 years previously.

After the shock, anger and tears had subsided, I got out of there sharpish and took on a dream role heading up the PR at a parenting start-up that I loved, working three days a week. After a couple of months, one day I was scrolling on Facebook and a post from Joeli from Pregnant Then Screwed stopped me in my tracks - she was looking for a voluntary PR Manager to help support the campaign. I quickly emailed, and within an hour, the response from Joeli welcoming me in with open arms was there. I threw myself into both gigs and worked with an incredible group of women at Pregnant Then Screwed to help to champion the rights of mums, challenging the angst from my experience into doing good for others, whilst also helping parents navigate the first five years of parenting at the popular start-up Hoop.

Fast forward 2.5 years and following a second child and coming out of lockdown (sadly, the start-up didn’t survive), I decided to put my big girl pants on and go freelance - with the mission to help as many businesses on brilliant missions as possible. One of my clients is Mother Pukka and her campaign Flex Appeal, but I have campaigned on childcare, menopause support, ageism in the workplace and the gender pensions gap - to name a few. My return from mat leave was an outright car crash, but everything that has happened since has been filled with passion from my learnings and from people that I have met. My biggest learning is to never settle, and when life gives you lemons, campaign for change!”

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - JANUARY 2022

For our first Member Spotlight we are proud to share WGN member Olivia’s inspiring story of perseverance, in her mission to secure an enhanced maternity package for herself and her colleagues, and for the women who will come after her.

“Upon joining my current company in 2019, I was elected to join their Employee Forum. The forum is an opportunity for employees to make suggestions, opinions and raise any grievances anonymously via the members of the group in front of the Senior Management Team including our MD. It was at this stage I discovered that our company offered only statutory maternity pay with no option of an enhanced scheme; having left a global company who offered a year's full pay I was a little concerned. 

At every given opportunity, myself and the other members of the Forum (some of whom had joined specifically for change on maternity leave) ensured this topic was raised each month without fail, acting as a mouthpiece for all the other female colleagues who had got in touch to raise their concerns. However, it felt as though our comments were falling on deaf ears as we continued to receive the same answer – that this was a larger issue which concerned the organisation’s whole group (we are one company under an umbrella). 

A maternity working group was subsequently created in 2021 and I was again elected to represent colleagues within the south region. Momentum dwindled towards the back end of the year, but our Employee Forum meetings continued. December's meeting went ahead in the ordinary fashion until the end of the meeting when we were told that the Head of HR had an announcement - the company had decided to provide an enhanced package without the support of the rest of the group. Admittedly, my emotions completely took over, at this point I really didn’t care what the changes were but was just so pleased they were listening. They decided to enhance the package to allow colleagues to take 6 months off before statutory maternity pay begins. I was and still am utterly overwhelmed. It has taken years for the company to take action on this topic; the lobbying from colleagues started well before I joined the company and it is a testament to those womens’ perseverance (some have gone through three pregnancies during this time) that this enhancement has been made.

I am very proud of what we achieved, and it has shown me that a company can change. So I encourage anyone reading this to voice your concerns as loudly and as often as you can, you will be heard!”

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

Wow, how time flies!

2020 and 2021 saw WGN take our much loved in-person events online, swapping the wine and nibbles for Zoom and breakout rooms. So following our sold out in-person event in November 2021 (our first since March 2020!) we wanted to take a moment to reflect and share our gratitude for the past 18 months.

Thank you to you all: our network participants, our fabulous volunteers, and the incredible guest contributors for making Working Girls' Network such a special space.

HOW TO THRIVE IN A MORE VIRTUAL WORLD

In April, we welcomed the incredible Harriet Minter to lead a game-changing masterclass on making the most of WFH. She covered how we could adjust, thrive, and excel in an environment where glitchy daily video conferences are the norm. We left with a blueprint on how to build a WFH life that works for us and the confidence to set the boundaries we need to excel. 

THE ART OF ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT

A month later, we were led in an interactive workshop by Executive Coach, Deena Gornick. Deena led a dynamic session on defining and asking for what we each need from working life. Through a series of individual and group exercises in breakout rooms, we were able to mine and define what we want from our working lives (and how to get there!)

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN PERSONAL BRAND OF CONFIDENCE

In October, we were delighted to partner with Alex O’Rourke, business leader & coach, to run a workshop on how to build your personal brand of confidence. We explored how to own your personal style of confidence, why it’s important, and the 3 steps to building a strong personal brand.

Don’t forget to access the session’s resources in our October blog post below!

WGN INVITES THE BOYS TO EXPLORE: THE CONFIDENCE GAP

Finally, in November for our final event of the year, we invited the boys to our in person panel discussion on the confidence gap. This panel discussion explored the evidence of how the confidence gap affects women and their careers, the different ways confident behaviors are perceived between men and women, and how we can close the gap. A special thanks to our moderator (Matthew Cook, Company Culture Consultant) and our fabulous panel (Louis Jenkins Bluckert, European Digital Commerce Director at Mars; Alexa Dalton, WGN Founder and Global Brand Director at KIND; and Katie Thompson, Co-Founder of VoCO).

SARAH ELLIS, CO-AUTHOR OF ‘THE SQUIGGLY CAREER’ - APRIL 2020

Sarah joined us for a jam-packed Instagram Live session in April to chat all things Squiggly Careers. Sarah also coached us through why it’s ok if your career is looking a little squigglier right now, and how to navigate this. Click below for the for Sarah’s top tips!

WORKING WONDER’S WORK FROM HOME & PARENTING TIPS - APRIL 2020

Working Wonder joined our first ever Instagram Live session to share their tips and tricks around working from home with children. Watch the full session on the Working Girls' Network IGTV or click for the handy key takeaways below!

WORKING GIRLS’ NETWORK WFH TIPS - APRIL 2020

In April 2020 life chucked us the biggest curveball of all, and now our professional and personal lives are truly enmeshed. Here are Working Girls’ Network’s top tips for keeping you focused, healthy and happy during lockdown. These tips can also be applied to any future periods of working from home.

HOW TO SHINE IN YOUR CAREER - MARCH 2020

We welcomed Calli & Nichola from Working Wonder to give some lessons on how to bring your true self to work in order to shine in your career. Read our key takeaways and use them to back yourself to make your goals a post-COVID-19 reality!

STOP APOLOGISING AND MAKE WORKING LIFE WORK FOR YOU - NOVEMBER 2019

We explored the ways in which women tend to overapologise, and how this can hinder our careers.

We also spoke about dealing with curveballs and how, when life throws something unexpected at you, you can make the steps to make working life work for you, rather than your career being a one-way street.

TACKLING TOXIC STEREOTYPES - SEPTEMBER 2019

We were joined by an amazing panel – a collection of trailblazers and changemakers – who spoke with insight about how stereotypes play out at work and in mainstream media; why we revert to them in the first place; and how we can work to dismantle them.