The simple truth is that women aren’t leading in the arena of office politics when in fact we should be excelling at it. After all, we have so many of the attributes that make politicians great. Yet we fail to use what comes naturally to us to our benefit. So, what’s going on with office politics and women?

Honestly, backbiting, backstabbing and ego driven behavior come to mind when we think of office politics, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Women need to change the negative connotation that they have of office politics. An entire mindset shift is needed for us to excel in this area. If we could just adjust our thinking to realize that office politics is just another name for getting things done at work, we’d get more traction for our careers and ourselves.

What if we were to remove “politics” from our vocabulary? We could just say, “This is how we do business, how we make things happen, how we get things done.” Maybe just letting go of the word and focusing on what we do best would help.

What are women doing well? I’ve created this list after combing through years of research as well as my own knowledge and experiences in working with clients and in business.

We’re Relational
Women are great at teams. Whether building or participating, women are team players.  According to a study conducted by Corrine Post, associate professor of management at Lehigh College of Business and Economics and published in Fast Company, women tend to pay more attention to relationships, particularly the quality, versus men. Post said, “The special thing women leaders bring to the team is that they exercise relational leadership practices, stimulating high-quality relationships, bonding, and connectivity among members.”

We’re Great Communicators
Over the last 30 years many studies have been conducted on women as communicators and leaders. Studies consistently show that women tend to express themselves more eloquently and tend to use more words each day (between 10,000 -20,000). They are also better storytellers than men. Research finds women’s communication style as sociable, diplomatic and empathetic. And, it probably goes without saying, women are typically great at listening and hearing the other side.

We’re Empathetic
We want to hear from and embrace others, so we bring people in. We also can be empathetic to what people are feeling. Research also points to women being better readers of body language and more sensitive at broaching delicate topics.

We are Collaborative
Women naturally want to know what other people are thinking. We also work pull all of those pieces together in a way that we can help engage people and bring them onboard with ideas. This is an important and critical piece in moving things forward and getting things done.

We’re Inclusive
Women naturally want to include everyone in the spotlight. We don’t like leaving anyone out. Women make great leaders because they keep focused on the end result and help others do the same. Our ability to be inclusive helps others to offer up their best.

We Share the Credit
If you talk to a man, if things are going well they tend to point to the things that they have done, their knowledge, their abilities, their skillsets and things about themselves to explain success. I know I’m generalizing here but I’ve seen results of studies that validate this. I’ve also seen it in the workplace! Women are quite different; we want to share the glory with others on our team.

With all these impressive qualities you’d think women would be winning big at office politics and they clearly are not. Want to learn more about this? Visit my blog.

Speaker..Coach..Consultant
“Dream Big. Take Action. Make it Happen.”