5 Ways To Stand Out In A Male Dominated Workplace

Is there never a queue for the women’s toilets in your workplace?

Do you struggle to get your voice heard, often being interrupted or ignored?

Perhaps you miss having a group of females to chat with?

 

 

Many of our professional industries such as Engineering, Finance and Tech still have markedly fewer females than males and that get’s even less as you climb the career ladder.

 

These male dominated cultures bring different challenges with them. When I presented to Amazon UK a couple of weeks ago I was asked:

“How can I get seen and heard when I work with mainly men?”

My answer was… you don’t need to behave like a man to get recognition. But you can alter your communication style and use some strategies to build rapport and respect.

 

5 Ways To Stand Out In A Male Dominated Workplace :

 

1. Talk about facts and solutions – men tend to speak for power and women for warmth. That means that men throw facts at each other to assess each others competence and whether they are trustworthy. When an issue comes up they go into solution mode rather than listening and empathic mode like women. Try putting more facts into your conversations when you’re looking to build an initial impression.
2. Speak up in meetings even if you’re interrupted – recognise the value of your opinion and believe that what you have to say is worth listening to. If you’re interrupted and want to finish what you were saying, either ask to finish or keep speaking at a louder volume.
3. Play to your strengths – expertise is particularly important in a male dominated workplace so, don’t be afraid to share yours. Also play to what are known as your stereotypically female strengths. Relationship building and emotional intelligence are a key part of any team.
4. Practise handling conflict – whilst preventing conflict by being aware of possible situations likely to trigger disagreement is important,  you can’t always prevent it. When conflict occurs deal with it immediately by listening to understand the others view point. Then keeping it professional and not personal, being direct and assertive and by not holding a grudge.
5. Find a mentor/advocate –  develop a support network with colleagues in and out of your department, enabling you to offload and share experiences. Also find a senior manager/s who believe in you and develop that relationship. They’ll then be able to offer you advice as well as advocating for your abilities when you’re not in the room.

 

Do you have any thoughts or suggestions that helped you when working in a largely male environment? Do let me know or comment below.

 

Wishing you courage and confidence.

 

Jo

P.S. To get some personal support from me on your workplace challenges you can book a FREE call with me on my online calendar here.