Archimedes Consulting Ltd

26/04/2023

“There is a disconnect between women’s confidence in their skills and abilities (which is often high) and their confidence in their ability to navigate the system to achieve the recognition and advancement they feel they deserve.

Self-advocacy is a big part of this, and it is identified by many women in the study as the biggest barrier to their advancement.”

Amy Gideon – head of women’s leadership programme, Barnard college, New York

Today’s women can, and do, have control over the way they contribute to societal and business challenge solutions and can overcome the existing “silencing” paradigm. First, though, they must recognise their own cultural conditioning and also clearly see the biased environment in which they participate.

Women’s ability to influence and enable meaningful change is critical to both their progress and its sustainability.

Make sure you and the Millennial women you care about, are fully aware and knowledgeable of the “real” issues and can better prepare to navigate them – so they can self-advocate, so they can speak and so they can be heard! www.archimedesspeaks.com
www.archimedesspeaks.com

25/04/2023

Credibility.
It's important when you're speaking that the audience really believes you are an expert, and that you know what you're talking about. Why would they waste minutes of their lives listening to you otherwise?

I went to a recent presentation where the CEO of the organisation was making the brief introductory speech to an audience of external attendees at a, "give us your feedback," type of event. He was talking about his organisation and a core product area.

Not only was he dull and monotone but he spoke with his head down in his notes . Does this CEO not know his own organisation well enough to make some brief introductory comments without burying his head in notes ?! and if he didn't could he not have spent a bit of time learning his lines ? Didn't do much for his credibility or audience engagement.

www.archimedesspeaks.com

19/04/2023

Why are interviews are harder for women?

The challenges:

· Where men are the majority, (in a department, on a board, in a group) woman are still, the exception, the “other” and are subject to more intense scrutiny and different standards.

· There is a clash between the perceived required characteristic of leadership and the characteristics of femininity that can be mutually incompatible.

· Self-promotion and being assertive can cause women to be judged as aggressive / pushy/ unfeminine or un-likeable.

· Women typically have been socialised to be modest and self-effacing and therefore find self-promotion and articulating of achievements harder than men do.

If you've got an interview coming up and you want the best preparation, get in touch!
www.archimedesspeaks.com

18/04/2023

Would you like to become a Certified Virtual Presenter? We can help you gain the skills you need. https://bit.ly/3rctyLO
www.archimedesspeaks.com

17/04/2023

Women In Sales

Women make up 50% of entry level sales roles but only 30% of sales management and 19% of leadership roles. (Gartner research. 2020)

This reflects the wider "broken rung" of the female career ladder that Lean-In / McKinsey research also shows, but it is worse in sales.

Is it a macho culture thing? Aggressive competitiveness? Unconscious bias? Male sales leaders promoting in their own image?

What are your thoughts?

15/04/2023

Book Review: - She Said, (a guide for millennial women to speaking and being heard) Patricia Seabright.
Making the case for a duty to speak well publicly (meetings, corridor chats, conferences) the author suggests that performances and public speaking aren’t optional but are to be embraced as core and enduring skills. We have a duty a women leaders, to see public speaking as a skill for us all to have, to share our ideas, opinions and to influence – make no mistake, this isn’t a book on presentation skills; this is a kick ass book on how to slay the dragons of hidden silencing dynamics and take up the mantle of public speaking.
www.archimedesspeaks.com

13/04/2023

Backgrounds matter in online working !
If you want people to focus on what you are saying on video platforms , (in meetings, presentations or interviews ) then a distracting background will not help.
In picture 1, you might be distracted by the light from the window, the books, the clutter, the photos behind me.
Using a good quality green screen you can use virtual backgrounds ( like picture 2) to create a cleaner, sharper, less distracting background. You can also use branded virtual backgrounds.
Or you can just use a blue screen to create a pleasant backdrop that is just neutral and clean and makes you stand out.
The meetings from home kit has a high quality double sided blue/ green screen so you can do both. https://bit.ly/3quj2zE
www.archimedesspeaks.com

12/04/2023

As a woman, have you ever been interrupted in a meeting? Talked over? Ignored? Have you ever not wanted to do a presentation?
There is a subtle but powerful silencing paradigm that causes women to be heard less. How to recognise that and deal effectively with it?
How to be fully heard? How to be acknowledged for your skills and achievements? That's what She Said! addresses.
https://bit.ly/3onHAZi
www.archimedesspeaks.com

51% of the UK population are women and yet only 30% of FTSE 250 board members are women, 34% of MPs are women and the gender pay gap still stands at 17.3%,

11/04/2023

Make your intro stand out!
How do you begin your speeches / presentations? Do you start by saying your name?
I remember an event I attended where Government minister, Liz Truss and 5 leaders of business start ups spoke.
Not a single one started with, “Hello my name is...” They all started with something more interesting.
One said, “Is your child future ready? Another, “I’ve had the most amazing week...” Another said, “Did you know there are 50 million deskless frontline workers without email addresses...?”

They did later say their names and organisations but only when they had grabbed the audiences attention with something challenging, thought provoking or engaging. That is the way to get audience attention!
www.archimedesspeaks.com

10/04/2023

Women make up 50% of entry level sales roles but only 30% of sales leadership roles. (Gartner)
Traditionally sales is seen as a profession for confident extroverts.
This can be a catch 22 situation for women because if they emulate the more forceful or vociferous behaviours of their male colleagues, they are often criticised for being aggressive, “shrill” or “bossy”.

This is because society is still uncomfortable with women not conforming to the paradigm of femininity which owes more to the Disney Princesses than the Sheryl Sandberg’s of the world! This goes a long way to explain the low numbers of women in sales and sales management.

08/04/2023

www.archimedesspeaks.com

06/04/2023

Why use a green screen?
Backgrounds can be distracting and detract from what you have to say.
People will not concentrate on you if they are distracted by your dirty laundry pile in the background or wondering about your taste in wall art.

A neutral background is ideal but given you are working at home and most of us don’t have a space to use exclusively as a meeting room, achieving this can be challenging

Animals, children and people wandering in and out behind you can be really distracting and totally take away the focus from what you are saying.

Plants or pictures in the background can look like they’re embedded in your head and can create some comical and distracting sights!

You can of course use virtual backgrounds in most online platforms but their effectiveness varies depending on lighting and what you have behind you. Using them, if you look ghost like and your face or hands disappear when you move fractionally, can be even more distracting than domestic backgrounds. Avoid “Novelty” backgrounds of space ships and jungles etc which in themselves can be highly distracting.
www.archimedesspeaks.com