Want to Move Up in
Management? Get Out of Your Comfort Zone -
Continued
By Jennifer Millman/Courtesy
of DiversityInc
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DIVERSITYINC: As a Black woman, have you had
experiences where you felt you weren't heard or got
frustrated by situations? What did you learn?
CLINE: I don't always have to be the one
making the point. Painfully I learned that it is OK
if I can get someone else to make the same point in
a different way. Got to get the ego out of the
way--hard, hard, hard. That is why it is crucial to
build relationships within the organization.
Understanding my personality style--I am Black,
female and very right-brained--the whole emotion
thing. "Feeling words" peppered my conversation and
communication. I learned to say "I think" instead of
"I feel."
I learned that I had to leverage influence. Here I
am, community-relations director for local NBC/ABC
affiliate TV stations owned by Gannett. I want us to
cover fair and unbiased stories for the entire
community. I was tired of seeing all the negative
coverage of one part of the town; it's only guns and
drugs; that's where Black people lived. Because I
wasn't an insider (I didn't come from a media
background, per se), I began to build relationships
with the anchors and reporters so sometimes they
could get across what I needed to get across.
The reality of it is, what's the bottom line? What
is important? Do you need to get this particular
issue out there? The other lesson I learned was to
pick my battles and find the right timing. Timing is
everything. In my position as community-relations
director, I was the only Black person at that level
in the organization and because of what I was seeing
outside. I would come in and I would push and push
and push and push for change, trying to push people
to see something different. It's not easy. One day
my boss said, "Elizabeth, you've got the worst
timing." We laughed, but it was a serious learning
moment for me. I realized, you know what, he was
right. I was so passionate about wanting to create
change, I just wanted to get my voice heard. I just
wanted to keep pushing.
Sometimes you can nudge a boulder a very teeny
little bit, not even an inch, sometimes a quarter of
an inch, but the fact is that you still moved it and
sometimes you need to be satisfied with it instead
of moving it the whole inch because change is
incremental.
DIVERSITYINC: What advice would you recommend
for people in similar situations?
CLINE: We cannot be afraid to ask for
feedback in terms of how we're doing. I am not
talking about at review time. At strategic times I
believe it is necessary to just go in and say, "Can
we talk? How am I doing? What, where and how can I
improve?" Then be prepared to accept answers about
your personality and how you come across.
You need to seek out people who can mentor you, and
I genuinely believe that if you directly ask for
help, you will get it.
Show up. A friend of mine said the other day that
they had this wonderful elaborate Black History
Month celebration where one of their chief executive
officers was speaking and introducing the guest
speaker, and she looked out in the room and where
were the African Americans? Volunteer for certain
assignments. Building your brand is not enough. You
have to ask yourself, "If the brand I'm building is
not bringing added value to the corporation, then
what am I doing?" You have to build your brand to
make sure that you're adding value to the
corporation and, of course, yourself.
Sit somewhere different when you go to meetings; you
don't always have to sit with people who look like
you. It's about stepping out of your comfort zone.
If you are responsible for ensuring you have a
different experience, you must be the one to be
proactive. Racism, sexism, ageism, all sorts of
"isms" are out there. Therefore, it is your
responsibility, my responsibility, to find the tools
to transcend those.
Know where you are going, because that will assist
you in knowing how you will get there. It will be
different for everyone. Once you know that, wear
bifocals. Work toward that long-term vision, but you
must act in the NOW. Have a solid core of ethics and
values. That is what will guide you through those
rough patches--and there will be rough patches. Make
continuous learning and curiosity a core value and
be prepared to invest in yourself. You don't always
have to wait on the company to do it for you.
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