After our recent discussions about mean girls (and nice ones too!), I found this article about "How Smart Women Win at Office Politics" interesting. If you're not the type of Workerette who wants to deal with any of the schmoozing and ah, tuckus kissing, that sometimes goes on at the office, this might give you some tactics to use in the future.
For about half of my retail years I was one of two women in a 150+ person district. District and regional meetings were a real humdinger of activity. Either I was put on a pedestal and chatted up by everyone because I was female or I was ignored and left out of important meetings while the "good ol' boys" discussed management issues. As I read over Jo Miller's steps such as mapping out the "shadow organization", I realized I had mentally done something very similar. While every organization has a front-line hierarchy, most of us know that there are often puppet masters behind the scenes as well. Be they male or female, it's important to recognize the matter and be prepared to deal with it if you a) want to advance your career or b) just don't want to be blown out of the water when the big sharks swim by.
As we've discussed in the past here at Workerette, women are often natural networkers and relationship builders. These steps are less difficult, once you've outlined (whether on paper or just mentally, as I did years ago) who's who and what's what. Whether you're dealing with a glass ceiling or a grown-up "Mean Girl", it's always good to be prepared.
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