Welcome to HuffPost Canada’s guide to helping you pick up an easy, everyday ritual that can make your life a bit better, in a small but significant way.
Canadians are stressed out, anxious, and are feeling disconnected from each other. Once a week, we’ll share a tiny tip to help you feel good. We’ve got your back.
Today’s habit
Promote your women friends’ and colleagues’ work.
What it is
Women’s Day comes around just once a year (March 8), but I want to make it a habit to support and amplify my women friends and coworkers — in their careers and side hustles — all year ’round.
For whenever you’re feeling
All of my women friends are incredibly smart, hardworking, and thoughtful, so whenever they create or achieve something amazing, I want to promote it.
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How it can help
Women supporting women is a win-win situation.
Recent research in the Harvard Business Review found that women who have a close network of female contacts are more likely to land executive positions with higher pay.
Because women face multiple barriers to advancement in their careers, including unconscious bias and discrimination, the researchers suggested women should form a close circle of women contacts who can share their unique experiences. This can help “strengthen women’s job search, interviewing, and negotiation strategies,” Harvard Business Review noted.
“I began building my squad — people I could bounce ideas off of, go to for advice, pick me up when I needed a boost,” Pam Kaufman, President of Viacom/Nickelodeon Global Consumer Products, told Forbes.com.
“Today, my squad is so important for my career and my mental well-being. Not only do we support each other, but we act as connectors to people and opportunities. Whenever one of us comes across a great opportunity, we immediately send it to each other. It is amazing to be part of a group of women who want you to be your very best and actively help you to succeed.”
You can also amplify the work of your female colleagues.
“Build other women up! If you see your coworker doing a great job, give them credit … tell your boss or other co-workers,” Rebecca Wiser, cofounder and director of communications at Womaze, an app centered around self-empowerment for women, told Forbes.com.
It’s also beneficial to support the women we have personal relationships with, not just professional ones.
Alexandra Elle, a poet and author, told MyDomaine.com that our friends’ successes will improve our friendships. “My friendships are full of celebrating one another,” she said.
“A close friend of mine is writing her first book of poetry. When she shared this with me, I immediately praised her for leaping into being an author and sharing her story. It made our bond grow even more because supporting and honouring someone else matters. It not only affirms them but creates a relationship that is rooted in trust, love, and comradery.”
WATCH: Six International Women’s Day facts you need to know. Story continues below.
How to start
There are many ways to support our female pals’ work, so here are some ways you can do so:
Show up for them on social media: Tell your followers to follow your women friends on Twitter and Instagram (especially if they have their own side-business social media channels that need promotion); re-tweet them, share their Instagram stories, and promote their latest achievements on your own social media channels.
Give them your business: Does your neighbour run a small business while also raising a child? Help her out by buying her services, sharing her business on your social media channels, or even by offering an hour or two of free child care so she has some extra time to herself.
Be a mentor: Offer your time to a female colleague who could benefit from your skills, experience, and networks. Meet with them once a month so you can offer them career advice, introduce them them to other women you think can help them, and answer all their questions.
How it makes us feel
Helping out our women friends and colleagues makes us feel powerful because the more we support and amplify women, the more successful we all will be.
Read more
And that’s your habit of the day.
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