Helen Lee Kupp

I recently participated in a panel discussion at the Women's Leadership Summit held by the MJAA mentorship program and a topic that came up frequently around women leadership especially for Asian women leaders was speaking up and how important finding your voice was in breaking the bamboo ceiling. This becomes both easier and harder when you mix in the dynamics of hybrid work, risks of proximity bias, and (as we talk about at the Future Forum ) who disproportionately chooses flexible work .

And while speaking up is an important factor, too often asian women are coached to "be less shy" or "just jump in and say something" — feedback that is not the most actionable. So instead (and as promised to the attendees of this summit), I'm sharing a series of more tactical tips and tricks to get your voice in and practice speaking up... even if you're deeply introverted like I am! And while I've used some of these tactics early in my career when meetings were more in-person, they work really nicely for virtual as well.

The double ceiling for Asian Women Leaders is real

<img alt="Race, gender, and the double glass ceiling. An analysis of EEOC National Workforce Data of the executive parity index." data-media-urn="" data-li-src="https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D5612AQH7qArW8L2AAw/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/0/1655421705346?e=1730332800&v=beta&t=Lw2c4FEJ2rmUHKAgx8QZ9fKYQjPt_V8CaBFr-spM4CI" src="//:0"> Build your confidence over time, in small steps Speak first: Take the lead and set the agenda for the discussion, or frame up the background / context. It's also easier to interject later when you've already spoken once. Speak last: Related, you can also be the last word in the room. Ensure that it's clear what the takeaways are, and owners for next steps (just don't always sign up for ALL of the next steps - this is also an opportunity for you to take a leadership role and delegate even with people who are more senior than you). 2. Find allies in the room who can "call on you"

Help you "get in" when you have something to add: Message them behind the scenes so they can flag it: "It looks like Helen has a thought on that..." Share your work or idea in the meeting: Managers and peers can help you get a foot in the discussion by sharing work you've done or ideas from your past discussions in an ongoing conversation. " Helen just worked with an executive on that topic that was really successful, maybe she can share learnings from that work" . Also a great tactic for allies to help amplify your voice 3. Use virtual/hybrid to your advantage: Set new norms!

Brainwrite instead of brainstorm: Push your team to move more things asynchronous so that everyone (including you) has a chance to pre-read & bring ideas to the table more equitably Use the chat and reactions: Set a new norm for utilizing the "raise hand" emoji for jumping into a conversation (also a much better experience if you have a very large meeting), and/or the chat function for additional commentary. It helps especially if the facilitator or leader in the discussion calls out chat commentary in the flow of the conversation and gives the author a chance to chime in with any additional color.

Request to this community — Tell me in comments: what has worked for you or your teams? How has hybrid / flexible work shifted some of these tactics (or opened up new ones) for you or your team to jump into discussions?

Helen Lee Kupp

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About

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Almost Technical

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Education

Caltech

Patents

Group-based communication apparatus configured to implement operational sequence sets and render workflow interface objects within a group-based communication system

Issued August 3, 2021 US 11,082,486 B1

Method and system for detecting age, hydration, and functional states of sensors using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Issued July 26, 2011 US 7985330

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