Forbes Council Post: Resilience In Action: How Women Can Turn Setbacks Into Strengths

Leen Kawas | Entrepreneur, Inventor, Innovator and Leader | Managing General Partner at Propel Bio Partners.

Women working in predominantly male industries, including technology disciplines, must navigate a distinctive set of challenges. Despite their qualifications and focus on goal achievement, these female professionals often face setbacks that male colleagues don’t experience. In my industry, I see this dynamic in companies of every size and business stage. Fortunately, approaching these setbacks with resilience and adaptability can help turn the situation around.

Defining Female Professionals’ Challenges

Identifying a problem is the first step to resolving it. In male-dominated industries, qualified female professionals may not receive equal consideration for project management and/or other job-related opportunities. In addition, they may not receive recognition for their workplace accomplishments.

Female professionals may also encounter two obstacles that inhibit their career growth and potential move into a leadership role. First, gender bias (whether intentional or not) can preclude women from learning about networking opportunities that can open the door to higher-level positions.

More specifically, well-qualified women often do not receive serious, objective consideration for career-enhancing opportunities. Unfortunately, these are not isolated cases in my technology-based industry. Not surprisingly, any one of these issues can cause a talented woman to become discouraged and even question her career choice. However, I see a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

How Setbacks Can Fuel Innovation And Growth

When handled in a constructive way, each setback can serve as a springboard for personal and professional growth. Stated another way, each adverse situation can become an opportunity to demonstrate true resilience.

Reframing Failure

Reframing failure is the first step toward growth. Historically, failure in any situation has been regarded as the worst possible outcome. However, I believe that failure is only a temporary step backward, and it’s also an excellent learning opportunity. Specifically, each failure offers a chance to determine what didn’t go exactly as planned.

Identifying valuable lessons learned and areas ripe for improvement are the next logical steps. Through careful reflection, one’s creativity and vision can begin to reemerge and out-of-the-box solutions often follow.

Failure also has tremendous character-building benefits. When a workplace project doesn’t achieve the expected result, the team member must take an objective look at their professional strengths, weaknesses and limitations. By learning “what makes them tick,” they may feel more comfortable pushing boundaries and moving forward via calculated risks.

Adopting A Growth Perspective

Successful leaders collectively embrace a growth mindset. This paradigm holds that hard work and dedication can (over time) lead to the development of one’s targeted expertise and capabilities. Setbacks are never regarded as failures─only opportunities to improve and excel. This highly creative approach can lead a professional to take more calculated risks and persevere toward a well-defined goal.

How To Cultivate Resilience

Attitude and a culture of resilience can help you maintain a positive mindset and accomplish career goals. Start by increasing activities that include resilience as a component. Finding the humor in frustrating situations, reframing negative outcomes and establishing positive new routines are good examples.

In my view, adopting multiple resilient behaviors can help improve job satisfaction and a sense of organizational inclusion. When workplace setbacks and challenges occur (and they will), resilient women are better equipped to handle them in a constructive manner. And not surprisingly, these women are less likely to begin searching for greener pastures.

Navigating Obstacles

Female professionals at all levels, and particularly those who seek leadership roles, will often encounter roadblocks that threaten to derail their forward momentum. Although a determined professional can easily sidestep minor obstacles, others represent significant barriers that require creativity and perhaps a collaborative approach. These proven strategies have enabled me, and many of my female colleagues, to keep moving forward.

First, understand that gender bias-whether unconscious or intentional-has the same effect. Rather than burying the issue, I highly recommend that female professionals verbalize their dissatisfaction with gender bias. In a related strategy, women should strongly advocate for more women in leadership positions.

Next, work on your skills enhancement. By remaining aware of industry trends and developments, attending conferences and completing continuing education, you will be better equipped to be a positive force in your industry. In addition, I also recommend building an impactful personal brand and showcasing your achievements.

Finding Effective Mentorship

An effective mentorship agreement can also be a game changer. When a newer female professional receives guidance from an accomplished woman in that industry, obstacles can be minimized and doors can begin to open. That said, both parties must be equally committed for a mentorship agreement to work. Making mutually beneficial connections, and cultivating solid business relationships, can set the stage for collaborations, which is why I advocate for networking.

Women at all career stages can benefit from networking events and opportunities, but I find industry conferences, in particular, to be worth the financial and time investment. By learning about the latest industry trends and technologies, women can better apply their talents in impactful ways. Making connections with industry leaders, and attending knowledge-building workshops, are also well-known conference benefits. Taken together, these advantages can equip female professionals to become a significant positive force in their industry.

In closing, it must be said that businesses should also make the effort to even the playing field. An objective reevaluation of a female professional’s job responsibilities is a good start. Emphasizing positive communication’s value in many situations is also key. Inclusive workplace events and uplifting celebrations can also help to establish a positive workplace culture where all employees can grow and achieve success.

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Originally published at https://www.forbes.com.