Honoring your accomplishments with #IamRemarkable

Photo by MUNMUN SINGH on Unsplash

Talking about our own achievements is both an act of courage and an act of self-love. Doing so can positively impact your personal journey and set the right path for your professional growth. However, I can’t think of many workplaces that are interested, and follow through, in fostering and celebrating their employees.

At League, I kicked-off a series of workshops from the initiative #IamRemarkable, originally led by Google. Back in 2015, Anna Vainer and Anna Zapesochini started off a workshop to empower women in their workplace. This came about after observing the hard times that women have when it comes to talking about what they have accomplished in their workplace. Fast forwarding to today with over 300,000 attendees worldwide, this workshop stands as a means to facilitate the difficult conversations that women and underrepresented groups have to deal with because of social norms and unconscious bias.

For our first session together, 15 amazing women Leaguers joined and left with a better understanding for how they can start feeling more comfortable when sharing their personal and/or professional accomplishments

How it works

The workshop runs through three key steps: laying the land, exercising and celebrating.
When laying the land, we dedicate time to understanding the reasons behind people not celebrating their accomplishments. It’s not a subjective topic: it’s backed up with data from extensive and global research. As an example, the Hewlett Consulting Partners consultancy found out that without diverse leadership, women are 20% less likely than straight white men to win endorsement and praise for their ideas; people of color are 24% less likely; and LGBTQIA+s are 21% less likely.¹

Next up, we dive into practical exercises to tap into ways we can find our inner voice — and silence the inner critic. At League, we hold ourselves accountable with an internal Slack channel that acts as a continuation of the safe space we created in our session. We even have a set reminder every Wednesday to share a win!

The third and final key aspect of this initiative is celebration. Any accomplishment is worth celebrating! I like to tell the people who join my workshops that there are no big or small accomplishments; they are accomplishments, period. The moment we start labeling them in size, is the moment we let the comparison creep in; it’s the moment we lose to social norms.

Building a culture of empowerment

In a world where individualism and competition among ourselves is the default, I believe breaking that mold is of the upmost importance right now. Companies that take the initiative to actually empower their employees are the ones that will thrive from the inside.

I’m glad I could bring this distinct workshop to League and create another pillar for our DEI initiative — driving allyship and support even further. These workshops are tightly knitted to other initiatives running at our company that aim to bring us all together. We have Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) which aim to bring people with similar backgrounds and heritage together while externalizing knowledge, awareness and empathy within the company. At League we describe ERGs as employee-led and employee-driven groups. They create a safe space for Leaguers to discuss their professional development and increase interaction and relationship building within League teams and departments.

Having these groups that generate a safe space for everyone illustrates the importance of diversity to our company., League makes a point to nourish our culture in a way I haven’t experienced before.

Bringing voices together fosters the right space for everyone to feel listened to, and supported. Creating awareness of how difficult it can beto navigate the workplace when imposter syndrome, pay gaps, discrimination, unconscious biases and more threats to personal and professional growth is critical. It’s the number one thing that any company should be emphasizing right now.

The second thing? Actually creating a workspace where anyone can grow without fear of judgment.

Research references

1. Sherbin, Sylvia Ann Hewlett Melinda Marshall Laura. “How Diversity Can Drive Innovation.” Harvard Business Review, 31 July 2014