Winners Don’t Quit: A Plan for Sustained Leadership and Innovation - Transforming Your STEM Career Through Leadership and Innovation - page 164

default of situations that will prevent us from achieving our goals. Gail Evans
refers to this as making your decisions from a “position of power.” [2] This
position of power means you're not letting yourself feel like a victim, even if
things haven't worked out the way you had hoped in your organization. Instead,
you examine your organization and determine the best decision for you to make
to move toward your goals.
The feminine perspective on relationships with our employers tends to mirror
the liaisons we pursue in our personal lives, specifically those with a significant
other. This relationship that we develop can be based on the entire organization,
our department, or management. The Feminine Relationship Model developed
by Weaver and Hill characterizes five distinct relationship stages that are based
on the outcome of four factors:

1. How a woman is identified or described within her organization
2. A woman's needs that she is trying to meet through her relationship with the
organization
3. The level of investment and commitment she is willing to make
4. The organization's agenda for her

Upon review of each of these factors, a woman's relationship with her orga-
nization can be categorized by one of the following stages:

Stage 1: Dating - playing the field, searching, unattached, neophyte
Stage 2: Girlfriend - exclusive commitment, going steady
Stage 3A: Mistress - maverick, opportunistic or used, emotionally vulnerable
Stage 3B: Fiancée - engaged, limited partner, chosen one
Stage 4: Spouse - full partner, married, totally committed and loyal

A Work Relationship Indicator (WRI) [1] can help you determine where
you are in your relationship with your organization by assessing three things:
how you view yourself in your organization, your needs at this time from your
employer, and your level of investment or commitment to your current organi-
zation ( Table 8.1 ) [1] .
After you've selected the categories that best describe you for the Descrip-
tors, Needs Assessment, and Level of Investment determine where you are
based on the relationship description in Table 8.2 :
For each of the categories, write down (in Table 8.3 ) the relationship stage
that you have assessed:
Interpretation.

Same stage for all three categories: You are definitely in this phase of the rela-
tionship

l

Two categories are the same: Your category with two common descriptors is
your dominant relationship stage

l

All three categories are different: You are in transition in this relationship l