Attended a brilliant TFIC ( The Federation of Image Consultants) session  yesterday called Woman Power. The speaker, Pauline Crawford Of Corporate Heart www.corporate-heart.co.uk, gave us a fascinating insight into how we think and communicate in terms of our gender. Just because we are female does not mean we are totally alike in our communication otherwise we’d all be happy little sisters in the workplace, and we know that’s not true. The exercises highlighted that I’m a mix of masculine and feminine (logical and heartfelt), while some of us veered much more to the extremes of one or the other. Her session backed up the work I do with Insights profiling, which I use in corporates to help develop successful communication between individuals and teams. Until you’ve done something like this, you can’t fully understand how easy it is to do it badly and why we just don’t get on with some people as a result. Research suggests that the main reason (85%) we don’t like our work is because we don’t get on with the people and I’ve never met anyone yet who could disagree with this.

So can our choice of clothes help? Yes, it can. The impact of what we wear can be perceived as aggressive, passive, flirtatious, authoritative, powerful, meek, fun, creative, sexy and so on and we need to know what is the most appropriate for the occasion. Our power is high when we truly try to communicate with our friends, colleagues, lovers, clients and family so we can forge lasting relationships and build great rapport. Your image is a primary piece of  your communication toolbox, helping you to create and nurture the power you have as a woman. Get it wrong, and you may find the results are not what you wished for.

Many adjectives were used yesterday to describe a woman fully in her power zone. One of the key words was empathy. So if you are unsure about what to wear for a specific occasion, try and put yourself in your ‘audience’s’ shoes.  What are they expecting from you. Once you know the answer to that question, you can dress accordingly and claim your power. ‘Here come the girls’ wasn’t a huge hit for nothing!