Electrolux recently held its second Electrolux 100 Women speed mentoring event at its headquarters in Stockholm, created to help inspire more women in their careers, with the theme focused on confidence and how to boost it in your career and life in general.
The event, hosted by the Women at Electrolux (WE) network, was open to both employees and the wider Stockholm community to attend. In a speed mentoring environment, mentees spent 15 minutes in a group with each mentor asking quick-fire questions.
From Electrolux, mentors were CFO Therese Friberg, Digital Innovation Director Tove Chevalley, Senior Group Social Media Manager Mina Billing, IT Solutions Lead Linda Rothan-Cederberg.
They were joined by external mentors Beth Topolovsky from Stinson Partners, Rosie Kropp from Lavandel and Lola Akinmade Åkerström.
Check out the mentor’s top tips on boosting confidence:
Rosie Kropp
- Use positive affirmations and create an “account” for your achievements
- Set inspiring personal goals and vision
- Have a growth mindset and be curious for learnings
Beth Topolovsky
- Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice….
- Journal – write down your thoughts, get stuff on paper, out of your head – get to know yourself
- Understand what YOUR goals are, not someone else’s
Therese Friberg
- Step out of your comfort zone and take on challenges – success outside of your comfort zone builds confidence
- “Good enough” is good enough! – give yourself some relief, it does not need to be perfection. If you are a high performer, normally “good enough” for you is great in the view of someone else
- Make sure you have a job you think is fun – you will always do a better job then, which creates a positive spiral
Lola Akinmade Åkerström
- Fully settle in the fact you are allowed to take up space. There is a reason why you were hired, invited to that meeting, asked to join that team, and given that project to execute.
- Know your strengths and delegate your weaknesses. You should be able to rattle off your core strengths when asked.
- Your weakness is someone else’s strength, so pair up and find power teammates that can mutually boost your confidence on projects and assignments
Linda Rothan-Cederberg
- Document small actions you want to achieve and as you move along, look back and be proud of your achievements
- Store positive feedback and bring it out to remind you when losing confidence
- Make sure to identify your strengths and be proud of what you bring to the company: you might not be as experienced or have the same skills as others around you: great! Compare to yourself and not others.
Mina Billing
- Be very specific with your purpose. Figure out what your personal Northern star is and how to get there.
- Practice the way you communicate your purpose and be mindful of what it takes to achieve your purpose
- Surround yourself with people who appreciate your mindset and maybe even share your purpose
Chief Design Officer Pernilla Johansson was unable to make the event but shared these bonus tips!
- Figure out your reactions and patterns to stressful situations. Seeing these patterns and understanding your own reactions can be extremely insightful and help you develop strategies to increase your confidence.
- Don’t dwell on situations that didn’t go smoothly, going over and over what you could have done differently. I believe confidence is built up by being kind and compassionate to oneself.
- Remember the power of positive affirmation. It’s an incredibly useful tool! It can change your entire belief system and allow you to step into new situations with confidence.
