Empowered Women in IT

You've spent hours doing research, gathering relevant details, and writing up options for an important decision.

The day of the meeting arrives.

You're presenting your recommendations, and everything seems to be going well.

Suddenly, the decision-maker receives a phone call that visibly upsets him.

You feel the shift of energy in the room.

You continue with your presentation, but a few minutes later, you're interrupted and openly criticized.

You're caught off guard, embarrassed, and struggling to maintain composure.

And afterward, you can't stop replaying what happened, wondering what you could have done differently.

As a woman leader in IT, experiences like this can shake your confidence and cause you to question your abilities.

One difficult experience doesn't have to change how you see yourself or what you believe you're capable of.

In this episode, I'm sharing how to adapt when things don't go as planned, and how to learn from a challenging situation without it diminishing your confidence as a leader.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

When a team member brings you a problem, what's your first instinct?

Do you jump in to help solve it? Offer advice? Or start taking action before you're even clear about what they need from you?

As a woman leader in IT, you can unintentionally create more work, confusion, and even chaos when you don't ask the right questions before responding.

What if a few simple questions could change how your team approaches challenges—and help them become stronger leaders in the process?

In this week's episode, I'm joined by Alex Winkler, CIO for the City of Boise, who shares how she's developed a team that brings her recommendations instead of just problems.

We'll talk about the questions she asks to create clarity, how she's built a team that takes ownership of challenges, and why creating a learning culture is so important to developing strong IT teams.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

We had a highly visible project, an excellent technical team, and some important questions we couldn't answer.

As a new manager, I knew that if we got this wrong, it wouldn't impact just our stakeholders. It could also affect the confidence senior management had in my leadership.

I wanted to prove that I was capable of leading this team and making sound decisions.

And I also knew we didn't have all the answers.

I trusted my team's expertise, yet I wasn't willing to risk the success of our project by moving forward with unanswered questions.

So we brought in a third-party specialist to assess our approach, make recommendations, and help us implement the solution.

That decision did more than help us deliver a successful project. It strengthened my credibility as a new manager.

In this week's episode, we'll explore how seeking expert advice can strengthen your decisions and help you earn the trust and respect of your senior management.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

“It needs to get done, so I’ll just take care of it.”

Have you ever said that to yourself?

Someone on your team hasn't followed through. A problem needs to be resolved. And rather than risk having something fall through the cracks, you step in and handle it yourself.

It may feel like you're simply being a responsible leader.

But what if the problem was never yours to solve?

I learned this lesson the hard way after taking over an important deliverable that someone else was responsible for completing.

I got the work done—but it came at a very high cost.

Looking back, I can see that stepping in created a bigger problem than the one I was trying to solve. 

In this episode, we'll talk about how to recognize what's yours to own—and when to step back and let others take responsibility for what's theirs.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

Is there something happening in your IT career right now that’s weighing heavily on you? 

You’re worried about the next reduction in force and who will be affected.

Perhaps another reorganization has you wondering what will happen to you and the team you’ve developed.

Your budget’s been cut again, but the expectations haven’t changed.

Or maybe you’re in a position that doesn’t align with your strengths.

You don’t love the work.

Or maybe you and your manager just don’t see eye to eye. 

Some days, you find yourself wondering, How long can I keep doing this?

I remember asking myself that same question. 

And what helped me through one of the most difficult positions in my career was perspective.

It didn’t change what I was going through. But it helped me see that this difficult situation was only one part of my life—not all of it.

Today, I’m sharing what that experience taught me about perspective—and how it can help you when you’re going through a challenging time in your career. 

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

If you’re a growth-minded woman leader in IT who loves learning, progressing, and achieving new levels in your career, you may already be thinking about how to prepare for your next advancement opportunity.

Whether you want to grow as a leader, transition into management, or become an executive-level director one day, there are steps you can begin taking now.

And that preparation can start early in your career.

Moving into higher levels of leadership takes more than excelling at the job you have today.

As your career progresses, expectations change.

The opportunities you pursue, experiences you gain, and how others perceive you as a leader can prepare you for greater responsibility.

And sometimes, you may be ready for that next level sooner than you realize.

In this week's episode, we'll talk about what you can begin doing now to prepare for future leadership opportunities and claim a greater seat at the leadership table.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

Over the past six months, I’ve talked with many former colleagues and women leaders in IT about difficult changes happening in the workforce, including:

Mandated return to office.

Layoffs.

Reductions in force.

Doing more with fewer people.

And AI creating uncertainty about jobs and skills.

These changes are difficult to navigate and can take an emotional toll on your team—and on you as their leader. 

Many times, these decisions come from senior leadership, and depending on your position, you may have little or no input into them.

And you may be trying to process the changes yourself. 

But you’re the person your team looks to for support and help in working through them.

In this episode, we’ll explore how to guide your team through difficult times when morale is low and uncertainty is high.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

As a woman leader in IT, have you ever worked in an environment where you felt so devalued and unsupported that you began to shut down?

Instead of sharing your ideas, you put your head down, do your work, and try to get through each day.

That’s where my guest, Wendi O’Neill, found herself after working for a leader who was more focused on advancing his own career than supporting the people on his team.

Then something happened that reminded her what she’d been missing.

A former colleague listened to her ideas, engaged in the conversation, and encouraged her in a way she hadn’t experienced for a long time.

That moment became a catalyst to make a career change.

In this week's episode, Wendi shares why building allies, advocates, and sponsors should begin on day one of every job and why these relationships are about supporting, not saving each other.

Let’s jump into the conversation!

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

When you move into a management role, it changes the dynamics of the relationships you once had with your teammates.

Suddenly, you’re no longer considered “one of the team.” You’re now “the boss.”

And that can be a difficult transition, especially when you’ve formed close relationships with some of your teammates.

You may even find you’re no longer invited to go out to lunch or social gatherings outside of work. 

Some may question whether you’re ready to be a manager, whether you’re qualified for the position, or even believe they should have received the position instead of you.

So how do you navigate these changing relationships while establishing yourself as their new leader?

In this episode, we’ll explore how to step into your new role with confidence and build strong relationships with the team you now lead.

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.

 This week, I'm bringing back one of the most listened to episodes of the Empowered Women in IT podcast. 

It's episode seven, “Five Steps to Increase Critical Thinking for Women Leaders in IT.” 

Critical thinking is one of those leadership skills that becomes increasingly important as you take on greater responsibility. 

You're expected to evaluate complex problems, challenge assumptions, consider different perspectives, and make decisions even when you don't have all the information you'd like. 

In this episode, I share a painful mistake I made in my early IT career that completely changed the way I approached critical thinking, and five practical steps you can use to strengthen this skill in your own leadership. 

Whether you've listened when it was first released or you're hearing it for the first time, I think you'll find it just as relevant today. 

Let's jump into the episode!

Tina Chapman helps women leaders in IT become more assertive and develop allies so they can confidently deliver on their best ideas. For step-by-step support, apply for Tina's Empowered Leadership Breakthrough program and she'll be in touch to invite you to a call.

Or if you're struggling with team accountability, sign up for a 90-minute Accountability Mastery session where you're learn how to confidently report status to stakeholders, earning their trust and respect, and transform your team dynamics and leadership skills.