After the inaugural Convenience-Store Women’s event in Napa, California, in November 2023, my journey began as a CSW power team ambassador. I assisted a group of nine convenience-store industry women in tackling a topic with the goal of helping their peers navigate a male-dominated industry, gain confidence in their contributions, power, abilities and potential and be the best leaders possible.
One year later, at the 2024 CSW event in Charleston, South Carolina, along with all of the (mostly new) attendees, I had the privilege to see the work that many of the power teams had been committed to throughout the year.
My team created a video featuring two of our team members—Rachell Bernhardt, human resources director at Quantum Services, and Bridget Kraft, account director at Franke Coffee Systems—with the goal of sharing our findings and becoming more comfortable about talking about these topics so that real change can happen.
My 2023 power team’s topic was how to be competitive while stopping the negative stereotype.
We met throughout the year to discuss the root causes of the issue, how to improve and support women in this area and what we wanted to get out of the experience working together.
While it was difficult to find all the answers to such a massive idea, we pinned down a mission statement to get started: “Support competition based on problem solving and forward progress that creates a culture of authenticity and vulnerability resulting in personal and professional growth.”
Competition for women in the workplace can include women competing…
- against men (salaries/promotion opportunities, etc.)
- against other women (salaries/promotion opportunities, etc.)
- for a job/position during the hiring process
- for roles/responsibilities within a team
We were challenged with finding a solution because, in our eyes, striving for success is inherently competitive. Having a negative stereotype cast onto you isn’t something you have much control over; however, we can all practice not perceiving competition as negative. That stereotype can be rooted in societal norms, workplace culture, the way someone was educated education and more.
For example, individual behaviors of being liked and comparing yourself to others, which is more prominent in women, could influence perceiving competition negatively.
The team decided that we cannot control perceptions, but we can create better understandings. Continue practicing gaining confidence in yourself, we agreed.
During regular performance check-ins, vocalize your strengths and areas of interest. Not only will this highlight strengths with leadership, but it will also help women become comfortable and confident in discussing their worth.
In terms of company-wide actions, providing more opportunity can lead to less negative competition.
Thank you to power team 8: Kim James, bp; Melody McCarthy, Enmarket; Jessica Pierce, Maverik; Rachell Bernhardt, Quantum Services; Bridget Kraft, Franke Coffee Systems; Kristen Wuerth, Altria; Vanessa Cope, Blue Triton; and Laura Conner, formerly with 7-Eleven.
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