Tiara Syndrome

The Tiara Syndrome is about women being too reluctant to apply for promotions even when they are well deserved, simply believing good job performance will naturally lead to rewards[1]. The term was coined by Carol Frohlinger and Deborah Kolb, the founders of Negotiating Women, Inc., an advisory firm committed to helping organizations to advance talented women into leadership positions.

The Tiara Syndrome is related to the Imposter Syndrome. Women often undervalue their skills and are less effective at self-promotion than their male counterparts. A number of strategies can help battle this syndrome and ease the stress of 'taking off the tiara'.

As Carol Frohlinger says, "Women expect that if they keep doing their job well someone will notice them and place a tiara on their head. That never happens."

Her comment was made particularly in relation to negotiating starting salary and pay rises which men tend to be more comfortable at doing than women. However, as Sheryl Sandberg writes in her (ghost-written) book 'Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead' (2013): "Women are also more reluctant to apply for promotions even when deserved, often believing that good job performance will naturally lead to rewards."

Of course a high level of performance is the entry ticket to career progress but sometimes this very diligence gets in the way of fast tracking your career. Many women I work with in the City explain that they are so busy doing the operational aspects of their job that they don't have time to step back and focus on strategic priorities, for example. Nor do they feel they have space in their busy working weeks to fit in networking which is seen as an unnecessary - and often uncomfortable - use of their precious time. Similarly they do not seek mentors to guide them or indeed the support of sponsors to give them the invaluable exposure and opportunities needed to step up to senior leadership positions.

Psychologist Cordelia Fine says such behaviour stems from socialisation, not innate differences between the sexes. Some men also suffer, just as many women may not, but similar to 'Imposter Syndrome' it does appear to be more of a female behaviour.

[1] Fitzpatrick, Curran: Waiting for your coronation: a career-limiting trap in Nursing Economics – 2014.