Advice -- What is the best piece of leadership advice you ever
received? What is the best piece of leadership advice you ever
gave?
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Our Agenda Leadership and the attributes women bring what the
experts say So what does that mean to us? How do we take what we
have learned today and become more effective leaders in our work,
in our families, in our personal pursuits
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What the experts sayZenger Folkman 2011 study 7280 leaders
surveyed across the globe and across public and private and
government and commercial organizations Majority of leaders are
still men 64% 78% of executives are men 67% of senior management
are men 60% at next manager level are men
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What the experts say...
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What the experts say
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Why so high on initiative and self-development? We need to work
harder than men to prove ourselves. We feel the constant pressure
to never make a mistake, and to continually prove our value to the
organization. Conclusion in this study, women that were asked dont
feel their jobs/roles are safe. Why lower on strategic perspective?
Numbers of women in roles where strategy is considered to be a
requirement is lower Comparison of men and women in that small
subset found them to be equally competent
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What the experts say Their conclusions/recommendations If an
organization is concerned about retaining talent, customer
satisfaction, employee engagement and profitability, it would
benefit from recognizing the leadership competencies that women
excel at are directly correlated to success in these areas. While
organizations could benefit from leaders having a mindset that they
cannot afford to make mistakes, the feeling of paranoia or extreme
risk aversion among women in leadership roles or who could enter
leadership roles is detrimental.
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What the experts sayCaliper Corporation The Qualities that
Distinguish Women Leaders Study included the Caliper Profile,
demographic analysis and in-depth interviews with women leaders
Companies included Accenture, Kohler, IBM, Johnson & Johnson,
International Paper, Bank of America All ages, marital status and
family status were represented Women leaders were matched with a
representative sample of male leaders from the Caliper Profile
database
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What the experts say Finding 1 Women leaders are more
persuasive than their male counterparts. Scored higher in areas
like ego-drive, assertiveness, empathy, urgency, flexibility,
sociability Allows women to read situations accurately, take
information from all sides which enhances persuasive ability Men
have a tendency to start from their own point of view and are not
as flexible or willing to interact with others. Force their
perspectives through strength of positions rather than
persuading.
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What the experts say Finding 2 Feeling the sting of rejection,
women leaders learn from adversity and carry one with an attitude
of Ill show you. Scored on par with men in ego-strength, but higher
in assertiveness, empathy, flexibility, sociability Provides women
with a unique approach to dealing with disappointment, rejection or
situations that dont work out their way They (women) will feel the
sting of being set back. They may even dwell on it, and tend to be
a little self-critical. But then they will muster their
assertiveness, shake off negative feelings, learn what they need to
carry on and a voice in the back of their heads will say Ill show
you. Dr. Hank Greenberg Founder and CEO of Caliper
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What the experts say Finding 3 Women leaders have an inclusive,
team- building leadership style of problem-solving and decision-
making. Scored significantly higher in areas like assertiveness,
empathy, urgency, flexibility, sociability Women are more
interested in hearing all points of view to make the best decision.
The final decision does not need to be their initial point of view.
The difference in leadership styles between men and women starts
with listening. To learn, you have to keep asking. Its all about
asking questions. The people I work with sat that the process of my
asking them questions helps them clarify their own thinking and
they actually come out a little sharper. Susan Rice CEO Lloyds Bank
- Scotland
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What the experts say Finding 4 Women leaders are more likely to
ignore rules and take risks. Scored significantly higher than men
in areas like urgency, risk- taking. Lower than male counterparts
in external structure and cautiousness and have high abstract
reasoning scores. More likely to push back when they are overly
bound by regulations and rules, engage in more risk taking and come
up with innovative solutions Have a greater need to get things done
Women leaders are venturesome, less interested in what has been
than what can be. They will run the risk of occasionally being
wrong in order to get things done. And with their abstract
reasoning skills, they will learn from any mistakes and carry on.
Dr. Hank Greenberg Founder and CEO of Caliper
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What the experts say A new leadership paradigm? Study provided
preliminary evidence that women bring distinct strengths to
leadership Open, consensus-building, collegial approach This
leadership profile is much more conducive to todays diverse
workplace where --- Information is shared more freely Collaboration
is vital Teamwork distinguishes the best companies
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What the experts say Thomas Malone What makes a team smarter?
Created teams of people aged 18-60 Had them take IQ tests Gave them
a series of problems to solve Conclusion Teams with the highest IQs
did NOT perform the best Teams with the most women did the standard
argument is that diversity is good and you should have both men and
women in a group..but so far, the data show --- the more women the
better. Thomas Malone Harvard Business Review
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So women seem to have the right stuff. Then why.. Are there so
few of us in higher positions of leadership across all industries
and segments public, private, government, education? What can I do
to Understand more of what I can bring to the party? Develop a plan
to use more of those skills?
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We have met the enemy. .. and she may be us
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Have you ever .. Wondered if you were good enough to even be
doing the job you are doing? Doubted yourself and your abilities?
Not pushed yourself to the next level taken on something new
because you felt you were not qualified to take it on and succeed?
I still face situations that I fear are beyond my capabilities. I
still have days when I feel like a fraud. And I still find myself
spoken over and discounted whole men sitting next to me are not.
But now I know how to take a deep breath and keep my hand up. I
have learned to sit at the table. Sheryl Sandberg
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Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg Excuses and justifications will not
get us anywhere. What would you do if you werent afraid? How can I
do better? What am I doing that I dont know? What am I not doing
that I dont see? Done is better than perfect.
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Lean In Be more open to taking career risks We typically avoid
stretch assignments and new challenges - worried about having
skills Shift from Im not ready to do that to Ill learn by doing it.
60% rule Skip the people pleasing. Think of your career as a jungle
gym not a ladder. Allow yourself to fantasize about your career. 18
month plan to develop new skills
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Understand yourself. Disc Profile Personality assessment Gain
an understanding of your natural style of working and communicating
Learn how to communicate with others who are not your style to
develop better working relationships and get things done more
effectively and efficiently www.discprofile.com
www.thediscpersonalitytest.com www.onlinediscprofile.com
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DiSC what does it mean?
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Discovering Your Strengths Do you have the opportunity to do
what you do best every day? Our natural talents go untapped We
devote more time to our shortcomings than our strengths Focusing on
strengths leads to roughly 6 times higher levels of engagement at
work and 3 times more likely too have an excellent quality of life
in general
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Strengths Finder Pick up the book Strengths Finder 2.0. Take
the online survey and receive a full report immediately.
Development guide includes Your top 5 strength themes Ten ideas for
action for each strengths theme Thought provoking questions to
develop an action plan Real world cautions. Weaknesses or areas for
improvement do need to be identified, called out and worked on A
strength can become a weakness
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Mentors, sponsors, networks Mentors Usually behind the scenes
More experienced person who brings knowledge of the
organization/function Objective Sponsors Can be a mentor Takes
deliberate action to put the person into situations they may not
have had access to before Networks Groups of similar demographic
may work together or may not Can talk freely about challenges
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In closing.. Go back to the leadership advice you have been
given and have given --- are you following it? Experts tell us that
our unique leadership attributes --as women -- should prepare us
for positions of greater responsibility and lead to greater success
for our organizations and the women who follow behind us. We can be
our own worst enemies when is comes to taking on greater
responsibility. We need to take the time to understand how we
interact in our circles -- work and personal --so we are ready to
take on more challenges. Develop relationships that can help move
you forward in your thinking.
