Leading the Change A skill development workshop for women in engineering Sydney, September 2006

Leading the Change

A skill development workshop for women in engineering

Sydney, September 2006

Sounding Board Darwin 2006 2

Today’s agenda

Understanding yourself

Understanding your environment

Taking action


Rules of engagement for today’s workshop

What we talk about remains confidential

We respect each other’s point of view

And we . . .


Workshop focus Each of you has two post it notes

What are the major challenges, concerns or issues that you are currently dealing with (or have dealt with) relating to being a woman in a non-traditional area

What you identify will form the basis of this afternoon’s session on Taking Action

Understanding yourself


Success?

Success is . . . *****


Sturges’s Definition of Success

The climber

The expert

The influencer

The self-realiser


Emotional intelligence

Self-awareness is the vital foundational skill for three emotional competencies that lead to self-mastery. The emotional competencies are:

Emotional awareness Accurate self-assessment Self-confidence

Daniel Goleman Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence


Emotional awareness

The recognition of how our emotions affect our performance, and the ability to use our values to guide decision making


Emotional awareness

People with this competence: Know which emotions they are feeling

and why. Realise the links between their feelings

and what they think, do. Recognise how their feelings affect

their performance Have a guiding awareness of their

values and goals.


Accurate self assessment

A candid sense of our personal strengths and limits, a clear vision of where we need to improve, and the ability to learn from experience.


Accurate self assessment

People with this competence are: Aware of their strengths and weaknesses Reflective, learning from experience Open to candid feedback, new

perspectives, continuous learning, and self development.

Able to show a sense of humour and perspective about themselves.


Self-confidence

The courage that comes from certainty about our capabilities, values and goals.


Self confidence

People with this competence: Present themselves with self assurance;

have “presence” Can voice views that are unpopular and go

out on a limb for what is right. Are decisive, able to make sound decisions

despite uncertainties and pressures.

Understanding your environment


Stereotypes:

A typical woman is…?

A typical woman does…?

A typical man is…?

A typical man does…?


Stereotypes The acquisition of stereotypes usually

begins before the age of five

It accelerates in primary school and is complete by adolescence

Stereotypes can influence behaviour so that they appear grounded in reality


Women and work

“Notwithstanding massive change in women’s educational outcomes, labour market activity and fertility levels, the last two decades has seen no change in the share of participating women in the full-time labour market, little change in the overall distribution of women across jobs and little change in the size of Australian gender pay gap”

(Preston and Burgess 2003)


The world of work

Australians work the third longest hours globally – but poor management operating systems encourage productivity loss

The increasingly frenetic way of life – one in which family is peripheral; work is an end in itself and busyness is a virtue. Time has high value (Catherine Fox Oct 2004)


The world of work

Binge workers: throw everything at a job, work all hours until its finished and then shift down a gear. A study by recruitment firm Talent 2 found that 42.9% of workers adopt this pattern although younger workers are likely to binge

Display overtime – where people work to be seen and to be promoted


The world of work (cont)

Response times have got shorter, turnaround time on major projects has been compressed and there are expectations of a quick outcome for every effort.

A study by the consultancy firm Hay found that 52% of Australian companies had increased their overtime levels in the year to August 2004


Whose work is it? In Australian households married women do

on average 90% of the laundry 82% of all indoor cleaning and tidying Fives times more child care; and For every hour a husband spends cooking his

wife will spend three For couples without children women do six

times as much cleaning as menSusan Maushart Wifework

Leadership


Leadership

Women are more likely to use transformational (actively encouraging participation, sharing power and information, enhancement of the self worth of others and stimulating enthusiasm about work) than transactional (short-term, hard command and control style) leadership styles

(Rosener 1990).


What are the leadership qualities that are rewarded in your organisation?

What are the leadership qualities that are not rewarded?

What are the barriers to women becoming leaders in your organisation?

(Adapted from Page 2005)

Leadership


Leading like a man?

In male-dominated industries women managers lead in ways that are more similar than different to men in those industries

Where women are in the minority they alter their management style to reduce visibility or to lessen perceived differences and stereotyping by men

(Vinnicombe and Bank 2003)

Impression Management


Impression management People respond more favourably to men who

are self-promoting than men who are modest – BUT the opposite is true for women

Overt displays of competence and confidence by women can result in rejection

Advancement in organisations depends not only on competence but also on social acceptance andapproval


Merit?

“Women actually do have to outperform men for others to consider them equally competent because the standard for what constitutes competence in men is lower that the standard for what constitutes competence in women”

(Foschi 1996)

Women hold themselves to a higher standard than the standard men hold themselves to (Carli, 1999)


Selection based on merit

In many US Philharmonic orchestras do blind or screen auditions.

Candidates sit behind a screen or curtain, they are told not to speak and are asked to remove their shoes when they walk across the floor so that no hint of their gender is given.

Research has shown that this kind of audition increases by 50% the probability that women players from the preliminary round of tryouts will proceed to the next level.


Engineering environments

In a study of engineering cultures the researchers found that competence was seen as a function of how well an image of an aggressive, competitive, technically oriented person is presented – style was seen as important as substance

Joy Fletcher Disappearing Acts Gender, Power and Relational Practice


Being a women in a non traditional role

Female engineers felt (because of gender roles) they were expected to act relationally. That is to be Soft Feminine Helpful Good listeners



How would you describe your organisation?

Imagine you were asked to describe your organization to an outsider. How would you answer the following questions?

What 10 words would you use to describe your company?

Around here what is really important?

Around here who gets promoted?

Around here what behaviors get rewarded?

Around here who fits in and who doesn't?http://www.hcgnet.com/research.asp?id=6

Keys to success

Executive women’s strategies


Keys to success - senior executive women

Help – from above through sponsors and mentors Achievement – a proven track record Desire – a passion to succeed, working long hours,

making personal sacrifices and a demonstrated willingness to get the job done

Management – demonstrated competence in managing subordinates

Risk taking – had taken risks in career moves to broaden business experience

Tough, decisive and demanding – demonstrated ability to be aggressive, make hard decisions and say what was on their mind (Wilson, F. 2003 Organizational Behaviour & Gender)

Mentoring


Being mentored

“Exclusion from informal networks, career sponsoring relationships and other avenues, which provide the basis for career advancement and advantage to their male colleagues has been identified as critical for women in all forms of organisations”

(Ramsey 2000:6)


Having a mentor Mentors can provide advice, counsel,

guidance, information and access to networks

Mentoring can be formal or informal

Informal mentoring is often more effective


Mentoring ground rules

Mentoring relationships should Be voluntary Be mutually beneficial Have goals for what you want to

achieve Be a non-judgemental relationship Be based on confidentiality


Mentor qualities

When you are looking for a mentor they should be someone who is

Willing to teach and to learn Comfortable with you Available A good communicator Well respected and well networked


Friends in high places

“being perceived to have a prominent friend in an organisation boosted an individual’s reputation as a good performer, … actually having such a friend … had no effect”

(Kilduff &Krackhardt 1994 in Kumra 2005)

Taking action


Being tempered radicals!

Being a tempered radical means being prepared to challenge the status quo strongly enough to have an impact but not so strongly that you can’t succeed within that environment.

It can involve a strategy of ‘small wins’ –pushing the organisational norms but taking into account the practical realities of being a woman in a predominately masculine value system


Practical strategies for negotiating the work environment

Naming

Norming

Negotiating

Networking


Naming

A strategy of calling to attention practices that are not valued by the organisation because they are seen as women’s preferred style (personality characteristics rather than competencies)


Norming

Calls attention to organisational norms of effectiveness Leadership is always associated with

positional power Being an expert means that you must

have all the answers Always saying yes to extra work


Negotiating

Being prepared to negotiate an effective outcome - when what is offered is viewed as the kind of work women are good at - but not rewarded for doing

E.g. Women are good in staff roles but the

rewards are in line roles


Networking

Having a support group inside or outside the immediate work environment is helpful and empowering

They can help in identifying organisational ‘norm’ and developing new organisational language to describe in competence terms the way women work


Networking

Networking: Involves an exchange of information Is having reliable and professional

contacts you can call on for advice, support, recommendations

Is earning the right to ask someone a favour

Robyn Henderson Networking for $uccess


Successful networking Be sincere

Give more than you receive

Put in enough time

Use business cards to help you develop your network

Robyn Henderson Networking for $uccess


A model for change

Wants

You

Reality People

Bellman, 2001

Acting strategically


Acting strategically

Being seen

Being heard

Being competent

Creating an environment for success


Being visible

Being quietly competent or contributing to success in an indirect way is often interpreted as not being competent

Women’s work in organisations can be ‘disappeared’ – e.g. relational work that is seen as typical and expected for women but as a skill when displayed by men


Being visible

When women act in ways that are traditionally considered to be more masculine and which may better fit the organisational norms they can experience a backlash and can be labeled as Arrogant Bitchy Brash



Being heard

For women being heard in the organisation can be a challenge

It may be that you are not in the same circle as your male colleagues

It can be that some people don’t want to hear what you are saying


Being competent

“In the construction industry, women believe that they need to spend a period of time demonstrating their ability on lower grade tasks because men do not accept their commitment or abilities unless they do so. They spend longer demonstrating their ability than their male colleagues” (Bagilhole, 2003:167)

We need to recognise our strengths and use them

Identify areas where we want to improve and do something about it



Expect to be treated on your merits and treat others on theirs (give people the respect they deserve and have earned!)

Be good at your job – and let those that should know, know

Use a mentor Have effective organisational networks

so you know what is happening



Understand how important meetings in your organisation work and what you will need to do in order to be heard

Be professional not provocative (sex sells but doesn’t buy respect)

Don’t become involved in sexist or racist behaviours or jokes

adapted from The Women’s Power Handbook


Taking action Understanding what the issue/problem really is – i.e.

look at the cause not just the symptoms

Finding ‘friends’ - is it just a problem for you or does it also affect others, can you work with them?

Determining if you need more information i.e. does the company have a policy about this?

Deciding who you need to talk to and who you should talk to

Deciding what action you will take, understanding the risks of both inaction and taking action

Getting started

Documents

Leading the Change A skill development workshop for women in engineering Sydney, September 2006