Some interesting takeouts on the Women, Management and Work Conference #wmwc

Recently I was fortunate enough to be able to briefly drop into the Women, Management and Work Conference which was held at the Sofitel (you may have seen some of my tweets throughout the day).

The quality and balance of the discussions taking place was fantastic. As you might have noticed from my Crustgate article, I’m not an extreme feminist however I would like to think I am certainly about equality. I’ll admit I was a little bit cautious about attending the conference thinking that it might be a little bit like being in the audience of an Oprah Winfrey taping. To be honest, I didn’t want to play the victim and stamp my feet that men won’t let me play. It’s just not my style. Luckily, it wasn’t and like I said above, the balance of discussions was fantastic.

The first session I sat in on was a round table discussion on Leadership for Women. It was an opportunity to swap new ideas and practical tips on the most effective ways to develop women for leadership roles. In true musical chairs style, the scribe was to stay at the table while the other team members moved every 10-15 minutes. The two questions the table had to answer were “what works” and “what doesn’t work?” with regards to leadership development for women.

Some key take outs that I found interesting:

What doesn’t work?

• Being placed in acting roles but not really being seen to be truly in the role- one lady said that their CEO calls them the “B Team”
• Similarly some believed that they didn’t think that mandatory appointments or quotas worked- do you want to be awarded a promotion because you earned it or because you are a woman?
• Being forced to progress when that’s not necessarily what you want- now this was an interesting one. There is so much focus on women not getting the leadership roles- it never occurred to me that there were women who felt rushed or pressured to take on roles that they did not want. It was then a concern for these women that if they did not take the opportunity when offered it, that it may not exist in the future.
• Courses without follow up support or opportunity – Employers are often happy to send women on training courses but then they often find they can’t use what they’ve learned because they aren’t given the right opportunities
• Social systems which don’t support the needs of women- i.e. those which are non flexible, exclusive or may create negative perceptions if you participate in them
• Boys clubs and “blokeism”- may include after hours functions and the type of activities that are presented to the leadership team for participation by default may exclude women
• Lack of female role model/mentors available within the business
• No policy or inconsistent policies around how we can best include women in leadership positions
• Being our own worst enemy sometimes doesn’t work- Is it gender inequity or is it just my perception?
• Lack of recognition
• Being forced to take on the style of male leaders (i.e. emotions aren’t appropriate at work etc) rather than being accepted for your own style of management

What works

• Increased levels of responsibility and breadth in roles as well as opportunities to do things outside of the ‘business as usual’ tasks
• Making contacts with mentor and networks outside your industry
• Access to leadership role models
• Coaching on Interview techniques- we don’t sell ourselves as well as the guys do
• Increasing social support systems for child care
• Early identification of goals and needs and then support to help achieve objectives
• Learning from countries that are doing it well
• Including men in discussions about how we can help women achieve
• Acknowledging that clear boundaries exist for part time employees
• Positive reinforcement- hearing that it is possible
• Sharing inspirational stories and also warnings
• Getting support from the top

Finally, some of the key themes that a few attendees wanted to share with the audience:

• As an individual, it’s important to know our boundaries
• Work/life balance doesn’t exist or work. We need to be focussed on imbalance and recognise the different segments that make up our lives. If we have balance all the time we are actually stagnant. Focus on the imbalance and your personal strengths.
• Your own attitude towards development. If we believe it’s not possible then it won’t be possible. We’ve actually got to go in believing it- if we believe there is a glass ceiling it will exist. It’s up to us to make that opportunity happen.
• One of the ways to make this opportunity occur is to potentially use technology to breakdown international boundaries to find a mentor or a coach. Look outside of our own experiences.
• Importance of roles models. It’s up to us to help others up the ladder, rather than being the queen bee. It’s not about me, it’s about them approach.
• A lot of discussion around work environment and culture- what can we do to make it more female friendly and more likely to support women and help them achieve their potential. For example, diversity policies need to be visible and measurable.
• The extent to which women really support each other (or not). Women can be quite catty and can be difficult to work for when in groups. That isn’t helpful to anyone. One lady said ‘Once that glass ceiling has been cracked, man you paper it over” and don’t let anyone else come up behind you.
• We need to move away from training for leadership development for women. It needs to be more focussed on mentoring and coaching.
• In considering issues for women in the workplace, we also need to move past only looking after women with children. Not that it isn’t important, but we can’t ignore women who do not or choose not to have children.
• Celebrate the wins. Embrace difference. Stop trying to be perfect. Find your voice. Take risks in your career.

Some very interesting and provocative thoughts in there from a diverse group of people. What struck you as an unsual comment or something that you hadn’t heard before?