Post on 27-Dec-2015
Leading the Change
A skill development workshop for women in engineering
Sydney, September 2006
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Today’s agenda
Understanding yourself
Understanding your environment
Taking action
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Rules of engagement for today’s workshop
What we talk about remains confidential
We respect each other’s point of view
And we . . .
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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
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Success?
Success is . . . *****
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Sturges’s Definition of Success
The climber
The expert
The influencer
The self-realiser
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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
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Emotional awareness
The recognition of how our emotions affect our performance, and the ability to use our values to guide decision making
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Self-confidence
The courage that comes from certainty about our capabilities, values and goals.
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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
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Stereotypes:
A typical woman is…?
A typical woman does…?
A typical man is…?
A typical man does…?
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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
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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)
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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).
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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.
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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
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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
Joy Fletcher Disappearing Acts Gender, Power and Relational Practice
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Practical strategies for negotiating the work environment
Naming
Norming
Negotiating
Networking
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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A model for change
Wants
You
Reality People
Bellman, 2001
Acting strategically
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Acting strategically
Being seen
Being heard
Being competent
Creating an environment for success
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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
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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
Joy Fletcher Disappearing Acts Gender, Power and Relational Practice
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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
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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
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Creating an environment for success
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
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Creating an environment for success
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
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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