Career Tip of the Week

,
women at computerThis Week’s Tip Is…

What is the job that you want next? Are you working on building the skills for this next job as well as the job after that?

Make sure your skills development plan is lining up for your next promotions. Have a think about how to close any experience gaps that you might have.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

/by

Voice of Experience: Janet Visbeen, Partner, PwC Netherlands

,

Janet Visbeen (PWC)For PwC Partner Janet Visbeen, her status as a lesbian professional benefits her career. “If you are open about your diversity, you offer a unique selling point that others don’t,” she says. “My orientation colors how I think about the world and gives me some depth. It helps me be visible and defines my personal brand. Anything that makes you stand out is a blessing in this industry.”

Visbeen’s entire career has been spent in the consulting industry. Universities in the Netherlands are business-focused, so Visbeen studied economics business administration, focusing on the tax side, which provided a clear path to either an accounting or a law firm. With her interest in working in an international environment, she joined Coopers Lybrand (which ultimately became PwC), with a short stint at Arthur Andersen after six years. Her next move was to start her own company with some colleagues, but she realized after a few years that despite the positive experience, she had always had the urge to be top notch in her field, which necessitated returning to a larger firm. She rejoined PwC and one year later became partner focusing on the firm’s executive reward design and delivery function.

Being part of an international network of firms has led Visbeen to her belief that many of the issues in the world today can better be solved by big international companies than governments. “Advising clients on how they can improve their performance and seeing where the companies fit within society is a balance that keeps me energized in my work,” she says.

For Visbeen, helping advance the careers of those on her team and contributing to their success has been the achievement of which she is most proud. But she also believes that business will succeed because of the “power of one.”

In her view, approaches today are theme based. “We will offer our clients an ‘Ocean’s 11’ approach where we staff a team with the best people for the job from within or outside of the firm, and then when the job is done they part ways.”

Growing Your Career

Visbeen believes that women need to advocate for themselves, because although they might have great achievements, they don’t always communicate them.

“I find that women tend to talk about ‘we’ instead of ‘I,’ but in a corporate world where you have to continually compete, it’s vital to get the story out there that you are the best person for any particular role,” she said.

Interestingly, she finds that while most women consultants are tough when it concerns their clients, they don’t bring that same tenacity and self-confidence to promoting themselves.

She believes women must be clear about what they want and go for it. “To be successful in business, you have to rely on yourself and your own compass. If you do that as a free thinker you add more value to your clients.”

A Culture of Acceptance

Visbeen has always appreciated the openness that the professional services industry offers for LGBT individuals. “This field attracts well-educated people, and though they might not be more open minded, they deal with it differently.” In fact, she believes that LGBT offers a unique selling point as a consultant. “Your diversity can be an important tool to help you stand out.”

Of course, she acknowledges, you have to be comfortable with yourself, and while gender or cultural diversity can’t be hidden, LGBT orientation can be private. However, as she says, “The consulting business requires more than regular office hours. Do you want to work somewhere where you can’t be yourself? Everyone has to answer that question for themselves.” For Visbeen the answer is clear. She believes that respecting coworkers is what brings out their best, so an open environment is a requirement.

She sees the issue as one that offers two clear choices: you might not be universally loved if you are open, but you are able to have deeper relationships. She characterizes it as “brand or bland.”

“There will always be some people for whom you who won’t be their cup of tea, but the others will love you for it.”

Visbeen has been active in Gay Lesbians and Everyone Else (GLEE), a strong PwC network that reaches beyond the firm to include others in its gatherings. As a business network, it blends networking with advocacy. “As a global network of firms, it’s part of PwC’s DNA to make sure that it is as safe to be an LGBT consultant in Amsterdam as it is anywhere in the world. It’s what we stand for.”

In addition, Visbeen takes that advocacy outside the workplace as a member of the Netherlands Committee of Human Rights Watch. “Economies that have a lot of wealth can take care of human rights and social issues. In economies where there is less wealth, there is less well-being. I believe they go hand in hand.”

/by

LGBT Update: Corporate Culture and Leadership Key to supporting LGBT professionals in your team

,
By Aimee Hansen

Every June is celebrated on the diversity calendar as Pride Month in many corporations and we also like to update you on the progress being made for LGBT professionals and shine a light also on how straight allies can help advance talented individuals who may identify as LGBT in your office.

Out Now’s LGBT 2020, the world’s largest LGBT research project, puts a $9 billion a year cost on not paying attention to this issue. That’s how much the US economy could save if organizations were better at implementing diversity and inclusion policies for LGBT staff, or to make it clear, if LGBT employees felt more comfortable.

The “LGBT Diversity: Show me the business case” research measures the financial savings for companies who foster an inclusive work culture where LGBT employees are comfortable to be themselves. The research reveals that LGBT staff who are open with all co-workers about their sexuality are significantly more likely to stay in their job than those who are not out to anyone at work, creating a rewarding staff retention dividend.

Ian Johnson, Chief Executive of Out Now, says, “This report for the first time enables companies to see exactly why investing in a more equitable and supportive workplace for everyone is a sound business investment that demonstrates solid returns.”

Corporate Culture is Key

The degree to which formal corporate LGBT diversity & inclusion policies are effective may come down to how well they are truly reflected informally within the corporate culture.

The aforementioned LGBT2020 study found that among a diverse range of workers in the USA, 38% were out to everybody (and more likely to strongly disagree with leaving their job in the near future) while 35% of people were out to nobody or a few trusted people.

The researchers saw a 6% drop in those “out to all” (38% vs 44%) over the last two years, stating “This represents a significant and worrying fall, especially when LGBT workplace diversity has been placed on the agenda of an increasing number of larger US companies during this time.” They speculate this could reflect a toning down related to the saliency of marriage equality being pitched against religious beliefs. Half of those LGBT employees surveyed reported overhearing homophobic comments at work.

Being fully out correlated with a 30% productivity benefit. Among USA employees “out to all”, 67% strongly agreed they were “respected as a productive and valuable team member.” But among those “out to no one”, only 38% felt so.

When it came to feeling that coming out could impact upon future promotions in the workplace, 24% of lesbians, 30% of gay men, 40% of bisexuals, and 55% of transgender employees agreed. And while 80% of employees rated diversity policies at their next company as fairly or very important, only 45% would feel comfortable to ask about those policies in an interview. That highlights the subtle difference between corporate policies and corporate culture.

Discriminative Nuances of the Corporate Closet

The LGBT 2020 statistics echo the findings of HRC’s Cost of the Closet survey of 800 LGBT workers. This research reported an “invisible workforce” of 53% of LGBT employees “having to hide in plain sight”. The study showed that employers are losing talent and engagement due to “treatable problems with workplace environment or culture.”

The study identified overseen dynamics that contribute to social exclusion, since work culture largely consists of informal conversations and cues: “The primary influences on workplace cultures are so ubiquitous, they are almost easy to miss.”

For LGBT employees, daily non-work related conversations about weekend and dinner plans and photos on your desk create an identity-related dilemma. While “81% of non-LGBT respondents feel that LGBT people ‘should not have to hide’ who they are in the workplace,” the reality is that “less than half of non-LGBT employees would feel comfortable hearing LGBT workers talk about dating.”

So it’s no surprise that 35% of LGBT employees felt compelled to lie about their personal lives, many reporting exhaustion and distraction.

The researchers reported, “This double standard emerges in our study, where frequent personal conversations occur among coworkers, and LGBT employees are receiving the message that their contributions are not welcome, or worse, inappropriate. In fact, 70% of non-LGBT workers agree that ‘it is unprofessional’ to talk about sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace.”

While sharing is an intrinsic part of any corporate culture, not everyone’s sharing is received equally: “When sharing the same day-to-day anecdotes with co-workers, LGBT people are seen as over-sharing, or forcing their ‘lifestyle’ upon co-workers.”

Missing Out on Networks

An Italian study found a culture of silence, “prevents LGBT employees from constructing a work identity which encompasses their sexual identity and prevents the organizations from achieving their aim of being fully inclusive workplaces.” It would appear so does a cultural of cues of subtle disapproval.

The HRC researchers point out that not being able to be open at work “can isolate a person and erode valuable rapport with co-workers, managers and would-be mentors.” Some of the top reasons for not coming out include making co-workers feel uncomfortable or losing connection with them, but when LGBT employees feel compelled to hide their lives, they are already cut off.

This matters to career development. LGBT employees risk being excluded from informal networks that can lead to career advancement, the invisible channels through which individuals build trust and rapport with colleagues and get noticed for sponsorship and advancement by senior management. This kind of social exclusion doesn’t require official discrimination, just the right amount of invisible cues and signals.

Corporate Non-Discrimination Policies Are Improving

The Corporate Equality Index compiled by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for 2015, the national benchmarking tool on LGBT corporate policies and practices, reports that a record 366 businesses (20% increase on 2014) have earned a top score of 100 percent and distinction of “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.”

The criteria is based upon equal benefits for same-sex partners and spouses, ending benefits discrimination for transgender employees and dependents, firm-wide organizational competency on LGBT issues, and public commitment to the LGBT community.

This is nearly double the companies who earned that ranking three years ago in 2012 and the report notes that transgender progress is greatest – with a rising number of companies offering healthcare, transition support, and gender-identity non-discrimination.

Federal Non-Discrimination Policies Are Lacking

Chad Griffin, President of the HRC Foundation, remarks there’s still a long way to go. “Despite 66% of all Fortune 500 companies now including gender identity in the employment protections, we know that this does not always translate into everyday inclusion of the transgender community. While many companies are leading the way, our nation’s federal non-discrimination protections are lagging behind. Critical cultural shifts need to take place to foster greater inclusion.”

This is true for LGBT inclusion broadly. Sarah McBridge at the Center for American Progress, introducing her co-authored We The People report for governmental LGBT non-discrimination, illustrates the atmosphere of uncertainty for LGBT employees: “In 14 states, individuals can legally marry their same-sex partner on Sunday and then legally be fired from their jobs on Monday simply for exercising that right.”

It turns out that “out and proud” are valuable words indeed. The opposite is costly both to LGBT individuals and to organizations.

/by

Father’s Day: New Dads, Paternity Leave and Gender Equality

,

Father and son featuredAs Father’s Day approaches, we reflect on a hot topic that is helping to drive gender equality in Europe and beyond: paternity leave and shared parental leave.

The USA is miles away from the starting line on this matter. 182 countries provide paid maternity leave (the USA sits beside Oman and Papua New Guinea as sole exceptions) and 70 countries provide paid paternity leave. The USA is the only industrialized country that does not mandate some kind of paid parental leave to be provided by employers, only three states (California, Rhode Island, and New Jersey) offer paid leave for both parents, and companies offering paid maternity and paternity leave dropped from 17% in 2010 to 12% in 2014.

At the same time, research shows that paid maternity leave and breastfeeding breaks would help women to advance further in their careers by keeping them integrated in the workforce. But what could really change the game for women, men, families, and gender equality – and have positive growth implications for the GDP – is not just paid maternity leave that still regards mothers as the primary caretakers, but paid parental leave that reflects and encourages true co-parenting.

Newborn Shared Parental Leave in the UK

Only half a dozen countries offer men more than two weeks paternity leave, and the UK has just become one of them by introducing shared parental leave. The Telegraph has called it, “the most progressive new parent support policy that Britain has ever had.”

Before mothers had 52 weeks and fathers had two paid weeks. The new UK policy allows that after the initial two weeks of compulsory maternal leave, 50 weeks of shared parental leave and 37 weeks of pay can be divided up between couples (including adopting & same sex) anyway they chose: taking at the same time, in rotation, and/or in three separate blocks of time each.

The policy is not without bumps. One key issue is it doesn’t add actual weeks off work for families on top of what mothers already received. Jeremy Davies, head of communications at The Fatherhood Institute told The Guardian, “Although it’s called shared parental leave it’s really transferable maternity leave. It doesn’t give fathers any independent right or responsibility for taking time off, and it doesn’t fundamentally challenge employers’ attitudes.”

Other issuesinclude low financial viability for many couples due to reduced pay, whether high-earning women will feel more pressure to get back to work sooner, and whether the policy will result in reduced breastfeeding rates. Good questions, important choices. But now at least the choice is increasingly for individual couples to make based on their needs.

It may be an imperfect step in the right direction, but then children don’t walk in one day either.

Established Shared Parental Leave in Sweden

While news to the UK, in Sweden gender-neutral parental leave is 40 years in the making.

In 2014, Sweden ranked fourth in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, following Iceland, Finland and Norway. The higher the rank, the greater gender equality as measured by “the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy, and politics”, regardless of the absolute level of resources. The UK and the USA rank in the twenties.

According to The Economist, almost 90% of new Swedish fathers take paternity leave, and last year340,000 dads took an average of seven weeks each. It began 40 years ago as six months of paternity leave per child at 90% pay to be shared as couples wished. Dads didn’t even take one percent of it. Today, they take 25% of what has expanded to 16 months of shared paid paternal leave. Although paternal leave is flexible between parents, Sweden is upping the paid use-it-or-lose-it-father-only portion from two to three months in an effort towards increasing gender equality.

Parental Leave – It’s Good for Everyone

Research has shown that it’s taboo to many men to even admit they’d like to modify their work schedule to take time at home. Yet over 99% of men in a survey of over 1,000 fathers felt employers should offer paid paternity leave. Even taking just two weeks parental leave in countries such as the USA, Britain, Australia, and Denmark has shown to make positive differences for the whole family.

More Balanced Family Gender Dynamics

As Liza Mundy writes in the The Atlantic, “The genius of paternity leave is that it shapes domestic and parenting habits as they are forming.” When both partners take paternal leave, it sets up the couple up to establish a more gender-neutral pattern where work, household, and family responsibilities are more evenly shared in a two-income household.

According to Mundy, paternity leave has been shown to “boost male participation in the household, enhance female participation in the labor force, and promote gender equity in both domains.”

Dads who take paternity leave are likely to remain more involved in child-care (feeding, bathing, playing, reading) many months after the leave period, compared to fathers who did not. There’s also evidence that being able to take paternity leave helps increase men’s confidence as parents, and they end up being “more competent and committed fathers whose greater involvement persists as their children grow up.”

Children benefit too. Research by the University of Oslo has shown that children’s learning development benefits when dads can take paternity leave – finding that children’s performance at secondary school improved when fathers had taken more time off early on, especially daughters.

More Balanced Workplace Gender Dynamics

More countries are considering that paternity leave is key for improving women’s career prospects, helping them to be seen more equally within, and stay connected to, the workforce.

Mundy, director of the Breadwinning & Caregiving Program at New America, writes that paternal leave keeps women from being singled out as prospective parents in the office, which can hold back their advancement in insidious ways. “If everybody—male or female—is asking for leave or taking leave that they already qualify for, I think it just levels the playing field for how men or women are looked at in the office.”

Because women’s childbearing years coincide with their peak earning years, encouraging paid paternity leave can help narrow the wage gap too. A Swedish study found that a women’s future earnings increased by 7% for every month her partner took parental leave. According to The Economist, greater uptake of parental leave by fathers in Sweden has been associated with higher levels of self-reported happiness in women and higher incomes.

In a survey of over 250 California firms, 90% of firms said that paid paternal leave had a positive or neutral impact on productivity, performance, and profitability, with minimal impact on operations and finances. Tech companies in the USA who pro-actively employ paid maternity and paternity policies are starting to recognize that the long-term benefits in retention and attracting talent are good for both families and business.

As we celebrate Father’s Day, let’s remember that gender equality is not only about promoting women’s equality in the workplace. It’s also about promoting men’s equality in the home and family.

Parental leave holds the potential to offer a big step forward for both.

/by

How much do people need to know about you to trust you as a leader?

female leaderYou cant be a leader without having followers, and to have people trust you they may want to know about your life outside of work as well as your five-year strategy plan. The benefits of authenticity for the individual seem pretty straight-forward; most of us feel better when we are honest about who we are, but we also have good reasons for keeping our personal and professional lives separate. Human beings are judgmental by nature, and ‘fitting in’ is often a prerequisite for ‘getting ahead.’ It seems however that revelations are not created equal.

Read more

/by

Career Tip of the Week

,
sad womenThis Week’s Tip Is…

What are your triggers? We all have them. Think about your most stressful moment, what behaviors tend to surface time and time again? If you can identify them, you have a chance at not reacting in the same old ways. This will give you control over tough moments at work and help you to “show up” the way that you want to!

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

/by

Voice of Experience: Fangfang Chen, Senior Vice President, State Street

,

Fang Fang Chen“Because we are all different, there is not just one model that works the best. You can succeed with many different leadership styles, and you have to find the one that’s true to you. Acting like ‘someone else’ is challenging and creates too much pressure over the long run,” says Fangfang Chen.

Chen’s own personal style has been built by constantly taking on new challenges in her many career roles. She attended school in China and then came to the United States to earn her MBA at Yale. Planning to stay for only a few years, she ended up staying for 13, embarking on a consulting career and then moving into financial services with AIG and Fidelity Investments before joining State Street in 2007 with the global strategy and new venture group in Boston.

Her eight-year journey at State Street has not been a static one – it has spanned three countries and four different roles. Since it was always her plan to eventually move back to Asia, her first strategy role seemed like a great fit to understand the critical issues the organization was facing and to garner the exposure needed to a diverse and seasoned network.

This role allowed her to build a strong network with senior executives globally, and so when the head of State Street for Asia Pacific region heard of her interest in returning to China, he hired her in 2010.

Chen spent a year in Hong Kong running strategy, and was put up for promotion to senior vice president seven months after she took on this role. When her company opened a bank branch in China, she said she was pleased that her manager had the confidence to move her to Beijing to become deputy general manager. She enjoyed the diversity, as it was a completely different job from her previous strategy role to manage and grow a small branch, in addition to interacting with regulators and clients.

Fast forward a few years, her manager offered her a chance to move back to Hong Kong and assume a chief of staff role, which she seized on as a “great opportunity to work with a smart man and build new skill sets.” Her work involves driving organizational alignment to develop and execute business strategies and management priorities.

“My role is less about tangibly executing a particular strategy and more about navigating the company to build consensus and support to achieve end goals we have set.”

Willingness to Take Risks

Chen said she has always been proud of her desire to take the risk to try new things and not be afraid of failing when taking on something new.

“I’ve never been bored. Moving from location to location and taking on different roles is what has kept my experience fresh,” she said, adding that the organization is one where they encourage mobility and are willing to let their employees take the risks inherent in a new role. “They have the confidence to stretch you and develop you further.”

Her desire to learn new things comes from the excitement of seeing the “nervousness because you don’t know what you’re doing replaced by the sense of accomplishment when you master it.”

A Culture That Needs More Women

As she has climbed the career ladder, Chen has noticed an interesting trend among women. They enter the field in equal proportion and many times even grow faster, but then they plateau, whether from family obligations or other forces. “We need more role models at the top levels to help other women see how they can navigate organizations and respond to the tough questions. Sometimes I feel like I’m working in the dark, and having more women would help illuminate the path.”

Chen believes that authentic leadership is more sustainable in the long term but that women need role models to help them determine their own style.

At State Street, Chen has led the regional initiative of winning State Street the nomination by Asian Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC), as one of the 50 leading companies for women; just one of three American companies selected.

While Chen has long been focused on women’s issues, she recently took a leadership role in the State Street’s Women in Leadership program in Asia Pacific. This program focuses on three different yet interconnected initiatives: “Pay it Forward,” a structured mentoring process for younger women that helps them navigate substantive issues; Professional Women’s Network, which focuses on helping female staff build skill sets in areas such as presenting and networking; and a sponsorship program where key female talents are matched with senior executive sponsors to expand their roles and responsibilities. She also works with organizations such as Women’s Foundation in Hong Kong to build broader networks and sponsorship opportunities.

Helping Hands

For a woman to develop a sustainable career, a support network is absolutely critical. Chen says she is fortunate that her husband is sharing half of the family responsibilities and her parents are lending hands to help out.

/by

Both Gender and Personality Play Into Perceptions of Transformative Leadership, and It Seems Women Have a Slight Edge

,

female leaderIs how you’re seen as a team leader impacted by your personality or the fact that you’re a woman? New research helps to understand how both interact when it comes to being perceived as a transformational leader by team members.

According to Finnish researchers Brandt and Edinger, who recently published their findings from an academic setting across 14 years in Gender in Management: An International Journal, sex does indeed matter in leading project teams: “Women tend to be more transformational team leaders than men.”

Five Practices of Transformational Leaders

Transformational leaders have been defined as people who are recognized as “change agents who are good role models, who can create and articulate a clear vision for an organization, who empower followers to meet higher standards, who act in ways that make others want to trust them, and who give meaning to organizational life.”

According to Kouzes and Posner and their book The Leadership Challenge, transformational leadership is based upon “The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” model, measured by the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI).

  • Challenging the Process (Challenging) – such as changing status quo, innovating, risk-taking
  • Inspiring a Shared Vision (Visioning) – such as passionately envisioning a future & enlisting others in common values & vision
  • Enabling others to Act (Enabling) – such as fostering collaboration & trust & strengthening others
  • Modelling the Way (Modelling) – such as leading by example & within organizational values in pursuing goals
  • Encouraging the Heart (Rewarding) – such as sharing in rewards and recognition, celebrating accomplishments

Brandt and Edinger indicate that transformational leadership has been connected in previous research with leadership effectiveness, job satisfaction, and higher motivation; and can enhance team learning, team member empowerment, group cohesiveness, and team performance.

Being Perceived as a Transformational Leader

Researchers Brandt and Edinger studied how personality type (as indicated by Myers Briggs) interacts with sex in impacting how members rate a leader’s transformational leadership capabilities within a team context. Measured within six-week project teams in an academic setting, Visioning was deemed less relevant and removed.

The widely-used MBTI measures personality preferences as: extroversion/ introversion; sensing/ intuition; thinking/ feeling; and judging/ perceiving. With the slight exception of thinking/feeling, personality types have been found to be distributed fairly evenly between the sexes.

Gender: Women Are More Transformational

In general, consistent with other meta-analysis studies, but not every single study, the researchers found women leaders received higher ratings in overall transformational leadership – especially in the behaviors of Modelling, Enabling, and Rewarding.

Women were more likely to practice leading by example, fostering collaboration and strengthening others, and celebrating and recognizing the accomplishments of team members as goals are achieved.

Indeed a 2014 Ketchum global survey ranked “leading by example” as the number one attribute important to great leadership, with 57% of people rating women as outperforming men at this trait, as well as 4 other top attributes including “bringing out the best in others.”

Broadly on gender, previous research by Brandt & Laiho, collecting data from 459 leaders and their subordinates across a 14 year period in different industries, investigated whether men and women with similar personalities act differently. Consistent with social role theory, they found that regardless of personality, women were more Enabling whereas men were more Challenging, rated both by themselves and those reporting to them.

Personality: Extraverted Personalities Are More Transformational

Personality influenced leadership perception for both sexes. Brandt & Edinger found that regardless of sex, “extraverted and judging personality types are more transformational leaders than introverted and perceiving ones.”

Extraverted team leaders were rated more Modelling of behavior, Rewarding of accomplishments, and Challenging of status quo than introverted team leaders. The researchers speculate extraverts may have more ease in stepping into short-term project leading roles, and also have a tendency to focus more on other people and give more positive feedback whereas introverts tend to focus and less on feedback, as they often require less themselves.

Previous research by Brandt & Laiho also confirmed extraverted female leaders were seen as more transformational and rewarding than intraverted ones.

Gender & Personality: Gender Impacts How Personality is Perceived

According to Brandt, “some personality types behave in the same way as a leader despite the gender, whereas some personalities act differently.” This also goes for how they’re perceived. In some cases, men and women with similar personality preferences are viewed differently by their team members as well as subordinates.

Among extravert team leaders, women were rated as more Modelling & Rewarding-oriented than their male counterparts, and so overall more transformational.

Being inclined away from extraversion seemed to penalize men more than women. The research found “introverted, sensing, thinking and perceiving female leaders are regarded as more transformational than men with similar preferences.”

The previous research by Brandt & Laiho also showed many areas in which women were rated as more transformational than men with similar personality preferences. They found, “Intuitive women were more Rewarding and scored higher on overall transformational profile than intuitive men. Thinking women were regarded as being more Enabling than thinking men, and finally, judging women were seen as more Enabling and transformational overall than judging men.”

The research also found that how leaders perceive their behavior (self-appraisal) does not always match up with how those they are leading rate it (appraisal). For example, feeling female female leaders evaluated themselves as more Enabling, but subordinates rated thinking female leaders to be more so.

Addressing Your Transformational Leadership Gaps

While the research in many ways indicates a gender advantage for women when it comes to transformational leadership which is worth taking note of, that’s also a dangerous game to rely on, as it keeps us in the realm of gender expectations and it hasn’t yet played out in outcome when looking at company profiles.

Social awareness in leadership “calls for a heightened sensitivity to how one’s behavior, in words and deeds, impacts others.” For this reason, insight into how your gender and personality combine to play into leadership perception matters.

Perception is ultimately perhaps most interesting as an input into helping chart your own leadership development. One take-away for female leaders is an opportunity to experiment with your behavior, no matter your personality, to grow in action and hence identity as a transformational leader.

For example, based on these findings women leaders who are more introverted might be advised to try out more extroverted behaviors – even if less comfortable – such as visibly giving positive feedback, outwardly rewarding accomplishments, and being visible in how you model the values you espouse.

The researchers suggest that all leaders can benefit by enhancing their self-knowledge: “When leaders know how they are perceived by others, they can address their weaknesses and maximize their strengths.”

/by

That Harvard MBA Won’t Be Enough to Close the Gender Gap

,

women shaking handsThe danger of conventional wisdom is it doesn’t have to be true to influence reality. New research reveals that the gender gaps in career growth between Harvard MBA graduates are not a result of women prioritizing family over career more so than their male peers. Rather, the unspoken assumption they do seems at play in affecting outcomes in their lives.

The “Life and Leadership After HBS” study surveyed 25,000 graduates of the Harvard Business School, majority MBAs, aged 26-67. Marking fifty years since HBS started admitting women to the MBA program, the researchers Ely, Stone, and Ammerman wanted to find out what graduates trained for leadership had to say about their experiences to date with life, work and family.

The study found that, “(All) Harvard MBAs value fulfilling professional and personal lives — yet their ability to realize them has played out very differently according to gender.”

Both male and female graduates marked success early on by career achievement and then both evolved their definition with age and experience to reflect that both profession and personal life mattered to them. Nearly 100% considered quality family and personal relationships highly important.

The researchers found both sexes also equally valued career fulfilment, stating “Their ratings of key dimensions of professional life, such as ‘work that is meaningful and satisfying’ and ‘professional accomplishments,’ were the same, and the majority said that ‘opportunities for career growth and development’ were important to them.” Women actually rated growth and development slightly more than men.

It’s no surprise that high-aptitude Harvard MBA graduates sought both personal and professional fulfilment, but seeking similar things with similar capabilities did not mean that men and women netted similar outcomes.

The Fulfilment Gap

Harvard MBA women did not step back from their career values, but their career opportunities seemed to stepped back from them.

Across three generations of graduates, 50%-60% of men were “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their experiences of meaningful work, professional accomplishments, opportunities for career growth, and compatibility of work and personal life. Across the dimensions, only 40% to 50% of women were as satisfied.

As their lives progressed, women reported feeling underchallenged by the work and responsibilities they found waiting for them, and subtly “mommy-tracked” right off the career ladder. The study revealed that only 11% of HBS women were out of the workforce for full-time child care – and then often because they were stuck in unfulfilling roles with weak prospects, so most Harvard MBA women were not “opting out”. Rather those seeking challenging part-time roles or flexibility found themselves being placed to the periphery as though they were only part-in.

Beyond that, HBS women working full-time were significantly less likely than their male peers to have direct reports, profit-and-loss responsibility, and positions in senior management, showing the gender bias reflected no matter what.

The researchers shared, “The message (to women) that they are no longer considered ‘players’ is communicated in various, sometimes subtle ways: They may have been stigmatized for taking advantage of flex options or reduced schedules, passed over for high-profile assignments, or removed from projects they once led.”

Importantly, 77% of all HBS graduates, and more women than men, believed that prioritizing family over career was the number one obstacle for women’s career advancement. But the researchers voiced with exasperation that different “choices” that would objectively reflect that priority could not explain the gap in leadership.

“We considered not only whether graduates had gone part-time or taken a career break to care for children, but also the number of times they had done so. We asked about common career decisions made to accommodate family responsibilities, such as limiting travel, choosing a more flexible job, slowing down the pace of one’s career, making a lateral move, leaving a job, or declining to work toward a promotion. Women were more likely than men to have made such decisions — but again, none of these factors explained the gender gap in senior management.”

In fact, previous research has demonstrated that even when working mothers overcome doubts about their workplace commitment through “heroic” efforts to visibly demonstrate it to their employers, they face a secondary form of “normative discrimination”. Hyper-committed mothers are perceived to violate the gender norm that they should be prioritizing family over work, and this projects negative attributes on their personality (not the same for hyper-committed fathers), which in turn harms career development. Hence, “efforts on the part of mothers to overcome doubts about their workplace competence do not eliminate discrimination; these efforts just change the mechanism of discrimination.”

It may be the persistence of the belief that women prioritize family over career (or should) that’s truly at play in tapering the career trajectory of Harvard women.

The Expectation Gap

The Harvard research reported, “we found not just achievement and satisfaction gaps between men and women, but a real gap between what women expect as they look ahead to their careers and where they ultimately land.”

Men started out with more traditional expectations, and life mostly satisfied them. 60% of male graduates expected their career to take priority, and that’s what happened 70% of the time. A strong majority of men expected their partner to take primary childcare responsibility, and 86% of the time, they did.

Women, however, launched their careers with stronger expectations that their partnerships would be equal, but reality fell short. Fewer than a quarter of female graduates expected their partner’s career would take priority, but 40% of the time it did. And while only half of women expected to take primary responsibility for raising children, two-thirds ended up doing so.

The researchers reported, “The fact that HBS alumnae are finding themselves in relationships in which their careers are subordinate to their partners’ more often than they anticipated strikes us as meaningful. Our findings indicate that ending up in less-egalitarian partnerships is disappointing—perhaps especially so when a career has stalled.”

Women whose careers and child care responsibilities were seen as equal to their partners felt more satisfied with their career growth than those in traditional arrangements. Tellingly, men in more equal relationships reported lower career satisfaction, likely thrown against their own expectations and gender norms too.

The Guardian lamented, “Somewhat depressingly it seems that we are still in something of a time warp, with the reality of working life for mothers falling far below expectations and ambitions.”

Who needs to Lean in?

The researchers concluded that, “Women are leaning in”. At least when it comes to Harvard MBA graduates, “Women want more meaningful work, more challenging assignments, and more opportunities for career growth. It is now time, as Anne-Marie Slaughter has pointed out, for companies to lean in, in part by considering how they can institutionalize a level playing field for all employees, regardless of gender or caregiver status.”

The study suggests we need to get beyond the conventional wisdom that a “woman’s primary career obstacle is herself” – and the premises hiding underneath it that silently justify brushing women’s career ambitions discreetly under the corporate rug.

Theglasshammer has an organizational consulting arm called Evolved Employer that specializes in helping companies do the necessary work to ensure the future progress of all employees.

/by

7 Ways To Be A Great Mentor for Women

,

women working mentoringCareers today are complex and fast-paced. All of us are continually faced with steep learning curves as we navigate new jobs, new technology, and new global challenges. Beyond this, women must overcome gender stereotypes and negotiate having children during peak career development stages. Great mentors have never been more critical.

In the past, true mentors provided holistic support to their protégés—including instrumental career support, emotional support, and role modeling. Mentors served as sponsors and coaches, protected their protégés politically, and helped them get challenging assignments. All of this is important, but it’s too much for one person to do in today’s demanding workplace.

Reframe the way you think about mentoring and help your protégé do the same. You can and should play an essential part of your protégé’s development, but to succeed she will need a network of mentors, sponsors, coaches, and peers. Instead of helping, you will hurt your protégé if you lead her to believe that you are the only mentor she will need. Explain to her that building relationships is essential for good performance and for getting ahead in the workplace. And the more developmental support she gets the better.

Here are 7 ways to be a great mentor for women:

1. Empower her to lead the conversation.

The best skill you can teach is how to be a good protégé, and a good protégé will take the lead in the relationship. Taking the initiative empowers your protégé to develop leadership skills and take ownership of her career, essential for her long-term success. Thus, as a mentor your role is not to direct the relationship instead your role is to guide your protégé by asking good questions and helping her think through career issues. Discuss goals for the relationship at the outset and be explicit about why you are pushing her to take the lead.

2. Become a sponsor and help her connect with other sponsors.

If you are in a position of influence, think about how to raise your protégé’s visibility. Expose her to the complexities of your role and introduce her to other leaders in positions of power. Raise her name as a high potential candidate for promotion in both formal and informal conversations. It’s notable that women are more willing to ask their managers for stretch assignments with a sponsor behind them.

3. Encourage her to take on challenging assignments.

Succeeding on challenging tasks is how we build self-confidence and self-efficacy, critical for performing in executive roles. Get to know your protégé well enough to help her identify experiences that will grow her skill set. Such high profile projects also serve to build her network, improve her reputation, and prepare her for more responsibility. Help her reflect on these experiences to fully capture the learning and incorporate new skills into her role.

4. Acknowledge gender issues exist.

Your protégé knows that gender may be a factor in her career; it has been a big part of the mainstream media conversation since the publication of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. The issue is to recognize the role of gender and consider how it may or may not impact opportunities at your workplace. A key benefit of women mentoring women is the potential comfort in shared experiences. Be open to this conversation. Ask your protégé if/how gender has influenced her career. As appropriate, share your own experiences and how you coped as examples of resiliency. Help her navigate challenges using your knowledge of the people, processes, and culture of your particular organization.

5. Coach on executive presence.

Appearing and sounding professional are important components of impression management. You can help your protégé understand the unwritten rules, those implicit assumptions that underlie behavioral expectations and what is considered suitable for executives in your workplace. Observations on the wardrobes of high profile women are rampant, and good public speaking skills are crucial for aspiring leaders. Give thoughtful feedback on appropriate attire and presentation style to help women put their best foot forward.

6. Help her identify role models.

With women comprising less than 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs, clearly it is a challenge to identify female role models. Try having your protégé think about what she admires about different executives she’s observed. Consider what her goals are and who you know has strengths in areas she needs to develop. Instead of searching for one perfect role model, people can serve as role models for specific skillsets or managerial styles. Building relationships with both male and female mentors will be essential for her success.

7. Urge her to develop mentoring relationships outside your organization.

Everyone needs an objective sounding board outside of their workplace. Encourage your protégé to discuss her career with people from different companies and from different parts of her life (e.g., industry groups, community). External mentors give perspective and can offer fresh approaches to obstacles because they are not embedded in the organization. Women benefit particularly when they connect with mentors who support their goals both inside and outside of work.

To be a great mentor today requires creativity and the flexibility to adapt your approach to your protégé’s needs. In the process, great mentors learn a lot too.

About the author:

Wendy Marcinkus Murphy is an Associate Professor of Management at Babson College and author of Strategic Relationships at Work: Creating Your Circle of Mentors, Sponsors, and Peers for Success in Business and Life.

by Wendy Marcinkus Murphy

/by