sphinxx news alert  
24 March 2010 | www.sphinxx.com.au   

This week we talk about raising the bar, overcoming SME nerves, how to get involved in that “Big Conversation”, female entrepreneurship and the importance of flexibility, dressing for success, and the Superworking program.

1. YOUR CAREER: Raising the bar and our expectations for women in leadership
2. WORK: Getting stuck, getting inspired, getting there
3. WORK: Sharing stories and overcoming SME nerves
4. LIFE: Dress for success, and share when you’re there
5. LIFE: Getting involved in the “Big Conversation”
6. OFFERS: Register now for Ascend to take advantage of the earlybird special
7. OFFERS: Super offer for Superworking program
8. OFFERS: Snowgoose hamper valued at $70 to giveaway

If you have an idea for a topic we should include in a future news alert, please let us know - we’d love to hear from you!

All the best,

Jen Dalitz
Founder & The SheEO, sphinxx.com.au

YOUR CAREER: Raising the bar and our expectations for women in leadership

Even if you weren’t at last week’s Chief Executive Women luncheon, you might have read about the highs and lows in The Australian, the AFR and Chanticleer. I was there among the throng of men and women and enjoyed reconnecting with many women in my network and hearing from the ever passionate panel chair, Wendy McCarthy and panelist federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick who both set the scene and the challenge in proclaiming that the new ASX guidelines will have achieved their goal when 40% of board directors are women.

The panel discussion and questions from the audience were lively and a highlight for me was in learning about the practical programs that panelist Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the Chief of the Defence Forces, has put in place to increase female representation at the highest levels of the Defence Force. This included creating a Women’s Reference Group, setting long term goals and a plan for increasing the number of women in leadership ranks, and subtly changing the traditional career path for Defence Forcers to better accommodate off-ramping and on-ramping by women. Sharing best practice in this way is - I think - the path forward to realising sustainable change.

But I have to say I was disappointed in panelist Graham Bradley, Chair of Business Council Australia, who predicted the best we can expect from the new ASX guidelines is a doubling of women on boards over 5 years - which means we'd go from 8% to 16% female representation. This is despite women comprising 51% of our population, 57% of commerce and business graduates and 67% of law graduates (both feeder courses for business and boards - and more women than men have graduated in these areas for over 2 decades now), and women controlling 77% of household expenditure decisions. So board composition is neither representative of the gender mix in our communities, our workplaces or our consumer buying patterns. In this context, surely 16% isn’t enough.

Now to be fair, I did approach Graham after the presentation and he explained to a small group gathered around that given the current situation, a 100% increase would still be a good result; but that starting from such a low base, expecting more would be unrealistic and probably unachievable. But who said this was ever going to be easy?

Shouldn’t we raise the bar, nonetheless, and all have our sights clearly set on 40% as the target number? And go all-out towards achieving it?

Having led major change programs in the corporate arena, the one thing I know for sure if that you have to be bold and set your sights high to achieve major change. If anyone knows how tough this challenge is, it’s professional women who are trying to make it to the top. So please, let’s not have the men who comprise 92% of board positions and control 92% of board decisions telling us how hard it would be for them to oversee the change they are in a position to lead.

Australians are tough, resilient and have proven time and time again that we can punch above our weight - on the sports field, in swimming pools, in scientific research and on the battlefield. So surely this is one challenge the business world can achieve, if we are all prepared to raise the bar and set our sights high.

There is no illusion that this will be easy. Achieving 40% female representation on boards - and in executive roles too - requires a collaboration across our communities and needs all of us to raise the bar, and our expectations:

1. Incumbent directors (92% of whom are men in the ASX200) need to lift their expectations of business women and themselves. Yes, there are enough talented women out there to fill these roles, and please don’t tell us you can’t find us - we’re on registers, in community groups and professional bodies, ready, experienced and raring to go!

2. Business women need to raise the bar ourselves, and be ambitious and optimistic in describing our capabilities, experiences and strengths that we will bring to the boardroom table.

3. Headhunters need to take the road less travelled, dig deeper and be bold in guiding boards on selection criteria that will help in attracting women to board positions. Is it really necessary for all board appointments to specify a need for prior board experience? Because I’m sure even men have had a zero baseline of experience in the beginning.

4. Employers need to rise above their current beliefs and stop seeing women as a riskier appointment. They need to make their managers accountable for attracting, developing and retaining women and growing them into future leaders - and this will require training and resources all of which need budgetary funding.

5. Consumers (since women control 77% of household expenditure decisions) need to raise their expectations of business and we need to take a stand against those organisations who aren’t promoting their women and putting them onto boards. The WOB Diversity Index will help you in identifying those businesses who still don’t have any women on their boards, or have only one or two. We have to send a message - with our consumer spend - that this is not good enough; and

6. Investors need to raise the bar on financial performance and gender diversity. We’ve known for a long time that organisations with more women in their leadership ranks produce financial results up to 35% stronger. So even the investment bankers should be able to see there’s an accountability issue here and until women are adequately represented in leadership roles, we’re leaving value on the table.

I’m not suggesting for a minute that any of this is easy. But does that make it right to do only what is? I don’t know, am I on my own here or is anyone behind me? Because if we’re really to make a difference, I think we need to find a way to have one voice on this issue - that’s one voice for men, women, employers, customers and our broader community about need for more women in decision making.

It’s no secret that when it comes to being a successful woman, flexibility is essential. Anyone who’s juggled a company and not given up on maintaining a vibrant fulfilling life of friends, family and partners knows this.

Knowledge Wharton: Innovation and Entrepreneurship just published a great article about female entrepreneurial successes. Not only do you get to read about a couple of great services offered by these brilliant women’s businesses, you also get to learn from their experiences of profitable flexibility; be it changing the product, the sales pipeline or how to engage with critics. Check out the article here.

So many women we hear from have great ideas for a bit of tweaking in the workplace to make it more successful or more female friendly. And I’m willing to bet most of us have faced some strong negative feedback in our careers. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to have experiences and ideas worth sharing, and if you’re feeling inspired by the article a great place to share is in our comments box!

Sharing stories and overcoming SME nerves

I was recently interviewed for an article on the impact of the recession on SMEs and survival strategies. Julianne Dowling interviewed a range of financial consultants and SME owners including Guy Bicknell (owner of Mobius Marketing), Louise Brogan (financial coach), Les Szekely (private business investor and tax lawyer) and Chris Gration (from Veda Advantage).
I was struck that this style of article is exactly the kind of approach we have at sphinxx. If you’ve been to one of our Ascend days, you’ll have seen first hand that we’re all about swapping our experiences and ideas, and learning from leaders in the business community. The article has a range of approaches and insight that are probably not available in just one person’s career.
Click here to check out the article, and if you haven’t already registered for Ascend May click here.

Dress for success and share when you're there

We’re heading into cooler weather, and like many of you I am beginning the reshuffle of my wardrobe that brings the warmer clothes to the front, and retiring my summer staples till next year. And like every time one does a wardrobe re-organise, some items leave for good (probably fewer then should!). Rather then chucking them out or into a charity bin, there is a new more targeted option available for passing them on for maximum benefit.

I ran into a woman called Di Ryall last week, at the CEW lunch. Di founded an organisation that aims to empower women by sharing, in the most basic way. It’s called Dress for Success, and it’s a global organisation with the goal of giving women in need the clothes, and confidence to get ahead.

Di was telling me about how every year we release about 1800 women from Correctional Service facilities, and that these women are not given a clothing pack. This makes it hard to fit back into society, and especially hard to succeed in a new job, or even just a job interview.
I’ve already sent some items through, and encourage you guys to kick your old clothes that way too. Di told me they are desperately in need handbags, of clothes that are size 16 and up, and small shoes (size 6 and smaller).

So if you have clothes, shoes or handbags that are in good condition but you no longer need, get in touch with Di’s team at Dress for Success or call 1800 773 256 and they’ll arrange a pick up for you.

Getting involved in the “Big Conversation”

I just completed the “Big Conversation” - Australia’s first ever national values survey. It took about 15 minutes, and it’s definitely one of the most thought provoking 15-minute experiences floating around the web at the moment. The survey is a list of value words such as creativity, human rights, gender discrimination or collaboration. You select values for different topics such as what are Australia’s values currently, and what would you like them to be as well as what are the values your organisation/company. It really gets you thinking about personal, corporate and national realities and possibilities.

The survey is the first ever national values survey – so if you have thoughts, hopes, complaints, ideas or even just plan to live here for a while, its definitely worth being part of. Click here to do the survey.

Register now for Ascend to take advantage of the earlybird rate

Just a quick reminder to register to attend the May Ascend leadership development series before 16th April to receive the earlybird rate of $345 (after 16th April it will be an extra $100, $445).

For those who are members of the Leadership Program – you can attend for free but you must register online to confirm your place as places are quickly filling up. Click here and register now while places remain.

Super offer for Superworking program

If you live in Sydney or Melbourne, would like to learn how to really work to your full potential and want to do so for 10% off, sphinxx has the offer for you.

At sphinxx, we’ve worked with the Superworking program for a while now. The Superworking program is a 4 day training program that empowers participants to work to their peak potential, and minimise the stress, tiredness and other nasties that come with working hard and well. It’s a very popular program, and definitely a seriously empowering experience.

The upcoming dates are:
Melbourne: 3, 10, 17, 24 May 2010
Sydney: 6, 13, 20, 27 May 2010

Places are filling fast, and if you’re a member of the sphinxx Leadership Program you get a full 10% off the registration price! Sign on to the members only part of the website to find out how.
If you’re not yet a member of the sphinxx Leadership Program, membership offers considerable discounts for a range of services, and our quarterly Ascend conferences are included in your membership.

Snowgoose hamper valued at $70 to giveaway

Don’t forget to post your comments about staying healthy and happy in the workplace to be in the draw to win a Snowgoose hamper. We will be drawing the winner this week - to be in the running post your comments here.