Are you for real?
One of the most rewarding aspects of my sheEO role is interviewing leading women for the sphinxx Take the Lead program. What a gift and privilege it is to hear first hand the experiences and learnings of Australia’s most senior female leaders.
Last Friday I interviewed Margaret Haseltine, GM of the Mars food business in Australia. It made my day! Here is a woman responsible for not only 400 people, but also an entire manufacturing site from procurement through to sales, and what is her advice on leading such a diverse range of operations and teams? Let your personality shine on and into your leadership role.
Margaret herself achieves this through a very deliberate decision to engage and embrace her people, and to inspire them to be the best they can be. Through her open encouragement of emotion at work and her desire to see people grow, she has increased engagement and created an environment where people trust one another and really want to come to work every day.
Which brings me to the point – are you being “you” at work, or have you moulded yourself to fit to some other image of the acceptable norms of leadership? If you are changing your behaviours and concealing your personality and passion, how is this manifesting in your work performance and job satisfaction?
The real you is unique and powerful and perfectly “good enough” to succeed at every level. So ladies, believe in yourself, and shine on.
October 24th, 2007 at 16:29:42
Thank you Jen,
You have provided an opportunity for me to open a circuit on what I call “The perils of normalising!”
It often seems to me that people dress each morning in their corporate finery and with that goes the mask. Although managing to fit is a somewhat unconscious norm, and makes sense to a degree, it can be perilous if the real self is too masked.
It can begin with “How are you, busy?” Response “Yes, you?” I think this is the first in a long line of communications that are not really useful for communicating. What would happen if the response was different, something that created curiosity and real dialogue?
I am currently responding to this question with “No, I am carefully considerate of my every move and I am finding it counter productive to be busy” …This seems to get others to stop and think for a moment, even if only to laugh!
I would love to start a movement of initiating different conversations, those that encourage people to engage …even if only slightly under the mask, a more useful level of communication begins, the real connection becomes a conduit, and the true self begins to shine through.
Jen, thank you for your great work in connecting wonderful women!
October 31st, 2007 at 10:34:50
very refreshing to read your article. too often the qualities of emotion and self expression to enhance communication within the workplace are seen as foreign and threatening.
i suppose it takes a long time to change the habits of hundreds of years, which are to compete and look out for number one, rather than to collaborate.
so often this is done in very subtle ways, and talented people are left on the outer, and made to feel inadequate when they are subtly shut out by people, rather than feeling included.
i come from the world of design/advertising, and only 1% of our management (creative directors) are women. i also work as a teacher in the creative field, and the opinions of men have so much weight and credence, and women are encouraged to maintain a silence for fear of being “annoying, bossy, too dramatic” etc
i would value any suggestions or readings to help me change this
November 3rd, 2007 at 12:04:31
Veronica your points are valid. Under representation in any context often leads to misunderstanding. See my earlier blog titled Emotion at Work for my views on the different-ness of emotions in men and women at work.
My advice is to structure your conversations and suggestions for maximum impact and influence.
To do this I recommend taking negotiation “offline” wherever possible. What do I mean by this? Do as much 1:1 lobbying as possible outside of and in advance of meetings. You will be more likely to influence blokes in a 1:1 situation than in a forum where groupthink can click in and stonewall the view of the “different” voice at the table (in this case, you - the lone female).
Another suggestion is to sharpen your tools, or upskill. Earlier this week I attended a 2-day course run by Michelle Bowden (www.michellebowden.com.au) on presenting and influencing through format and delivery. I really recommend this program if you are looking to get your message across with impact and clarity. It has made a huge difference in my message delivery - I am now able to sell my ideas more effectively, even if it is a message of dissent - which has been my greatest hurdle in the past.
Finally, don’t give up! I am confident that when we have significant representation of women in leadership ranks, our feminine emotions will become more “normal” and therefore more accepted.
So it’s in all our interests that you hang in there! Remind yourself how great a job you are doing - and keep it up!