eve-olution newsletter December 2003
Contents
- Seasonal Message
- Three Glass Ceilings
- The Glass Ceiling Concept - thank you
- The Creative Female Leader Programme - Coaching Tips and Master class
- Surrey University Research and eve-olution
- Why women leave successful careers- a male perspective
- Job Interviews
- Safeway's solution to retaining staff
The time has come round again to revisit the Christmas card list, plan the catering, organise the festivities, and buy all the presents - not to mention entertaining the children over the holiday period for those of us with families. Sounds familiar doesn't, and how will you be sharing the burden this year?
All too often it seems to land on the working womens' lap to take on extra commitments - well maybe this year a gentle request may not go amiss for a little assistance - can sharing the joys of Christmas also mean sharing the chores with the boys? You gotta be prepared to give up the turf!
Three Glass Ceilings
Hosted by the Institute of Directors/SEEDA
These informative lectures given were by some of Industry's most prominent and successful women. The seminars were very well attended and included discussion topics such as 'what do companies not do enough of to retain women executives?' and 'how do women get on the inside track of informal decision making?'>
eve-olution were invited to attend to provide further support and information to assist women in becoming more effective and prominent in their places of work.
The Glass Ceiling Concept - thank you
Thank you to everyone who responded to my previous comments about the Glass Ceiling concept and its usefulness as a mental construct for women leaders.
Please continue to email your thoughts to us, as we will be looking at these as part of our ongoing commitment to research in this area
The Creative Female Leader Programme - Coaching Tips and Master class
Many of our readers who have already experienced the power of the 2 day Creative Female Leader seminar have been asking for a next steps follow up opportunity to further develop the distinctions and skills that were highlighted during the course. January 2004 will see the launch of two radically new initiatives:
- eve-olution Monthly Coaching Tips - a free telephone service open to all (line charge 8p/min) giving invaluable insights on current and reoccurring business issues;
- Private Coaching Masterclass, designed to deliver freedom for you to be the leader you now know you can be, on your terms, with massive results!
Further details will be announced in our New Year Newsletter.
New for 2004 - Following on from two highly successful pilot sessions, we are delighted to announce that Fiona Price & Partners will be providing an additional module entitled 'Women and Finance' as a regular feature in CFL programmes next year.
Surrey University and eve-olution
On 26/27 November we were honoured to have in attendance Professor Mark Hart from Surrey University who is currently doing further research into the effects of the glass ceiling. We will be working closely with Professor Hart over the forthcoming year to assist him achieve his objective to move UK businesses on from merely talking about equality and onto taking positive action for measurable and quantifiable results.
Why women are leaving successful careers- a male perspective!
by Lloyd Reynolds, eve-olution
At a time when more women are - finally - being offered places on the boards of FTSE 100 companies (Cranfield report Nov 03), why is there still such a low proportion compared to men? Where do the top women go, and why?
It seems to have very little to do with the traditionally held views that family life takes over (less that 20% of respondents to our recent eve-olution survey stated that family considerations or children were their reasons for considering leaving), but more to do with questions of personal values, job satisfaction and work/life balance.
Only now are companies realising the full impact and cost (both financially and structurally) of distancing so many of their key senior staff by not encouraging them to remain within and continue contributing to the organisation, or recognising, encompassing and supporting their wishes to create a more fairer, open and productive working community.
It seems as if much of the dissatisfaction can be broken down into 3 key stages:
1. Women who do not consider themselves properly equipped or have the self confidence to push through the barriers that are set against them having a greater influence in their place of work, leading to a sense of acceptance of the status quo and despondency.
2. Women who consider themselves perfectly equipped with all the necessary key skills and experience, have leadership drive, vision and enthusiasm but do not see the potential for advancement to the highest levels within the company structure, or are thwarted in their efforts to achieve their ambitions.
I believe many women in this category eventually leave the organisation in search of better prospects or working conditions elsewhere.
3. Women who are fully equipped to succeed further, are offered the opportunity to take the highest offices within the organisation, but who look closely at 'the deal' in terms of what it would cost them personally from a perspective of values conflicts, quality of life considerations (work/life balance) and freedom.
This option loses its attraction to many women, who choose not to push for promotion or go further than they have already progressed, unless they can also influence and affect the overall nature of the demands made upon them. Instead, many women leave the organisations, preferring to join or set up consultancies, often providing the very same expertise and knowledge to the same organisation they have just left.
This frequently results in greater independence and financial rewards for the women concerned, along with a more balanced and richer lifestyle whilst leaving their values intact. Conversely, companies lose out by incurring increased consultancy and recruitment costs, along with greater disruption to its senior management team; they also suffer from the reduced level of female input and representation of their client base and workforce.
Job Interviews
It has been said that for any given job opportunity, men and women approach even the application stage from a completely different perspective.
- Females - If I don't feel confident with 100% of the job description, I won't apply.
- Men - If can't do 10% of the role will apply anyway and expect to carry it through with confidence over experience.
If you were to be interviewing for a senior management position, would you tend to select candidates that simply said they knew they could do it because they had already done it several times before, or, the candidate who would relish a chance to resolve each new situation using initiative, confidence and self belief?
Women need to take the stand for being unstoppable in business, and be responsible for creating their own reality from their imagination... quoting Henry Ford 'whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're absolutely right'
In all there are three types of people: The type who makes things happen, The type who watches what happens, The type who wonders what happens. Which type are you?
A 'Safe way' to hold onto staff
The 85,000 people who work for Safeway have been living with uncertainty since William Morrison set off a battle to acquire its rival in January 2003. However the company says staff turnover has actually fallen by 8% in their stores division during this period, and customer service has improved!
Safeway faced the challenge of maintaining morale within a large workforce by using a series of measures including training, information and incentives, and were surprised to find that their 'Looking to the Future' imitative resulted in a 50% increase in requests for training, and staff report that they would rather have this than any other benefit. (Source: Financial Times 28th November 2003)