eve-olution newsletter July 2004
Contents
- Statistic of the month
- Book of the month
- Jane Campion – eve-olution's strategic coach
- How can you tell if a company is a great place to work? By Margaret Heffernan, author of 'The female CEO'
- Are women on the edge of a glass cliff?
- Creative female leader programme - NEW research from the US
Statistic of the month
'Back in 1970 women constituted only 1% of women business travellers. That figure now sits at roughly 50%' (Source: Re-imagine, Tom Peters)
Book of the month
Good to great by Jim Collins
Based on years of detailed, empirical research, Jim Collins and his research team have tackled one of the biggest questions in business: What are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to defy gravity and sustain long term superiority? A must read for anybody in a leadership position who is interested in the pursuit of excellence and long term success.
Jane Campion – eve-olution's strategic coach
We're working on the art and science of performance and personal leadership with coach Jane Campion. This month our recorded coaching tip is a power packed for personal well-being and professional success. Call 0870 262 3044 any time for your workout.
How can you tell if a company is a great place to work?
by Margaret Heffernan
When Jennifer Mack, went to hear a presentation from Rolls-Royce, one of her fellow students asked, "What does it take to succeed at the company?" The immediate answer: "Testosterone! Testosterone! Testosterone!".
These students were lucky: they got an honest answer. The female students learned not to apply; the guys knew what they'd encounter if they did.
The question I am most often asked by women is: How can I tell whether a company will be a great place to work – and really is female friendly?
The Great Place to Work Institute maintains that there are common denominators of being happy at work. These are trust, pride and enjoyment; trust that management and co-workers are reliably, fairly and openly informed; pride in one's work and colleagues; enjoyment of both the process and the place. Great places to work are about great cultures.
So what does a great culture do?
- Do you get to meet people at different levels of the organization? Do you meet in an open area? Secrecy militates against trust.
- Do different people give consistent answers to the same question? Are they trying to second-guess what you want to hear? Second-guessing suggests the habit of honesty has faded.
- Are their websites consistent? Rolls Royce US makes a big deal of diversity - but on the UK website it isn't mentioned
- If offered a drink, always accept - and see who goes to get it. You may be told the hierarchy's flat but it isn't that flat if only assistants get the coffee.
- Can you see people like yourself in the top levels of management? If you can't see many women at the top of the organization, don't believe the diversity policies.
- Find out the take-up rate of family policies. In many companies, it never gets above 5% because when everyone believes there's a price to taking family leave, they don't take it.
- Find out about the heroes of the office. Are they the ones pulling all-nighters, averting crises, or scoring the biggest deal? Heroes are containers of value: those who are admired will show you what is admired.
The most gorgeous office I ever had was on the 40th floor of a glass tower, overlooking Boston harbour. But even the most senior people there bickered like children. I'll never forget the evening when we waited past 10 pm to get sign off on a document. My colleague eventually confessed that it was his daughter's birthday; he'd stayed at work for what turned out to be two minutes of face time.
By contrast, when I worked as a copyright clerk in radio in a grimy office, I was surrounded by talented people who treated me with respect and encouragement. Everyone talked to everyone. I look back and notice the absence of any discrimination, harassment or injustice.
In looking at corporate cultures, perhaps the greatest single indicator of all is retention: how long do people stay? In companies with fast staff turnover, no one builds strong relationships? As Robert Putnam put it in Bowling Alone, "for people as for plants, frequent repotting disrupts root systems." In business, the root system is the culture: it's what nourishes the company and makes it grow. It takes time.
Margaret Heffernan's website: www.mheffernan.com
Are women on the edge of a glass cliff?
We have been reading in the newspapers this month about the "glass cliff". We have all heard of the "glass ceiling", but what is the "glass cliff?"
The "glass cliff" is the latest buzzword in the world of management psychology. It identifies a working world where although more women are breaking through the glass ceiling, (the number of female directors on the boards of FTSE 100 companies has risen 20 per cent since January 2003), female executives are more likely than their male counterparts to be promoted into risky, difficult jobs where the chances of failure are high.
Dr Michelle Ryan and Professor Alex Haslam of Exeter University have come up with this phrase in order to counter recent claims that women directors typically spell disaster for big business. Ryan and Haslam decided to look more closely at the role of gender in the management of top companies following an article they saw in the newspapers.
This article they had read reported that those companies who employed female directors under performed relative to the FTSE average. However, those without women tended to out perform relative to the FTSE average. The article had ended "The triumphant march of women into the country's boardrooms has wreaked havoc on companies' performance and share
Ryan and Haslam had grave reservations about this and decided to look into this further. We understand they have taken as their sample the 19FTSE 100 firms which had appointed female directors in 2003, the period discussed in the previous article. They matched those with similar firms which had appointed males to their boards during the same months. They compared the performance of the two matched companies before and after the appointments, and found the opposite of the newspaper's claims to be true.
Ryan is quoted as saying, "The appointment of a woman to the board of directors certainly did not lead to a drop in performance. In fact, the opposite was the case. In that year, when the stock market was performing badly, the appointment of a woman actually saw an upturn in company results. The newspaper article was not wrong - there is a correlation between poor performance and the appointment of women - it just appears they got it the wrong way round. Instead of looking at performance after the appointment they should have looked at the performance beforehand."
The study has concluded that a "glass cliff" has emerged on the career path of many successful women - quite often in times of trouble female directors are brought onto the board. This can provide great opportunities for such women, but may also in some circumstances provide the negative side of a "glass cliff."
"If both women and the people evaluating them know where the glass cliffs are, then women will be appraised much more fairly," says Ryan.
We would also suggest that it is also important for women to be aware of and ask themselves the question, "Is this a "glass cliff” opportunity?" when considering their next career move.
We understand that the Ryan-Haslam findings are soon to be published in the British Journal of Management if you would like to find out more.
Creative female leader
I have just returned from a trip to the States where I went to learn about the concept of genetic determinism and how core beliefs in science are beginning to change. It is my belief that this change will result in a restructuring of human civilisation.
Simply put, there is an emerging understanding that says the expression of life represents an adaption to our perceptions not a random evolution of genetic mechanisms.
In other words – your unconscious mind is programmed from birth by events and other people and finally by your own perceptions which are a direct result of your experiences. If you have been negatively programmed you will get negative results. It is not possible to make changes by 'thinking' alone. This is the reason why top sports people use visualisation techniques and advertisers use flash technology for superior results - they are aware of the powerful influence of the unconscious mind.
The good news is – you can take control of your own programming! To find out how - join me at one of our two remaining programmes this year.
Make quantum advances in every area of your life – guaranteed!