eve-olution newsletter May 2006
Contents
- Statistic of the month
- Book of the month
- Are your senior women missing out? By Tracey Carr
- Public Speaking Engagements 2006
- Creative Female Leader – for your personal development
Statistic of the month
14% of British 34 year-olds cannot count beyond the level expected of a nine year old school pupil. British Cohort Study / Daily Mail
Book of the month
First Things First by Steven Covey
If you are caught up on the hamster wheel - this is your opportunity to get off! Written by the best selling author of 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' Covey describes the importance of leading your life, not just managing your time. A must read for anybody who feels the need for some advice on stress management and leading an effective and well balanced life.
Are your senior women (and by default men) missing out?
...the case for women's leadership development...
The launch of our Gender Intelligence GQ™ programme has taken us down a road of surprise and unexpected discoveries. Essentially, the workshop was designed to engage senior women and men in a dialogue about gender differences in styles of management and leadership. This was at the request of the many hundreds of women who have been through our leadership programmes over the last 4 years.
The surprisingly mixed responses that we have received from those whose opinions we sought have been a learning curve in themselves! In some professions/industries the door was slammed firmly closed: 'No, we don't want to talk about gender here' or as one Investment Bank Director succinctly put it 'We don't do gender' And, I should qualify this by saying that there are always one or two companies who are streets ahead in terms of innovating for diversity and Investment Banking is no exception - for the rest, they have a long way to go. Or as another diversity director said to me, 'they are light years away from real diversity.'
In other industries the reaction was the complete opposite and there was widespread relief that finally we are entering an era where 'difference' may finally be accepted and even nurtured, and those industries/professions are embarking on wide scale awareness training.
If you are a senior female who is working in an industry where gender differences aren't recognised as an advantage to be exploited, and the expectation is for you to continue to be the bloke in the skirt, then we urge you to push for inclusion on a Leadership programme which will teach you differences in negotiation styles and communication and leadership styles as well as board room politics.
From a delegate on one of our March programmes:
'I was encouraged to focus on the difference between how women and men view negotiation to win, i.e. how women tend to be more acquiescing and this is not usually an option for men! I didn't feel I was unsuccessful when negotiating but it made me think about what I do more consciously and enable me to use my natural strengths with more confidence.
I have decided to raise my profile by sending my Staff Manager a regular report on my achievements, as I realised that when I get a result I would feel it enough to know I had done well myself and know I have done a good job, but actually the good jobs don't get noticed - only bad news travels. With this in mind I also applied this to communications within my current project to highlight an area of communication of positive news rather than allow bad news to dominate the airways.
The course helped me to stop and look inwardly at what I do and how others perceive this, I saw I have a lot to offer and should not hide this. Thanks to all for giving me the opportunity to attend this worthwhile course.'
If you are a Diversity Director working in a non-inclusive company then you will know how hard it is to push for change - but that is the nature of our jobs. It is an uphill struggle to change attitudes and ultimately change a culture but we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't believe in it and we wouldn't do it if we wanted to look good. We are employed to rattle the cage - it goes with the territory! Push for internal programmes that teach senior executives the things they need to know and understand. At the very least engage specialist performance coaches who have this knowledge. Make sure that women are not excluded by their own lack of knowledge about 'the game' and some of the subliminal messages and political rules which can mean everything at the top of an organisation.
And, finally, if you are very brave you will suggest to your board that they take our 'Culture Change Tool' profiling to assess their own behaviours as leaders and change agents in the 21st Century. One of our FTSE 100 clients has already made this commitment and is leading the way as an employer of choice for women.
Public Speaking Engagements 2006
We are proud and honoured to have been asked to speak at so many public events this year. The events range from The Mayors Capital Woman Conference where we sat on a panel which included Dame Margaret Prosser to the IOD's Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion Discussion event where Tracey Carr has been asked to speak on a panel which includes senior exectives from Lehman Brothers and Shell.
And, a big thank you to all our clients who have invited us as keynote speakers at their annual conferences. Once again, we are delighted with the diversity of clients that we serve and are looking forward to speaking at the annual conferences of Investment Banks and Retail and Engineering clients and even a Police Service in Dorset!
Creative Female Leader at Farnham Castle
For your personal development
Creative Female Leader - eve-olution's Flagship External programme attended by diverse senior women from Banking, Retail, Police, Investment Banking, Public Sector, Manufacturing, Consulting.
'A great mix of theory and doing... amazed at the speed of improvement... I am in control of my physiology and can make a difference'.