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 We would like to pass on our thanks to all who attended "Accentuating Leadership - Female Leaders in the 21st Century" co-hosted with Accenture on Thursday 14th July 2011. Following on from the success of our previous events, this evening event filled up very quickly with all places being booked within three hours of the email invitation being sent out. Special thanks go to Accenture for kindly hosting the event with us, to our keynote speaker Angela Peacock, Chair of the People Development Team and to our Q&A panellists Bojana Bellamy - Director of Data Privacy at Accenture, Liv Sandbaek - Managing Director for Accenture Technology and Nikki Walker - Senior Director of Inclusion, Diversity & Sustainability, European Markets at Cisco.
The event was chaired by Maggie Berry, Managing Director at womenintechnology.co.uk
Angela Peacock was our keynote speaker whose knowledgeable, upfront and pragmatic approach captivated the audience.
Key points from her talk included:
- A gender balanced workforce is not automatically good for business.
- In our brains we have a conscious and unconscious ‘filing cabinets’.
- We have no control over our subconscious and sometimes our subconscious can interfere with your conscious actions.
- We don’t notice the damage that negative micro behaviours are doing over time they erode self-esteem and self worth and affect women in business.
- An example of benevolent bias – “I am going to make a decision for you my dear” – e.g. two colleagues (one woman, one man), both with two children and both have experienced a loss of a parent in the last six months – one of them needs to go to Singapore on urgent business tomorrow. Who does the boss send? Invariably the man as they assume the man won’t go flaky whilst abroad and that he’s better at handling his emotions. While he’s there he’ll network, gain more contacts, increase his experience and competency and when it comes to the next round of promotions, he’ll get a step up. The woman won’t – but the problem is, her boss didn’t even ask her if she would be okay to go to Singapore at 24 hours notice – he didn’t even have the conversation with her.
- A 21st century leader needs to be open, trusted and able to look at their own vulnerabilities.
- The solution to increasing the representation of females in business isn’t just to fix the women.
What women in business can do to succeed:
- Wise up – open your eyes to talent management programmes.
- Reach out – in all directions.
- Help three other women up the career ladder (if you don’t, you’re part of the problem yourself).
- Be visible – get yourself on high profile projects and talk them up. Successful women are clever about what they do and the projects they work on.
- Know your elevator pitch – it should include the biggest and greatest project you’ve worked on, the current project you’re working on and how it’s delivering value, something about who you are and look excited when you’re delivering it!
- Get a mentor – ideally two. They don’t have to be official mentors – they could be someone you have a coffee with three times a year.
- Get a boss who’s on the way up in their own career.
- Recognise bias against you and raise your ’umbrella’ against it. Make the people who are biased against you, your friend.
- Challenge bias when you see it.
Angela's presentation was followed by a lively and interactive Q&A session which included Angela herself, Bojana Bellamy, Director of Data Privacy at Accenture, Liv Sandbaek, Managing Director for Accenture Technology, and Nikki Walker, Senior Director of Inclusion, Diversity & Sustainability, European Markets at Cisco.
The panel answered a number of different questions about how to identify and hone leadership skills and this is some of the advice they shared:
- Selective vulnerability can be good for leaders – it’s a relief for some men that they don’t need be a perfect leader.
- Challenge men to be more vulnerable.
- A leader gets their team to do things without being pushed; is supportive of other people and pulls people along with them.
- We want to follow genuine people.
- Could you have a leader who’s an introvert? It can be challenging to be an introvert and to be a leader as leaders need to be visible and to network. But leaders need to be authentic and there is benefit from an introverted leader. They can learn to do smart things – e.g. use video clips in presentations, rehearse a joke to use in a speech, invite dialogue earlier on in a session and have a set of questions to use at networking events.
- You must be good at ‘something’ to be a leader.
- Highly professional people are aware of themselves.
- A sign of a strong leader is someone who’s prepared to ask for help and they hire people with skills they don’t have.
- Flexible working – it’s okay to ‘cruise’ in your career for a few years when you have children but remember that it will take longer to get promoted.
- Women shouldn’t put so much pressure on themselves.
- Seek out women who are supportive – avoid anyone with the attitude of “I got here by myself so why should I help you”.
- It’s important to have sponsors.
- When men interview men, they interview them for their future role.
- When men interview women, they interview them about their current experience.
- Know what your demons are – you need to know what’s at your core and what frightens you, understand it and conqueror it.
- Don’t spend too much time trying to change men with a prejudice.
- Stop being a victim – the only person who can change your situation is you.
- Choose a new boss or manager wisely - look at their history and see what’s happened before.
We continue to work with Accenture who are committed to developing and retaining their female talent and if you are currently looking for an IT job, you can check out their live job vacancies here. |
