Forster N. - Maximum performance (2005)(en)

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crucial skills for leaders in general. She believes that the better male leaders and managers also exhibit these skills, and suggests,

Successful leaders have some really noteworthy characteristics: they are good team leaders, they are empathetic, they really care about their people, they paint a vision for the future that they can then convey to their people, and they are able to get the right balance between the interests of their customers, their staff and their shareholders. It seems to me that these are characteristics that typify both successful men and women.

(Cited by Maley, 1998)

Elsewhere, there are other signs of change. Research on international managers has shown that traditional ‘male’ skills, such as technical competence and business acumen, now need to be complemented by ‘softer’ skills such as cultural sensitivity, multi-tasking skills, networking abilities and excellent communication skills, traditionally ‘female’ qualities. Recent research has indicated that women have superior skills in these areas (Forster, 1999, 2000c). This suggests that it makes good commercial sense for companies to target more women for international assignments, regardless of any legal, ethical or moral considerations.

In conclusion, the evidence presented in this section indicates that successful leaders and managers combine personal qualities, attributes, competencies and skills that encompass both ‘male’ and ‘female’ dimensions. While the debate over the differences between their leadership styles will continue for a long time, there are signs of a convergence of leadership and management styles, particularly amongst Generation X, and even more so amongst Generation Y (Turnbull, 1996). If you still feel uncomfortable about this idea, three quotations from Chapter 1 are reproduced below, with a subtle change made to two of these. How would you now describe the leadership styles described in these? Are they ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’?

Leaders should have clean hands, warm hearts and cool minds.

She knew that true leadership is often realized by exerting quiet and subtle influence on a day to day basis, by frequently seeing followers and other people face to face. She treated everyone with the same courtesy and respect, whether they were kings or commoners. She lifted people out of their everyday selves and into a higher level of performance, achievement and awareness. She obtained extraordinary results from ordinary people by instilling purpose in their endeavours. She was civil, open, tolerant and fair and she maintained a respect for the dignity of all people at all times.

Because leadership is an action, not a position or title, women need to learn when to lead and when to follow. If you try to lead all day, every day – you will fail. Women need to understand that leadership and followership is a dynamic relationship, based on the situations that people are facing. In fact, leadership is a gift, given to women by their followers.

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Strategies for gaining power and influence

Don’t be attractive. Don’t be smart. Don’t be assertive. Pretend you’re not a woman. Don’t be single. Don’t be a mom. Don’t be a divorcee.

(A woman executive’s advice to women aspiring to senior management positions, cited in Ragins, 1998)

At the beginning of this chapter we saw that women have made remarkable advances in many professions, occupations and organizations in recent years. However, many still encounter unconscious and conscious discrimination, and there is some way to go before they will achieve true parity with men. For this reason, women (like men) may also have some unlearning to do. As Kirner and Rayner have suggested:

One of the greatest mistakes that women can make is to assume that good intentions and hard work will be rewarded. They won’t. You need power to make a difference. To claim power and make it work properly, women need the right tools and the skills to use them. Women need power over themselves and their circumstances. They need the power to influence others and the power to communicate and act as part of a group. Women need to be strong in themselves before they can take other people with them.

(Kirner and Rayner, 1999: 3)

Does this mean that women who are reading this book have to learn dozens of new skills and techniques? No, you don’t, because all the skills and competencies described in Chapters 1–5 are as relevant to women as they are to men. In fact, as you’ll have realized by now, many of these are ‘female’ leadership and people management skills. However, because of the structural, attitudinal and cultural barriers that many women still encounter in organizations, there are a few additional techniques and skills that can be added to your leadership/management tool-kit (developed from Kirner and Rayner, 1999; Sinclair, 1998: 113–28; and Manning and Haddock, 1995).

Self-belief: as we’ve seen, every single time that women have tried to break into male-dominated bastions, they have encountered the same prejudices, the same hostile and irrational behaviour from men and the same ‘justifications’ for being excluded or for being prevented from reaching more senior positions. However, they have also battled through every one of these obstacles and challenges. Time after time after time, women have shown immense bravery, tenacity, intelligence, resolve, commitment and self-belief in the face of some truly appalling and vicious behaviour from men. And, as we have seen in this chapter, they continue to win through – and so can you.

Expect to be tested if you are working in male-dominated environments, but try not to take this personally because the men who do this

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are not intelligent or aware enough to know any better. You might get angry with them for short periods of time, but remember that they will be ignorant for the rest of their lives, unless they change. Be dogged, persistent and professional at all times. Have a reputation for reliability and develop a good track record at work: ‘the less glamorous alternative to charisma’, as Amanda Sinclair has aptly described it (1998: 118). If you prepare thoroughly for everything, there is less chance that you will slip up or be shown up. Try to become a more ‘hardy personality’ and use the self-affirmation principles described in Chapter 2. Try to develop an essential leadership quality we identified in Chapter 1, the ability to learn from your mistakes. Last, recall the advice given by Dr Penny Flett in Chapter 1:

Even if you are working in the worst organization or the worst business in the world, always strive to be excellent in your sphere of influence, and always do the very best you can for the people who work for you. Always be positive and support your people. You will find that if you leave one organization and move to a better one, many of your best people will want to come and work for you in your new position.

A clear sense of purpose and personal values: if you completed Exercise 2.2, you should already have a good sense of your life-goals, but don’t forget to review where you are going at regular intervals (and why). You should also try to develop a clear set of personal values and ethical principles that will govern what you will and will not do within an organization (please refer to Chapter 12 for a more detailed discussion of leadership and business ethics). Understand the different levels of power: power over yourself (self-awareness and self-belief); personal, expert and positional power (Chapter 7); the power to motivate and inspire others (Chapter 4); the power to influence others through communication (Chapter 3); and the power that can be used to influence a group or team (Chapter 5). This also means not being afraid of using power in a coercive way – if the situation demands it.

There is a saying, ‘Where power is, women are not’. Women must be willing to be powerful. Because we bear scars from the way men have used their power over us, women often want no part of power.

(Attributed to Petra Kelly)

Build alliances and network, network, network: try to do this with both men and women (including those you may be mentoring). Men are not all cast from the same mould. If they’re on your side, cultivate their support and friendship and ask them for help if you need it. Don’t assume that other ‘Alpha’ women are going to be on your side, particularly if they are competing with you for a small number of senior positions in an organization. As we have seen, women are just as capable as men of being fiercely competitive and aggressive; and some will

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this information if you have to deal with discrimination or sexual harassment at work.

Deal assertively with discrimination and harassment: in North America, European EEC countries, non-EEC Scandinavian countries and Australasia, both are illegal. Discrimination means that someone is either treated less favourably than someone else or excluded on the basis of their gender (or race, culture and so forth). Sexual harassment is any unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature. This can come in many forms: in words, gestures, acts, touching, jokes, emails, personal remarks, direct requests for sexual favours, teasing and so forth. How can you know when something becomes ‘harassment’? Kirner and Rayner suggest this benchmark, ‘Whether it was meant to or not, and whether it was aimed at you specifically or not, if the conduct is of a kind that makes you feel insulted, intimidated or offended – and if a reasonable person would, in the circumstances, expect you to feel that way – it’s sexual harassment and it’s illegal’ (Kirner and Rayner, 1999: 173).

How can you deal with this kind of behaviour? First, try to maintain your sense of humour (see below). Second, don’t try to deal with this on your own. Discuss it with friends outside work or in confidence with your mentor, if you have one. Third, stand up for your rights and complain initially to the person who is doing it. Most men are often quite unaware that they may have caused offence and very surprised when accused of this kind of behaviour. Explain to them how you feel about it and why it is unwelcome. If the behaviour repeats itself, Kirner and Rayner (1999: 179) suggest that the following response can be very effective: ‘Did you know that harassment was illegal? Do you talk like that to boys too? I’m here to do my job and you’re not helping.’ If this fails, report it to your superior or your equal opportunity/grievance officer or your union representative. You may be labelled as a troublemaker or face further harassment as a result, but if you don’t stand up to this, you will be sending a signal that inappropriate behaviour is OK. It will also show that you are acquiescing in this and, in turn, this might invite even more harassment. Remember that sexual harassment is just another form of bullying and, as we saw in Chapter 1, this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable (and bad for business). If the harassment is really crude, get away from the situation quickly. If it can’t be dealt with internally (as may still be the case), you may have to make a complaint to the statutory anti-discrimination or equal opportunity authorities in your state, county or country. If you do this, find a lawyer or attorney who knows this area of litigation well, and try to do it with co-workers who might be in the same situation. However, this is a last resort and carries many risks. As Kirner and Rayner observe:

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It takes courage, or desperation, to claim these rights and certainly to use legal remedies. You must be prepared to defend charges that you are incompetent, dishonest, potty or emotionally unstable. You might be told that you should feel guilt and accept blame for any detriment you have suffered. You might be challenged under cross-examination and have your private life and beliefs scrutinised; there could be challenges to your memory and character; there could be pressures of financial loss, delays, humiliation, rebuffs, and long silent questioning looks from your family (especially your children) and friends, who might believe you have become obsessed. Don’t destroy your happiness for the cause of all women. You need to decide whether it’s the right choice for you to make. But those who do make that decision deserve our thanks. They are doing it for all of us.

(Kirner and Rayner, 1999: 184)

Try to balance work and family responsibilities: if possible, this means identifying and working for those companies and organizations that have family-friendly employment policies. In organizations that still choose to ignore these issues, it means clearly defining your boundaries and making it clear to your colleagues where these boundaries lie. This is not an easy thing to do, but refer back to Chapter 2 for some tips on achieving this and to Chapter 4 if you need to justify the introduction of family-friendly employment policies in your organization.

Maintain your sense of humour: in Chapter 1, we saw that this can be a powerful leadership tool, and also can be very effective when dealing with both toxic personalities and male chauvinists. However, this doesn’t mean that you should just ‘laugh off’ disrespectful attitudes, harassing jokes or inappropriate behaviour.

Hard work is one thing, but desperate struggle is a warning that your strategies are up the spout. It is absolutely essential to have some fun. Maintain your sense of humour, share it with your friends and allies and use against your enemy if you will. It’s a potent weapon.

Q. ‘What’s the difference between Joan Kirner and a rottweiler?’ A. ‘The rottweiler doesn’t wear lipstick.’

(Joan Kirner and Moira Rayner, The Women’s Power Handbook, 1999)

Better big in the backside than bullshit for brains.

(The one-line retort of Australian Federal Minister, Amanda Vanstone, after a male political opponent made some unflattering comments about her physical appearance, cited by Stewart, 2002)

Create your own one-liners. Kirner and Rayner quote some good ones from a book by Annie Cowling, Breaking New Ground: A Manual for Survival for Women Entering Non-Traditional Jobs. Here are a few adapted versions of these, which may need to be used with care:

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Q. ‘Why do you want to be a fire fighter/pilot/oil-rig worker [etc]?’ A. ‘Why do you?’ Or ‘Because it’s a challenging, rewarding, wellpaid [etc] job’. Or ‘Because my brother decided to be a nurse/fash-

ion designer/hairdresser [etc].’

Q. ‘Do you think you’ll have problems working with men, dear?’ A. ‘No. Do you?’

Q. ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’

A. ‘Why? Do you need one?’

Q. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you talk/look/think/act like a man?’

A. ‘No. Has anyone ever told you that?’

Q. ‘Why are you doing a man’s job?’

A. ‘He didn’t seem to mind.’ Or ‘He knew I’d do a good job.’

Q. ‘Nice dress darling. Did your boyfriend have to spend a lot of money on that?’

A. ‘I was going to ask the same thing about your suit, but thought better of it.’

Stay healthy: become a ‘corporate athlete’, as described in Chapter 2.

Deny denial: women still have some way to go before they achieve true parity with men in all professions, occupations and organizations. Furthermore, women in western industrialized countries have only gained the freedom and independence they now enjoy because other women fought, struggled and even died in the past to win these. Pretending that this situation does not exist or trying to be one of the boys isn’t going to help you or other women. It is also worth remembering that millions of women, particularly in non-industrialized countries, are still effectively living in the dark ages, as far as equality of opportunity goes. In some Muslim societies, men still have the right to kill their female relatives for social ‘transgressions’; women can be beaten to death for ‘stepping out of line’ (such as exposing any part of their body or talking to a non-family male in public). In Africa, several hundred young girls are still forcibly circumcised every week. It took until May 2003 for the Indian National Assembly to pass laws to prosecute men who beat or raped their wives: this in a country that has a rapidly growing, affluent and well-educated professional middle class. These three examples indicate that, for most women, in most countries of the world, the struggle for true equality has only just begun.

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Changing organizations

We’ve seen that, while gender stereotypes rest on shaky foundations, and bear very little relationship to what men and women really are, they still have a powerful influence on the way that many men (and some women) think about issues like equal opportunities, discrimination and sexual harassment. This means that creating an organization where structural, attitudinal and cultural barriers no longer exist can be a long-drawn-out and painful process. Typically, organizations that are trying to create parity for women employees have to go through four developmental stages (adapted from Sinclair, 1998).

Stage 1: denial

The issue does not register as even a blip on the organization’s radar. The absence of women in management positions is not regarded as a problem or a core business issue. Typical (male) rationalizations at this stage will include ‘We don’t employ women here because they don’t want to do this kind of work, they are incapable of doing this kind of work, they are less rational than men, not as intelligent, not as strong/aggressive/hard as men, will leave to have babies after we have trained them blah-blah-blah . . .’

Stage 2: the problem is women

Rationalizations holding women back at this stage will continue to include ‘Women are incapable of being a senior manager, because they are less rational than men, not as intelligent, not strong/ aggressive/hard enough, will leave to have babies after we have trained them/not come back after maternity leave; if women want to get into senior positions, they should manage like men . . .’ Other rationalizations at this stage will include ‘Women lack senior management experience’, rather than asking, ‘Where can we find women with the potential to succeed at senior management levels?’

Stage 3: incremental adjustment

There is a growing recognition that ‘gender’ and ‘diversity’ may be problems that need addressing. The organization will obey the letter, if the not the spirit, of legal regulations covering equal pay and discrimination. Some efforts may be made to promote women’s interests in other ways by, for example, introducing minimum quotas for women

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in selection and recruitment procedures. Equality audits may be conducted to assess the nature and size of ‘the problem’. Typical rationalizations at this stage will include ‘We operate on meriocratic principles. If they’re good enough, they’ll get promoted to the top jobs’, rather than ‘Why don’t women apply for senior positions?’ Or ‘Do our promotion systems discriminate against women or discourage them from applying for senior positions?’ Or ‘Well, if they want to have the top jobs, they can’t buzz-off at 5.00 to look after the kids’, rather than ‘How can we make our employment policies more family-friendly?’

Stage 4: commitment to a new organizational culture

The organization recognizes that a fundamental mind shift is required to remove any remaining attitudinal, structural and cultural barriers that are still impeding women. There is recognition, at the most senior levels, that this will be good for the organization’s overall performance, productivity and profitability. Specific targets are set for recruiting women to the organization and, once employed, promoting them within the organization. There is a shift from ‘equality’ to ‘parity’, where the needs of men and women are seen as being different, but of equal importance. Conscious efforts are made to build equity principles into recruitment policies, employee induction processes, staff development exercises and promotion policies. Flexible employment policies recognize that employees may have partners and children and are family-friendly.6 Rationalizations for excluding women from full participation are now a thing of the past.

The end objective of this process is to create what Michael Simmons has called ‘inclusive organizations’. This implies a style of leadership that is able to look above and beyond stereotypical attitudes about men and women and create organizational cultures that are ‘capable of harnessing the intelligence, creativity and initiative of people at all levels, especially those who have been traditionally excluded [and which] reaches beyond equality to an organization where there are no boundaries or limitations placed on anyone’ (Simmons, 1996: x).

This requires, as with all change management initiatives, a strong commitment from the top of the organization. Then it becomes possible to create an organizational culture that emphasizes women’s needs and issues on a daily basis – not as an abstract ‘personnel’ or ‘women’s’ issue. A balance between work and family responsibilities would also be encouraged. In Chapter 4, we saw that companies who do help staff balance their work and home life have a strategic advantage over their competitors through the increased well-being, commitment, motivation

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and productivity of all of their employees. It can also mean taking other initiatives. For example, Hewlett-Packard Australia, who had been concerned for some time about the lack of female engineers (and other minorities) joining the company, established and created a female Chair in Engineering at Melbourne University in March 1999, and introduced a company-wide initiative to encourage more women into engineering and IT positions during 2002.

The sheer number of younger women entering the workplace means that any company which really values its future has to do more than pay lip service to the rhetoric of equal opportunities. If it doesn’t, it can never realize its full potential. Women under 40 will simply not tolerate being treated as second-class citizens by men in organizations. And recall that thousands of very able women have been voting with their feet and have moved into self-employment in large numbers over the last decade. This means that many organizations have lost a lot of entrepreneurial talent in recent years, while at the same time trying to become more intrapreneurial. This is a trend that should be a major cause of concern for all employers who want to recruit and retain the best and brightest employees now and in the future.

Conclusion

Ending discrimination against women and promoting true parity requires initiatives from both outside and inside organizations. It is not simply a question of women just ‘going for it’, as some high-flying women have suggested. History is littered with thousands of examples of women who have suffered enormously while trying to go it alone in male-dominated organizations. However, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic because there are many encouraging signs of genuine change, particularly amongst younger people. So where can we go from here, as men and women and as leaders and managers? Four suggestions have been made in this chapter.

Discrimination against women is bad for business

We now live in a global economy, characterized by increasing job mobility between countries, perpetual change and rapid technological innovation. The management of intellectual capital and knowledge is becoming the primary driver of organizational success and adaptability. If your business can’t recruit and retain the very best talent, regardless of gender (or skin colour), it is your organization’s performance, productivity and profitability that will suffer in the future. There is abundant evidence, from Fortune surveys over the last decade and from country-specific research on Employers of Choice, that the