Leadership training for women is fine, but it’s not enough
I have been working with my colleague Jennifer Morris who has identified a number of “unconscious” qualities that impact the progress of women from middle management into senior executive roles (ie the point at which we lose up to 35% of the female workforce). Up until middle management, women will be promoted for doing a good job…as will men.
From middle management on, she suggests that the game changes, from ‘doing good’, to ‘being seen to be good”. Women continue to play the ‘good girl’ game, while their male counterparts play a ‘being seen’ game – promoting themselves, increasing their profile, lobbying, asking for what they want, playing the politics.
Women find these behaviours (even referring to them as a game) inherently uncomfortable..even grubby…and refuse either consciously or unconsciously to play this game. Yet if women aren’t on the playing field, they will continue to see their often less capable male counterparts pass them by.
Central to her belief is that, unpalatable as it may be, the current reality is that women need to both understand that there is a different game being played, and to play that game. BUT they DON’T need to do it the same way as the men…..women need to work together to find an authentic leadership style that keeps them in the game, but doesn’t go against their personal integrity.
That’s what women-to women mentoring can do and where women’s leadership development programs should focus.
{Acknowledgements to my wise colleague Jennifer Morris, Visit us at www.orijen.com.au to see details of our peer coaching circles in the Australian Public Service.}
