Managing Partner of The Levin Group
We’ve all heard the statistics….although women make up over half the workforce, less than a quarter of them rise to middle management positions. And fewer than 10% ever claim a seat on their company’s executive committee. These numbers haven’t changed in over a decade, despite the diversity efforts of many organizations.
How do we make sense out of this? What’s the problem? How much of women’s lack of upward mobility is due to corporate culture that favors promotion of those who currently match the demographics of their executive chamber? And what are the parts of the equation over which talented women do wield control and influence?
As a leadership consultant and experienced executive coach, I have worked with hundreds of senior women executives over the past two decades. I know that each of the above questions have merit, and advancing more talented women to the senior level will involve addressing both. And while it’s extremely important that organizations embrace and create a corporate culture that values having diverse teams, our focus here is to look through the lens of what’s under a leader’s own sphere of control and influence. This is where individuals can make the most immediate impact.
There’s interesting and important research emerging from CDR Assessment Group. CDR President Nancy Parsons and her team analyzed assessment results from over 250 male and female leaders in 26 organizations. For those of you not familiar with CDR, they provide excellent assessments that detail one’s leadership style under “normal” conditions as well as predict leaders’ default styles under pressure.
So what did they find? One important finding is that there is no significant difference between the ratings of men and women on measures of overall leadership characteristics. For example, there’s no overall difference between male and female leaders in drive for results, strategic perspective, or ability to work in teams. If you’ve worked with as many senior women leaders as I have, this comes as no surprise. Successful leaders come in all styles.
The one factor differentiating men from women appeared in the assessment that reflects how a leader tends to behave under stress. Under pressure, women were more likely than men to respond to pressure with excessive worry. In the workplace, leaders possessing this characteristic are likely to delay making decisions due to fear of failure or criticism.
Interestingly enough, women in Parsons’ research did not appear more perfectionistic than men, and as a group they did not try to please others more. But they did worry more. And what might be the effect for those of us who possess this “Worrier derailer?” Others may perceive a worrier as indecisive, self-doubting and even lacking courage which are not the sort of behaviors that will lead to a seat on the executive committee, regardless of how smart and technically talented the leader is.
What’s the best course of action for a woman who possesses the Worrier derailer? Here are some steps that have helped my “Worrier” clients:
1. Take a good look in the mirror. If you have this characteristic, so be it. Understand that your worry is likely to be in excess of what many situations call for. If you realize you’re likely to overreact under pressure, you can plan a more adaptive response in advance. One of my clients does advance planning every time she has a meeting scheduled with her very critical boss. She asks herself what he’s likely to react to negatively and mentally rehearses her messages to him. Doing so has diminished his perception that she’s passive and reactive.
Does this mean we can and should be able to eliminate worry? Of course not! Worrisome things do happen. But knowing that you are likely to over-worry can help you anticipate situations where your “Worrier” may be triggered and plan appropriate coping strategies. Remember that this tendency need not define you and your leadership.
2. Manage your arousal. When we are under strong pressure, our biology changes. We move into a “fight or flight” mode; this causes us to create more adrenaline and cortisol. Think of these as the “unhappy neurochemicals” that help us escape actual danger (our biology hasn’t really changed since we had to outrun saber-toothed tigers) but don’t help us react adaptively to most workplace stresses. Recognize when you’re under pressure, take a step back, and intentionally breathe more deeply and slowly. This small step actually helps our body regulate itself out of the excessive worry zone. Find ways of reminding yourself of your competence and plan in advance how you might better address recurring pressures without withdrawing into worry.
3. Embrace the positive. Scientists are finding increasing evidence that when we make the effort to acknowledge, embrace and resonate with the positive events and emotions in our life, we increase our likelihood of success. We make better decisions and we become better leaders. And we diminish the likelihood of being held captive by our derailers and default settings.
The even better news is that we don’t need to experience intense positive emotions to reap these benefits…..what serves us best is to create and keep the habit of acknowledging what we appreciate and what’s going well in our world.
These small changes in self-awareness and behavior can help us stay out of “Worrier” and stay in our most effective leadership behaviors. This, in turn, should help many talented women advance more effectively up the leadership pipeline.
- Copyright 2015, Leading News
Patricia WheelerAcclaimed executive coach ranked in the top twenty consultants in the Leadership 500 and managing partner of The Levin Group. With more than 25 years of coaching and consulting experience, she works with leaders around the world who must innovate and deliver exceptional business results within an environment of rapid change and increasing complexity. An expert on senior leader success, she contributed to the AMA Handbook of Leadership and Coaching for Leadership, Third Edition. Email Patricia today!
Printed by Assessment Advisor with written permission by the copyright owner on 4/14/15.
No comments:
Post a Comment