Members can register for this or another upcoming FountainBlue event using this link now!
FountainBlue's
"When She Speaks" Women
in Leadership Series Notes
FountainBlue's When She
Speaks was launched in May 2006 and provides ongoing networking and
program
benefits for 40-200 high tech women and
men-who-support-having-women-in-leadership positions across Silicon
Valley and
beyond. Our monthly events are held on the second Fridays of the month,
from
11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at high tech companies across the valley.
Every month,
we profile a panel of women senior executives in high tech companies
speaking
on a range of leadership challenges and issues for Silicon Valley high
tech
women in particular. Our series is designed to celebrate women leaders
in
Silicon Valley, stimulate critical thinking and conversation around
leadership
challenges and issues, empower and inspire all participants, including
the next
generation of leaders, and build a proactive, collaborative and
supportive
leadership community overall. Please see below for conditions for sharing these notes with your network.
Copyright
Notice
Our notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue for
2006-2012, and shared with permission from our speakers, hosts and community. Please do not forward to others outside the attendee list or without
prior permission.
Members can register for this event by visiting http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org. Partners and Non-Members can register for this event, or sign up for ongoing membership plus event admission using the PayPal payment option below.
FountainBlue's January 20 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series event was on the topic of Expanding Your Circle of Influence,
With or Without Direct Authority and featured:
Facilitator Camille Smith,
President and Founder, Work In Progress Coaching
Panelist Claudia Galvan, Lead
International Program Management Group, Microsoft Corporation
Panelist Amy Love, Vice
President Brand Communications, NetApp
Panelist Kristi McGee, Principal
Consultant with Office of the CIO and acting Director of Business Applications,
Rambus Inc.
Please join us in thanking our speakers for taking the
time to share their advice and thoughts and to our gracious hosts at NetApp.
Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have such inspiring and experienced
speakers with a wealth of information and tips on how to influence in a
corporate setting as well as in an entrepreneurial setting, how to influence
with or without authority, how to do it well, and what to learn when it doesn't
go so well.
They shared their wisdom about the importance of
influencing others, and how it is integral to getting business results. Whether
they were currently in engineering or marketing or IT or product management,
they agreed that influence is a key to successful communication and management,
and consistently emphasized that the focus must be on finding a common ground,
and navigating in a direction that benefits the group, the team, the
organization, rather than focusing on the needs or desires or egos of specific
people.
The panel agreed that influence is more about listening
than about speaking. It is also about the golden rule - building relationships
and treating others with respect. It is also about making commitments and
delivering on those commitments, but the relationships, respect and trust are
even more important than consistently delivering results. For if you delivered
results but others don't feel heard or don't trust you, you will be less likely
to get opportunities to continue delivering results.
They encouraged us to be clear in the purpose, strategic
in aligning others toward that common purpose, passionate in communicating,
motivating throughout the journey, persistent and resilient in the execution,
despite resistance, and open-minded in considering when that purpose must
shift, to best address the interests of all involved. This is not small task,
but it becomes easier if we can think from the lens of influence rather than
coercion through authority, and do that by building relationships and taking
the time to understand the interests and motivations of those you work with and
focus conversations on the data to support the shared goal as it will help make
things less personal and speak to the more logical, less emotive side of
others, while focusing on delivering measurable results.
The panel concurred that where there are people, there
will be politics, and provided specific tips, including:
When you encounter resistance, open-mindedly
drill down into who is resisting, why she/he is resisting, and find a common
ground to bring her/him in alignment, or at least make him/her feel heard.
Having a sense of humor can help build trust,
relationships and community, and help people feel better connected.
Know your strengths and your weaknesses and
delegate your areas of need to those who might have more skills, experience or
passion in that area.
Make the time commitment to maintain your
network and your circle of influence, even when you don't need something from
someone right now. Keeping your own network alive and well will not only help
you, it will support the overall ecosystem of relationships between quality
people.
Expanding your circle of influence involves
taking measured risk for specific purposes.
It's not so much about gender differences, but
more about communication styles, but in general, women are more intuitive and
men may be more data-driven and detail-oriented and may need more detailed
explanations about why plan A is better than plan B.
Work with your company to align incentives and
rewards around a corporate direction and time your communications with
compensation plan updates.
To be effective as a 'virtual influencer'
(working with global teams), find a way to speak virtually over Skype or other
video communication options where you can see a face *and* hear a voice.
Also try re-stating and repeating what you heard to confirm the communication,
particularly when you speak different primary languages.
It was truly inspiring when our panel suggested that we
can all, as leaders, work for a larger cause, a greater good, beyond the
immediate need. For example, they mentioned that if the enemy of influence is
self-preservation, as a leader, we must watch to ensure that the needs of the
greater group are more important than our own personal needs, and that those
who approach us with requests are also putting the needs of the larger group in
front of their own personal gain. Another example is when they said to make a
stand not just for yourself, not just for your team, not just for your
organization, but for fairness - to ensure that those who may not be around the
table also get their fair share, because it's the right thing to do.
We conclude by saying that influencing is analogous to
being a rider on an elephant's back. If you'd like to influence its direction,
be clear on where you want to go, and know what motivates the elephant and how
to communicate that this direction is also in her/his best interest, and
motivating her/him throughout the journey, and beyond.
Panelist Elisa Jagerson, Founder
and CEO, Speck Design
Panelist Leila Pourhashemi, Director,
Technical Services, PayPal, an eBay company
Please join us in thanking our speakers for taking the
time to share their advice and thoughts and to eBay for hosting us. Below are
notes from the conversation.
Whether our panelists represented a household-name tech
company or an emerging start-up, were part of an executive team or the CEO,
they had many traits in common:
They consistently and consciously embraced
change, and are often times the instigators for change.
The change they advocated was always in a
forward direction, for themselves, for their teams, for their organizations,
for their industry.
If change did not happen in a productive way,
they found a way around, through, across and over the obstacles.
They made a business case for each change, and
worked with all the stakeholders so that they can embrace that change.
They are authentic and human. It's not that they
never had self-limiting beliefs, but they focused on pushing past that; it's
not that they've always succeeded, it's that they keep growing and learning
from every experience.
They each knew their 'walking points', junctures
in their lives and careers where they made a conscious choice in a new
direction for a strategic reason.
With all that said, leading change is never easy,
particularly at a time when standing still and being complacent, something that
previously worked for some, can be a death sentence now. Below is advice our
panelists shared about how to embrace change:
Accept change as a way of life, the real
constant, and learn from every change.
Lead change in a direction which makes sense
strategically for yourself, your team, your organization, your industry.
Leverage your strengths and relationships to
make changes stick, to show the results of change, to continue to drive change
and build engagement around it.
Embrace change especially when it's
uncomfortable. There may be many more advancement opportunities during a
down-turn or a downsizing than during a time of rapid growth for the company or
in the economy overall.
See the opportunity in every change, and the
changes with each opportunity.
Change is a given, but misery is optional, so
it's how you look at change and manage it.
The constants of love, relationship, intimacy,
community, the need for money will always be there, even if the tools, the
environment and methodologies may change rapidly.
As change accelerates, focus on the view from
the customer and provide products and services which serve their current and
anticipated needs.
Lean forward toward your passion.
Drive efficient, measurable results and convince
others it's in their best interest to do so.
Find the sweet spot where innovation, business
and technology intersect, and develop practical and sustainable ways to deliver
quality products and services to your customers.
Be strategic about what you do for whom (your
prioritized customer base), and get feedback on your plan from trusted,
knowledgeable others.
Embrace and learn from failures, for success is
the enemy of change.
It is far easier to embrace change that you
create, than change imposed on you by others, but it may be better for all to
do the latter.
Listen to your customers about any changes they
may request with your products or services and take the time to understand why
they have these specific requests or needs.
Our panelists had the following predictions about
technology trends, and invite us to think about the implications of these
trends on ourselves and our organizations.
There will be many more touch screens used in so
many different ways, and cursors and keyboards may be less prominent.
There will be ever-increasing demands for immediate
response to customized needs, leveraging software and devices.
Users will be more demanding, and those who
consider what the user experiences and how to best serve the user's comfort,
interests and needs will best succeed.
Users can more quickly engage with trusted
communities in targeted ways.
Entertainment will meet mobile will meet social
media in many ways.
FountainBlue's November 11 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series was on the topic of Tips for Enlarging Your Sandbox: Learn to
play with people who don't act right (like you), and featured:
Facilitator Rossella Derickson, Performance
and Culture Strategist, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Panelist Sabina Burns, Sr.
Director Corporate Marketing, Synopsys
Panelist Monali Jain, Head of
Salesforce.com Engineering at PayPal, eBay
Panelist Natascha Thomson, Sr.
Director, Social Media Audience Marketing, SAP AG
Please join us in thanking our hosts at Synopsys and our speakers
for taking the time to share their advice and thoughts. Below are notes from
the conversation.
We were fortunate to have a wide range of perspectives
and experiences on our panel, representing women from different educational and
cultural backgrounds, from different departments, with different experiences
and skills. But they had many things in common:
They constantly strive to learn and improve and
make things better for themselves and for those around them.
They keep raising the bar for themselves,
electing to feel uncomfortable rather than settling and being complacent.
They are succeeding in ways big and small in
their personal and professional lives.
They are constantly giving back, engaging others
in their networks and creating bigger, broader infrastructure, supporting the
success of more women and men.
They do not shrink from daunting and
intimidating tasks, but always rise up and find a way to create a bigger plan,
a collaborative success, and particularly gravitating to challenging tasks and
groups.
With the qualities above (note how they are all
inter-related and feed upon themselves), it is no wonder that our panelists are
so successful, and poised for further success. Our panelists started by
commenting on why they thought expanding their sandbox, being open to working
with people who did not think and act like you do, was beneficial to themselves
personally and to their organizations. They mentioned factors such as:
Diversity within an organization will fuel
innovation and entrepreneurship.
Seeing
something or someone from another point of view will open you up to new
experiences and new thoughts which may not have occurred to you before.
Embracing the viewpoints of others will help
distribute the successes, the challenges, the recognition. True leaders will
know how to integrate and embrace these varying perspectives for the good of
all.
As we becoming increasingly more global,
embracing the viewpoints of others will help us better serve our markets, our
partners, our staff, our customers.
Those who better embrace the varying
perspectives of others have a more tolerant, more positive, more constructive
outlook on life, which serves them personally and professionally.
They will also have a larger network to rely on
and collaborate with!
Below is some advice they have for those of us interested
in expanding our sandbox.
Be strategic about who you are, clear on what
your brand stands for, which must be in alignment with your personal core
values. You must first know your strengths and weaknesses, your goals and
objectives in order to do so.
Build a support system and network, including
key mentors, who can help you think through and get to where you want to go.
Leverage social media to spread your message,
but manage it carefully to ensure the integrity and consistency of the message.
Dare to show up, to take a leap of faith,
especially when you're feeling uncomfortable. Showing courage despite the fear
is the only way to follow your dreams.
Find a learning in every uncomfortable
situation. Leverage your networks to get the support you need to better ensure
learnings and better position yourself for success.
Know what you're doing and add measurable value
along the way, while you're connecting people from different backgrounds and
mindsets to the cause. Essential to this is the ability to communicate that
value, and engage strategic others to also engage, to best serve common
interests.
Make all parties look good and feel like they've
created a bigger whole together.
Speak the language of your diverse stakeholders,
and know what motivates them before you speak with them.
Learn from your life experiences as much as your
planned career path and challenges.
When you are feeling uncomfortable working with
people who don't think and act like you, manage your emotional response and
bubble up to think through what are you trying to accomplish, what is motivated
all the key stakeholders, and how can you work together for a collaborative
win.
The more impossible things you accomplish, the
hungrier you become for more challenges, and the more likely your management
team will provide them for you. Even if you fail, learn from it, and see it as
a necessary stepping stone to success.
The bottom line is to find something you really enjoy
doing, and then focus on delivering value to the customer and on how you can
work with a diverse team to deliver just that.
FountainBlue's
October 14 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series on the topic Women Leading Innovation, featured:
Facilitator Francine Gordon,
FGordon Group
Panelist Raji Arasu, VP Product
Development, eBay
Panelist Cornelia Davis, Senior
Technologist, Office of the CTO, EMC Corporation
Panelist Linda Holroyd, CEO,
FountainBlue
Panelist Vijaya Kaza, Director
of Engineering, Cisco
Please join us in thanking our speakers for taking the
time to share their advice and thoughts and to EMC for graciously hosting us
for this month's event. Below are notes from the conversation.
Our panelists represented a broad stroke of leaders in
high tech across the valley, all with in-depth experience working with
technologists, management, engineers and other stakeholders. But they had many
things in common:
They have a combination of wisdom and knowledge,
perseverance and strength, leadership and empowerment, and other qualities
which helped them drive results while learning and inspiring.
They are humble about their accomplishments yet
generous with their wisdom and time.
They focus on the problem at hand, and invite
new ways of solving problems which would facilitate innovative approaches and
techniques for themselves, their teams and their organizations.
They are constantly evolving and growing and
pushing their envelope for themselves and for those around them.
They balance their left-brained thinking and
methodology and learning with right-brain creativity and novelty.
They shared their advice and thoughts about what
innovation is and is not:
Innovation is generally not about one right
answer, but an invitation to have many approaches and answers to a pressing
problem.
Innovation is a team sport, better done in a
group, rather than inviting a single hero for every problem.
Innovation does not happen in a silo. People
from different areas, different backgrounds, different industries, etc. will
help add the type of diverse thinking to a team that can help solve problems
through out-of-the-box thinking.
Innovation is not a destination, it's a journey.
So don't get complacent with something you've innovate, but do continue to
iterate and also to innovate.
The quest for innovation is not seeking a
panacea, it's about always understanding and serving the customer.
Innovation is not just about technology, it's
about people, processes, business models.
They also shared their thoughts on what innovators are.
Innovators persevere, overcoming naysayers and
obstacles.
Innovators don't take things personally, but do
take feedback to re-direct their efforts.
Innovators follow rapid-prototyping practices of
failing frequently and quickly and learn through the iterations.
Innovators push their own comfort zones and that
of others, for the good of all.
Innovators are customer-focused, delivering
solutions for customers, rather than creating a technology without a market.
Innovators have failed much more than they've
succeeded, and generally learn more from failures than successes.
Here is their advice for those who want to better
innovate:
Think of yourself both as a problem-solver and
an innovator.
Brand yourself as an innovator, someone who can
be persistent, resilient and creative about delivering results.
Do your homework, but don't expect to have all
the information before you make a decision or take action. Choose an area of
innovation in the intersection of your passion, your skills and the market
need. Instead, follow the 80-20 rule.
Start by solving small problems and
progressively solve larger ones.
Deliver results and communicate those results in
tangible ways.
Lead by example.
Connect the dots and bring people together for
the larger cause.
Recognize the sponsors who give you the
framework, time and money to innovate. Keep them in the loop, and committed to
the cause.
Be proactive in your communications around your
project, especially if it's something not all stakeholders buy into.
Navigate political waters and leverage your
influencing skills so you get the executive support to continue innovating.
Success in innovation is always tied to the
customers/markets, the leadership/people, and the execution (technology
implementation, financing, processes, revenue models, etc.)
The bottom line is that innovation will set you apart, as
a leader, as a team, as an organization, and those who innovate best will build
the most momentum most quickly.
FountainBlue's September 9 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series was on the topic of Women Who Make Their Own Rules, and featured:
Facilitator Roberta LaPorte, RAL
& Associates, Career and Leadership Consultants
Panelist Wendy Wei Liang,
Director, Program Management and Globalization at Oracle
Please join us in
thanking our hosts at Symantec for their support of this event and this series.
Thank you also to our speakers for taking the time to share their advice and
thoughts. Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have a great panel of wise,
experienced and successful women who so candidly shared their challenges, their
advice, their tips about working with rules within and outside a corporate
setting, to benefit all. Despite the differences in backgrounds and
perspectives, one overarching theme of the conversation centered around being
genuine and authentic and self-aware enough to know what you want, why you want
it, and how to get it, working with current circumstances, with current
stakeholders, many of whom are resistant to accepting the involvement and
participation of a woman.!
Another theme centered around perseverance and
resiliency. These women knew exactly what they were attempting to do, and
especially that it will not be an easy task, yet they acted despite the
critics, despite the norms and rules, and achieved results which helped
redefine perceptions, expectations and ambitions for both men and women.
Our panelists agreed that many rules are full of
assumptions, that rules should be treated as guidelines, that successful women
know how to change and bend the rules to achieve better-than-expected results,
that bending the rules sometimes actually makes a bigger, better reality. But
there *are* some guidelines for deciding when and whether to bend and
break a rule and why:
Always honor the Golden Rule - Do unto others
what you would have them do unto you.
Focus on delivering the results, and questions
rules which spell out *how* results should be produced, as they may
actually be (unintentionally) limiting the results you're seeking.
Consider the purpose of the rule from the
perspective of different stakeholders before deciding whether to change or
stretch that rule.
Consider that different rules are important
under different circumstances. New and improved rules and better ways of doing
things may come from the oddest places. Be open to them.
Be suspicious of rules that encourage/reward
complacency, while discouraging initiative and passion. Don't just go through
the motions and follow rules blindly out of habit. It will limit your success,
and that of others around you.
What worked in the past may not work in the
future. What worked for others may not work for you . . . so consider each case
as a separate incident.
With that said, learn from the rule-breakers and
change agents around you. Learn as much from mistakes as from successes!
When looking at who wants/advocates a particular
rule and why, don't focus on ancillary things like gender and culture, but more
about individual and their perspectives and motivations.
If you decide to change a rule, look not just at
how that helps you and others directly, but also the indirect, long-term, and
short-term impact of changing that rule and factor that in as you work to forge
that change.
We
have too many rules, and many of them outlive their purpose and need to be
changed.
However, as different as each of our panelists were,
they each shared secrets about how they had their own style, their own way of
making things work. But each method involved ten key things:
Proactively communicate and function with
authenticity, intelligence, and self-awareness.
At times bend and break rules in a way where all
stakeholders can accept. To do this well, consider the motivations of your
stakeholders.
Value, nurture and build key relationships to
help achieve results,
Expand perspectives by welcoming mentors,
sponsors, advocates and actively engaging in networks,
Possess and project the desire to succeed, with
the track record to support it, and a BHAG at the end of it.
Learn and grow from every experience, good and
bad.
Have the confidence and fortitude to excel and
succeed despite the odds.
Foster a re-questioning and a re-definition of
rules and norms, which open up more possibilities, and better serve all.
Continually
raise the bar for herself and for those who follow.
So breaking, reshaping, bending, stretching, redefining
rules is part of the brand of each of our panelists, and in a *good*
way. When you consider your own brand, think deeply about whether your job is
worth doing - what aspects are and aren't? If it's worth doing, how can you
keep it that way or make it more so, and if not, what can you change to make it
so?
FountainBlue's August 12 When She Speaks,
Women in Leadership Series, on the topic of Politics in the Workplace: The
Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and featured:
Facilitator Karen Mathews, Real
Change Experts
Panelist Sandy Orlando, VP of
Marketing, IP Infusion
Panelist Eileen Sullivan,
Director of IT, Symantec
Panelist Margie Thomas, SR Director,
Services GTM Operations, Cisco
Please join us in
thanking our hosts at LifeScan for their support of this event and this series.
Thank you also to our speakers for taking the time to share their advice and
thoughts. Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have a great panel of wise,
experienced and successful women who were so open to poignantly sharing their
hard-earned wisdom with humor and candor. They make a stand for women
technology leaders, not just in appearing on panels like this, but in their
day-to-day work and interactions, with every relationship, every conversation.
They are self-aware, and ever in search of interactions, experiences and
responsibilities which would stretch them in new directions.
As a group, they see politics as a necessary part of any
organization, any group, just part of the landscape - inescapable and
necessary. Ever practical, they see that politics is just about how decisions
get made in an organization: the underlying, ever-moving web of relationships,
accountability and influence. And each group, task, role would have different
group dynamics. In fact, they see politics not just as necessary, but even as a
positive tool, something which could be leveraged (in a good way) to career
advancement, to deeper self-knowledge, to greater and wider recognition.
Below is advice offered by our panelists:
You need to be strong enough in yourself - your
own strengths and weaknesses, goals and desires, and aware enough about the
people, relationships and motivations of the group around you to best leverage
politics as a tool-for-good (for both you and for the organization and group).
Don't compare yourself to others, and don't let
others disempower, measure or limit you. Do learn from what works and doesn't
work for others, and do integrate the feedback others give to help you grow.
Take an accurate measure of a new company or
role and be honest with yourself about your fit within that role and culture.
This will take a lot of thinking, a lot of analysis, a lot of reflection, but
finding that right fit is worth the investment of energy and time.
Really take notice when something catches you
off-guard, from left field. Did you miss someone in the decision chain? Did you
mis-understand a motivation? Did something change with the vision or strategy?
How does this action affect you in the long-term and the short-term? Why did
you miss seeing it coming, and what can you learn from it?
Don't see politics with negative connotations.
Think of it as a tool for developing deeper relationships and more likely get
things done.
If you come across toxic people, try to see how
they may not be aligned with you in terms of vision, goals, incentives, etc.,
and work with them directly to find a win-win.
Don't play politics, manage relationships.
Managing politics is more about your instincts
than about memorizing a playbook. Stay true to your value systems and trust
your gut.
Know your walking point - when you don't think
you and your team/organization can come to a comfortable alignment, have the
confidence and courage to take action.
Work for the right boss and make your boss look good.
Recruit mentors and a board of directors to help
you navigate the politics. Surround yourself with people who will both help you
feel confident *and* push you to the next level.
Stay in alignment with your goals and your
values by setting your limits about the amount of time you work and about the
things you are willing to do.
Advice for proving your value, especially in
tense and politically-sensitive environments:
Prove
your measurable value.
Rise
above the emotions.
When
you *do* show emotion, be strategic about it. And use it sparingly.
The bottom line is that where there are people, there are
politics. Accept and embrace this as it is essential to learn and grow and
stretch your skills and your ability to navigate and manage relationships.
FountainBlue's July 8 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series on the topic of Your Gender and Its Impact on Your Leadership
Styles, featuring:
Facilitator Nancy Monson, Nancy
Monson Coaching
Panelist Caroline Cornely,
Senior Finance Manager, Cisco System
Panelist
Natalie Guillen, Integrated Business Planning, PayPal
Panelist Luanne Tierney, VP of
Global Channel Marketing, Juniper Networks
Panelist
Barbara Williams, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Oracle
Please join us in
thanking our hosts at Oracle and to all our corporate partners for their
ongoing support of the series. Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have a panel of experts this month
who were as passionate about leadership and empowerment of women as they were
knowledgeable, experienced and successful enough to make an impact in their
circles small and large.
The panelists shared stories about partnering with
leaders at all levels from the bottom to the top, and back from the top to the
bottom, and working with them to see their own behaviors, to be more flexible,
more inclusive, more collaborative, facilitating continuous conversations
exchanging ideas and connecting with a broader spectrum of 'others', while
valuing and empowering all.
Below is advice from our women leaders on how to better
leverage gender and make a broader impact:
Tips For Being More Strategic
Know yourself - your passions, strengths and
weaknesses and make career plans for yourself which would help you to grow and
succeed.
Honor your values and your integrity by choosing
to do the right thing, despite the pressure and circumstances, even if it means
taking a short-term hit, or making a painful stand. But use your best judgment
in doing the right thing, making sure that health and well-being of yourself
and your family are not in jeopardy and while maintaining quality
relationships, and holding true to your personal brand.
Think carefully through which organization and
team you would like to join and ensure a cultural fit with your own values,
style and standards.
Whatever your role, whatever your gender, add
value to the organization you're working for, in a capacity that makes sense,
based on your interest, experience and role.
Manage your emotional responses into a passion
for a cause, and communicate in business terms around your passion.
Be proactive and anticipate best and worst case
scenarios and put yourself in progressively more influential positions as you
succeed in managing through changes and challenges.
Use key buzzwords so that people see you as a
bigger-picture person: Be strategic, talk about your vision, align business
units, conduct integrated business planning, monitor performance, etc.
Tips for Building Influence
Wherever you land, even in the most ideal
situation, you will need to shift the mindset of others you're working with who
may treat you badly and differently because of your gender. Accept this as the
truth and find a way to turn it to your advantage and succeed despite the
challenge.
Make a plan for what you will accomplish every
day, week and month, to make the impact you're seeking to make. Rally others to
support yourself and the goals you're setting. The better, more collaborative
results you get, the more influence you will have for this and other projects.
Whether or not you're interested in advancement,
shift your thinking into working smarter, connecting and communicating with the
right people rather than working harder behind the scenes and not necessarily
getting the credit or recognition you've earned.
End conversations, particularly difficult
conversations in a positive, constructive note.
Listen to learn about people's passion,
interests, priorities, etc and collaborate with them to find a win-win.
Have a meeting before a meeting to help ensure
you have the influence you want in a meeting, on behalf of your team and your
project and your company.
Tips for Building a Network
Build rapport and deeply connect with people who
matter to you in a conscious, intentional and plan-ful manner, so that you are
genuine and authentic.
Consider leveraging humor during awkward
conversations, with the interest of maintaining rapport and connections. If you
have to call someone on something they've done, don't make them look bad
publicly, but do ensure that they know that their behavior is not acceptable.
Build a network who will support you and
challenge you and help you grow and succeed. Maintain that network as
leadership is a journey, not a destination.
Seek and provide honest, considered feedback and
work with others who would help you keep raising the bar.
Connect with influential others by finding and
sharing common ground. Where appropriate, see the world from their point of
view and speak and communicate to them on their terms.
If you want plum assignments, engage before it
comes up network with a more and more influential people.
Know your goals and be willing to share them
with influential others and enlist others to support you in your goals, while
supporting them with theirs.
Tips for Work-Life Balance
Respect work-life integration as part of the
equation and set boundaries so that you honor your personal priorities. Make it
safe for others around you to the same, but respect that it's about working
smarter and delivering results, not about extended hours in itself.
Be fully present at work and at home, rather
than feeling guilty and less engaged focusing on the other while you're
choosing to do the one.
Be matter-of-fact about the work-life
integration choices you've made, and confident that the results speak for
themselves.
Set and communicate your boundaries about when
you are available to work and what types of assignments you can take. Then
respect those boundaries making few exceptions.
Manage your self-talk so that you are
empowering, clean and truthful. Lose the guilt, while always striving to
improve.
As Jerry Elliott exec vp at Juniper would say, 'outsource everything but love'.
In the end, it is women like our panelists are the types
of change agents who help us see inequities and feel inspired and empowered
enough to do something about it. But don't just leave feeling energized as you
envision a bigger tomorrow - do something about it. Create a plan and connect
with others who can support you in making something happen, help you and others
around you lead it forward, for the betterment of all.
Panelist Josie Zimmermann, Global
Marketing Team, Juniper Networks
Please
join us in thanking our hosts at EMC for sponsoring this event and for their
ongoing support of the series. Below are notes from the conversation.
Whether they are Millennials themselves, or nearly so, or
interact with Millennials at home or at work or recruit, manage, educate and
train them, our esteemed panelists generously shared their viewpoints,
experience and perspectives around what it's like to work with Millennials, and
advice on how to best recruit, train and motivate them.
Our panel described Millennials as people born between
1981 and 2000 who are technophilic, having grown up around computers,
inquisitive and connected, responsible and hardworking, and interested in doing
the right thing and supporting a social cause. They can be very direct with
their questioning, sometimes offending the people they question, but their
intention is to better understand the reasoning behind a request, not to
question authority necessarily.
Below is advice from our panelists about how to better
recruit, train, motivate and retain Millennials, who will become an
increasingly critical part of the workforce:
Advice for Better Recruiting and Retaining
Millennials:
Work with universities to set up internship
programs and hiring and retaining those interns once they graduate.
Fund a professor and his/her projects so that
your company name gets recognized and valued and new-grads might be more open
to working for your company.
Make them feel important, check in with them in
a way they feel comfortable with.
Help them navigate the little stuff - like
health benefits and stock options. Don't assume that they will get help
elsewhere or that they can figure it out themselves with forms.
Advice for working with Millennials:
Use the communication style they are most
comfortable with - text rather than e-mail for example.
Mentor them and explain how their
inquisitiveness may be coming across and work with them behind the scenes to
find answers to their questions, without offending someone, particularly
someone with great influence.
Help them understand how people from other
countries see, work and act and teach them how to nurture successful cross-cultural
collaborations focused on delivering a successful work product.
Help them manage their energy so that they are
engaged without being overwhelmingly energized.
Leverage both their hard-working ethics and
their passion to deliver quality results for your team.
Help them understand any sense of entitlement
they feel, and show them the path to success, in the direction they seek.
Leverage their initiative and can-do,
collaborative attitude and give them big projects, without telling them *how*
it should be done.
Help them see their work as impactful, not just
something you do to make money.
Help them proactively create a network of people
who would support them with their personal and professional growth.
Help them leverage technology to bridge
communication gaps between generations.
Advice for Millennials:
Leverage your energy in constructive ways and
work with people, teams and companies that can help you channel your energy in
the direction of value to you.
Be inquisitive and seek answers, but be
strategic about who you ask direct questions of and when the questions are
asked to minimize the likelihood that you would offend someone.
Walk a mile in the shoes of someone from another
culture, for their reality is much different than yours.
Your first work experience may be overwhelming
as you work at various levels with as many as four generations. Embrace what's
wonderful about your own generation, and be open to accepting what's great
about other generations.
The bottom line is that this Millennial generation wants
to leverage technology to connect and empower and make a positive impact on the
world. They are the leaders of our future and will continue to shape our
workforce as their representation rises and companies, teams and people who can
help them succeed will be better positioned for success.
FountainBlue's May 13 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership
Series was on the topic of Standing on the Shoulders of Mentors and featured:
Facilitator Renee Remy, Dovetail
Consulting
Panelist Barbara Clayton, Senior
Manager, Product Lifecycle, eBay
Panelist Carol Evanoff, former
Director, Lockheed Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific
Panelist Stefi Ganesan,
Marketing Program Manager, CDO, Cisco
Panelist Sara Hepner, Sr. Direct
Worldwide Support Sales at IIG, a Division of EMC
Panelist Maria Olson, SAP
Please
join us in thanking our hosts at EMC for graciously hosting us at their
facilities and for their ongoing support of our program and the series. Below
are notes from the conversation.
Our panelists had extensive knowledge and experience in a
range of companies, in a variety of roles, and represent decades of experience
working with men and with women in the high tech workplace. They have seen
changes inside and outside their organizations and have each leveraged
mentorship to best grow and learn, both personally and professionally, while
helping others within and outside the organizations to do the same.
They define mentorship as formal or informal
opportunities to consciously or unconsciously support each other in our career
and personal goals. One of the ways to feel the benefits of mentorship is to
experience what it is like *without* a mentor, or also to have multiple
mentors, and understand how each of them help you meet your personal and
professional objectives. There may be many different kinds of mentors - both
internal to or external from your organization, and each may serve multiple
roles: from the sponsor mentor who can help you navigate the politics and coach
you on your career path, opening positions for you, to the role mentor who can
support you with you in navigating day-to-day personal and professional
challenges, to the integral, work-life mentor, who will help you make a stand
for *both* your personally and professional goals, to the 'Eeyore'
mentor, who serves as devil's advocate and helps you think through options at
all levels, particularly spelling out the risks.
Another way to look at mentorship is to compare it to
other similar roles.
Whereas
both coaching and mentoring focus on leveraging your own strengths to better
produce results, you may more likely go to a coach to focus on developing a
weakness which is hampering your growth.
Sponsor-mentors were mentioned above, but not
all sponsors are mentors. There are sponsors within an organization who can
advocate for you, and position you for the next position within your
organization, or even create one on your behalf without being your mentor.
Your boss may mentor you sometimes on some
things, but they are not your mentor. They are also in a unique position to
also be your boss and are in charge of official evaluations and make decisions
on salary increases, bonuses, vacations, etc
Your mentor is not your friend. They are usually
very busy and accomplished people and you shouldn't go to them to chit chat,
like you might do with a good friend.
Below is some advice offered by our panelists on how to
make the best of a mentor-mentee relationship:
Be respectful of their time and know how you
want to use your time together, based on specific goals and objectives.
Know why you have each mentor and what value you
hope the relationship will provide for both sides.
Work with your mentor to be clear on objectives,
expectations and boundaries, and direct in communicating this to others around
so, so that others can help you make it happen.
Have a somewhat formal mentorship relationship,
where you meet regularly and know what your goals are. Make the meeting process
clear and easy so that it's *easy and fun* to make the time to help you.
This means knowing when, where, why you meet and reliably being there to meet.
Be direct in asking for support, and strategic
on who you ask for mentorship support from and why.
Select mentors who can help you expand your perspective,
see things from a new light, especially if they see the other side of the story
and can help you resolve a conflict.
Remember that mentors also benefit from a
mentee-mentor relationship, gaining insights about how others think,
benefiting from the advice they are offering to you, being energized from your
ideas and perspectives and challenges.
In selecting a mentor, make sure that there is
good chemistry and clear objectives so you know why you are making a mentor
choice.
When considering the gender of a mentor, our
panelists commented that women more passionate, and men more connected and
factor this in when making a mentor decision.
Take the guidance and support you receive from
mentors with a grain of salt. Listen to your gut. Ultimately *you* are
in charge of your choices. And if you find that your mentor does not have your
best interest in mind, graciously scale back or sever the ties.
Here are some key learnings our panelists got from *their*
mentors:
Never run from a problem, while always
gravitating to an opportunity.
Relationships are always about trust.
Leverage mentors to help you document your
career and your strengths and strategize on how best to leverage your strengths
in achieving career objectives.
Be direct in all communication, especially if
it's something difficult to say.
Don't be too eager to speak up in a room, but
fold in the dynamics, perspectives and talents of others and engage all in
solving a problem. Give others the credit without being overly modest.
Our panelists remarked on the qualities of the best
mentors:
They believe in your skills when you don't,
encourage you to take risks when you don't want to, and in general, help you feel
uncomfortable enough so that you're motivated to grow.
They help you know what you don't know and make
a plan on what to do about it.
They help you know *who* you know, and *whom*
you should know in order to meet your objectives, and make introductions
accordingly.
They help you diversify what you're doing and
help you to expand your skills and capabilities and perspective.
They help you work smarter, leveraging your
strengths, not work harder, longer hours.
They help you think through and act on your
priorities in life and in work, and make choices to reflect your own values and
priorities.
They will have your back, protecting and
supporting you while encouraging you to think and act outside your comfort
zone.
They see the promise you in - your skills, your
courage, your style - and can be ongoing advocates for you throughout your
career.
They help you see yourself as others see you,
the whole you, the good with the bad, from the resume to demeanor and
appearance to brand.
In the end, the panelists encouraged both mentors and
mentees to take responsibility for ensuring that the relationship continues to
add value, and move the needle toward a pre-defined objective, in a way that
respects everyone's time and energy. They commented that the best companys
know the benefits of mentorship and its impact on the retention and promotion
of high-performing employees and support both staff and volunteers in building
and growing mentorship programs within an organization.
FountainBlue's April 8 When She Speaks Women in
Leadership Series event, on the topic of Building and Reinforcing Your
Executive Brand, featuring:
Facilitator
Linda Popky, Founder and President, Leverage2Market Associates
Panelist
Erna Arnesen, Head of Global Services Channels and Alliances, Cisco
Panelist
Aditi Dhagat, Director of Client Engagement & Business Architecture, Adobe
Panelist
Praveena Varadarajan, VP of Product Management, FICO
Panelist
Alexandra Woody, Senior Manager, Program Management, EFI
Please
join us in thanking our hosts at Adobe for graciously hosting us at their
facilities and their ongoing support of our program and the series. Below are
notes from the conversation.
Our panel represents the breadth of experience from
channel sales and marketing to engineering to product management. They have
successful built and enhanced their brands within and across companies and have
consciously developed and revised their strategies and approaches to building a
stellar brand. They are known for the work they do, the results they deliver,
and have graciously shared their advice and perspectives on what has worked and
hasn't worked for them.
They spoke about the how building their brand has helped
them transition to new roles with increasingly more responsibility within their
organization, to new companies with more and different opportunities, to new
industries leveraging existing skills and connections. They spoke about
elements about a successful brand, including a congruency within and outside
yourself and organization, an outwardly-facing outlook, a focus on continuous
improvement, an affinity for technology, and fearless authenticity. There was
also an extensive conversation about the merits of remaining unemotional,
focusing on facts rather than emotions and how valuable that is within a
business setting.
Our panelists repeatedly pointed out that building a
brand does *not* mean getting the messages right all the time, every
time. That's too hard, considering how easy it is to get it wrong, how many ways
to screw up there are, given that our every move might be noticed and
YouTube-ed or FaceBook-ed or Twitter-ed! However, it *is* about fixing
it when it goes wrong, adhering to a core set of values, learning from our
mistakes, sharing candidly with others, becoming stronger and moving toward a
known destination, *because* you are genuine and human.
Below is more specific advice from our panelists:
Know Yourself
Know and live your values.
Be your own person. Don't think and act the way
someone else thinks.
Accept what yourself for who you are - the good
with the bad. Accept also that you *can* change about yourself, if you
decide you really need to.
These days, with so much movement between
companies, people should see themselves as independent contractors rather than
a life-long employee and position their brand accordingly.
Challenge yourself to stretch beyond your
comfort zone regularly in many ways.
Find the intersect between your passion and your
skills and the market need to build your brand and career around that niche.
Be Strategic
Accept that people are going to have an opinion
and perspective about you and the work that you do, so be proactive about
developing your own brand.
Know who you want to impress and build
relationships with and why.
Know where you are headed and how your current
actions and decisions and successes will help you get there. Course-correct as
necessary.
There's a balance between planning your brand
and letting the messages flow. Nobody can control everything that impacts how
they are viewed by others, but planning and correcting perceptions will help
you ensure that your brand is communicating how you want to position yourself
to others.
Try to be fearless and act with honesty and
integrity, especially when the stakes are high.
Communicate What You Have to Offer
Be cognizant of what's hot in technology and
position yourself as an expert in some way.
Be prepared to address technology needs and
trends and make this a part of your brand.
Face brand issues head-on and immediately,
updating communications, speaking one-on-one with others involved, doing what
it takes to smooth things over and maintain relationships and the brand
integrity you're seeking.
Be articulate and crisp in your communications
and balance it with silences so that you can listen.
Social media is a double-edge sword, making it
easier in some ways to build and extend your brand, and also making it more
difficult to ensure a pure and consistent brand message for both individuals
and companies.
Communicate your brand based on the preferences
of your audience.
Become known as a problem-solver, doing what you
do well.
Become known to others in your industry and role
for the great work that you do.
Make sure that you get the credit for the work
you've done.
When things *don't* go your way, assume
that others have good intentions and that the simplest explanation may be the
cause of a misunderstanding. Even if it's as bad or even worse than you
thought, try to give yourself some time to cool off and *not* be too
reactive in your communications.
Build a Strong Network
Pay it forward and help others, regardless of
whether you see the short term reward.
Build and maintain a network *before* you
desperately need one, during a job transition, for example.
Continue your strategically network and focus on
quality rather than quality of connections.
FountainBlue's March 11
When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Agility: The
Key to Building a Successful Career, and featured:
Please join us in
thanking our hosts at Life Technologies for their support of this program and
the series. Below are notes from the conversation.
Our dynamic panel
represented women who went from one role to another, one company to another,
one industry to another, sometimes planned, sometimes not, always learning and
benefiting from each experience. Our panelists were very attuned with who they
are, what they are passionate about, what makes them motivated, and how they
are contributing and take care to nurture their brand and their communication
to proactively project an image they would be proud of, one they are
consciously grooming as they evolve their career. And they are humble, grounded
and generous, and well positioned for their next career opportunity, should it
come their way.
These are women who see
opportunities in every challenge, learnings in every task, and constantly push
the edge on what's done and how it's done, to better serve customers internally
within a company, and external customers they serve. They did not start off in
the middle or the top of the corporate ladder. They earned their stripes and
built their brand so that they could climb that ladder. Central to this
position is the alignment between what they do and who they are.
Below is advice from our
panelists on how to proactively manage your career with grace and agility.
Know yourself,
both who you are and what makes you tick, how you respond to change and
ambiguity (it's not for everyone, but everyone has to manage it to some extent)
and proactively plan an alignment between where you are now and where you want
to be, weaving in a great supportive network, mentorships and connections and
educational opportunities.
Proactively plan for your next career move; don't wait until you run-out-of-track to do
so. And when you do, be prepared to feel uncomfortable as you merge from one
company, role or industry into another, but have faith and draw upon your
toolkit, your knowledge, expertise, perspective and core value, to deliver in
the end. With that said, be prepared to say 'woops, this isn't for me' and
decide what's a good walking point if the career choice you made didn't quite
turn out the way you were expecting. To minimize the likelihood of this
happening, create boundaries for what you must-have, guidelines where you can
evaluate each new opportunity, and keep learning about yourself and what you
want to do and what you have to offer with every job opportunity.
Whether you plan
a career move or it is planned for you, be courageous
and confident and help yourself remain positive and confident especially
during transitions. A supportive network is fundamental to doing this well, and
building this network when you're NOT looking will help you manage the searches
better.
Regardless of
where you find yourself in a company, focus
on the value you bring to the customer and how you can communicate it to
others in your company to build alignment, consensus, momentum and results.
If you would like
to proactively manage a transition, consider
identifying adjacencies to your role/company/industry, which would best
leverage your current tool-kit and connections.
Employees of
today and tomorrow will have to become more
and more agile, more flexible with the changing global markets, rapidly
evolving needs, and highly demanding clients. Those that chose breadth of
experience will be best positioned for rising the corporate ladder.
Proactively build
a network of trusted advisers and
solicit feedback. Then listen to it and respond it, especially if it makes you
feel uncomfortable. Leverage the latest social media tools and techniques to do
so.
Choose a company,
team, industry which best fits your personal preferences and style and
direction.
Be willing to speak up and ask for a change, be
transparent about why, and engage with trusted others who can help you get
there. As you speak, be tough enough to withstand the inevitable comments of
those who call successful women dragon ladies or worse. Take the heart of the
message without the judgment and put-down emotions inherent in the message and
grow and learn from it. And arm yourself with communication tools and
information so that you can proactively manage how you come across, and get
better respect from those around you.
In conclusion, remember that you are in charge of your career and your personal happiness and take the initiative, take charge and make it all that it can be!
FountainBlue's February 11 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series event, on the topic of How to Throw More Balls Up Higher:
Juggling Life-Work Balance in Demanding Times, featuring:
Facilitator Laura Lowell, President,
Impact Marketing Group
Panelist
Deborah Coburn, Manager, Sales & Operations Planning, Americas, Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care
Franchise, LifeScan & Animas
Please
join us in thanking our hosts at NetApp for their support of this program and
the series. Below are notes from the conversation.
Our wise and humorous panelists shared many strategies
and stories about how to maintain a life-work balance, confirming throughout
that there is no magic bullet, and we must be fluid about addressing what's in
front of us, and be realistic about what we can do when. Our panelists shared
their personal challenges, pointed out their own hot buttons, showed their own
vulnerabilities, to help us all better recognize and address our own. Below is
some advice they have about trying to find that work-life balance:
Plan and prioritize
Plan and prioritize the things you need to do,
then work on that plan, with a backup plan ready, just in case. Things won't
always go the way you plan, but having a plan will increase your odds!
When you make your work choice and they involve
children who may interfere with work assignments, make arrangements beforehand
so all understand the situation and have realistic expectations. Then don't be
embarrassed, just be matter-of-fact if the child does cry during a phone call,
for example.
Set Boundaries and Communicate Them Clearly
Create the boundaries for work time so that you
can have quality time outside of work.
Set boundaries so that you can be fully focused
on the you you need to be at the time. Then give 100% of yourself, wherever you
are, whatever hat you have on.
Have the Right Expectations and Perspective
Have realistic expectations and accept that you
can't be great at everything at the same time, and that you may disappoint on
occasion. But make sure that the important people in your life know that you're
putting out your best effort and that they matter to you. Think 'a child who
has been disappointed will build resilience and perspective when they
understand that the world does not revolve around them,' rather than 'I must
never under any circumstances disappoint a child.'
Balance is a journey, a daily challenge, not a
destination where you get there and can stay there! Enjoy your small victories
along the way, rather than lament the fact that you'll never get there!
Listen to the voice in your head and the
feedback from others only to the extent that it benefits you and makes your
life better.
Don't assume that others have a specific
perspective or expectation about who you are and what you should do for them.
You might find that you're doing more than they expected or wanted in the first
place, and NOT doing it might make your life, and theirs easier!
Don't have the misperception that teenagers are
independent and don't need you as much, as it may prove the opposite is true.
Delegate the non-essential stuff to others, even
your children, so that you can spend quality time with others. Let go of HOW
something is done, provided that it does get done.
Make the time for important
people in your life
Take care of yourself so that you can better
take care of others.
Be there for the people who are important to
you. Make them feel like they are the most important people to you. But set
boundaries about how and when they can ask for your time so they understand and
respect what's important to you too.
When you make time for important others in your
life, be clear to others that you have something higher priority to attend to,
but will be back.
Build Community
Develop a trusted support network who can work
with you to address emergency situations, and also give you the bandwidth to
spend quality time by yourself or with your significant other.
In short, we women CAN have
our cake and eat it too with life-work balance. But it takes patience, clarity,
perspective, energy, support and community to make it so.
Resources:
42 Rules for Working
Moms: Practical, Funny
Advice for Achieving Work-Life Balance, available through Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Working-Moms-Practical-Achieving/dp/0979942845/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1297529936&sr=1-7
FountainBlue's January 21 When
She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series was on the topic of Expanding Your
Circle of Influence, With Or Without Authority, and featured:
Facilitator
Leila Bulling Towne, The Bulling Towne Group, LLC
Panelist
Barbara Adey, Senior Director, Strategy and Operations, Borderless Networks,
Cisco
Panelist
Sheryl Chamberlain, Senior Director Technology Alliances, EMC Corporation
Panelist
Claudia Galvan, Lead, International Program Management Group, Microsoft
Panelist
Cecily Joseph, Director, Corporate Responsibility, Legal and Public Affairs,
Symantec
Panelist Jean
Stein, Vice President, GSSD Business Operations, Hitachi
Please join us in
thanking our hosts at Hitachi for their support of this program and the series.
Below are notes from the conversation.
Enlarging your circle of
influence is about getting people to work together, achieving results that
would serve all. Leaders who are effective at influencing are branded for the
effectiveness, their ability to get things done, engaging a large cohort of
stakeholders, and frequently thinking outside the box on HOW to build
engagement from a wide range of stakeholders. People you influence must have
respect for you, your past accomplishments, your reputation for getting things
one. They must trust that you have their best interest, and that of the team
and company, in mind. Therefore, influence takes time, and every
accomplishment, every task, can lead to building influence.
Our panelists concurred
that a key to becoming influential is not just to be extremely and consistently
competent, but also to be real and genuine, approachable and honest. It is not
just about having and nurturing great ideas, but also the ability to make
things happen, despite the obstacles. It is about knowing and playing the rules
of the game, as well as thinking outside the box to let in new ideas and
processes.
We all want to be more
influential, but only those with the right mindset can be influential. Be
passionate and confident about what you do, and engaging and effective in
motivating others around you. Our generous panel shared some concrete ideas for
building your circle of influence, with or without authority.
Tips for Building Trust:
Be genuine.
Put relationships
first - sure, you want to get things done, but first build connections with the
team who will do the work.
Engage people at
all levels to address common challenges ahead.
Communicate
clearly, frequently and passionately to all parties involved, particularly when
things are difficult and relationships are strained.
It is much easier
to maintain positive relationships with people, but if a relationship has been
compromised, and you must build trust again, it can be done. It takes patience
and time and hard work to rebuild trust, so try not to burn any bridges,
particularly with people who you will be working with for many years to come.
Always work
directly with people, don't go around them, even if you get the short-term
results, you won't get the more important longer-term relationship and trust.
Tips for Managing the
Team:
Listen, probe,
ask a lot of questions.
Hold people
accountable, but be careful how you call people on something they've done.
Understand how
people think and work and communicate. Don't assume that others have the same
priorities you do.
Help good people
achieve phenomenal results, meeting or exceeding their objectives.
Although it may
be frustrating to work with people who don't act and think like it, consider
yourself fortunate that you have diversity in the team, and leverage it to your
advantage.
Facilitate and
gel conversations, moving teams to agreement quickly while ensuring goal
alignment.
Don't just SAY
that you respect others, but act like you do - from respecting their time zones
to advocating for their cause, your actions will speak louder than your words.
Be careful how
you come across in all form of communication, from live to e-mail to telephone
to social media web sites. Your image will be built on the accumulations of
these communications. So invite and respond to feedback on how you are coming
across and correct accordingly, real time!
Tips for Lobbying on
Behalf of Your Project:
Having a
reputation for delivering on ideas and returning result will make it easier to
get approval for other ideas;
Do your homework
and make sure that your project is the right one for your company and team.
Choose your
battles: Know when you need to be persistent and when you need to let go or
table an idea, or morph it into something else.
At times, it's
more effective to invite a gravitational "pull" to yourself, your projects and
your activities, making people want to track it and get involved, rather than a "push" to update and inform others of your progress and needs.
Socialize the
idea with stakeholders and invite their input and participation and engagement
prior to introducing it to a larger constituency.
Invite others for
their feedback and input on new ideas so that it gets more robust and enlists a
wider group of supporters.
Have the right
spokesperson for the right audience of stakeholders: you may not be the right
person to advocate at all times.
Start small, make
quick wins, and demonstrate that you follow through.
Build
relationships at all levels to best maximize the likelihood of a project's
success, and best position you for the next plum project.
Tips for Communicating
with Senior Executives
Be respectful of
their time, and show that you will be very productive with the time you ask
for.
Do your homework
and understand which senior execs you will be communicating with, what
motivates them, how best to communicate with them, etc.
Give team leaders
a communication structure, and have them report on team.
When you bring
people together, speak the WE, not the ME and have them speak for themselves
and their groups.
Focus on the
push, the easier way to build relationships and get things done, not the pull,
which is more work and less likely to be effective.
Build allies and
alliances, leverage sponsors, create whispers of drumbeats prior to each big
meeting. Plan for the outcome of each big meeting BEFORE it takes place.
Tips for Expanding Your
Influence
Become a
connector and help people help each other.
Encourage people
to bring their problems to you, and help them communicate with each other to
solve problems, regardless of whether the problem impacts you directly and
immediately.
Choose
graciousness and forgiveness rather than hyper-reaction under pressure.
Be strong enough
to admit when you're wrong and say what you've learned and how you will be a
better person for it.
Build connections
that are both broad and deep.
When you need to
build new relationships, look for the wedge, the person who could connect you
to the right people who can collaborate with you, and then build the
relationship from there.
Watch your tone,
your mannerisms, how you come across. Think and act confident, despite how you
feel and you will get into the habit of also feeling confident. Practice your
speech - be clear and to the point, your intonations - calm, steady, not
labile, your mannerisms - nervous hand, facial, bodily gestures, etc.
In summary, influence is
the tool at the crossroads of your career path - leverage it like a wedge to
take you where you want to go; polish and hone its ability to get there, pair
it with a web of other skills, a network of positive people, and lead and
follow it to where you were meant to be.
FountainBlue's December 10 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series was on the topic of Leadership in a Time of Accelerated
Change and featured:
Please
join us in thanking our hosts at EMC for their support of this program and the
series. Below are notes from the conversation.
The panelists remarked on the pace of technology development
in a global world, the demands of a range of customers for receiving customized
services for little money, the pressures placed on whole sectors of customers,
the demands of shareholders for continuing to bring in value and revenues,
diversifying into new adjacent markets, and other factors have stimulated
accelerated change for companies, impacting teams and leaders alike. The net
result is that we have to do more with less because of this time of 'VUCA' as
volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity which amplifies each
decision, and the demands an accelerated response to increasingly rich and
complex situations.
Yet our panelists manage to navigate these decisions, and
continue to lead and perform and generate results! Each of our panelists
represented big companies heavily impacted by changes in the economy, changes
in the needs and requirements of their customer base, and changes in what's
expected of them and their teams: generally doing more with less for longer!
But each found a way to be successful despite the relentless pace of change and
escalating requirements for themselves and their teams. They are all fairly
tech-savvy, most of whom have risen from former engineering positions, but
that's not the magic bullet. It was more key that they are all experienced in a
variety of roles and industries, drawing with them more experience, knowledge
and relationships with every role, and that they have a grounded perspective,
and the resiliency, support and resources to persevere and perform. Central to
this strength is the ability to build a network, to speak with influence on
behalf of themselves and their teams, and to continually balance the
requirements of multiple stakeholders - both at home and at work, to ensure
alignment and progress toward pre-agreed goals and objectives for all parties.
Each of our panelists remarked also on the changing needs
of their customers, and having to change their perspectives, approaches and
even business models based on the needs of the customer. They also remarked on
the internal leadership changes within the company required to lead a company
in this time of accelerated change: more a collaborative than a
command-and-control mentality, more an entrepreneurial, west coast mentality
than an East Coast regimented style, more about flat management chain than a
nested hierarchy of roles. And this approach in general might better support
women leaders in some ways, for example around collaboration, and male leaders
in other ways, perhaps around influence, and is neutral for other styles, for
example regarding entrepreneurship.
Our panelists had the following advice for navigating
change:
Proactively
manage your career like a project you want to succeed at, complete with
prioritized goals, stakeholders, milestones, results. Be realistic about your
expectations: aim for the good-enough 80% rather than approaching 100% for
everything; and prioritize what you do well and when you do what. Don't try to
do everything all at once, and don't try to be best at everything all at once.
Learn to set limits and what you'll do when, and be protective of that
all-important personal and family time. In this demanding 24x7 world, you need
to take charge of those limits, or find yourself burning out, and less
effective.
Strategically select projects with the greatest impact and best alignment with
corporate objectives, and commit to its success. You will develop influence and
visibility with each success.
Develop the ability to speak passionately about projects, themes and people and influence
others around you to commit to a cause you're promoting, regardless of whether
you have the authority over them or them over you, or whether they are a
tangential party, or not related to the project or company! Every perspective
can help drive momentum to the project you adopt, and every conversation can
help shape the project successful, and elicit the support of a stakeholder.
Be
grounded, use common sense, show good judgment - even if it feels like the
sky is falling! And invest in yourself, and raise yourself up in your own
priority list so that you can stay this way! Without a happy and healthy YOU,
you can't do everything you want to do!
To best manage work-life integration, work with the right team and company,
and choose the right partners at home who will co-invest in each other's
success. Build deep relationships with a trusted network and help the people in
your network build deep relationships with others, benefiting all. This will
support both work goals, but also support life-work integration.
Leverage social
media tools like LinkedIn to stay connected with your trusted network.
Listen
before talking and shape your thinking based on what others say and do.
Make
someone around you feel good - because you can. Not because it will likely
come back to you in the end, although it likely may. Empowering someone else
brings more possibilities to all inside and outside your network.
Be a good
manager, understanding your team's point of view, engaging them in
change-management choices, empowering them throughout the process,
communicating clearly, proactively and transparently.
The bottom line is that companies large and small are
responding quickly and differently to economic changes, leading to an enduring
cultural shift in thinking, in leadership. It is the proactive,
forward-thinking companies that will remain in the forefront, as they can
better navigate these inevitable waters of change - a constant as sure as death
and taxes.
FountainBlue's November 12 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series was entitled Tips for Enlarging Your Sandbox: Learn to play
with people who do not act right (like you) and featured:
Facilitator Kare Anderson, Say
It Better
Panelist Karen Bartleson, Sr.
Director, Interoperability and University Programs, Synopsys
Panelist Adriane McFetridge,
Director, eBay
Panelist Preethy Padmanabhan
Manager, Business Development in Cisco's Smart + Connected Communities team and
Advisory board member - iCON Inclusion & Diversity Group
Panelist Luciana Vecchi,
Globalization Business Manager, Adobe Systems, Inc.
Please join me in thanking our hosts at eBay
for their support of this event and the series overall. Below are notes from
the conversation.
Our panelists, and others expert at enlarging their
sandbox, are expert at including diverse points of views in high-impact, high
intensity business settings. They come from a variety of companies, upbringings
and outlooks and perspectives. But they have many things in common:
They have reflected on
and grown from past experience with working with people who don't share their
points of view;
They have had support
from family, friends, peers and mentors to help them enlarge their sandbox;
They keep aiming for
stars, and are never complacent with the status quo;
They keep building
their communities and networks who support each other in goals of inclusivity
and collaboration;
They focus on people
and their motivations and objectives rather than being me-centric, driving
their own agenda and solutions to others, particularly when they are new to a
group or team or organization;
They work successfully
with people who don't think like them, but don't succeed in every interaction,
but DO learn and grow from their mistakes; and
They are philosophical
and wise about the need to work with people who are not like you, and recognize
the importance of both diversity and deadlines.
Below is advice from our wise
groups of panelists:
Take care of yourself,
so that you can be fully present and open
Ensure
that you have the background, passion, confidence, and desire to succeed in
your current work situation. Then take care of yourself so that you are fully
present to address the daily demands of your corporate life.
Seek
continuous feedback and improvement, practice reflection, engage a network of
mentors and supporters in your self-improvement path.
Embrace
diversity and challenge in your professional life. Leaders do not choose
complacency. However, know your walking point - the point when what you're
asked to do, is not something you're willing to do or feel passionate about
doing or feel qualified to do. People are miserable if they stay in a work or
personal situation past the expiration date, so know your walking point.
Thoughts on why you
should want to enlarge your sandbox
Including
the perspectives of diverse team members is more likely to lead to innovative,
creative solutions to technological and business challenges. Our workers and
customers represent a wide range of constituents, and to best serve this
diverse range of customers world-wide, you need a team that can see things from
the customers' point of view.
Tips for becoming more
other-centric
Taking
the time to understand how and why people are different than you are will help
you focus on business goals, and read correctly the intentions of the words,
gestures and actions, making it less likely that you will respond negatively or
take something personally. Try also to look and act like people who are more
different than you, as you would more likely be listened to that way.
No
matter how different someone is from you, take the time to get to know them,
understanding their motivations, goals and assumptions while looking for their
positive intent, especially if it looks like they don't have one. This is especially true when emotions run
high. If and when they do, let the other person vent; take the high road and
really be calm and listen. Focus on the business issue at hand.
Tips for including
diversity, while driving results
Embrace
diversity and be philosophical when people who don't think like you do cross
your path or interfere with your game plan. It's not wrong, it's just
different! Slow down and understand their motivations, particularly when
emotions are running high, and work together to focus on common goals and
objectives. Build solid, deep relationships with the people in your network,
relationships built on trust and understanding, people who will drive to
achieve common goals and objectives.
Tips for improving
your communication
In any communication, seek
first to understand both what you'd like to communicate and its relevance to
the team and organizational goals, and the framework, perspective and goals of
your audience, which will vary. Leverage technology and social media benefits
in building communities with similar interests and agenda, which will make it
easier to communicate a consistent message to these groups and continue to
build and refine and evolve the message, with the input of community members.
Be adaptive with your
communication style and message based on who you're talking to, your objectives
for the conversation, and how they are responding verbally and non-verbally to
your communication style.
Tips for building
credibility
In
business, credibility is tied to reliable, measurable results that meet strategic
objectives. It's particularly important to build trust credibility when you are
a non-technical person interacting with engineers. You must build relationships
individually and must prove that 1) you can help them and want to help them,
and 2) that you will be there in the long term to help them.
Be succinct and speak more
slowly and at a lower pitch, to more likely be heard to a broader audience.
Tips for building
influence
Once your credibility is
established with concrete, measurable and predictable results, you can expand the
impact of your results to other groups and gain visibility to members of other
groups internal and external to your company, thereby expanding your influence.
In any situation, you have three
choices: change how you act toward that person, accept what's going on, or
leave, and the sooner you make that choice, the more options you have. If you
implement this regularly, you will be strategic on how you influence and impact
others around you.
When participating in a
group discussion, don't always be the first to speak up, but take the time to
absorb what others are saying and how others are responding to what is said.
You may have more influence in folding ideas together, and incorporating
others' ideas than in having the most brilliant and first idea.
When working with
engineering teams, speak to their tactical issues and deadlines, but also
integrate business objectives into the communication to them, and tactical
issues and deadlines to business leaders. Being able to translate from one
group to another is a highly valued communication skill, and will help you
build influence in both networks.
Tips for building
consensus
Much
as diversity is great and we should all embrace it, you have to build consensus
quickly to drive results. Indecision in a business situation wastes people's time,
so spell out the consequences of indecision when necessary. And don't always be
so inclusive, so focused on embracing diversity that you choose that over the
bottom line results.
Understand
and respect people's, but find the common ground on a business setting and
drive to those results.
Don't
make it a personal, combative battle. Keep focusing on business issues.
Have
a pre-meeting before the meeting so that you know where people stand and can
manage people and causes and most likely achieve your desired result when the
meeting takes place. This way, you will have allies prior to a proposal, know
who they are and how you can support them in return.
Build
a large network of people who may or may not have influence in building
consensus in the short term, but will likely at some point have influence which
can help drive consensus on a future issue.
Remember the many compartments of the heart, the seed of what is
possible. So much of who we are is defined by the places we hold for each
other. For it is not our ingenuity that sets us apart, but our capacity
for love, the possibility our way will be lit by grace. Our hearts prisms,
chiseling out the colors of pure light. Kare Anderson, Say It
Better
In a civilization when love is gone we turn to justice and when
justice is gone we turn to power and when power is gone we turn to violence.
Kare Anderson, Say It Better
FountainBlue's October 8 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership
Series was on the topic of Women Leading Innovation and featured:
Facilitator Francine Gordon,
FGordon Group and SDForum Tech Women's Program
Panelist Nina Bhatti, Principal
Scientist, HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard Company
Panelist Jenny Dormoy, Director
Customer Deployability, EMC
Panelist Linda Holroyd, CEO,
FountainBlue
Panelist Mirjana Spasojevic,
Research Leader, Nokia Research Center
Please join me in thanking our panelists
for their insight advice and comments, and in thanking our hosts at EMC, who
also shared pictures
of the event. Below are notes from the conversation.
Innovators like our panelists are passionate
about thinking big, starting small and going fast! They are focused on
customers who are in need of solutions, teams who are passionate and
collaborative enough to produce results, and solutions that will change the way
that people think and work and live. It is about being in perpetual motion,
delivering results, aligning and meeting needs, and, most importantly, engaging
and empowering others.
Our panelist innovators are courageous, yet
measured risk-takers, who are generally successful at achieving results, and
learning from their experience regardless of the results. They are consistently
leveraging the talents of their team, while delivering the type of product and
service most in need. They are people who know what they are good at, can communicate
it to others, and enfold others in the journey of the next innovation through
their actions and words. In other words, their reputation and results speak for
themselves, and positions them for further successes.
Below are some thoughts for bringing out
the best in others:
Thoughts about Yourself:
Ask
yourself, what's the worst thing that could happen?
As
an individual contributor, learn to communicate with mentors and
decision-makers who can support your innovation idea, package what you do, and the
results you've created, and strategize on how to better leverage your thinking
and results more effectively for your organization.
Act
like you're confident, despite how you feel.
Embrace
failures as learnings, and leverage learnings for the next success.
As
Carly Fiorina would say, 'Confidence does not require perfection'. Be
comfortable enough in not knowing and anticipating everything, or not feeling
fully qualified to do something. Sometimes innovation is about taking a
measured leap of faith.
Innovate
no matter what chair you sit in, which role you're currently in.
Thoughts on Developing a Support Network:
Work
within company guidelines and requirements, but keep to the cause even
if it's
not necessarily within that guideline and pushes the risk tolerance of
the
company itself. But do this sparingly.
Develop
a support network of select individuals you trust who would be both a
good
sounding board and a good place to put on your private face.
Thoughts about Managing a Team:
Invite
a
range of perspectives and viewpoints to your team, leveraging the best
of all
talents and worlds and levels.
Evaluate
the level of risk tolerance for all your team members, and gently push
them to
their limits.
In dealing with work-life balance, choose a
good partner and be frank with each others' goals and objectives in the short
term and for the long term, and support each other with these goals. Then
create boundaries around work, family, and other responsibilities, yet be flexible
about how that is implemented. And join a team and an organization who would be
in alignment with your own life-work perspective.
We should all celebrate and empower the
innovators around us at all levels. For collectively, innovators change our
perception of what is and what could be, and the results they generate impact
the marketplace, the people, and their imagination.
FountainBlue's September
10 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series was on the topic of Women Who
Make Up Their Own Rules, and featured our esteemed panel of speakers:
Facilitator Pat Obuchowski, CEO (Chief Empowerment
Officer), inVisionaria
Panelist Daniela Bayer, Business Intelligence
Manager for Central & Eastern Europe, Cisco
Please join me in
thanking LifeScan for graciously hosting us for this event. Below are notes
from the conversation:
Women who are successful
at making up their own rules have a personal brand for successfully doing so,
making it easier for them to break some more rules and delivering better
results, and just getting things done despite many obstacles.
These women are skilled at
bringing people together to build something bigger and better for themselves
and their organization as they overcome one insurmountable obstacle after
another. They are people-persons who know how to get things done in a more
friendly fashion, developing high-performance teams and people in the process.
They are authentic women
who think strategically about their options and leverage their formidable
strengths and will to achieve goals in alignment with needs of their teams and
their organizations. They evaluate available options, and even create
additional options, in search of win-win results for all. They even learn to balance
work and life while making their own rules, always questioning what 'used to
work', 'how things are usually done'.
They stand up to
nay-sayers and go over, under, around, and through obstacles, developing a
reputation for doing the impossible, and the credibility to try another
impossible task! These are passionate women who are not afraid of breaking new
ground, of leaving their comfort zone to explore the next possible opportunity.
They act with honesty and integrity and authenticity, even if those around them
aren't. They know that breaking rules can be unpleasant in the short term, and
even in the long-term if it's just not going to work out, yet they are
committed to a cause and will forge a path to success, even if they have to
dramatically change the game to do so.
It's not that they are
perfect. For when things go wrong, they find out what went wrong and what to do
about it next time. They work with people of similar values, and surround
themselves with people who believe in them. When necessary, they stimulate a
cultural shift, subtle at first, so that the organization as a whole is more
collaborative, more merit-than politically-based, more about the results you
bring than what you've done in the past.
It's not that they are
all-powerful, either to start with or now. But they do focus on building a
foundation of credibility based on measurable results and deep relationships
and alliances and collaborations based on trust. They know this foundation
makes themselves and those around them stronger, expanding the base of power
for all.
The bottom line is that
these women encourage us all to take a chance, and don't get stuck facing
unpleasant circumstances. Be strategic and plan carefully how to break yourself
out of a rut, and make a change for the better, in alignment with your core
values, and your personal and professional objectives. So follow your heart and
do good things, while being aware of yourself and how your actions and thinking
are impacting your intentions and results.
FountainBlue's August 13 When
She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series was on the topic of Politics in the
Workplace: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, featuring our esteemed panel of
speakers:
Facilitators Krista Henley and Rossella Derickson,
Corporate Wisdom and SBODN
Panelist Kim Elisha Proctor, Senior Manager
Holistic Quality, PayPal and BAODN
Panelist Eileen Sullivan, Group Director, Cadence
Please join me in
thanking our sponsors at Synopsys for graciously hosting us for this event.
Below are notes from the conversation:
By definition, any group
of two or more may have intrigue and maneuvering within a group, the definition
of politics itself, so where there are people,
whether it's in the boardroom, by the water coolers at work, or at home or at
the playground. there will be politics. Whether your political issue is
turf protection, hesitation in sharing info, playing favorites, gossip,
maliciously compliant, passive-aggressiveness or something else, no one's in a
bubble, even if you see yourself as an individual contributor with no direct
reports. In fact, the level of politics you deal with is directly proportional
to the number of people you're interacting with, whether or not they report to
you. Politics happens at all levels within an organization, and the types of
politics varies on function, team and organization.
In the best of all worlds,
politics is a cooperative, dynamic give and take which is direct, transparent,
collaborative, and focused on a win-for-all result. But politics can get UGLY,
so there are actions you can take to prepare yourself to manage politics.
It is first
important to acknowledge and accept the pervasiveness of politics, and think
with positive, yet realistic connotations: not just something an aggressive,
self-serving person would do, but something that everyone needs and leverages
to get things done, working with people.
Next, seek to
understand your personal strengths, objectives and strategies around managing
the politics around you. Listen to what others say about your actions and how
they perceive you based on your actions, but also listen to yourself and what
your body and mind as telling you. Know your strengths and leverage them to the
advantage of all, setting up situations for good politics which benefit all.
Men and women who successfully navigate the politics around them understand
both themselves, but also the people that they interact with as well as the
norms and rules of a group overall, whether its official or unofficial,
documented or not. It's a matter of understanding both what your needs are, but
also the needs of others in the group, and understanding the actions and power
plays people take on to get what they need.
Once you accept the
pervasiveness of politics, your own personal strengths and needs and that of
those youre working with, be strategic and plan out how you manage the
politics to drive results making proactive, measured choices, and encouraging
the same for others. Make it always a conscious choice about whether you
participate in the political maneuvering around you. Ask yourself if you should
engage, and if so, why and how and what are the desired results and costs. The key is to think it through strategically, and being
clear, transparent communications up front, and continually checking in with
the other parties regarding objectives, motivations, desires, and anything else
which may change as situations evolve.
Again and
again, the panelists commented on the importance of building relationships with
key others within, throughout and outside your organization. Take the time to
understand what motivates and drives them, while communicating your own needs,
and working toward common causes in alignment with corporate values and needs.
Its about building a large network of trust with people empowered to drive
results for individuals, groups and the organization overall.
Clearly,
building a large network of trust between like-minded, results-oriented
professionals at all levels. The panelists encouraged us to get out of your comfort zone, and start connecting with
more people who are different than you in role, perspective orientation, etc.,
but also people who are similar to you in many ways as well. The more you build
your network, the more visibility and power you will have, especially in
politically sensitive matters, whether or not you aspire to climb the corporate
ladder.
The importance of having a
broad and deep network is particularly useful if you work for an organization
undergoing change, whether its expansion or contraction, a change in products
and services, a change in markets and customers. When companies are retracting,
people feel threatened and insular, and its more important to develop deeper
relationships. When companies are expanding rapidly, its important to connect
with people from different areas and departments, developing relationships and
better understanding how people and groups work together as the company grows,
while getting visibility and building relationships.
As our
facilitators put it, everyone is encouraged to leverage their authentic self
and a politics of kindness to drive results which are collaborative and functional vs. results that make
people feel undermined and cheated and worse. The other side of politics is
collaboration, so focus on what it takes build collaborations benefiting people, teams and the company overall, breaking
down silos between people and teams. Practice positive communications, and be
strategic about spreading it to build community and team across roles, programs
and organizations.
Below is a
list of strategies and tactics our panelists leveraged to best navigate
politics:
Building
relationships is important, and its important to always try to work with
people you trust and respect, but at times, you have to work with people who
havent earned your trust. If and when thats the case, be clear and
transparent, and work other relationships to help ensure desired results.
Align
yourself with a great manager and boss (and program), because no matter how
good you are, your future is tied to his or hers.
Dont
be a pawn in a political maneuvering. Recognize that you always have a choice
about whether to engage and how and why and act accordingly.
Be
comfortable taking measured risks, even in highly charged political situations. But be extra careful if you're new to a relationship,
organization or team, for people may not be who they seem, and may have more
power than you think.
If you're dealing
with favoritism, try becoming a favorite of the favorite.
If you're a
victim of passive-aggressive behavior, dont take it personally and rise above
it. You will likely have allies as he/she have likely made other victims. If
you're in a corporate culture that discourages this, this behavior will be
quickly discouraged. If you're not, create a culture which frowns upon this
type of behavior and delivers feedback quickly to the offender.
If the project
you're working on becomes progressively more interesting to others within the
team, including people who outrank you, assume that there will be a greater
interest from others and respond accordingly, always focusing on whats right
for the overall project and company, rather than taking personal offense.
Whenever you're a
victim of bad and ugly politics, always think that there are multiple ways to
look at things, multiple points of view. You dont have to buy into someone
else's viewpoint, but taking the time to understand it will give you a broader
perspective, and help you strategize a win-win result, if one can be reached
under the circumstances.
If you're a
victim of long-term political battles and have gotten to the point of wondering
when you will walk, have a clear view of what you will do and won't do, and a
clear moral boundary a line in the sand that you won't cross. You have to
live with your own actions and decisions and sleep at night. If your political
circumstances are asking you to cross that personal line, don't do it, and
don't waste your time and energy being outraged at others who are pushing you
there. Just make your own decision, and take your own action so that you don't
have to go there.
Have the courage
to stand in your own power, embracing who you are, what you do, what youve
accomplished and the wisdom to know when to release or not engage.
Take the
initiative and be trusting and respectful of those around you, giving them the
benefit of the doubt. You will likely earn that right back, but if you don't,
don't be naive and follow the proverb 'once bitten, twice shy'.
Practice positive
communications and own the impact of your communications on others be it
positive or negative.
Take the
proactive stand up for what's right, even if it's a politically charged stand.
But also be willing to stand down, disagree and commit, for having multiple
factions on a sensitive topic will likely be division and unproductive.
Think of politics
like a game, something that brings up your competitive juices. Remember its
just there, and don't take it personally. In fact, find a way to enjoy it,
especially if you're building relationships and collaborations that benefit
all.
Be positive when
speaking of others. Be direct when displeased with others.
Taking up golf
may actually help you build relationships with decision-makers within your
company.
Always take an
observer stance, noticing who's doing what; what everyone's needs are. Be ever
the diplomat, caring about others around you, who they are, what their needs
are, how they respond.
When working with
people from other geographies, try to understand that their reality is
different than yours, while also acknowledging that you aren't currently
walking in their shoes, experiencing all they do.
Don't over-emote
over a political situation. It may not be as bad as you think, or it may wind up where
you think. If others treat you badly, it's likely not personal as in general
how you do one thing is how you do everything.
Know your style
and educate others about who you are and what youre about so they are less
likely to misinterpret your actions.
When advocating
for your team and their cause, identify and work with the decision-makers to
lobby for the cause. Also work with those close to the decision-makers to
ensure they understand the project and its impact and benefits to the company
and to themselves personally as well as THEIR team. If others not in the
decision-making chain are undermining you or unhappy with a positive decision,
be respectful and clear that your focus is on the overall company good, which
would also benefit them.
In conclusion, the
panelists concurred that navigating politics is a journey, not a destination.
Regardless of whether youre new to work, or have risen the ranks leveraging
politics, there will be lessons to learn throughout your career. Acknowledge that not every decision and action you make and
take will lead to the win-for-all results you seek, but always reach for
results you can live with, results that align with your core values and your
authentic self. In short, navigate
politics by being authentic and genuine in all you do, make decisions with the
highest moral standards, with objectives that support all, and work with those
you trust and respect and focus on making progress collaboratively for the
greater good of yourself, your team and your organization.
Panelist Shobhana Viswanathan, Senior Marketing Manager, Global
Alliances, VMware
Below
are notes from the conversation:
The inspiring and competent women on our panel came in
all shapes and sizes, industries, roles and perspectives, but they share many
things in common: a high level of self-awareness, a commitment to grow for
themselves and for the group and organizations they work with, a generous
spirit of sharing and empowerment, competence in skills and execution, and
exceptional communication and people skills. They each had a level of
self-confidence and persistence necessary to succeed in a male dominated
profession and organization, and sufficient results to command the respect of
their staff and peers, and earn the titles they currently hold.
They all engaged in activities outside their day-to-day
work, and did what it took to recharge and re-energize themselves every day.
They all continue to respond directly and proactively to the day-to-day
challenges they face, working collaboratively to ensure win-win outcomes in
alignment with corporate, personal and group objectives.
They are collaborative problem-solvers and experts at
engaging and empowering others to participate in the decision-making and
execution process. It's not that they don't run into controversial situations.
It's that their understanding of people and their fearless communication
styles, and their commitment, authenticity and integrity, have spurred them to
take action, and directly address problems immediately and
transparently.
These women are held in high esteem, and they generously
shared their thoughts on how to hone your leadership style:
Be the leader you want to be and know that it will not
always be easy.
A woman's leadership style is always about
balancing between being too soft and too aggressive (a doormat or a bench); too
work-focused and too family-oriented. It's a continual push-pull for all our
panelists, yet they keep making the choices that will allow them to succeed
both personally and professionally, leveraging a network of support. It's not
that they don't have the same challenges and issues the rest of us have. It's
that they have accepted the need to constantly make tough choices and developed
a support structure to help them have their cake and eat it too. Bringing the
two sides together, it's the image of a tough mom holding a baby. You have to
be competent and tough enough to succeed and nurturing and indulging enough to
make sure others learn and benefit from it.
It takes a strong and resilient person to choose
to walk the uphill battle and succeed in a male-dominated role and industry.
You have to be tough, competent, and resilient to succeed at it, and empower
others as you succeed.
Be yourself, adopt your own leadership style.
With that said, learn from the successful styles of others and constantly study
what other people are doing and acting, and what's working and not working for
them, even if its in a different context than your own work and personal
challenges. And focus on your strengths to keep developing and refining your
own leadership style.
Request the gift of feedback from people who see
you from different angles. Reflect on that feedback, and change your style as
appropriate based on the input.
Leadership is not about toeing the line and
being bland. Be willing to stick your neck out and be passionate and take a
stand. With that said, do your homework so that you understand why youre
taking a stand, and so that you can communicate your position in a confident
and compelling way.
Be well-rounded. Join other teams and
organizations and put yourself out there to discover other dimensions of
yourself. You will learn as much as you give.
Be self-aware enough to know what makes you
tick, what motivates you, and continue to make choices that will keep yourself
engaged and passionate.
Recognize whats important to you, and make
choices that ensure that you have the time and energy to do whats important to
you. This will involve saying no to other things, putting limits to some of the
things you're agreeing to do.
Have a mind-body connection, and make choices to
support your body and your mind and deal with the stress and challenges of
holding a leadership position.
Build a network and infrastructure that will support you
and others around you.
Develop a network of support from family to
friends to stay-at-home moms to nannies to babysitters, housekeepers and
gardeners, to help you meet the day-to-day demands of leadership at work.
Engage in and support the development of
mentorship programs within your organization, as a mentor or a mentee.
Supporting a mentoring culture and infrastructure within your organization is
not an easy task as it cant be mandated. But when it works, it benefits all
participants and the organization as a whole.
Facilitate grass-roots leadership within your
organization, and collaboratively encourage networking and learning across
departments and organizations. Developing engagement from the bottom up, and
enlisting executive management to participate will help build a stronger
organization and more empowered leaders.
Support the advancement of women within your
organization, and help people address their stereotypes about women managers vs
male managers. One of the reasons why both men and women wanted male bosses is
that they are historically more likely to advance, and bring along their staff
as they do. However, as more women advance to higher, more visible positions of
influence, this is changing, but the perceptions may remain.
Be the competent leader others will respect.
Walk a mile in the shoes of others, and show
that youve been part of the team, facing and addressing the problems they've
faced, whether its in sales or manufacturing or R&D. This way, you can
communicate with the people who are making things happen, and bring these
challenges and insights to the executive team and strategize on how best to
proceed.
You have to be a people person, and a great
communicator, showing that you care about people, and also that you get the
business imperatives. Learn to bond with people on their terms, and also earn
their respect for your business acumen and competence. Engage them in getting
things done, problems resolved.
Embrace your passionate side, but not in a way
which will brand you as too emotional. Channel your emotion to passion for a
cause at work or outside. Manage your emotions during conflicts by 1) taking a
breath, 2) focusing on the issues, 3) not taking things personally, 4)
understanding root causes for the conflict, 5) taking the conflict into a
one-on-one discussion, 6) speaking rationally with common sense, 7) having a
zero-tolerance policy for belittling remarks, 8) tabling the conversation if
necessary, etc.
Every leader will meet resistance. The question is what
you do about it.
If you are labeled a b** for an action you've
taken, consider to yourself if a guy would be considered a jerk for doing
something similar, and even bring up the question to others if you think
there's a double standard.
Learn from your mistakes. Don't hate the other
side because they were good, but learn from why they were selected. Consider
challenges as growth opportunities. And if you've made a mistake, pick yourself
up and keep moving forward, hopefully stronger for it!
Have the courage to immediately and directly
address individuals who has not treated you with respect.
Communicating to engage and inspire others is a
leadership prerequisite.
Be other-centric, whether you're communicating with a
staff member, peer, manager, family member, or customer, understand their
perspectives and abilities and strategize on the best ways to communicate to
them. Gather data tailored to what's relevant to them in a way that makes sense
to them. For example, if youre working with a resistant, defiant and cranky
engineer who can't multi-task and doesn't want to be bothered in the middle of
a project, plan your communications with him at the end of the project.
Leverage your gender, learn from your children.
Learn from your children, whether it's about the
latest social media trends, or the perspectives of the younger generation, or
even life priorities, in many ways, being a parent is a great leadership
challenge.
Women leaders bring so much to the table, with
their multi-tasking abilities, their ability to work across cultures and age
groups, and, as mentioned in the October 2009 McKinsey report inspiring others
and defining expectations and rewards will be critical future leadership needs.
In conclusion, leadership is about the choices you make
day-to-day. Take the time to reflect on the choices you're making and make sure
that they are on the path for success you've outlined for yourself. Have a plan
for success, and choose your take-aways and learnings from each and every
experience. Make the difficult choices when necessary, including leaving a position,
role or organization if it is not fulfilling, if it's not something you're
passionate about. Find meaning and purpose in the work that you do, and make
sure that it helps you grow in the direction you choose, while you're making a
difference in the way you choose.
When leaders make staff development a priority;
their team becomes unified, projects run smoothly and goals are surpassed in
return. KLR Consulting invites you to read a story about a woman who changed
everything in her organization with comprehensive employee development
programs, and welcomes your inquiries and comments. http://www.klrconsulting.com/clients/pdfs/first5_success.pdf
FountainBlue's June 11 When She Speaks
event was on the topic of Millennials In Our Midst and featured:
Facilitator
Camille Smith, Work In Progress Coaching
Panelist
Cyndi Stargiotti, Technical Training Programs Manager, Synaptics
Please join me in thanking our speakers
above, as well as our hosts at LifeScan, all of whom make our work possible.
Below are notes from the conversation:
Our panel concurred that it is not about
the age bracket or the perspectives of each generation of workers, its about
getting everyone fully contributing and successfully, fully integrated and
open-minded so that they as productive and as collaborative as possible, to
keep an organization forward-thinking and effective at a time when innovation
is key, problems are complex, international and multi-faceted, and teamwork and
collaboration will remain the keystones for success.
Each panelist eloquently described how
their organizations and their teams leveraged technology to its fullest, but
more importantly, listened to the needs of staff and customers, factoring in
their needs and perspectives and finding a middle ground, building alignment
toward strategic goals. Technology is an important enabler for building
communication and community, but it takes open communication and acceptance of
differences and building relationships of trust to get everyone to pull
together on common goals, despite differences in culture, age and perspectives.
The panelists encouraged us to develop a
corporate culture which respects differences and supports the needs of workers,
including millennials. The panelists commented that millennials prefer
corporate cultures that support flexible work hours, results-oriented
milestones stating what needs to be done without specifying how it should be
done, and constant and specific feedback. They do expect advancement based on
performance, but are generally now more realistic about the timeframes for
advancement.
Millennials were raised in the age of the
internet where answers are readily and quickly available, so they are
techno-philic, embrace the rapid pace of a corporate culture, and many show
amazing capacity for completing work well and quickly, all valuable qualities
in todays competitive corporate world.
The question arose about how millennials
can get more respect in the workplace, and the panelists responded by advising
them to stand behind their results and performance (even if it appears that
others with less stellar results and more experience receive credit), be
positive in communication (even if frustrated by above), build strategic
connections like sponsors and mentors within and outside the company, and be
strategic about how you communicate what you do, how you do it, and how
passionate you are about it.
Parents of millennials may not spend as
much time with their kids, coming from a driven, work-philic generation, but DO
shower them with attention and toys when they do. Therefore this generation has
more toys and tools, more confidence and independence than GenX for example.
The implication in the workplace is that they want to understand the context of
the work they are asked to do and how it fits into the bigger picture for the
organization. Once they understand this and buy into it, they generally attack
the task or problem with contagious enthusiasm, and deliver quality results
efficiently. Note also that Millennials in general have seen the work ethics
and choices made by their parents, and are choosing to live for the moment,
enjoy and celebrate life, which may impact how they come across at work.
The panelists made several suggestions on
how to create a cross-generational culture which brings out the best in all:
Create
opportunities to gather informally and socially and encourage interactions
between groups, generations, cultures, etc.
Encourage
open communications about assumptions, perceptions, expectations. Equally
important is to encourage acceptance and tolerance of differences.
Model
and encourage how a good sense of humor can help develop connections and trust,
and relieve stress.
Leverage
the best out of each persons differences in abilities and perspectives, and
teach your teams to do the same.
Reward
teams that can find a middle ground and work together toward a common goals, a
collaborative decision-making process that benefits all.
Encourage
and insist on focus when its necessary, but be flexible about having divided
attention when its not.
Insist
on respect for all, and be direct if someone is inadvertently being rude,
particularly if theyre unconsciously using technology gadgets when they are
ignoring or disrespecting someone else present.
Establish and support
mentoring programs to build connections between generations, roles, cultures.
In conclusion, business has become much
more complex, with so many political, social issues involved, with many more
interdependencies and risks than ever before, with local and global factors
impacting decisions, with the proliferation of technology and the need to
leverage it effectively to communicate openly and transparently, building
credibility and engagement of all stakeholders. It is essential for leaders to
engage all stakeholders within and outside a company to collaboratively made
effective decisions in a complex world. Full engagement of the tech-savvy,
efficient millennial generation in the collaborative decision-making process,
with their passion for building community and saving the world will set
forward-thinking companies apart from those who embrace the status quo, the old
way of doing business.
Biographies
FountainBlue's May 14 When
She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Standing on
the Shoulders of Mentors and featured:
Facilitator Kim Wise, Mentor Resources
Panelist Erna Arnesen, Vice President, Worldwide
Services Partners and Alliances, Cisco Systems
Panelist Claudia Galvan, Principal Lead Program
Manager, Windows Live, Microsoft
Panelist Vidya Venkatesh, Senior Specialist, Global
Product Support, Life Technologies
Below are notes from
the conversation.
Each panelist emphasized
the importance of mentorship in their growth and development, both personally
and professionally. Mentors have helped our panelists articulate and achieve
their goals, build relationships that endured the test of time, see challenges
from a different perspective, and keep climbing the corporate ladder. Mentors
open up doors to people, to information, to resources and networks. They help
you achieve your objectives step by step, and position you with the knowledge, strength,
network and confidence to reach still further toward your goal. Whereas formal
education provides you with the knowledge and skills to perform your job,
mentors provide you with feedback, input, confidence and coaching to succeed at
your job, managing people, time, objectives, etc.
There are many different
types of mentors. There are internal mentors within your company who are
familiar with the people and processes there and can help you navigate those
waters, very helpful particularly if youre new to a company or an industry.
There are external mentors from other companies who can provide more general
coaching and support. There are technical mentors who refer you to the right
information and resources so you better understand subject matter and have
better skills to deliver on your work objectives. There are senior mentors who
can draw from their extensive experience to give you ideas and perspective in
managing a specific challenge. Former bosses might make a good mentor for you,
for example. There are peer-to-peer mentors within or outside a company, who
are sharing similar challenges. And there are even reverse mentors, like the
program at Cisco which invites Millennials to reverse-mentor execs who want to
better understand the perspectives from that generation.
Whatever type of mentor
you select, you must know first why you want a mentor and what goals you'd like
to achieve with the support of a mentor. From there, you can decide who would
be a good mentor to achieve those goals. And then you can figure out how to
approach this potential mentor so that he/she would be interested in supporting
you as a mentor. When you have the initial conversation, do what you can to
make the chemistry work for both of you while also focus on what you'd like to
accomplish and why you think this person could help you meet those objectives.
In addition, set expectations in terms of logistics - how often to meet, where
to meet, etc. and also set ground rules on what type of feedback you're looking
for, and how best to communicate with you.
Remember, your potential
mentor is likely very busy, so make it convenient and easy and enjoyable for
your mentor to meet with you, and make it easy for them to help you: you should
do most of the prep work/agenda planning and keep them posted on how helpful
their advice has been for you. Take the initiative to ensure that the
relationship is continuing to work for you both.
In starting a relationship
with a mentor, it might be like riding a bike with square tires at first, but
if you work with it, and keep building results and a positive chemistry, you
will find it rewarding for both parties. Below is a list of topics which might
be covered in mentor-mentee meetings:
Career
development and transition
Performance
Reviews
Time Management
Negotiations
Your Passion and
Bringing It Out at Work
Global Teams
Functional
Expertise
Business Problems
Reassurance and
Validation
Feedback, Advice
and Suggestions on Specific Issues
In short, a mentor can
make THE difference in the success of leaders at all levels. Finding the right
mentor is a worthwhile exercise, and BEING a mentor to others is also
rewarding, educational and energizing.
Panelist Luciana Vecchi, Globalization Business
Manager, Core Services, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Below are notes from
the conversation.
Your brand tells
people who you, and what to expect from you whether at work or at home. It
helps people decide whether to trust you, and what to trust you about.
Effective executives, both women and men, proactively build their brand, to
ensure that others think highly of them, and have the confidence that they can
execute under specific circumstances, and even in situations where they have
little connections and expertise. Indeed, your executive brand can limit or
launch your success.
Our panel concurred
that an executive brand says something about you to people you know and people
you want to know. It is a compilation of all the things that you've said and
not said, done and not done. Below are some elements of the brands developed by
our esteemed panelists:
Proactive
networking and communication independent of roles and organizations and levels
Collaborative,
consensus builder focused on results
Deep
knowledge and expertise
Persistent,
results-oriented problem solver
Forward
thinking
Passionate
Community
orientation
Authenticity:
You get what you get
To begin building
your brand, start with an understanding of who you are what you are good at and
passionate about. Recognize your weaknesses as a part of who you are and
develop a plan to compensate for them, to make them a 'win' or a 'feature',
provided that the weakness does not interfere with your ability to deliver
results. Listen to yourself and make your priorities based on whats important
to you. Always make choices that will keep you authentic, make you happy to be
who you are.
Focus on what you
would like to accomplish both personally and professionally and then strategize
on how to accomplish your goals, both in terms of the actions you need to take
and the networks you need to connect with. Ensure that what you say and what
you do, or dont say and don't do, are in congruence with who you want to be,
how you want to present yourself now, and in the future, in your personal and
in your professional life.
Some people like to
draw attention to themselves through their hair (think Don King or Donald
Trump) or accessories or socks, but even if you choose to do so, it's what you
say and what you do that communicates who you are, rather than the less.
Continue to refine
your executive brand through your communications online, in person, and in
writing, and ensure that your thoughts and actions are in alignment with your
intended brand. Continue to align your decisions and actions and review and
update the brand you'd like to communicate.
If someone says or
does something which may threaten the integrity of your brand, first figure out
who is doing it, why they might be doing it, and whether he/she is important to
you. If he/she is important to you, or could influence how important OTHERS can
perceive you, work quickly to make an authentic stand for your brand, your
reputation, through strategic actions and communications. It is your job to NOT
JUST communicate your brand, but also to defend it from being misinterpreted.
Know when to stand up to misperceptions, to subtly or more directly prove them
wrong by your words and actions, and to ignore them altogether.
Whereas previously
only the most important people had handlers and publicists and others to ensure
brand integrity for them, in todays world of technology proliferation and
constant communications, EVERYONE must build and protect their brand real-time.
The wide range of social media offerings from FaceBook to LinkedIn to Twitter
offer so many different channels for communicating your brand, but they also demand
a proactive defense of the integrity of the brand, and thorough consideration
prior to communicating online, where anyone could Google your communications,
even ones youd prefer not to be known by. It's hard to compartmentalize your
personal and professional life, and it takes judgment and discipline to ensure
that sensitive or frivolous or private information does not negatively impact
your brand.
One example of the
consequence of not doing so is that it is now common practice for hiring
managers to Google a potential candidate online. Prospects are eliminated who
don't have the judgment to proactively manage their brand. With that said,
candidates who show their authenticity by backing their brands as a thought
leader through blogs, or get involved in associations that could benefit from
your expertise and keep apprised of and even help shape industry trends through
your involvement, have the definite advantage.
Your executive brand
can take you far - even farther than you had originally envisioned, and more
likely so if you proactively build and manage it. Be true to who you are at all
times, but also be open to and even fearless about opportunities to stretch the
definition of yourself if the opportunities or circumstances arise provided
that your values and integrity are not compromised. Surround yourself with
people with similar mindsets and support each other in building and extending
your brands.
FountainBlue's March 15 When She Speaks Women in Leadership Series
event was on the topic of Agility - The Key to Building a Successful Career and featured:
Facilitator Linda Popky, L2M Associates
Panelist Amanda Dutra, Senior Vice President of Career Management,
Practice Leader for the Global Transition Center of Excellence in the Pacific
Region NA, Right Management
Panelist Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
Panelist Lisa Jing, Program Manager, Cisco
Panelist Shari H. Moore, GPHR, SPHR, Vice President, Human
Resources-Global and Americas Sales and Services, Hitachi Data Systems
Panelist Phyllis Stewart Pires, SAP
Below
are notes from the conversation.
Defined
as the ability to leverage passion and talent for business objectives, agility
is also about taking responsibility of your career, and having the initiative
to challenge yourself in strategic ways. It's about understanding and working
with the people around you as peers, mentors, partners, etc to focus on getting
a job well done. It's also about focusing on what you DO know already, and
applying that to your next role or challenge, and continuing to raise the bar
for yourself and those around you. It's also about being open and flexible and
resilient; choosing to learn with every experience, good or bad. It's about
accepting where you are now, not being disappointed that your career is not
going as planned, for rarely is a career one path, and rarely is it planned,
especially these days!
Global
megatrends are impacting how companies are functioning, and individuals must be
agile enough to take charge of their career path despite the rapid changes.
Below are some tips from the panelist on choosing agility:
Take
the challenges that come your way, and find a way to be successful with every
opportunity. Even if you don't succeed in the short term, or even if you fail
altogether, make that a learning experience and apply that learning to your
next adventure.
Exude
confidence rather than ego, even if you're totally out of your comfort zone.
Understand
what you're doing for whom for each new role, company or industry you adopt and
ensure that you deliver excellent results at every turn.
Leverage
mentors to help you adopt that proactive career path.
Don't
let your role limit your abilities, your effectiveness or your image. Don't let it dictate HOW
something gets done, just get it done YOUR WAY.
Emulate
the behavior of others you admire, make them informal mentors. Dare to try
doing it yourself, only do it your own way.
Sometimes
it's better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.
Own
your brand and be visible to the right people so that the right opportunities
come your way. Then open the door if opportunity knocks!
Proactively
plan your career moves with your boss.
Everyone
has their own unique value proposition. Know yours and show its value every
day.
Don't
be afraid to communicate your value in a self-confident way that's not about
ego.
When
you get the opportunity, say yes, and tell them why you would be a good choice
for that opportunity with specific examples.
Think
of yourself as a solution provider, not just someone with specific niche
experiences. Think about market needs and market trends and how the solutions
you can provide can help companies address these trends.
Learn
to negotiate and advocate for your needs. Learn to communicate both orally and
verbally, as someone who knows what they're doing and can get things done.
Build
a support network to support your short term and long term career goals.
Put
your health first - you can't help others unless you have the rest, exercise,
nutrition, energy you need.
In
conclusion, with the rapid global changes in technology and markets, and its
impact on companies large and small, our panelists recommend that everyone
proactively chooses career agility, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an extensive
network as keys to a successful career.
FountainBlue's February 12 When She Speaks,
Women in Leadership Series, on the topic ofHow to Throw More
Balls Up Higher: Juggling Work-Life Balance in Demanding Times. A recording of
the session is made available through the generous support of Adobe. http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p53223679/
Facilitator Deborah Campbell, Director,
Member Services, Western Region, Catalyst
Panelist Karen Catlin, Vice President, Core Services, Adobe Systems Inc.
Panelist Pat Cross, Vice President, Career
Management, Right Management
Panelist Lisa Dearborn, Vice President,
Leadership Development, Hitachi Data Systems
Panelist Natascha Thomson, Director of Global Ecosystem and Partner Marketing,
SAP
Below are notes from our conversation.
Silicon Valley women leaders are challenged
by the corporate and business pressures of high-stress, high-impact positions,
while still juggling the personal demands of life and family, and squeezing in
time for yourself. Each ball - from the heavy, urgent demands in a corporate
environment to the home-and-personal demands of children, spouses, friends and
others, to your own always-addressed-last personal needs for balance, health
and growth - is important.
The panelists defined work-life balance in
simple terms: making the time to do the things you want to do; understanding
and acting on your personal priorities, ensuring that your life is more than
your work; and being at your best both at home and work.
Our panelists concurred thatestablishing
priorities
on whats important to do, and implementing plans to ensure that you allocate
time for each of these priorities is of paramount importance. You must first
take the time to reflect continually on whats important to you, and have the
discipline to ensure that the things that matter most to you come first.
They also remarked that everyone musttake
responsibility
for establishing their own work-life balance - putting their own limits on the
amount of work you take on at home and on the job, and being proactive in
managing that balance, rather than feeling resigned and victimized.
Another core theme of the conversation
revolved aroundmanaging expectations - that from others, that from
ourselves, etc. The panelists were clear about having realistic expectations of
yourself, and also establishing realistic expectations from your peers and
colleagues at work. They warned about the perils of living up to others'
expectations of you, and advised you to establish your own expectations for
yourself. They also challenged our assumptions about what is expected at work,
and invited us to set up new expectations which may require less time at work,
while delivering the same or even more quality results. (Indeed, one of our
panelists was able to work part time while raising a family and also rising the
corporate ladder!) They cautioned us about guilt and perfectionistic tendencies
will not serve our work objectives in the long time, and taking the time out to
change gears and focus on others might actually make you more effective at
work.
One strategy for managing expectations is
toset
clear boundaries
and limits for yourself and for others you interact with at home and at work.
For example, to help set expectations on the amount of time dedicated to a job,
the panelists advised us to have clear work hours and only respond during those
work hours. They also said that compromising on those boundaries for a few
minutes might only accomplish a little bit more at work, while deeply cutting
in to the other commitments you made to family, friends, self, etc.
The panelists advised us todelegate
non-essential tasks
to others at work and at home. Creating partnerships and building relationships
at work to address work requirements is one win-for-all solution. An example at
home is to negotiate clearly defined roles for members of your family, so that
everyone contributes to daily chores, while also paying for services such as
housekeeping and gardening, so that you can spend more quality time together. One
caution to this strategy is to ensure that you dont delegate core tasks at
work for example, or tasks that are relationship-building opportunities at work
or home (for example, transporting your kids to and from school or activities
might be a perfect conversation-time that you dont want to delegate).
Although the panelists remarked that women
are particularly good at multi-tasking, they advised us tofocus on single
tasks, and single relationships as often as possible. Being 100% present
with the people most important to you will help you build deep relationships,
manage stress, and set a good example while showing them how much you value
them.
The panelists recommended adoptingstress-relief
practices
to help manage the heavy demands for professional women and men. Strategies
ranged from adopting a hobby to regular meditation. Also, taking the time to
appreciate all that you have - your work, your health, your friends, your
accomplishments, your future, etc. will help you re-charge and maintain a happy
balance.
In considering all the strategies and
advice above, the overarching theme is that you are in charge of your own
balance and happiness based on your personal values, and adopting a positive,
dynamic, can-do outlook and strategy can help you make it so. The bottom line
is that work-life balance IS do-able, but not all at once for all priorities,
and not all the time.
FountainBlue's January 18 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series was on the topic of Expanding
Your Circle of Influence: With or Without Authority and featured:
Facilitator Jo Miller, CEO,
Women's Leadership Coaching Inc.
Panelist Kristine
Gallegos-Haehl, Trade Professional Manager, PG&E
Panelist Linda Holroyd, CEO,
FountainBlue
Panelist Gwen McDonald, SVP,
Human Resources, NetApp
Panelist Titina Ott, Vice
President, Organizational Effectiveness, Oracle
Below are notes from our conversation.
About Influence and Your Influencing Style
Influencing is to women like
catnip is to cats - we cant resist it, as evidenced by the number of people in
attendance, and the energy of all our participants and the event overall. It's
important to be able to influence others around us to build momentum, to drive
a cause forward, to rise within an organization, for personal satisfaction. A
couple of definitions of influencing are defined below:
Jo: An influencer is someone who makes a
greater difference than one person alone can make. Your circle of influence are
those with whom you collaborate, to make stuff happen.
Titina: An influencer is someone who understands
the dynamics of persuasion and how to use it to positively impact, situations,
individuals and organizations.Your
capability to influence is made up of your personal brand, knowledge and trust
that others have with you.
Linda: An influencer is a leader who draws upon
knowledge, passion, strategy and sheer will power to move things in a desired
direction for a shared cause. An effective influencer leverages 'circles of
influence' between different groups, consciously and effectively expanding how
each group member will participate in expanding that circle of influence for
all.
Effective Influencing Techniques with or without
authority:
Always lead with your values and your integrity,
but focus on generating measurable results.
You
must always feel good about yourself and what you are doing. Doing the right
thing is more important than moving the ball forward.
Be
willing to make the tough choices and do what needs to be done, but do it with
compassion and sensitivity, and where possible, maintain relationships despite
the tough choices you need to make.
Know yourself.
Know
your talents and align complementing talents around you and work together to
generate measurable results.
Be
passionate and speak your truth. But first invest the time to reflect and discover
your truth.
Have
tough compassion with high integrity.
Do your homework.
Know
your audience.
Be
strategic about who you work with and how to connect with them.
Knowledge
is important. Take the time to explore an issue and the people around the issue
and build a strategy on how to influence each stakeholder before reaching out
to them.
Understand
what your level of acceptable risk is for any situation.
Understand
the other partys' acceptable risk and what theyre willing to leave on the
table.
Invest in your network.
Work
with partners and build collaborations and relationships.
Help
everyone around you to step up.
Learning to effectively influence others is a
journey, not a destination.
Its
a journey of personal growth and discovery. Let each milestone, each setback
set you further down that path.
Understand
your past successes and failures and your current challenges. Graph how what
you did say and do and what you should have said and done, and take that
learning as you go forward.
Keep
practicing your influencing techniques. Sometimes failures are more effective
than successes in building your skill-set, depending on your mind-set!
From
failures, learn what information you didnt have, how you could have done
things differently.
Decompress
and reflect following failures to better ensure that you learn from them.
Communicate with passion and clarity.
Build
and ensure alignment between all stakeholders with clear communication on
objectives, passions, goals, results, etc.
Be
animated and passionate to better motivate others to adopt the cause.
Speak
your truth, but be aware of HOW you speak that truth to best ensure that others
respond well. Be aware also of what the other party is ready to hear and what
they would respond to best.
Be confident and persistent. Theres no
substitution for that.
Have
the confidence to initiate rather than waiting for something to happen.
However, be prepared before you initiate.
Have
the determination to make great things happen.
Dont
assume that someone needs to give you permission or authority to step up. Take
the initiative.
Dont
assume that someone else has a better idea or suggestion. Jump in and add your
two cents, even if you dont think you have the experience or perspective to
add your input.
Sometimes,
you should act and beg forgiveness later. But make sure you do your homework
before you act.
Panelist Laura Debacker, Sr.
Director of Leadership Development and Employee Engagement, Sun Microsystems
Panelist Lori Smith, Director
of HR, Cisco
Below are notes from our conversation.
In business, you have to keep moving quickly, in response
to market and customer demands. Standing still can mean a death sentence, even
if the short-term numbers look good! So corporate strategies are proactively
changed, and new corporate executive teams assume the reigns in the quest of
proactive change.
Our panel this month had participated in many of these
'changing of the guards' as an executive from the incumbent and from the
newly-hired perspective and shared their insights on how new corporate
management teams really hit the ground running by leading a smooth changing of
executive suite members, by minimizing cultural impact, while ushering in
necessary near processes, people and procedures, thereby maximizing efficient
bottom-line progress through a transition. The panelists shared the following
advice about coping with inevitable change:
Embrace the diversity in your team, and
celebrate that everyone would respond to change differently.
oHelp
each team member cope with change, while also accepting that certain members
may not be right for the team, as things change.
oDont
take change personally, and help others not to.
oHaving
a sense of humor will help you keep your perspective during changes, and also
help address stress inherent in managing change.
oHave
realistic expectations of yourself and others. Dont try to do it all, embrace
it all yourself, and dont expect others to. But do be open to support and help
from others.
oLearn
from everyone around you, so you can identify what next to be, what next to do,
especially in an environment thats constantly changing.
Be strategic and make change an opportunity.
oFind
the opportunity with every change, and help others around you to adjust to any
change, and find their opportunities too.
oStrategic
alignment of goals between people, groups, partners, etc. is an important
element of for implementing successful change.
Maintain your leadership, reputation, core
values and competencies especially during change.
oBe
composed and confident during change, despite your internal feelings, to help
foster confidence around the change. With that said, also be candid and
transparent personally one-on-one about how changes are affecting you and what
you are doing to cope.
oAs
you work through change, keep your integrity and your reputation intact. Have a
strong moral compass while undergoing change, and ensure that you follow-up and
follow-through with your role in creating that change.
oAs
a leader, connect with people at all levels, and inspire them to embrace the
change by understanding why the change is needed, how it is aligned with them
personally, and how it can be best implemented. Mentor others along the way,
and be open to being mentored by others as well.
oBeing
self-aware about your own strengths and weaknesses will help you better and
more quickly adjust to the changes inevitable in any leadership role within a
company.
oBe
politically savvy, working with others to create, understand, communicate and
implement change.
oAdopt
learning agility habits and encourage the adoption for others, which would make
it easier for everyone to adapt to change more quickly.
Visionary leadership is critical, but not enough
to ensure successful change. Leaders at all levels must be engaged in the
changed management process, and trained and empowered to implement the change.
oClear
and constant communication of change why its needed, how it will be
implemented, how it will impact others, etc., - are a critical component of any
successful change.
oWhen
undergoing change, focus on whats under your control.
oTry
sticking through change, even when it feels uncomfortable. Often, there are
long term benefits to the changes, and widespread change in corporate structure
and direction are at times necessary for growth, particular in competitive
markets.
oAs
a rule of thumb, people learn 70% through experiences 20% through peers and
networking, and 10% through more formal trainings. Keep that in mind while
youre experiencing that change and benefit from the learnings inherent in
that change.
oHelp
others develop accountability strategies to help implement change.
We invite
interactive conversations around these notes and other topics of interest to
members of the community and also welcome you to forward our notes to
interested groups, provided that you copy us on your distribution, and that you
provide acknowledgment to FountainBlue and our sponsors and speakers, as our
notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue for 2006-2010.
FountainBlues November 13 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series event, on the topic of Corporate Women on Nonprofit Boards.
Please join me in thanking our hosts at Symantec for their support of this
event and for the series! Please also join me also in thanking our lively and
engaging panel for so generously sharing their perspectives and advice:
Facilitator Wendy Beecham, CEO, FWE&E
Panelist Pamela E. Evans, Director, Executive
Programs, NetApp
Panelist Cecily Joseph, Director, Corporate
Responsibility, Legal and Public Affairs, Symantec
Panelist Marilyn Nagel, Chief Diversity Officer,
Cisco
Panelist Keren Pavese, Program Manager, Western
Division Office of Sustainability, Community Outreach & Diversity Councils,
EMC Corporation
Below are notes
from our conversation.
Our panel emphasized that serving on nonprofit boards
actually benefits them personally and professionally, provided that the board
and 1) the cause is something they feel passionate about, 2) the people are
people you enjoy serving with, 3) the projects are engaging, fulfilling, and
require your support, and 4) the workload and expectations are manageable.
Indeed, each panelist emphasized how serving on nonprofit boards helped them
with enhance their professional knowledge and understand and even impact
industry trends, with their community outreach goals, working in alignment with
corporate objectives, and with their personal development, providing enriching
experiences which stretches expertise and perspective.
If youre considering joining a board, he key to a
successful nonprofit board experience is to be strategic about which board is
right for you. Start by understanding what youre passionate about and where
you might contribute. Think also about what you get back by serving, whether
its connections or expertise or knowledge for example. Then, before making a
board commitment, you may want to consider doing some volunteer work and
getting to know the people involved. Remember that you are not just evaluating
the leader or any individual, but the whole organization as a system, so things
like how the staff and executive director and board members get along is a very
important thing to consider.
Be also knowledgeable about responsibilities and
expectations and terms, particularly when it comes to legal (do they have
insurance for board members for example) and fiduciary and
fundraising/development requirements (are their finances secure and
transparent, are you required to contribute and fundraise and if so, how much)
and terms of service (how long, how often). Treat the nonprofit board position
evaluation like a job interview, and have both parties evaluate the fit before
making a commitment.
If you are considering transferring from the corporate
world to the nonprofit world, follow some of the strategies above, including
identifying your skills and passion and getting to know the organization and
its alignment with your objectives and your alignment to theirs. Although
salaries are smaller, titles can be bigger, and the work may be more fulfilling
in many ways.
Sometimes, board participation is in alignment with
day-to-day work duties, and is part of your responsibilities in your role. Even
when its not, board participation might be positive included in performance
review meetings, particularly when direct results such as skills enhancement,
partnership development, and other tangible results are outcomes from that
participation.
If you DO decide to join a board, make sure that you do
the give/get, know what youre giving and what youre getting, and know also
when to get out, change your commitment if necessary to ensure that all
parties continue to meet objectives. If you are unsatisfied with your
participation on a board, consider also asking to change or enhance your role and
contribution, or toning down time and task requirements before deciding to get
out entirely. If you DO decide to leave, work with your nonprofit to recruit a
replacement.
The panel concluded by reiterating how personally and
professionally fulfilling it is to serve on nonprofit boards, and encourage
others to evaluate for themselves whether this is also a good option for them.
If
youre seeking a board position, visit Boardnet USA http://www.boardnetusa.org/public/home.asp and search for a
nonprofit match for someone with your skill set, education and interest.
The
Young, Nonprofit Professionals Network has a list of nonprofit resources which
may be useful for those looking at going into the nonprofit sector. http://208.106.176.241/resources/ResourceLinks.asp
CompassPoint
in Milpitas which provides a range of services for nonprofit organizations http://www.compasspoint.org
FountainBlues October 9 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Women Leading Innovation and featured:
Facilitators Krista Henley and Rossella Derickson, Corporate Wisdom and SBODN Panelist Nina Bhatti, Principal Scientist, HP Labs Panelist Daniela Busse, Director of User Experience, SAP Labs LLC Panelist Christine Duran, Translation Technology Manager, Globalization, Core Services Group, Adobe Panelist Claudia Galvan, Lead, International Program Management Group, Microsoft Panelist Jessica Roland, Director, International Product Operations, Content Management & Archiving, EMC Corporation
Below are notes from our conversation. 'Innovation' is today's buzzword - considered integral to an organization's culture, its competitive advantage. Our panel of women leaders represented how innovation is successfully approached from different perspectives in different cultures. They passionately shared the need for corporations to remain innovative, supporting incremental advancements and ground-breaking innovations as well. Whether innovations involve new processes and tools and new business models, or whether they involve novel ways to doing things and looking at things, our panelists shared their stories of how to successfully forge innovation, even in the most resistant culture and teams, and even under the most challenging of circumstances.
Below are pearls of wisdom, generously shared by the panel: As a woman leading innovation, think of yourself as someone who sets the climate, culture and direction for the organization, making it easy for your team to develop, test and deliver innovations which serve the needs of real customers. o Leverage your communication skills to motivate, engage, and otherwise drive projects forward. Encourage others to do the same. o Leverage the differences between people to spark innovation and camaraderie. How will differing viewpoints add to the equation, making the end result more likely to serve the intended audience, or improving the development and delivery system altogether, for example? o Find a way to fit in and be accepted, be credible to your team and partners. You have to be accepted as one of them before you will be accepted as a team leader, particularly as a woman in a technical position. o Dont take things personally. Find a way to always focus on the customer and the company, while taking the high road, and using your communication skills and sense of humor. The pressure to do more with less during tough times can lead to innovation in business processes. It can also incentivize teams and companies to partner with others more efficiently. So if you think of these challenges as opportunities, what more can you and your team do? Building relationships and a support base are integral to the success of any leader. Innovation leaders should socialize their programs and plans with key decision-makers to best strategize how to forge innovation in specific key areas for the organization. o Engagement of all stakeholders is a critical component of any innovation, throughout the creation and execution process. To get buy-in from your stakeholders, understand what would motivate them to get involved and speak to their interests when proposing your project. Be strategic on your innovation focus. Know what you want to innovate, why you need to innovate it, how it will be innovation, for whom it will serve, etc. Get executive sponsorship and engagement to ensure alignment of your innovation objections with those of the organization. Be strategic also about how your innovation program is executed. o Time your message to key stakeholders to optimize receptivity to your program. o Push innovation to suppliers and strategic partners where appropriate. o Be customer-focused in your innovations. o Networking outside the company with a specific purpose can lead to real short-term and long-term innovations and forge strategic partnerships benefiting both parties. Be persistent and resourceful and creative in driving the innovation process forward. Its never an easy task. People, groups, ideas, and other factors may provide roadblocks to your best-laid plans. However, understanding and expecting these types of roadblocks will help you navigate treacherous waters and build momentum for your innovation project. Know thyself: Know what youre good at and leverage that. Be confident in what you bring to the table, while also valuing the gifts of others. Be recognized: Dont just take a back seat and let others take the credit. Dont be afraid to promote your work. Be courageous and take the risks and the responsibilities as well as the rewards of leading your innovation project.
Innovation Resources were also recommended: MindMap This highly effective diagramming method illustrates thoughts, concepts, relationships, associations, and consequences all connected to a central hub representing the main idea. http://www.mindmap.com. Bright Idea, The Global Leader In On-Demand Innovation Management http://www.brightidea.com/new.bix Emulate Microsofts ThinkWeek concept, and dedicate a week which encourages innovation submissions for review by executive management and peers.
In conclusion, the panelists agreed that ongoing, customer-centric, collaborative innovation, well executed, is necessary for corporate vitality and growth. It serves the needs of the customer, while also providing a challenge for the teams produces products and services for that customer, and serving the bottom line needs for any corporation. Indeed, innovation, well executed benefits all.
FountainBlues September 11 When She Speaks, Women in
Leadership Series was on the topic of Successful
Cross-Cultural Communications and featured:
Facilitator Francine Gordon, FGordon Group,
SDForum Womens Group
Panelist
Roya Afshar, Software Development Director, Oracle
Panelist
Khrystyne Heard, Manager, Human Resources, LifeScan
Panelist Debi Hirshlag, VP, Worldwide Human Resources,
Flextronics
Panelist Peggy Wolf, Manager, Cisco Services
Global I&D
Below are notes from our conversation.
About Cross-Cultural
Communications
When one
thinks about cross-cultural theres an assumption that its about people from
different backgrounds, but its much broader than that. It encompasses
differences in geography, languages, generations, companies, functional areas,
regions and industries. It doesnt happen just when you travel, or just when
you talk to someone over the phone. It happens with the staff, partners, and
other associates you work with.
The panelists shared some
sage advice critical for successfully communicating across- culture/
generation/ company/ area/ geography/ industry/etc.
Accept and understand
that everyones different, yet we are more alike that we are different. Close the cultural
communication gaps where appropriate, yet embrace the opportunities in the
differences because diversity in perspectives, talents, opinions, etc. lead to
new ways of thinking and doing things which may generate innovation and
financial returns for your company.
Build relationship of
trusts across
people with different backgrounds, and help others in your group do the same.
Strive to understand why there are differences, and collaborate with others
to find a way to meet common goals.
Dont be afraid to ask questions of trusted others, but first build
relationships of trust before asking.
Leverage technology and particularly social networking tools to build
relationships between people and groups who are culturally diverse.
Be the kind of authentic
leader that supports cultural diversity, and leverage that diversity for
business results.
Set the tone for others on respecting other peoples culture, recognizing
similarities, embracing differences.
Dont just listen but also HEAR what is said and intended.
Adjust the way you interact with others based on what you learn about each
culture in general and each individual within that culture.
Cultural differences impact peoples perceptions about someones directness
and aggressiveness and intentions. Someone who speaks clearly and assertively
in one persons perception might be perceived as self-serving or combative from
another persons perspective. Asking questions (particularly open-ended),
understanding objectives and intentions of interacting parties may help address
misunderstandings based on these cultural differences.
