Category Archives: Working women

Have a plan

coffee-and-beans Over the past few weeks I have had coffees with a number of people who wanted to talk about being better at what they do – in some cases in and for their business, in some cases in their careers. When I asked them what they wanted to achieve in a specific sense, none of them could tell me. And none of them had a plan.

Whether it’s in business, for your personal career or in life generally – you need to have a plan. To do this, it helps to have a goal, an outcome you want to achieve this year, in the next five years or what you want to be remembered for.

For business, it’s usually about having a number of goals across the spectrum of the business including financial, people based, product or market focused and so on. Once the goals are set, consideration is given to the capabilities and the constraints in and outside the business in order to develop a strategy to achieve the goals. Measurable milestones together with allocated responsibilities allow a business to track its progress.

A plan for one’s personal career(s) is not really any different. One needs to set goals and then develop a plan on how to achieve them – whether that involves up-skilling, networking, increased exposure, finding a coach or sponsor to assist and so on. And you need to keep yourself honest – where are you up to? How many coffee meetings have I had this month?

And then there’s a personal life plan, one that you take with you through all the different aspects of your life. Do you have a personal mission statement, something that defines the way you do things? What do you want to be remembered for? Have you thought about what drives you, what you’re passionate about? Having a clear understanding helps to achieve all the other goals you may have along the way.

Stephen Covey’s second habit* is to begin with the end in mind. Knowing where you want to go keeps you on track and focused. There is less chance of distraction if you ask yourself “will this get me where I want to go?”. It also allows for “disruption” – because you can still change the plan if it will help you achieve your goals.

The other important part to having a plan is to articulate it. Create something visual or put it in writing (I am a fan of “strategy on a page”) where you can see it or regularly check it. It will keep you honest.

If you’ve gone to the effort of creating a plan (and it does take some effort – whether it’s pulling together pieces of data in the case of a business, or your own data and reflections for a personal or life plan), then stick to it. But honestly, if you don’t like the plan or there are “disruptive influences” then make a new one. Just make sure you have a plan.

Coffee count: 484

* Stephen R Covey “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”

When life gets in the way

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Almost seven months since the last entry. My apologies to anyone who follows this blog and expected regular entries! The title of this post gives some explanation for my absence. The past few months have been challenging for many reasons including time allocation, and unfortunately, keeping up the blog has been one of the things to lapse, along with time for social coffees!

My role as chairman of the board has continued apace, with plenty of change management issues arising both around the board table and within the business. It really has been a lesson in the effectiveness of a collaborative approach. While each new issue arose through a phone call or email to me, it has been satisfying that the resolution has always been arrived at through working with others around the table, sharing ideas and having the opportunity to offer alternative ideas. Influence and persuasion are key skills, but one can’t use persuasion without reason, listening to and acknowledging others’ concerns and, where possible, finding ways to accommodate other points of view.

The not-for-profit board role that I continue to have a passion for, have also continued with their usual ebbs and flows – nothing for a period and then a surge. Similarly, my corporate consulting practice has had its moments of intensity. At the same time, I have started to seek to establish networks for my Asian sojourn. The Asialink Leaders Program has provided insights, knowledge and perspectives that have challenged my own perceptions. This was why I undertook the course, so the learnings are welcome as are the opportunities to meet other people engaged in building working relationships with people and organisations throughout Asia.

I have also visited Singapore a few times and begun the “coffee networking” process there. People have been welcoming and positive and I am grateful to those who have willingly introduced me to others. The ‘six degrees of separation’ adage has proved to be even closer at times, and there will many connections to be made. How many will eventually lead to the growth in my non-executive director portfolio is yet to be seen, but I will persist.

While all this continues, the realities of domestic life have had to be dealt with. Three children (one living away from home at university, one in her final year at school with a load of extra-curricular activities as well, and one dealing with the prospect of moving schools and countries at the end of the year) require time and focus. At the other end of the age spectrum are parents with significant health issues: hospitals, specialists, care at home – all to be dealt with. Not to mention the process of planning an international move, selling the family home and so on.

It has been a juggling process and I am grateful to not have had a full-time role but rather the flexibility to be able to manage – provided I don’t count on much sleep! However, I have found an appreciation for the sentiments expressed in Anne-Marie Slaughter’s new book “Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family”. You may recall that she was a director in the US State Department who left her job to spend more time with her two teenage sons. In her new book, she notes “we often cannot control the fate or our career and family”. She goes on to say that the one of the reasons women struggle in the workplace is a systematic imbalance in the esteem granted to “two complementary human drives: competition, the impulse to purse our self-interest in a world in which others are pursuing theirs, and care, the impulse to put other first.” There will always be times that the drive to care will override the drive to compete – but companies must be able to develop policies that accommodate this. There does seem to be a start in Australian business, particularly encouraged by the Male Champions of Change process, but there’s a long way to go.

Nevertheless, the 1000 coffees process has continued and I am back on track – focusing on the changes that lie ahead as well as reflecting on the lessons learned from the roles that now approach their conclusion. Hopefully I will be able to share some of the outputs.

Coffee count: 385

The balancing act

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One of the things I have learnt over the years is that you never know who you are going to learn something from and when. I have had the pleasure in the last few weeks of meeting with two formidable young professional women in a mentoring capacity. I found our conversations enlightening and informative.

By co-incidence, both women are recently married, both to successful young men who are doing well in their chosen areas. I was shocked to hear from both, quite separately, of the number of people who were asking them, when they were going to have children. Not just friends, but work associates as well. In today’s modern world, where people often enter into major events such as mortgages and parenthood without feeling the need to get married, why should marriage imply that parenthood swiftly follows?

Even more indignantly, why do people feel that they have the right to ask such personal questions? A million years ago, when I was asked the same question by my parents (only after I had been married a few years I might add), I made it clear it was none of their business. How much more so when the people asking the question are friends or work colleagues or supervisors? I did take a moment to wonder whether, in this world where Facebook and Instagram provide us with so many “friends” as well as a forum to share so much of our lives, these two things are colliding in a way that allow people to feel they can ask such personal questions.

But I digress. What was concerning to me was the questions both these women asked of me in relation to balancing work and parenthood. We are decades on from the start of women’s lib movement and pushing equality in the workplace. We’ve had a female Prime Minister (albeit one who wasn’t married and didn’t have children), a female Governor-General (who managed both) and currently have two female State Governors, a Territorial Administrator and a female Foreign Minister. We have a raft of successful female businesswomen, lawyers, doctors, directors, politicians and so on. Almost twenty years ago when I was considering having children, it didn’t occur to me that I wasn’t going to be able to continue to pursue my career. In fact, once I had the complicating factor of a second child I chose to leave the stability of tax law and pursue an entrepreneurial career.

I couldn’t have done it without the support of my husband and the fabulous assistance of a live-in nanny (which for the record was cheaper than any other form of paid-for childcare)*. In fact, part of my advice to both these women was that in any relationship there has to be an understanding and acknowledgement of both careers and the fact that there will be times when one career needs more effort and work and the other person may need to keep their career in a holding pattern as support. Trying to push two careers at the same time can be truly difficult – the added complication of children can make it even more complex. Another aspect of advice was not to try to be all things to all people all the time.

The demands of work in this era of 24/7 make the desire to balance all of these things even more acute. Shortly after the second of these meetings, it was announced that Cameron Clyne, CEO of National Australia Bank, was going to step down due to the demands of his job taking him away from his family too much. There is no doubt that being the CEO of one of the top 20 banks in the world and the top four in Australia must be a demanding role. But what hope do young women have to aspire to the top, to “lean in” as Sheryl Sandberg would have them do, if one of the blokes can’t do it either?

Just to make it harder, CEOs are continually encouraged to set an example for their staff in having work-life balance and benchmarked against their peers. They need to be seen attending school functions (by their kids as well as the broader market) as well as fronting the media and analysts when required. How do we balance the wonders of 21^st century technology when information is, and always expected to be, at our fingertips all the time, yet we need time to still be face to face with the people who matter to us (meaning our partners, children and parents, not analysts and shareholder activists)!

When one reflects on all of this, it’s probably not all that surprising that so many talented women have chosen not to engage in the battle and rather cede the opportunities to others who aren’t as worried about ensuring they understand playground dynamics at the same time as commodity price dynamics.

There are so many different things at play: biological disposition; technological advances and society’s behaviour as a result; the competing demands of investors and analysts; personal family circumstances; physical and intellectual attributes. There is also no right answer. Equally there is no wrong answer. Awareness, understanding, consideration and support are what are called for. What and when each person decides to do with their personal and professional lives is their own business. Our role as a society is to enable each person to fulfil their own hopes and dreams without making it harder.

Coffee count: 275 coffees

* Watch out for a future post on the arguments for greater support for childcare rather than paid parental leave.

Lean In and Lean On

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One of the most talked about books in the area of Diversity in 2013 has been Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In. In it, she encourages women to “step up” and not fall back into the common and usual female traits of letting our actions speak for us, and waiting for others to be our promoters. In many ways, I wish someone had given me such a book when I was starting my career. It would have served me well to know it was OK to speak out or speak up. I have recommended it to many young women this year.

It should be said, however, that clearly there are women speaking up and “leaning in” or women wouldn’t have made the advances that they have to date. The trailblazers did lean in and showed that it can be done. At the same time, as Elizabeth Broderick is showing with her Male Champions of Change, it can’t all be done by women either. Men need to help change the status quo and encourage and allow women to lean in.

While on the whole I do endorse Sheryl Sandberg’s exhortations and encouragement, there is one aspect of her own experiences that facilitated her career yet is not necessarily available for all women. For those who choose to have children, managing a career and raising a family is a challenge. This is true for men and women, but I’d venture to say it’s tougher for women. It is difficult to move full-steam ahead on all fronts at the same time. Some, like Sandberg, are lucky enough to have spouses or partners who can manage their jobs or careers to allow the mother to work – whether it is a combination of sharing the load or staying at home. Other women can outsource to family or paid help – whether childcare centres or nannies. Each should feel they can do what is right for them and not feel judged or criticised by others who may have made different choices.

But inevitably, children do grow up into young people and parents can’t outsource the necessity of instilling their own values into their children and guiding and supporting them. Children are not commodities – just to have and then move on – they require parental input and to that extent managing two big careers and bringing up children is a tremendous challenge.

To do so, inevitably one has to lean on others. Be it wider family members, one of the parents in a relationship taking a greater support role or a circle of friends (or all of the above). Women very often think they have to do it themselves and be tough and manage it all. Women juggle multiple roles and fill up all available hours doing all the things that need to be done in order to keep moving forward and keep all the balls in the air. Recent experiences of family issues and personal health have reminded me that there is a circle of friends that I can lean on, just as many of them have leant on me from time to time. Without the ability to lean on, it can be tough to lean in.

This blog entry is dedicated to the circle of women, friends and mentors, whom I have been able to lean on. Thank you for being a support.

Coffee count: 212

Benefits of career breaks – what women learn when they’re not “working”

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Very often when a woman writes her CV, there are gaps of some description, the so-called “career break”. These breaks most often are as a result of taking a break to have children, or to be at home for a period while the children are young. Increasingly, such breaks are also as a result of women taking care of an elderly or sick relative. Sometimes they are because a woman has worked all her life and decided that it is time to take stock or to spend time with older children before they leave home completely. Such career breaks are (very slowly) starting to appear on some men’s CVs as well – usually for the same reasons.

It seems that such career breaks usually have to be accompanied by an explanation, almost an apology. They almost always come with the assurance that the person is still capable and hasn’t lost any skills in the process. I think it’s time to turn that view on its head and look at the benefits of a career break and what positive things a career break say about a person. After all, if you were smart before you took a career break, having a baby or being a carer or stopping to review your career doesn’t make you any less smart.

There is, of course, the chance that if you worked in the financial markets where new derivative based products are developed every day, that you might have missed the extra bell or whistle that has been added while you were sitting out of the market for the past six months. But really, there are very few roles where the details can’t be filled in again – even in rocket science and brain surgery!

But what about all the other skills that are developed while the person is not “working”. Any person who has had a career break will tell you that being at home juggling the kids, the washing, the shopping and the other parents at school or in the canteen or uniform shop needs a whole new set of skills. The same is true for those who have to deal with doctors, nurses, hospitals and other health support services. It might be a change, but it’s certainly not a holiday. Not only are you flat-out busy, you’re not paid and often not appreciated much either. On top of it, if you don’t learn very fast to listen to others, to be accepting and empathetic, to multi-task, to be resilient and persistent, life just becomes frustrating and unmanageable. For someone not used to this part of the world, it can be much tougher to be successful than climbing the corporate ladder.

The truth is, taking a career break is more likely to give you exposure to the real world, and an understanding of real world challenges as well as the broader community; much more so than when one is ensconced in the corporate world. When these women (and the occasional man) return to the workforce, they are generally more efficient, better collaborators and have a greater ability to get to the real issues and understand what is really important. The skills they have gained while away from the office should be valued for what they are – indispensible assets.

So those looking at CVs with career breaks worked into them should not be thinking: “Oh, you might have lost your edge” and but rather “Great, this is someone with a much broader perspective”.

Coffee count: 181

PS For those interested in my personal progress, I am delighted to report at that the 176 coffees mark I was appointed to my first board role – moving from Board Observer to Non-Executive Director.

Good time for women

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After my blog a few weeks ago noting how difficult it is to get into government, I thought I should give credit where it’s due.

Anyone interested in the non-executive director (NED) space would be aware of the discussion about women on boards in the past few years. The discussion has covered the gamut of topics, from the fact there are not enough women on boards, why this is so, how to improve this situation, that companies with more women on their boards do better, and consequently what a good time it is for women who are seeking board roles. Plenty of talk, real change is taking longer….

There are lots and lots of very qualified women looking for board roles. I’ve met many of them and everyone I meet tells me that too. While there aren’t lots of female ex-C-suite executives to fill board vacancies, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that there are many women seeking board positions who are better qualified for a NED role than some existing male NEDs. As this blog canvasses, there are lots of reasons why it’s hard for women to break through into the network and there are lots of lessons we are learning in the process. But despite the fact there is both a supposedly strong demand and certainly a plentiful supply, that first board role is still elusive for many women.

Last year, the Federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Senator Penny Wong, announced the BoardLinks initiative, directly aimed at providing “more opportunities for women to be appointed to their first board, to launch and further their directorship careers” and to meet the Australian Government’s own target of having 40% women on Government boards. It was very gratifying that someone in a position of influence understood the “first board barrier” and sought to do something about it!! At this point, BoardLinks has operated to provide a database of appropriately qualified women to Government organisations, which at least makes the organisations aware of potential candidates who are women who might not otherwise be seen through networks or recruiter introductions. So far so good. However it’s still a passive process from the relevant women’s perspective. Hopefully there is more to come.

Now the Federal Government has launched a new website called Australian Government Boards which contains information “relating to more than 450 Australian Government boards and bodies across government, including a description of each board and its function, positions and appointments and term expiry dates” (http://www.ausgovboards.gov.au/). This site provides a single location to make an active search and campaign for a government board much simpler and more transparent. Anyone can now find out easily what boards there are, who is on the board, where there might be opportunities and when and work out how to make an approach. This is definitely a step in the right direction and should be applauded by all those who have had the advice “try and get on a government board”!

I do suspect this information might result in a few more coffees for me…..

Coffee count: 160

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