I was having this discussion with a client who is part of the ELEVATE program I am running for her organisation.
She raised the point that whilst she strives to be a leader, she doesn’t necessarily aspire to be a female leader.
It was a really interesting conversation and I am so pleased to be surrounded by such a diverse mix of people that allow me to learn and develop as a coach and also fundamentally as a human being.
I believe that until we live in an equitable society. One that is diverse, inclusive and is made up of multiple voices and marginalised groups. A society that is not just managed and led by men and mainly white men. Until that point, we do need to distinguish female leaders.
Female leaders are few and far between at the C Suite level. 96% of FTSE 250 companies are run by male CEO’s and just 5% of C Suite leaders are women of colour.
And I think a contributing factor to this is that we don’t see ourselves as leaders.
The traditional connotation of a leader is very masculine - rallying the troops, authoritarian, stern, inflexible, narrow minded.
And many of us don’t aspire to be that. And frankly the world doesn’t need any more of those types of leaders.
I see a leader of the future as:
Leading with empathy and compassion
Balancing strategic priorities with the day to day
An excellent communicator and listener
Challenging norms and speaking up
Creating an open and inclusive team environment where people can be honest and bring their whole selves to work
Caring and emotionally invested in the wellbeing of their teams
Making decisions based on a variety of viewpoints and expertise
And I also don’t think you have to be leading a team to be a leader. It’s also how you conduct yourself and do your work.
And we all have the potential to be strong, successful leaders of the future. Because if we do, that is how the world will change and adapt.
I think it’s not just the connotations of traditional leaders that don’t always sit well with us, it’s also our confidence that holds us back from seeing ourselves as leaders.
A lack of confidence is one of the biggest challenges that nearly all my clients face when I begin working with them. Improving confidence has a knock on positive impact across every area of your life and work which makes it so impactful and important.
According to a longitudinal study by Zenger Folkman across nearly 5k men and women, it’s only when women reach their mid 40s that their confidence becomes on a par with men. And although the women scored more effectively in their leadership skills than men across 86% attributes, they rated themselves lower.
There are so many statistics showing the breadth of the gap in female leadership.
According to McKinsey’s women in the workplace 2022 study which surveyed more than 40,000 employees globally - there is a broken rung at the first stage of management for women. For every 100 men that are promoted, only 87 women are (increasing by 1 woman since 2021).
For every 1 woman promoted at director level and above, 2 more leave.
McKinsey are calling it the ‘great break up’. Where women are demanding more from work and leaving their companies at unprecedented numbers to get it.
So how do we tackle such a huge challenge?
At the macro level there needs to be significant shifts. Truly flexible working practices including job shares. More diversity and a range of voices when decisions are being made. Revised recruitment practises. More focus on bias. The work done on diversity, equity and inclusion done by women in organisation, linked to goals and runemerated fairly. The list really goes on.
But what can we do?
I think the first step is to work on our own confidence and how we show up in the world (I cover this in detail later this month so watch this space 👀) The more confident we can be, the more we can push ourselves forward, expanding our comfort zone bit by bit and showing others what is possible (because it’s easier to be what you can see).
We can have open discussions with colleagues, friends and family about what we want a modern leader to be and what kind of leader we can aspire to be.
Creating communication around this topic is essential because I think it is something that we don’t talk about enough as a society and we all need to be challenged on our views and the stigmas attached to those.
Do you think the term ‘female leader’ is problematic?
Drop me an email to let me know: emily@emilybuttoncoaching.com
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