Will hybrid working increase gender disparity? We have invested significant time and money to improve equality so we mustn't destroy these gains now.

Turning women’s potential derailers into accelerators to mitigate against possible disadvantages for women in a hybrid world.

Many workforce advisory leaders believe that to remain an attractive employer you will need to give people an opportunity to work in a hybrid way; sometimes in the office sometimes working virtually. For many people, there is no doubt that proving choices about where and when to work is a good thing. No one knows who will choose to return to the office after the pandemic has faded however many surveys have shown that men show a greater preference to want to return to the physical workplace compared to women. Research in British and American households have shown that women have continued to do more childcare and household burdens during the pandemic.  According to data from McKinsey and Lean In, one in four women are thinking of downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce altogether. Given that many surveys have found that women are more likely to opt for working flexibly, this could mean we are more likely to have men dominated offices in the future of the workplace. When everyone is remote it is very different to having some people being remote and others in the office. A recent study by Catalyst for example found evidence that suggests it’s more important for women to be physically present to be heard. My hypothesis is that unless there is education on how to make hybrid working effective it could lead to many unintended negative consequences for women.

Many organisations have done very much to support the progression of women: coaching and mentoring, ensuring women are represented in talent pipelines and removing bias in talent processes. There is however a need to increase awareness and education for women so that they understand how they can help themselves in order to avoid being disadvantaged given the new ways of working. Based on research into what helps women overcome barriers to success particularly as they become more senior, I have redesigned my series of 10 modules to help women mitigate the challenges of hybrid working.   

Forward-thinking organisations will educate women to mitigate possible disadvantages of hybrid and remote working. and enable them to achieve their ambitions with authenticity. Women on their way up to more senior leadership positions will particularly benefit from removing derailers that could become barriers to their progression. Women need the mindset and behaviours to proactively:

 ·        Retain and rebuild strong connections

·        Overcome limitations of learning, collaboration and creativity

·        Build trust in customers, teams and colleagues

·        Increase their visibility and ability to show high job performance

·        Receive recognition and promotion, mitigating against, ‘out of sight out of mind’

·        Increase their influence and power and avoid being overlooked in voice and video meetings

·        Create increased comfort in speaking up in a virtual environment

·        Develop skills and techniques for enhanced collaboration through technology

·        Overcome the reduction in informal networking that would normally happen by the desk or watercooler or at the beginning or end of meetings, and 

·        Leverage skills in energising and engaging others and leading change for dispersed teams

Our AAA programme is a series of masterclasses aimed at women in their mid-thirties to executive-level although in some cases it may be helpful to consider the possible barriers before they get so far up the corporate ladder

This powerful evidence-based, practical programme will fortify women to proactively progress in their career with a clear idea of the value and contribution they want to make.

The masterclasses explore how certain patterns of thinking and behaviour can translate into unhelpful obstructive behaviours in the workplace which can inhibit women from reaching their potential and how to leverage their unique strengths. For example, one of the models called DANCERS ?, focuses on turning potential De-railers into Accelerators. How this could play out in the hybrid world is explained briefly below: 

1.     Delegation - Shifting from the role of  ‘doing it all’ to increased stewardship delegation.

With reduced boundaries between work and home, many women have continued in their comfortable role of ‘over working’, triggered by the fact that this historically has enabled many women to be successful and avoid discrimination. A beneficial alternative is to increase stewardship delegation, where the objective is not just to get the work done but build skills in others. This both strengthens a leader’s followership and a team’s capability. Combined with the ability to say ‘no’ effectively to specific activities, this enables women to increase their attention to more value-adding activities. There is some evidence that women have a different approach to delegation. (Akinola) For some women, the achieving mindset means they can feel they have to do everything perfectly to prove themselves.  An important mindset shift therefore in the hybrid world is to focus on filling the learning and development gap that is created by not being physically in the office by increasing mentoring and coaching in their teams and to enhance collaboration and creativity.  

2.    Advocacy - Shifting from ‘expecting work to speak for itself’ to self- advocacy.

 Many studies have shown that women are less good at putting themselves forward for opportunities and although they are often outstanding at relationship building, they are typically less willing to leverage them. (Sylvia Hewitt.) In the hybrid environment being ‘out of sight and out of mind’ and the challenges of people working remotely being adequately recognised, there is an increased need; firstly, for women to make their work more visible and secondly to ask for what they want and need. This includes finding sponsors to advocate on their behalf.  We have known for decades that women are less likely to ask for what they want (Linda Babcock, Carnegie Mellon University.)

 3.    Networking - Shifting from undervaluing politics to strategic networking.

 In the hybrid environment, there has been a decline in the quality and quantity of relationships with many relationships experiencing a deficit in trust and connection. In the hybrid environment, research also shows that there can be an ‘in-group and out-group (Mitchell) of those working remotely versus those in the office. This means that the tendency many women have of avoiding politics needs to be re-framed as building mutually beneficial partnerships. Women will need to build a supportive network of allies. As research by Herminia Ibarra has shown, there is less overlap between women’s work and out of work relationships, therefore strategic networking will increasingly become a priority. Women will reap enormous benefits by developing their own ‘personal boardroom of relationships’ that will serve different roles to support them in their current job performance and future career opportunities. Developing new methods for enhancing the quantity and quality of relationships virtually with clients and teams through empathy and building trust as well as creating a psychologically safe environment for others will be important.  

 4.    Collaboration – shifting from avoiding confrontation to authoritative collaboration.

 Collaboration and creativity are much harder in a virtual environment. As research by Chabris, from MIT has shown, high performing teams result not from the performance of high performing individuals but correlates with the number of women in the group. The research shows that this is because there is more incidence of what they define as ‘conversational turn-taking.’ This is about collaborating to obtain the contribution of all team members and results show that women are more likely to do this. In the hybrid environment with reduced social cues and the challenge of building trust and rapport, women will need to draw on their strengths of collaboration and engagement with their teams. However, there is a downside as shown by Mckinsey’s study, “Collaboration the hidden tax and women’s career.” Collaboration needs to be balanced with a more directive and authoritative style particularly in more male-dominated corporate cultures.  It is very clear that over the next time period, there will be an enormous amount of change as we continue through the pandemic. Women typically have excellent emotional intelligence and communication skills. Research by Alice Eagerly at North-Western University found they often have a more democratic or participative style rather than the more masculine, authoritative and directive style. Leveraging these strengths to lead and motivate others and help them embrace change will be increasingly helpful in the hybrid world.

 5.     Executive presence- Shifting from low-status behaviours to executive presence.

 Executive presence is often shrouded in mystique. Many studies have shown that women can typically have challenges of getting their voice heard in the room, being interrupted and sometimes not getting the credit they deserve for their contribution. Straightforward techniques can be deployed to address these issues.  In the virtual environment, this brings new challenges to have the desired influence and impact.

Women at all levels will need to avoid some tendencies such as: over apologising, using ‘minimises’ in their language such, “you may not agree with this, can I make a small point …” In hybrid working it is even more important to avoid low-status behaviours and be confident in challenging the majority view to ensure their point of view is loud and clear.

 6.    Risk-taking - Shift from being cautious to embracing courage and risk-taking.

 Numerous studies have shown that women are more cautious and take fewer risks in business decisions. This can be an enormous benefit to create diversity by balancing more cautious and risk-taking decisions.  Research also shows that women can also take less risk in their careers by not putting themselves forward for opportunities. KPMG found that only 43 per cent of women are open to taking risks with their career.

 In today’s fast-changing complex environment with increased ambiguity, there is an increased need to learn the skills of tolerating uncertainty and managing risk. One advantage is that research shows women can sometimes take longer to take risks because they spend more time weighing up the practical impacts. This is clearly an advantage however it is also important that they avoid appearing indecisive. (Therese Houston, Seattle university.). This can have disadvantages in the current environment with massive uncertainty when there is an increased need to embrace uncertainty and risk, including taking personal risk as they become more senior by taking opportunities when the outcome may not be certain and speak their minds by going out of their comfort zone.  

 7.    Strategy - Shifting from overvaluing technical mastery and expertise to operating strategically.

 Evidence from the Research Centre for work-life policy has shown that 77% of women believe expertise will help them progress. Many women focus on technical mastery because they believe it has made them successful in the past. It is easy to get caught up in the inbox or work for too long independently when not with other people in the office. We know, however, that this has limitations as women progress up their career ladder. In the hybrid environment, we also know it is more difficult to ‘raise our head out of the weeds’ and to challenge ourselves with what is important because there are fewer conversations happening with colleagues in an ad hoc manner.  Sue Vinnicombe of Queen Mary‘s University showed in her article, ‘Busy going nowhere’, that women can tend to be less strategic in their careers. Women can also be perceived as being less strategic because they have more focus on the practical implementation of the strategy. This has been termed, ‘practical futurists’ (Herminia Ibarra.) It is therefore important to understand the strategic aspects of your organisation, such as how your business makes money, how it becomes profitable and importantly how you add value to your customers and organisation. A constant review of activities, questioning whether your time and energy is focused on the right things will be paramount for women to be successful working in the hybrid environment. Equally many women feel they have difficulty declining involvement in specific projects even when they believe they are not valuable to their career progression.

The Ambition, Authenticity and Achievement programme helps women to focus on their strengths.

Why does this programme deliver results? 

This insightful programme centres around global, evidence-based research relating to the challenges women face as they progress in their careers and how they can realistically and authentically increase their chance of success and fulfilment. There are some really important pieces of research on deep rooted gender norms that many of us are not aware of, relating to both men and women. At Conder and Co we have reviewed a high volume of research in this area and collated stories from hundreds of men and women executives from middle management to board members, identifying what has held them back and what has enabled them to be successful.

As we become more senior, some of these unhelpful scripts can get in the way. As Marshall Rosenberg says, ‘what got you here won’t get you there.’

My prediction is that this will be exaggerated in a hybrid working world.

We look closely at research into how society shapes our view of women and how it influences behaviour and debilitates or enhances performance – and how the plasticity of our brains can change this. This is a programme that will lead to change, fortifying participants and propel them towards the next step.

The sessions are aimed at using this knowledge to help women decide how to leverage their toolkit of ways of leading and working which are core to their identity. We explore any habits of an unhelpful ‘inner voice’, that may have developed from negative societal messages. A proprietary tool will be explored, the ‘Web of Gender influenced tendencies’ ? which include patterns such as: people-pleasing and concern for what others think, avoidance of conflict in relationships, tendency to self-doubt, fear of failure, perfectionism and risk aversion.

Crucially, some women have limiting beliefs that keep them in the role of ‘doer’ or even expert, which can perpetuate and keep them ‘trapped in the weeds.’ A big issue is that successful women who have worked hard to get where they are, they expect their hard work to speak for itself and enable them to move to the next level. Perfectionism can also cause them to not fully delegate and they drown in execution, therefore resulting in them being less strategic and less politically aware. This can cause them to leave no time to develop the right senior level relationships to support their progression. At some point, they start to question if it is all worth it, and sometimes conclude that it is not.

Whom is the programme aimed at?

It is aimed at women in their mid-thirties to executive level although in some cases it may be helpful to consider the possible barriers before they get so far up the corporate ladder and find themselves in a cul-de-sac. Women on their way up to more senior leadership positions will particularly benefit from removing derailers that could become barriers to their progression.

For those women already in leadership positions, this programme will help them to adopt mindsets and behaviours that will free them to be more authentic, contributing fully with their strengths. This means it is aimed at creating a strong cohort of experienced women who will become future leaders.

What other benefits can participants expect?

Participants will have a chance to reflect on their own experience and listen to stories, anecdotes and insights from successful women so that they can choose what they want to experiment with in order to re-energise and relaunch themselves with energy and passion and to optimise their impact. The sessions include practical actions women can take with respect to their thinking and behaviours; those that are empowering and those that are limiting. Understanding this allows women to feel more connected to who they are, how they see themselves as a leader and how to leverage their unique combination of strengths to differentiate themselves as they progress to higher levels and achieve their ambitions with authenticity. 

Some additional benefits for participants include:

§ Stay in an organisation they might otherwise have left because they feel more able to contribute

§ Increase visibility of their strategic thinking including their strategic career plan

§ Get out of the ‘doer’ role, set boundaries, and create headspace to contribute at higher levels to the business

§ Increase presence and communicate with impact and influence whatever the business culture  

§ Reduce the feeling of not being able to be oneself and bring their full strengths to the table

§ Realise that politics is about building mutually beneficial partnerships, knowing how to get things done and building strategic relationships.

§ Build strong motivated followership and lead authentically

§ Build a personal brand and not shy away from taking risks. 

Take a look at what the ten modules of the Ambition, Authenticity and Achievement programme include:

Session 1 - What makes women successful, what has been instrumental in your success so far, your leadership style and why do you do what you do?

Session 2 - How society impacts who we become and the ‘web of gender influenced tendencies’ ?: people-pleasing, conflict avoidance, fear of failure, self-doubt, perfectionism and risk avoidance. Reframing limiting scripts as you become more senior

Session 3 - Differentiation through ‘difference’ and the demise of ‘one size fits all’ - the power of complementary styles

Session 4 - Leveraging your unique combination of strengths and develop a  personal brand

Session 5 - Self and social identity – self-confidence, Imposter syndrome and stereotype threat 

 Session 6 -Turning de-railers into accelerators ?– part 1: the DANCERS? model.  

 Session 7- Turning de-railers into accelerators ?– part 2: Being a transformational leader

 Session 8 - Managing energy, boundaries and career and life journeys

Session 9 - Working with impact and influence in a hybrid environment

Session 10 - Experimenting with your new repertoire of mindsets and behaviour, overcoming immunity to change to sustain new habits and plan priorities to Achieve your Ambition Authentically.

How is the programme delivered? 

• Typically, 90 minutes to two hours per module. Modules can be delivered in half-day or full-day blocks if that is the preference. The material is typically delivered over 10 hours of virtual time.  
• Using highly interactive methods such as: polls, off mute interaction and breakout rooms including lunch breakout rooms for networking.
• We use the buddy concept and one to one conversation to explore the ideas and set goals to take practical actions
• A workbook is also provided for individual reflection and action planning during and after the masterclasses
• A panel of senior leaders from the organisation is an optional addition.

 Optionally, one to one or team coaching can be provided to continue to support the participants in between or after the sessions. We also recommend peer to peer reciprocal coaching to continue to reflect, take action and build and sustain new habits and ways of thinking. The masterclasses give participants a chance to reflect on the material and insights from ‘real work’ experiences so that they can shape different ways of thinking and behaving that will be advantageous for them. Experimentation is encouraged in between seasons, as is focusing on a clear sense of who you are and where you’re heading, challenging your personal narratives and stories so that you can leverage your unique combination of strengths in order to have more fun and be happier as well as more successful.