Repurposing and the Pathway to Leadership Diversity Framework

Many years ago, I was talking to a leader who was recounting his young daughter’s interest in recycling. She embraced the idea of reducing, reusing and recycling items at home, and had a particular commitment to repurposing items that were no longer of use. In my house growing up, these items often found their way to the ‘craft box’ and were repurposed into creative craft or innovative objects. My conversation with this leader reminded me of the value of repurposing as an investment in and utilisation of what we already have.

Since that conversation, as a leader and now a leadership development expert, the idea of investing in and utilising what we have in our teams and organisations has been a focus for me. How can I repurpose the skills and experience in my team or organisation? And more recently, how can I help organisations invest in the workforce they already have to achieve their goals? ?

I see many STEM and cyber security organisations experiencing ongoing skills gaps and competition for workforce talent. This is a challenge experienced at the sector level in Australia that is impacting the ability to rapidly innovate and ensure the workforce is adequately skilled to stay at the forefront of rapid technological change. The cyber security workforce needs to grow by 66% to reach the 85,000 workers required by 2030. Australia is estimated to require an additional 653,000 skilled technology workers by 2030. And the engineering sector is facing global skills shortages at a time of increased demand. In Australia, skilled engineers are required across numerous sectors to meet concurrent national priorities, including transitioning to renewable energies and growing a sovereign nuclear submarine industry. Expanding the STEM workforce is a key priority for Australia’s Defence Industry.

For all industries across the STEM and cyber security sectors, unlocking talent through expanding workforce diversity will be key to increasing the talent pool, expanding skillsets that enable rapid technological change and delivering adaptive and innovative outcomes. ?

One of the best actions a STEM or cyber security organisation can do to expand workforce diversity (and unlock talent) is to invest in the tailored leadership development of their existing female employees. Is there a right way to do this? Yes, there is, and this is something I have been helping organisations with for the past 6 years.

Over the next few editions of Rising STEM Leaders, I want to share the four stages of my Pathway to Leadership Diversity Framework, which outlines a holistic approach to leadership development for women in these sectors that integrates formal, social and experiential learning.

The four stages of the Pathway to Leadership Diversity Framework are:

IMPLEMENT tailored leadership development for female STEM and cyber security leaders at all levels, based on research, best practice and women’s lived experience;

AUGMENT leadership training with role models, mentors and networks, which are critical enablers to the development of leadership skills for women and career advancement;

ACCELERATE women into leadership roles though sponsorship and experiential development opportunities; and

EMBED leadership development and career progression through career planning.

Leadership development, particularly as part of a structured and systemic change, must be underpinned by allocated resources, structured opportunities, support processes, investment from senior executives, accountability mechanisms and transparency measures.

?This framework is explored in depth in my recent white papers Navigating Diversity in STEM and Advancing the Cyber Security Sector, along with relevant case studies.

PHASE 1: IMPLEMENT

Tailored leadership development for STEM women must be based on research, best practice and women’s lived experience. It must elevate diversity and expand beyond traditional models of leadership. It must leverage the 8 key protective factors that support women in STEM advance their careers and access leadership roles: tailored leadership development, formal continuing professional development, understanding self, voice and visibility, resilience, identifying and negotiating unconscious bias, resource networks and mentoring. And leverage the inherent leadership strengths of women: strong communication, collaboration, empathy and compassion, aligning people with meaning and purpose, and developing others through coaching, mentoring and prioritising growth.

Tailored female STEM leadership development should be focused on middle managers and mid-career women as well as early-career women and emerging leaders. It should be enduring and adaptable, focused on motivating and empowering people through uncertainty and adversity and understanding self as a leader.

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Recommendations to leverage the impact of tailored leadership development

Intentionally invest in tailored leadership development for female STEM leaders at all levels in your organisation. Tailored leadership development should be informed by research and best practice and build a foundation of enduring leadership skills that will grow with them. It should support female leaders to develop a strong leadership mindset and an authentic leadership style, with a focus on expanding the following specific skills:

a. people leadership skills

b. successful communication and influence

c. emotional intelligence

d. decision-making skills

e. the ability to lead collaboratively and adaptively to solve complex problems

f. self-learning to lead confidently in challenging environments.

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IMPLEMENT with our tailored leadership support

Aya Leadership partners with STEM and security organisations to apply the Pathway to Leadership Diversity framework to their organisation’s context and strategic goals. I can help you to implement tailored leadership development through a range of existing female leadership development programs or design something more bespoke.

Regardless of whether you have a big or small budget, or no budget at all, if you are a STEM-related or cyber security organisation that wants to invest in outstanding tailored female leadership development, please reach out, I would love to help get you on the right track and am happy to chat.

?Leadership development is not gender exclusive, and we also have a range of gender inclusive tailored workshops to support leaders and their teams – please reach out for more details.

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