“You have to understand the rules to change the game”. Power structures and women
Marc-David Rompf: What needs to happen in order for these patterns to change? For more women to go into management and develop an enjoyment of success and influence? And who is responsible for seeing that it does?
DD: If you attempt to break down traditional patterns that are interwoven with cultural, economic and social structures, you will quickly meet with resistance. You have a better chance of success if you try to change these patterns from the inside by increasing awareness among those involved. And that cannot be achieved in one fell swoop; nor can you do it by defining unilateral responsibilities.
For a start, there is a responsibility for women to make brave and even risky decisions. Anyone who wants to make a change first needs to question their own stereotypes, doctrines and fears and look at themselves with confidence – to know what they can do and what they cannot. To know what they want and what they don’t want. This calls for us to honestly ask ourselves: What kind of difference do I want to make? What are my values, what could my authentic path look like? Then, we should develop an appealing vision of our own professional success on this basis – a career goal: after all, movement needs a clear goal and a direction. For this, it can be very helpful to seek out role models to serve as guides. The effective use of networks and mentoring programmes can also help.
CS: And you need to take on tasks that women typically shy away from: build up your own strong brand, work on your own prominence, seek out platforms and become visible, concentrate on prestigious tasks. You need to focus on creating value, making a difference, leading. That is more important than wanting to please others, more important than perfectionism. And above all, you just need to act – don’t hang around like Sleeping Beauty waiting to be kissed awake.
But all that said, women do need organisational support, too. Otherwise, won’t they find themselves tilting at windmills?
CS: Yes of course – the development of female leadership identities and management careers requires interaction with the organisation and the decision-makers who run it. It is a challenge for everyone – men and women alike. Culture changes take a lot of patience and a great deal of commitment. It starts with questioning yourself: Does my mindset still reflect the current reality? What is making transformation more difficult for me and how am I making transformation more difficult, even unconsciously? Is my mindset conducive to creative, open collaboration that is focused on innovation? How well do I tolerate differences and diversity? Do I perceive them as enriching or threatening? Am I prepared to meet others on an equal footing?
DD: Then you go to the systemic level. Here, the top management must decide whether they are prepared to leave the comfort zone of an established structure and withstand the uncertainty, and at first potentially irritations, this will cause.
This decision can only be truly sustainable if – first of all – there is a clear answer to the question: “Why are we doing this? Why do we want more women in management positions?” And then, this decision – secondly – must be exemplified by the top management, which needs to act as a role model in this respect. This conscious change in mindset and behaviour must – thirdly – be accompanied by well-thought-out, credible communication at all levels and between levels. It also depends on greater transparency and flexibility regarding career paths, in the form of mentoring programmes and more courageously and creatively designed roles, working models and part-time models.
In the first part of our interview you spoke about naivety in addressing gender diversity – in both men and women. How important is it to avoid this naivety in the process you are describing?
CS: It is essential. We try to actively pick up on that in our programme and critically examine things that appear to be self-evident so we can then develop and implement effective solutions. In this context, it is not about turning the world upside down – you cannot do that; it’s impossible to simply change the rules of an established game overnight with nothing but a generous helping of goodwill. That’s why we want to start by helping women to play this game successfully. And it’s why the programme we are currently running at Accenture, for which we have managed to secure Dorothea as coach, is called “iLead. Make it your game”. And that is also why we have a diverse coaching duo teaching this programme: we want to incorporate different technical perspectives and career experiences as well as presenting the male and female views of the world.
What does the programme look like?
DD: The programme supports the participating women and their executive management sponsors for a total of nine months on their own personal development paths. As coaches, we address four impactful topics: we start by defining central factors for success and initiate a discussion about terms and concepts that have never been examined critically in the current culture. For example, we ask: What does “success” mean to us? Is there a specifically female definition of success? What does individual and collective “high performance” mean? How do we think about growth? What structural issues, personal attitudes and unfavourable behaviours prevent women from taking on leadership roles?
In the next step, we examine the relationship between the individual and the organisation. More specifically, we look at the individual’s self-image in the context of the organisation. What do I stand for? What does my “brand” look like? Where and how do I want to make a difference? What do my future vision and my roadmap look like? How do they relate to my self-management and self-care abilities? How can I create a “platform” for my success? Who could act as a role model for me? Of course, these are just a few aspects from this very extensive self-observation and self-questioning element.
That is the individual level. But there is surely a systemic level, too?
CS: That’s right. It is important that we also look at the structure within which the women want to pursue their careers. To do this you especially need to understand how power works – how and where it accumulates and how it is used. You need to understand the rules on the playing field. That is anything but straightforward, as most of them are unwritten and the players – both male and female – are not at all actively aware of them. We make these implicit rules explicit. Women need to understand the values, attitudes and rituals, the body language and conflict behaviour that have been shaped by men, and must develop a kind of “intercultural skill”. That doesn’t mean imitating male behaviour, but rather communicating consciously and coherently – developing your own mechanisms to be able to act successfully and effectively on this playing field.
The fourth lever is particularly effective: it focuses on visibility, networking and mutual support. We encourage the women to demonstrate a stronger presence in relevant internal and external networks, to become visible as role models, bring more talented women into the company, support one another and also clearly address the kind of support needed from the organisation.
How do male managers act in the context of programmes like this?
DD: First of all, programmes like this shouldn’t be closed, women-only events. Time and again we see both male and female managers who are participating as sponsors or mentors – often members of the executive management levels – engage in intensive reflection. Almost all participants find it enriching and liberating when the thought patterns that have become ingrained are broken open and alternative possible actions become discernible. After all, we all know that the world is changing rapidly and that this transformation will necessitate a cultural and strategic transformation at company level. The difficulty is in identifying those aspects of our own thinking and actions that need to change, and in tackling them consistently. Ultimately, successful and sustainable organisational transformation always begins with the people who populate an organisation.
CS: And based on my experience with “iLead” and also from working with other companies, this transformation often succeeds more easily with the help of an observant eye and courageous support from outside.
DOROTHEA DERAKHCHAN
is a trusted advisor and developer of potential for managers and business consultants. She the founder and Managing Director of boutique agency Almadera Consulting, which specialises in coaching, consulting and training, as well as Associate Partner of the HR and organisational consultancy dla.
Before founding Almadera, Derakhchan, an economics graduate, worked for many years in various leadership positions in an international DAX 30 group. She has extensive expertise in the development of organisations, visions for the future, and mission statements, gives training in trusted advisory and management on an even footing, and supports her customers in individual development and change processes as an Executive Coach.
DR CHRISTINE SOLF
designs unconventional development programmes for talented people and managers. As a senior manager at dgroup, part of the consultancy firm Accenture, she supports digital transformations with a focus on organisational development and the introduction of new ways of working and leading. Having completed a doctorate in sociology with a focus on system theory, Solf regularly makes use of this in her work as a consultant.
She describes her way of work as #nag&nurture: analysing situations with a candid eye and addressing where change would be helpful in order to then support it with conviction. She believes diverse, complementary teams and the development of female managers to be extremely important for enabling unused potential to be realised – and so that role models and best practice become visible and can motivate more people to dare to try something new.