Power structures and women
Marc-David Rompf: What needs to happen for these patterns to change? So that more women can take the lead and enjoy success and influence? And who is responsible for this?
DD: If you want to break through traditional patterns that are interwoven with cultural, economic and social structures, you quickly come up against limits. It is more promising to change the patterns from within by raising awareness among those involved. And that can’t be done over night. Nor is it possible by defining one-sided responsibilities.
First of all, women themselves are responsible for making courageous and risky decisions. If you want to change something, you first have to question your own stereotypes, beliefs and fears and deal with yourself confidently – knowing what you can and cannot do. Know what you want – and what you don’t want. This also requires honest self-questioning: What difference do I want to make? What are my values, what can my authentic path look like? On this basis, you should then develop an enjoyable vision of your own professional success, a career goal: because movement needs a clear goal and direction. It can be very helpful to look for role models to orientate yourself by. Networks and mentoring programmes that are used effectively can also help.
CS: And they also need to tackle tasks that women are typically reluctant to do: actively building their own strong brand, working on their own presence, seeking out stages and becoming visible, focusing on prestigious tasks. Focus on creating value, making a difference, leading. This is more important than trying to please, more important than perfectionism. And above all, you simply have to act – not wait to be kissed awake like Sleeping Beauty.
But women also need organizational support for all of this. Because otherwise they’ll soon end up fighting a losing battle?
CS: Yes, of course – the development of female leadership identities and leadership careers requires interaction with the organization and the decision-makers who support it. This is a challenge for everyone – women and men. Cultural change requires staying power and a very high level of commitment. It starts with questioning yourself: Does my thinking still fit with the current reality? What is making change more difficult for me and what am I doing to make change more difficult, even if unconsciously? Is my thinking conducive to creative and open collaboration focused on innovation? How well do I tolerate differences and diversity? Do I perceive them as an enrichment or a threat? Am I willing to meet people on equal terms?
DD: This then takes us to the systemic level. Here, top management has to decide whether it is prepared to leave the comfort zone of an established structure and also endure the resulting uncertainty and possible initial irritation.
This decision can only be truly sustainable if – firstly – there is a very clear answer to the question: ‘Why are we doing this? Why do we want more women in management positions?’ And then – secondly – this decision must be exemplified by top management, who must act as role models here. Thirdly, this conscious change in thinking and behaviour must be accompanied by well thought-out and credible communication at all levels and between levels. And also through greater transparency and flexibility in terms of career paths, through systematic mentoring programmes and through more courage and imagination in the design of roles, working and part-time models.
In the first part of our interview, you mentioned the naivety in dealing with gender diversity – among women and men. How important is it to avoid this naivety in the process you described?
CS: It is essential. As part of our programmes, we try to actively address this and examine seemingly self-evident problems – in order to then develop and implement effective solutions. It’s not about turning the world upside down – you can’t do that, you can’t simply change the rules of an established game overnight and with a lot of goodwill. We therefore want to start by helping women to successfully participate in this game. That’s why our current programme at Accenture, for which we were able to recruit Dorothea as a coach, is called ‘iLead. Make it your game’. And that’s why a diverse coaching duo is coaching in this programme: we wanted different professional perspectives, career experiences as well as the male and female view of the world.
What’s this program like?
DD: The programme accompanies the participating women and their sponsors from top management for nine months on their individual development paths. As coaches, we address four powerful topics: We start by defining key success factors and bringing terms and concepts that have never been debated in the previous culture into the discussion. 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 hinder women from taking management roles?
In the next step, we look at the relationship between the individual and the organization. In other words, the self-image of the individual 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 vision for the future and my roadmap look like? What is my capacity for self-leadership and self-care? How can I create a ‘stage’ for my success? Who could be my role model? Of course, these are just a few aspects of this very comprehensive self-observation and self-questioning process.
That is the individual level. But surely there is also a systemic level?
CS: That’s right. It is important that we also look at the structure in which women want to pursue their careers. To do this, you have to understand in particular how power works, how and where it accumulates and how it is utilised. You have to understand the rules on the playing field. It is anything but trivial, because most of them are unwritten and often the players – both male and female – are not even actively aware of them. We make these implicit rules explicit. Women need to understand male values, attitudes and rituals, body language and conflict behaviour and develop a kind of ‘intercultural competence’. This does not mean imitating male behaviour – but communicating consciously and coherently, expanding one’s own repertoire in order to be able to act successfully and effectively on this playing field.
The fourth lever is particularly effective: this is about visibility, networking and mutual support: we encourage women to show a stronger presence in relevant internal and external networks, to become visible as role models, to bring more talented women into the company, to support each other and also to clearly address what support is required from the organization.
How do male managers act within the framework of such programmes?
DD: First of all, such programmes should not be closed events for women. We experience time and again that both male and female managers, often representatives of top management who are involved as sponsors or mentors, reflect intensively. Almost all of them find it enriching and liberating when ingrained thought patterns are broken down and alternative courses of action become recognisable. After all, everyone knows that the world is changing rapidly and that this change requires a change in culture and strategy at company level. The difficulty lies in recognising which aspects of one’s own thinking and actions require change and then tackling them consistently. After all, successful and sustainable organisational change always starts with the people who populate an organisation.
CS: And – in my experience with ‘iLead’ as well as in my work with other companies – this change is often easier to achieve with the help of an intelligent view and courageous support from outside.
DOROTHEA DERAKHCHAN
is a trusted advisor and potential developer for managers and management consultants. She is the founder and managing director of Almadera Consulting, a boutique specializing in coaching, consulting and training, and an associate partner of the personnel and organizational consultancy dla.
Prior to the foundation of Almadera, the economist spent many years working in various management positions at an international DAX-30 company. She has extensive expertise in the areas of organisational, future vision and mission statement development, provides training in trusted advisory and leadership at eye level and supports her clients as an executive coach in individual development and change processes.
DR. CHRISTINE SOLF
creates unconventional development programs for talent and executives. As a senior manager of the dgroup, which is part of the corporate consultancy Accenture, she supports digital transformations focusing on organizational development and the introduction of new working and management methods.
The sociology doctorate holder specializing in system theories applies this focus in her consultancy work in a sustainable manner. She refers to her approach as #nagnurture: analyzing situations with an unobstructed view and looking at where change would be beneficial in order to then support it resolutely. Diverse, complementary teams and the development of female managers are a key issue in ensuring that more untapped potential can be deployed and that the profile of role models and best practices is raised to encourage other people to venture something new.