#3 | 3 Keys to Women's Leadership Development
Plus how it could ironically backfire!
Hello!
As an HR leader, you'd be familiar with how the impact of developmental programs can vary widely – and often wildly!
How Programs Fly is where we aim to share our knowledge and toolkits to help your programs fly further, higher, and for longer.
Let's get into today's edition!
First, let's introduce Amrita Singh. She's Potentialife India's Head Coach and Facilitator.
Cyrille Kozyreff: Amrita, you set up Mumbai's first chain of corporate day-care centers. That was in 2009, long before you became a coach...
Amrita Singh: That's right! And looking back at my journey, there's a common thread of helping women at the workplace do an even better job with the balancing act between nurturing mother and successful professional.
CK: Over time, with the growing agenda of inclusion in the workplace, we've seen an explosion of Women's Leadership Development programs...
AS: ...which I used to see as paradoxical!
CK: Because creating a special space, ironically, entrenches exclusion?
AS: Yes, it does! Trumpeting such a program along gender lines can have adverse effects. A 'stealth positioning' that's gender-agnostic may work better
CK: This reflects my conviction that competencies, modalities, and design of a leadership development program are all gender-agnostic
AS: That's right. And so, two programs, one for an all-women cohort and the other for a mixed cohort, could look identical from the outside...
CK: But the experience from the inside will be hugely different for a woman participant!
AS: That's because an all-women cohort is much likelier to become a safe space where one can express current realities and gain wisdom from others in the group towards relatable situations
CK: Absolutely. So, along with the stated purpose of building positive leadership habits, this is the other equally important purpose of an all-women leadership development program
AS: ...of course, with the BIG caveat being that a special kind of facilitation finesse is required to create a truly safe space that's not just lip service
There's a lot more to be said on the subject, but that's what the rest of this newsletter is about!
If that quickfire exchange left you thinking that along with the obvious purpose of building positive leadership habits, the second dual purpose of an all-women leadership development program is creating a safe space, then you've followed correctly so far!
Safe spaces are not just a nice-to-have. Potentialife's co-founder, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, often cites the well-known Gallup Q12 survey, and, in particular, its most-discussed question:
"Survey question #10, 'Do you have a best friend at work?' always generates a lot of debate, because the answer to this question systematically differentiates the most productive work teams from mediocre ones. At the corporate level, the same question is also a strong predictor of overall company performance." Hardly a nice-to-have, isn't it!
In our experience, women leader often say that they lack close connections at work: they often work in predominantly male teams, and other women around may be bosses, direct reportees, or just different at a personal level.
They also tell us that programs, such as Potentialife's, enable them to build several such meaningful connections.
So, how does a safe space and a circle of vulnerability get formed? If we had to condense our experience into four tiny tips, these would be it:
Self-discovery instead of psychometrics: Self-discovery, through a systematic workshop process, helps one connect with an authentic image of oneself. Psychometrics only obscure reality with prefixed labels.
The scope of habits should straddle work and life: Focusing exclusively on work habits reinforces a woman leaders' dichotomy that there is a 'home self' and a 'work self', and both are different... Habit formation processes would do well to integrate both selves.
Connecting with a small and personal buddy group: ...is often the starting point for deeply meaningful connections!
Calling a spade a spade: A masterfully facilitated plenary session in the early stages of a program that plainly addresses gender-based realities helps to lower participants' guards early on.
Creating vulnerability and a safe space is hardly like flicking on a switch. There's more that is simultaneously needed. Let's go over to an HR veteran for his take.
"You always start with a group of guarded participants, so what you need is a very engaging process, over a long enough period, with frequent enough touchpoints. This is something Buddy Groups can achieve well. Without a long and robust process, there just won't be a long enough runway for camaraderie, vulnerability, and a safe space to form."
Praveen walks the talk as the Program Sponsor for V-Lead. It's an elite cadre of women leaders, within which exists the Joy of Leadership program that has partnered with Potentialife.
In a recorded experience sharing session, similar to what we had shared a toolkit for in Edition 2, participants vouch for the role of their Buddy Groups. The quotes are anonymous, but the feeling couldn't be more real:
"The most important thing that I will hold on to is the positivity we have maintained within groups. We learn so much from each other, we share out journeys, our shortcomings, and this really inspires."
"This space is shared learning from shared experiences. Each of our experiences is giving someone else an idea about the different coping mechanisms there are."
"I learnt that asking for help can actually be an act of courage instead of a sign of weakness."
Two-thirds into this edition, if you're thinking that all-women programs have a distinct opportunity of becoming safe spaces for its participants, then you are spot on!
How should these programs be branded and positioned, then? We have an opinion on this, but first, Tal jumps in with a word of caution...
Potentialife's co-founder, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, is a Positive Psychologist by training, and spends his time studying, teaching, and writing about psychological phenomenon which explain the world we live in.
"Let’s do a quick experiment. For the next 10 seconds, do not think of a pink elephant. Do NOT think of a pink elephant! Now, most of you would've thought of one. Why? Because when we try to suppress a natural phenomenon, such as visualizing the word that we’re hearing, that phenomenon only intensifies."
This is the Ironic Process Theory at play. It's what explains why it's better to say, "Hold on tight!" rather than "Don't let go!", and thus explains why we ought to be careful with the words we use.
Trumpeting an all-women leadership development program by underlining and highlighting the gender angle might be an obvious opportunity to earn the organization the tag of being more 'inclusive'... But, ironically, it often creates problematic side-effects that have just the opposite effect.
There could be a perception that women are being treated differently, and given extra support, thus perpetuating the 'demographics mindset' which is ultimately something a truly inclusive organization ought to move away from.
What's the alternative? 'Stealth' branding and positioning: By drawing no attention to the gender angle, the organization takes a step towards the 'strengths mindset' — focusing solely on human qualities, not a fact sheet.
Now, then, is there a scientific way to take the first steps towards building a strengths mindset? Read on.
VIA Character Strengths Survey is a self-assessment that helps unpack people's biggest strengths. The tool was famously co-created by Martin E.P. Seligman, a legendary figure of modern Positive Psychology.
Research by Martin and his team showed that understanding and leveraging one's strengths is a virtuous thing in all areas of life:
With direct reportees, VIA can help us gain awareness of their strengths & add meaning to their work by syncing strengths with key responsibilities
With colleagues, VIA can nudge an increase in rapport and appreciation within the team for the strengths each person brings to the table
With partners, VIA can help us shift our attention away from flaws in the other person, and towards their best qualities that you appreciate
With parenting, VIA is a powerful tool to help us notice a child's strengths and then find natural opportunities where those can develop
...Strong reasons to share VIA with people at work and home — and discuss the insights it generates! Find the survey here. It takes <15 minutes to complete, costs nothing, and launches a shift towards a strengths-based mindset.
This edition focused on the secret sauce that helps bring to life the dual purpose of all-women leadership development programs. Let's sum it with three ideas:
Along with honing leadership qualities, all-women programs are an opportunity to build much-need safe spaces and a circle of vulnerability
This is not a flick of the switch, but takes a continuous effort with program design elements listed earlier, and ritualized Buddy Groups
'Stealth positioning' of such programs will replace a 'demographics mindset' with a 'strengths mindset' - a non-negotiable for any organization working towards true inclusion
People rarely learn by learning. They learn by doing. In Edition 4, we focus on this, and how programs ought to focus on experiments, and less on outcomes... How many experiments are you enabling participants to do?
We love playing the role of thought partners, so if you need more information or have something to ask, we're happy to set up an informal interaction with you, no strings attached.
Until the next edition!
