• Women at the top have exhibited characteristics of showing others the way
• Deliver innovation, motivation and empowerment, which are starting points for anyone determined to lead
• Increasing retirement levels will open more opportunities for women in high business leadership hopes to step up. Next generation managers will embrace women in management.
• “Again the fear I see with women is that they do not believe they are good enough to put their case forward for initiatives, advancement, management and future aspirations”

Strengths and weakness of emotions:

• “On one hand they have empathy, can engage in excellent social relations and enhance self esteem, but on the other hand their right brain (emotional side) can cloud that decision making process, especially when dealing with human resources issues.”
• Harness their excellent EI to be effective in business. First, understand yourself, your goals, intentions, responses and behaviours. Second, understand others and their feelings, but do not allow this to cloud your decision-making processes.

One woman who has talked the talk and walked the walk is Rosemary Howard, who nowadays is the executive director of the Australian Graduate School of Management’s Executive Programs at the University of New South Wales.

• “Historically leadership has been around a directive position power phenomenon but as we have become smarter we have learnt that this is not effective for influencing outcomes and human behaviour,” she says. “We are now more interested in what I call personal or egalitarian leadership – telling people what to do is not the way to lead.”
• FIRST:  Inspiring people about what is possible.
• SECOND: Is putting flesh on the bones of this vision and conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis helps to make it all become real. This is fertile ground for teamwork and diversity and where brainstorming can bring out great results.
• THIRD:  “the hard yards” of drawing up plans, measures and aligning peoples’ personal incentives and tasks within the organisation.  “This is time to say things six times to ensure everyone is bought in and engaged with each other,” Howard advises.
• FOURTH: Refreshing and reviewing stage because the world is full of change and leaders have to be abreast of these changes.

Talking the talk

“Recently women have had the self-confidence to use their own style and people are giving them the room to do it their own way.”

• Strengths in communication and EI, which she argues is critically important for perfecting egalitarian leadership. She thinks it gives woman an advantage over men in those businesses where customer service is an indispensable skill.
• As word of advice to women wanting to make it to the top – playing the person in the workplace and not the issue, especially when it comes conflicts involving other female colleagues, can detract from your business reputation. And she recommends to seek training to learn how to better handle people in the workplace and feedback from colleagues is a great place start – though it takes courage.

Top gun

Defining the challenges is one thing, but we want guidelines for solutions. Dr Tester offers the following advice for any woman keen to advance her career:

• Complete a basic SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – analysis of where you are right now and where you want to be
• Organise a strong mentor (preferably female and not a weak person!) who is a person that will challenge and guide you constructively
• If there are gaps in your CV, engage a coach (matter expert) to up-skill you in these areas. Remember a coach and a mentor have different skills
• Establish some realistic goal setting at both work and home – balance is essential
• Get yourself fit and healthy. Include some regular exercise; this will build stoic behaviour, because you will need it
• Establish a genuine network inside and outside your company
• Establish a diary to write down your game plan and review regularly
• Read current information in your area, keep abreast of what is happening, so you are informed.

Mentor:

• high priority, but warns against having a mentor as a ‘crutch’, a mentor is a sounding board and to give advice, you have to make the decisions.
• Mentors must be strong and able to be critical – women have to toughen up
• Choose a mentor wisely and not too frequently. Use email, phone and face-to-face as mediums.
• If you do not want to use a mentor, you need to be very aware and have someone in your company who can identify a career path.