This post is by SmartBrief’s Liz Perman, reporting from INSEAD Women’s Leadership Conference in Fontainebleau, France, last week.
There are more than 62,000 books on the topic of leadership available on Amazon.com, 1,800 of which are focused on women in leadership. Despite a great deal of energy spent on trying to balance the gender make up of senior management teams — including countless well-intentioned mentoring programs for high-potential professional women — men still receive more promotions than women.
Herminia Ibarra, faculty director of the INSEAD Leadership Initiative and founder of the Gender Diversity Initiative, used her keynote presentation on “Women and the Transition to Senior Management” to share advice on on how women in the workforce can overcome these odds. Among her recommendations:
- Anticipate transitions. At a certain point in your career, you will be expected to move beyond managing and will need to demonstrate leadership capability to move into the senior ranks. Instead of simply ensuring efficiency, planning and organizing staff, you will need to create a vision for change and then inspire your team to bring it to fruition. These role shifts can be difficult to see. Watch out for them.
- Development isn’t just about your skills. You won’t succeed in senior management if you rely solely on what got you this far. Two common hurdles for high-potential women include adopting a strategic perspective and managing stakeholders. Big-picture thinking and learning how to create influence through coalitions and networks are key to leadership success. Get on assignments that are key to the success of your company, as well as cross-functional projects that bring together diverse stakeholders from across the company.
- Watch out for identity traps. Another common trap for women during the transition to senior management is that they fall victim to their natural leadership style. You’ll need to knock off the micromanaging, learn how to delegate and cultivate the ability to influence without authority.
- Authenticity is also about your future self. It takes 15 seconds for a person to form an opinion about you. Think about how you want to be perceived and manage your image accordingly. Keep in mind that it is particularly difficult for women to be perceived as both competent and warm. Networking can also be a challenge for women, but growing your strategic network is essential. Cultivating mentors is also key to future success in senior management.
Does this advice ring true to you?
Image credit, iStockPhoto.com
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Some good career advice is offered here for men and women however I am also left feeling confused by some of it.
This is a great article. Every point is dead on and describes the last 24 months of my life to a tee.
[...] article by Mary Ellen Slayter from the INSEAD Women’s Leadership ConferenceWomen and the Transition to Senior Management is one that I think offers some good advice for both men and women, yet at the same time may also [...]
I think this is very good advice and I am planning to work on many of the areas mentioned. I will go further to say that I've observed times where perception reigned over the need for an MBA. My former boss was a director of an entire division and didn't have a bachelor's degree or an MBA. She spent ten years working her way to the top without either. I believe her success came from having a strategy, taking challenges, and creating an image for herself.
Great article! We recently created a networking group for women with our industry (retail technology, point of sale, solutions providers). Someone within our group shared this article, I think it's a great article to pass along.
Very good article. I went back to school at 32 got my MBA but the difference it made was not in salary but in "opportunity" . I seem to get the interviews more so than those who had no MBA.
At 66, I am still looking ahead. Being unemployed for a year and 1/2, yet having education, experience, professional appearance, and large networks, it all came down to who I knew, to get the interview during these trying economic times. I am grateful for a job that pays less than 1/2 what I have made in the past.
[...] more…http://smartblogs.com/workforce/2010/10/12/4-tips-for-high-potential-professional-women/ This entry was posted in Career Search Ideas, experiences, questions and comments. [...]
You could replace the word "woman" throughout this article with the word "person" and it would have the same meaning. The author makes good points and gives good advice for anyone. Why does the article have to be sexist?
[...] article by Mary Ellen Slayter from the INSEAD Women’s Leadership ConferenceWomen and the Transition to Senior Management is one that I think offers some good advice for both men and women, yet at the same time may also [...]
4 tips for women aspiring to senior management…
Being a good manager isn’t enough to catapult high-potential women into the ranks of senior business leadership, Herminia Ibarra told the crowd at the Women’s Leadership Conference in France last week. Among her tips for overcoming the odds: Don’t c…
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