Women & Leadership

I've been wanting to write this one for a long time but it never seemed right. Either I seem to be a complete feminist or just resentful. The truth is, unfortunately in India today, that's what women in leadership are perceived as.

Of course, as with all my life experiences - I am writing from my own experiences - i.e. - leading a volunteer network of more than 1000 young people, leading a full time team of 11 and working in the non-profit sector. But it seems to be that they represent what reality must be in the boardrooms of India. Perhaps in a cruder form as young people have fewer qualms about speaking their mind.

I am the first elected leader of my organisation who is a woman. Now while it seems like quite an achievement for me, I feel quite shameful for the organisation. It took them 27 years to do this. Initially when I took over the top job, I felt this entire female leadership thing was overrated and just something to say. That was my biggest mistake. I should have done something about it because I have come to realize that there is a deep-rooted and inherent bias in the system which will not allow for more female leadership in the years to come.

Now it's not important in itself to have women taking up leadership roles. It is important however, for equality. I always think the best person should take the job - but in this case when the environment itself does not allow for a woman to be considered as the best person we have a problem. I am also not a raging feminist. Women have their fair share of management faux pas - just as men - but if I keep the best interests of the organisation in mind - it needs a bit of both from time to time. From my experience I want to highlight where things go wrong for a woman.

1. Authority: the biggest mistake any women in leadership roles can make is to become a man. I almost fell into this trap myself. Especially coming after a long line of strong, power driven male leadership one thinks the best way to lead is to be the strong, silent, emotionless, authority wielding figure. However There is a different kind of leadership and it comes with expressing emotions, with understanding people and allowing your self to be led from time to time.
   
2. Dressing: It was funny initially and then it drove me mad. If I needed to be taken seriously, I needed to dress accordingly - i.e. - look boring. Any hint of sleeveless, skirts, tight clothes, good clothes and I am degraded to someone who is not taken seriously. I was watching Priyanka Gandhi on TV the other day and if you look carefully - every time she is at a rally her head is covered - in the typical garb of a virtuous Indian woman. Now I have no problem with wearing work attire to office but just because I may be wearing something that is not Indian or not an ugly black/grey unflattering piece of clothing it is supremely unfair that I will lose even a little sense of authority.
3. Culture: The funny thing about a woman being the boss is that the guys don't even know they don't like it. I berated myself for a long time thinking I was being unfair to either men or women on my team and trying to change my attitudes on meetings, office timings, work deadlines to suit either sex. I gave up a few months ago (as i was pleasing NO ONE including myself) with this simple thought - I am boss for today irrespective of being a man or woman and a few things come or don't with the territory. Its just a different type of leadership.
4. Relationship Management: One of the things I found to improve significantly was the management of relationships to the organisation. It's not that it was bad earlier - it was fine. But now it takes on a level of comfort and less professional-more personal which ensures more return and benefit to all parties concerned.
   
5. Management of Women on the team: The other thing i came across was that managing women on a team; rather men and women together when they were equally distributed was another ball game all together. Women need a different kind of management - they also produce results differently. They need a different environment to work in and less massaging of ego's. They also need the environment in their life outside work to be as conducive as possible to their moods as it affects them much more in the workplace. In my kind of job I have the opportunity to do both which can be quite an obstacle at times.

But in conclusion I can say that all my experiences are unique to Indian men and women. I have seen (but do not have enough experience to comment on) differences in European, African, Latin American and Asian men and women in the workplace. I've enjoyed this learning of how to manage both sides of the game. It is quite a game at the end. It's also quite a stimulating one - to discover new things everyday of moods, people, work place antics and work environment. Finally though, I have come to the conclusion that if and when I have my own business or company I will do the following:

1. Have a work day from 9 - 4 strictly. Not more not less.
2. Have a gender balance on the team
3. Work out a mechanism to remind people how happy or not they are - it ensures most productivity if they know they are happy. Just being happy with one's job and life isn't enough. One needs to be reminded of it from time to time.