Unprecedented Challenges for Women in Leadership
We know exactly what is getting in the way and holding your team members back from becoming extraordinary leaders in these high-stress, high-pressure times.
We are currently facing an incredible time of opportunity—a chance to redefine the ways we work and how we do business. There is no doubt that organisations need to be adaptable, flexible, and nimble in this new and emerging environment, and most have proven they can be.
We are moving from a knowledge-based economy into a skills-based one. This means, in its simplest terms, that 'what people know' is no longer going to be as valuable or as important as what they can contribute.
Therefore, IQ is no longer as important as EQ. Knowledge is only valuable if it translates into 'knowing' (which is where wisdom lies). Businesses need leaders who can think creatively, intuitively, and strategically to map out the new future.
Businesses need leaders who can think creatively, intuitively, and strategically to map out the new future. Are you prepared?
Countless new challenges have emerged for leaders, such as keeping their teams:
Accountable
Engaged
Motivated
Energised
Inspired
This can be quite tricky even for the most seasoned leaders. Research shows us that sitting for a long period of time in front of a screen is linked to more fatigue, exhaustion and weariness.
At one point or another, we all feel like we are living in a box, whether it’s a square in a Zoom, WebEx, Skype, Teams or Google meeting. …. And when you are just one of these little squares on a screen, standing out amongst the crowd becomes more difficult than ever before.
In this context, the big questions for women in leadership are:
How can I balance inspiration, encouragement, visibility and influence while continuing to push for performance with limited interaction opportunities?
How do I expand and build my brand within my organisation without appearing self-centred?
How can I adapt to our new normality, create a comfortable environment for my teams and achieve our organisational goals as an empowered collective?
Believe it or not, there are effective solutions for all of the frustrations, disappointments and failures that you experience when it comes to influence, impact and leadership.
The secret sauce to accept change, readjust your life, work and play is by shifting the dial and adopting a specific type of mindset...
Hello, my name is
Catherine Plano
and I am here to help women in leadership like you tap into their greatest potential.
Hello, my name is
Catherine Plano
and I am here to help women in leadership like you tap into their greatest potential.
In this day and age, organisations are in dire need of authentic leaders who can:
Adapt, adjust and attain results in a turbulent global climate
Make a difference within their teams and organisations by leading with a holistic approach
Stand in their truth, demonstrate resilience and adopt the right mindset for change and growth
I know exactly what is getting in your way and holding you back from becoming an extraordinary leader in these high-stress, high-pressure times.
It all starts with YOU
I believe that traditional paradigms of leadership are outdated and no longer suited for today’s high-paced, tech-savvy environments. We are at the cutting edge of new models of leadership that are changing the world for the better, growing corporations to new heights and creating healthier lives for all of us.
There is a proven science and an alchemy approach to leadership. I have learned so much along my journey as a woman in leadership over the 30 years of working with corporations and running my own company, and I am still learning.
My STORY
Mine is the classic make-it-or-break-it-in-the-Big-Apple story.
I was a highflying, high profile executive working in New York City. I’d been juggling motherhood and executivehood for more than a decade. Neither left me any time for anything else.
My life was a pressure cooker and the only way I could cope was to keep blindly hurtling through it. I was, without realising it, hurtling at full speed away from everything I needed to keep me grounded—my very own sense of self.
Perhaps not surprisingly, I crashed and burned. I suffered physical, emotional and psychological burnout, collapsing spectacularly on a footpath, gasping for air.
I was terrified. I broke the heel of my shoe. The contents of my handbag spilled everywhere and I had to place my trust in a city full of strangers to get help.
I returned home to Melbourne shortly after, exhausted, wounded and so fearful – so terrified – of another public breakdown that I lived like a hermit for 6 months.
And then I began to heal.
I began to do the work I needed to do to find myself again. Along the way, I had an extraordinary breakthrough. I began to see anxiety and panic attacks for what they really are: deception, mistrust, worthlessness, denial and depletion. In short, the sort of neuroses that lead to workaholism and busyness for busyness’ sake.
If there was an ‘aha’ moment for me, this was it.
I decided to make some adjustments in my life, which included a mindset shift by standing in my truth, facing those brave conversations and backing myself.
It was in that moment that I decided to make a complete shift in my way of thinking, my way of being and my way of communicating. I decided to leave the corporate world and start my own business. Not working for a corporation but working with corporations and being in front of some of the largest companies in Australia and international organisations.
of key management positions are held by women.
Source: Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) 2020-21 Dataset.
The Problem for Women in Leadership
Being Treated Equally - one of the biggest challenges for women in leadership is equality in the workplace.
Ability to Influence - women in leadership want to be able to challenge the status quo and have the grit to push through with grace, no matter what has been placed in front of them. They want to be able to be persuasive and become successful in managing negotiations.
Building Resilience - female leaders are experiencing difficulties when handling conflict within their working culture or with their teams. They do not seem to have a framework on 'how' to go about having the courageous conversations (that they must have), leaving them exhausted, anxious and not knowing 'how' to begin the discussion.
Becoming Change Agents - organisational change is inevitable. Women are experiencing difficulties with inspiration and motivation, and their ability to adapt to change. They are finding time management challenging, confusing and constraining, leaving them overwhelmed, drained and depleted because they do not know 'how' to lead change effectively.
Being Innovative - women in leadership are looking at new ways to improve their communication skills and accelerate their personal and professional growth. They want to be more composed, socially aware and self-aware, but they do not know 'how' to control that inner critic, those out-of-control thoughts and disempowering emotions.
of female executives report having personally experienced Imposter Syndrome at certain points in their career.
of executive women have feared that those around them will not believe they are as capable as they are expected to be.
Source: Advancing the Future of Women in Business: A KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report 2020
Why?
Why?
When you trust your team, peers and organisation to deliver on their word, there is an astonishing difference in terms of company culture, efforts and results.
Building an environment of trust begins with the unshakable belief and unconditional confidence that your team can deliver. Instead, leaders are doing their job plus some. They are overworked, overwhelmed and over process everything because they don’t know ‘how’ to build a culture of accountability.
Most leaders find it burdensome and avoid the conversation altogether when it comes to communicating at multiple levels in fear of causing conflict. All that does is leave our leaders unmotivated, low morale, decrease in their performance and productivity, and an increase in absenteeism.
Unresolved conflict can have a tremendous impact on an organisation because leaders go elsewhere on account of not knowing how to have these difficult yet necessary conversations.
An alarming number of team members feel they lack leadership guidance and development even when they receive training on how to be a good leader. The environment and culture do not allow them the space and time to implement and install the learnings without any help.
Consequently, team members are confused and even appear to be lazy because they have no real direction or clarity on their roles within an organisation.
What do most highly successful women in leadership do differently?
What do most highly successful women in leadership do differently?
Leaders solve a very specific problem
When it comes down to problem-solving, it requires transparent, candid and straightforward communication. Oftentimes, leaders move the problem to another department, another team or don’t address the problem at all, which has a profound impact on the rest of the team and company culture.
Outstanding women in leadership deal with the problem head-on because they know how to. Leaders breed leaders by getting down to the specifics, and this keeps their teams moving forward and up in the organisation
Leaders equip teams for creating results
Women in leadership that coordinate with a top-down approach — a command and control culture by ‘telling’ their team what to do — only develops resistance, generates conflict and creates silos. There is enough neuroscience evidence that shows the brain contracts when we are ‘told’ what to do. This is a sure killer for team engagement, motivation, ambition and inspiration.
Instead, a successful leader empowers their team because they know ‘how’ to equip them for success, resulting in a collaborative, inclusive, innovative and creative team with a shared vision.
of executive women believe that business leaders must be trusted and provide stability more than ever in today’s landscape.
Source: Advancing the Future of Women in Business: A KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report 2021
Leaders provide a structure
At times, women in leadership provide team members training on how to be a good leader. However, team members find it difficult to practice and apply the information they have digested because there is not a structure or framework to help them with a step-by-step approach to make sure the training has landed. It’s more of a tick and flick approach.
Research reveals that the brain can forget up to 90% of what it has learned within a week. Having a structure or a system in place can enhance accountability, consistency and trust because leaders know ‘how’ to provide a reliable framework.
Leaders focus on engagement
Feedback is an essential ingredient when it comes to increasing engagement. It’s a two-way street. Its leaders asking for feedback and doing something with it. Most organisations roll out engagement surveys asking for feedback but don’t know what to do with it or ‘how’ to action it. Therefore, team members feel undervalued, not heard and they don’t have a voice.
There are three types of engagement in a culture. There are those that are engaged, those that are disengaged and then there are the high performers. When leaders focus only on the numbers, this produces laziness, an uncaring attitude and differences in opinion. However, when women in leadership focus on engagement, they have more of a chance of moving their least engaged team members into top performance simply because they know ‘how’ to drive engagement where the teams are productive, committed and successfully exceeding their numbers.
of female executives say that being resilient has become more important as they have advanced in their careers and risen through the ranks.
Source: Advancing the Future of Women in Business: A KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report 2021
Being an Authentic Leader
Challenge your gender mindset, discover the value of feminine traits and leverage the power of presence and vulnerability.
Understand what new leadership is, why the world needs it, and how you can embody it for your own success.
Learn why feminine traits are being called out as the critical ingredient for leaders of the future, what they are and how to use them.
Cultivate what Professor Amy Cuddy calls “presence” a potent force for authentic leadership.
Discover why Brené Brown believes vulnerability is what sets authentic leaders apart and how you can find the courage to be comfortably uncomfortable when needed.
Closing the Confidence Gap
Uncover your strengths, make peace with your self-doubt and start turning your ideas into action.
Understand why confidence matters more than competence when it comes to your career.
Discover and develop your strengths—the things you are good at and actually enjoy doing.
Explore how your stories of self-criticism and self-compassion impact your confidence, motivation and wellbeing.
Cultivate Professor Carol Dweck’s growth mindset and see what you are really capable of achieving.
Building Your Personal Brand
Get clear on your life vision and purpose, build a career plan and discover how to joyfully find the sponsors, mentors and networks you need to build your personal brand.
Take the space to get clear on what you really want for your life—family, money, work, play, the whole dream.
Understand why a sense of purpose makes it easier for women to lead and why that drives your personal brand.
Create a career plan to realise the personal brand that you most want.
Discover how to make networking joyful so you can find the sponsors, mentors, and relationships your brand will need.
Mindfully Maintaining Wellbeing
Create busy-proof, easy ways to sleep deeply, eat well, move regularly and gently restore yourself so you can consistently feel vibrantly well.
Understand the critical components of wellbeing and how to find busy-proof ways to be well, not just think about it.
Discover how to harness hope power, instead of willpower, to create lasting changes.
Use the neurological loop that makes it easy to create good habits that are rewarding to do.
Learn how to set boundaries that will protect your energy and enable your success.
Cultivating Grit and Grace
Cultivate the passion and perseverance to achieve what matters most to you, no matter how stressful work or life gets.
Dive into Professor Angela Duckworth’s research on why grit out predicts IQ when it comes to your performance and success.
Discover how to avoid “stupid grit” and wisely choose the things you want to be most gritty about.
Understand how mastery unfolds, why you may have become bored and stuck at work, and the small change you can make to find joy again in your job.
Improve your resilience by discovering the upside of stress based on Dr. Kelly McGonigal’s findings.
Cultivate the grace you need to maintain your journey.
Creating Positive Organisation
Individual women creating positive organisational change. It is time to change the conversation about women, leadership and work.
Explore why we need to change the conversation on gender in workplaces.
Discover how and why the current conversation is stuck on gender diversity: it is the right topic but we are having the wrong conversation about it.
The neurological secrets to creating lasting systemic change.
Challenge your thinking, invest in new ideas and start taking a fresh approach on gender, diversity and leadership.
The Feminine Leadership Antidote™ Program Structure and Modules
Our Women in Leadership program, The Feminine Leadership Antidote, offers 7 modules to elevate your leadership. Join our blended learning program today!
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