In the last two posts, we explored women's relative lack of success in reaching senior leadership positions despite their very applicable and desirable skills. To address this situation, McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, embarked on an initiative to determine what drives and sustains successful female leaders. Out of their research with 85 women around the world, plus an examination of academic research and interviews with experts in psychology, leadership and organizational behavior, they developed a model that can help women become more confident and effective leaders.
The centered leadership model draws on the theories of positive psychology and has five aspects:
- meaning
- managing energy
- positive framing
- connecting
- engaging
MEANING
Meaning is the "motivation that moves us", it inspires us, it gets us up in the morning, it gives value to the work we do. According to McKinsey, "studies have shown that among professionals, meaning translates into greater job satisfaction, higher productivity, lower turnover and increased loyalty."
For some, it may be screamingly obvious what is meaningful to them [and what is not]. Others may require more introspection to examine and determine what they're good at and what they enjoy doing. The key is to be clear about what does have meaning for you and how that fits into your overall goals and objectives.
MANAGING ENERGY
It's no secret that women work hard and often long hours on the job. And then go home to more work. The study authors say "...work-life balance is a myth so the only hope women have is to balance their energy flows. This means basing your priorities on the activities that energize you, both at work and at home, and actively managing your resources to avoid dipping into reserves."
The concept of flow, developed by one of the founders of positive psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is "...a sense of being so engaged by activities that you don't notice the passage of time." We can all relate to times when we've been so engrossed in and energized by something that we are shocked to see how much time has passed while we were doing that activity. People who experience this feeling are generally more productive and get more satisfaction from what they're doing.
According to the McKinsey research, "One useful tactic is to identify the conditions and situations that replenish your energy and those that sap it. Self-awareness lets you deliberately incorporate restorative elements into your day. It can also help you to space out your energy-sapping tasks throughout the day, instead of bundling them all into a single morning or afternoon. A particularly useful tip, we have found, is to give yourself time during the day to focus without distractions such as blinking lights and buzzing phones. Your productivity will benefit several times over."
POSITIVE FRAMING
We all see the world and process experiences through filters or frames and we can exercise a good deal of control over how we interpret those pictures. According to McKinsey, "Many studies suggest that optimists see life more realistically than pessimists do, a frame of mind that can be crucial to making the right business decisions." Optimists are confident that they can manage whatever challenges arise.
"No matter how pessimistic you are by nature, you can learn to view situations as optimists do. The key is self-awareness. If a meeting goes badly, for example, you should limit your thoughts about it to its temporary and specific impact and keep them impersonal. It helps to talk with trusted colleagues about the reasons for the poor meeting and ways to do better next time. These discussions should take place quickly enough for you to make a specific plan and act on it. You should also undertake some activity that will restore both your energy and your faith in yourself—perhaps having a hard workout, going out with friends, or spending time with your children."
CONNECTING
In an article in Harvard Business Review, Mark Hunter and Herminia Ibarra say that what differentiates a leader from a manager “...is the ability to figure out where to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there." We've talked here and here on this blog about the importance of building the right networks to further your goals.
The McKinsey research found that "A number of studies have shown that women who promote their own interests vigorously are seen as aggressive, uncooperative, and selfish. An equal number of studies show that the failure of women to promote their own interests results in a lack of female leaders. Until one of these conditions changes, sponsors -- senior colleagues willing to offer help and create opportunities for their protegees -- are the key to helping women gain access to opportunities they merit and need to develop."
ENGAGING
Engaging is recognizing that you need to talk about your accomplishments instead of believing that the work will speak for itself. It's also about risk taking and having the courage and confidence to assess the risks inherent in any opportunity and then take them. "Reaching out to others -- not to avoid making decisions yourself but to learn the best outcome from change -- can often help you see opportunities in the right frame and decide whether to go for them."
According to psychologist Daniel Gilbert, "...people who make a choice for risk and work with it, rather than avoid it, report a greater degree of happiness than others do."
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Perhaps the skills in the centered leadership model resonate with you because you're already doing these things. Perhaps you see skills here that you need to acquire or practice. In either case, the McKinsey study has given us a framework for examining our own circumstances and determining how this model can help us, as women, become more effective senior leaders.
