Political Savvy for Women in IT

1
Political Savvy for Women in IT

• Michelle Brailsford

2
What Do You Think Of When You Hear?

• Power
• Managing Perceptions
• Managing Your Image
• Promoting Self
• Lobbying Pre-selling Your Ideas
• Building Alliances

3
Organizational Politics A Value-Laden
Definition
Poly-tics, meaning many blood sucking
parasites
4

• I sometimes do the 'right' thing rather than the
  politically savvy thing.
• I am down to earth and try to stay away from
  political games.
• I tend to ignore politics - preferring to be
  straightforward and direct - I know this isn't
  how others play the game and I know I am at a
  disadvantage - but at least I feel true to
  myself.
• Is there a constructive way of dealing with
  politics?
• Can you be political and a good person too?

5
Organizational Politics A Value-Free
Definition
Informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind the
scenes influence efforts to sell ideas, win
support, increase power, impact the organization,
or achieve your targeted ends.
6

• POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE?
• The ends Self-interest or company interest?
• The means What can I get away with or
• What is the right thing to
  do?

7

• The biggest sources of frustration from women in
  corporate life centred around ... politics and
  efforts spent on playing the game rather than
  focusing on work outputs.
• CIPD
• Women in the Boardroom, A Birds Eye View

8
(No Transcript)
9

• In the struggle for survival, the fittest win
  out at the expense of their rivals because they
  succeed in adapting themselves best to their
  environment.
• Charles Darwin, The Origin of the Species
• "Man is by nature a political animal."
• Aristotle

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
Career Derailers

• Lack of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity
• Hurt Career Speaking Out
• Not in Key Networks
• Sabotaged I Didnt See It Coming

• Seen Narrowly
• Passed Over, Topped Out
• Unaware of Real Scorecard
• Not Getting Credit
• Not Able to Sell Ideas

13
Two Political Styles

• Power of Ideas
• Substance power
• Feedback/learning
• Highlights integrity
• More open agendas
• Meritocracy-based
• Results / ideas speak for themselves

• Power of Person
• Position power
• Image/perceptions
• Highlights success
• More private agendas
• Relationship-based
• Decent Self-promotion

14
Most Significant Factors

• When women are asked to name the most significant
  factors that are holding them back from
  advancement, the top two answers are
• exclusions from networks of communication
• male stereotyping and preconceptions of women
• Margaret Heffernan
• The Female CEO, 2002
• Exhibit A

15
Most Significant Factors

• Work/life balance and feeling "at one" at work
• Visibility speaking up confidently and being
  heard
• Effective time management
• Managing the politics
• Managing the boss
• Networking (without the work)
• 2005 eve-olution survey

16
Strategic Influence Strategies

• Managing Your Self Talk about Power
• Managing the Labels
• Improving Your Image
• Promoting Self With Decent Boldness
• Mastering Language (Martian) to sell your ideas
• Detecting and Addressing Hidden Agendas
• Networking

17
Top Ten Most Powerful Women in Business

• 1. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo
• 2. Anne Mulcahy, Xerox
• 3. Meg Whitman, eBay
• 4. Angela Braly, Wellpoint
• 5. Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft Foods
• 6. Pat Woertz, ADM
• 7. Susan Arnold, PG
• 8. Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Inc.
• 9. Andrea Jung, Avon
• 10. Brenda Barnes, Sara Lee

http//money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostpowerfu
lwomen/2007/
18
Top 10 influential females in the IT corporate
world

• 1. Eva Chen, CEO of Trend Micro
• 2. Kristin Lovejoy, CTO of Consul
• 3. Joanne Maguire , EVP of Lockheed Martin
• 4. Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay
• 5. Patricia Russo, CEO of Lucent Technologies
• 6. Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Motorola
• 7. Catherine Brune, CTO of Allstate
• 8. Rosaleen Citron, CEO of Whitehat Inc.
• Ginni Rometty, SVP at IBM
• Ursula Burns, President of Business Group
  Operations at Xerox

http//www.girlgeeks.org/innergeek/inspiringwomen/
19
Managing Your Self Talk about Power
20
Typical Male/Female Stereotypes

• Directing
• Report
• Thinking
• I
• Challenge
• Instructing
• Status
• Authority/Respect
• Logic/Analysis
• Professional Personal life separate
• Self-Protection
• Independence
• Risk Taking

• Collaborating
• Rapport
• Feeling
• We
• Democratic
• Teaching
• Connections
• Influence/Friendship
• Intuition
• Professional Personal life integrated
• Self-disclosure
• Collaborative
• Safety

21

• "Malcolm Galdwell's latest book, Blink, is all
  about the value of gut instinct in modern
  business. Leaders who have a high aptitude for
  assimilating lots of soft and hard data points in
  real time are particularly valuable right now.
  Women, of course, have been the poster children
  for gut instinct for decades -- except it used to
  be known as 'intuition.' "
• Eileen Gittins, founder and CEO of Blurb

22
Managing the Labels

• Are you collaborative? Or do you ensure everyone
  is bought in before executing?
• Are you in touch with how your team feels? Or are
  you improving employee engagement figures?
• Is it your intuition guiding you? Or are you
  accessing 20 years of experience that just
  happens to be housed in your gut not your brain?

23
Improving Your Image

• What is your reputation?
• How are you viewed by your stakeholders?
• Does anyone hold an old, outdated view of you?
• Does anyone view you in a positive but limiting
  way?
• How would your supporters describe you?
• How are you promoting yourself? What are you
  promoting?
• Are you exhibiting the right behaviours?

24

• Positive
• Customer Focused
• Problem-Solver
• Self-Aware
• Action-Oriented
• Commercially Aware
• Good Communicator
• Flexible/Adaptable

• Positive But Limiting
• Nice
• Servant Leader

• Negative
• Doesnt know how to choose her battles
• Self-Righteous
• Passive Aggressive

25
(No Transcript)
26
Strategic Influence Strategies

• Managing Your Self Talk about Power
• Managing the Labels
• Improving Your Image
• Promoting Self With Decent Boldness
• Mastering Language (Martian) to sell your ideas
• Detecting and Addressing Hidden Agendas
• Networking

27
Political Savvy for Women in IT

• Thank You!