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Announcement for WA
The Public Sector Network is proud to
announce that Edith Cowan University
will host the inaugural Women
Leaders in Public Sector Forum on
Thursday, 7th April 2016.
The University was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian
Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman.
The Public Sector Network spoke with ECU's Professor Cobie J Rudd, Deputy ViceChancellor (Strategic Partnerships) and Vice-President, about leadership
effectiveness, gender parity and ways to support the next generation of leaders.
Leadership Effectiveness
What qualities will women leading the gender equality changes need?
Possessing strong situational awareness, self-awareness and emotional and social
intelligence are going to be core, as leaders for gender equality will need to tackle the
conscious and unconscious bias that is so often responsible for discrimination. They’ll
need to be attuned to when others are not putting themselves forward or speaking up
for fear of reprisal or a lack of confidence because those will so often be the very
people we need to support in this quest.
And then of course the skills and attributes all leaders require will be critical; resilience
(or better still, buoyancy), courage and mental health and wellbeing, which are all
interrelated, are critical for ethical and effective leadership.
It’s the courage to continue that really counts for me. You see a problem, you do
something … but to come out the other end with the solution requires tenacity and
courage.
In terms of resilience, it’s a combination of both innate qualities and those you can
develop. You can teach it and you can learn it. Resilience isn’t synonymous with being
ruthless and hard-hitting at all but about being honourable and buoyant. I say buoyant,
because I believe that turning challenges into long term positives is really more than
being resilient. It isn’t just about bouncing back up to where you left off when you hit
the snag; it’s about rising above that point at which you last were – and staying there.
Also happiness, and experiencing happiness on a daily basis, is critical to staying
afloat and being able to be less distracted by ‘the noise’ of detractors … and thus
being more resilient!
Ideas to energise, support and advance gender equality
What do you think helped you succeed in the currently maledominated field of academia?
There’s no doubt that some of the challenges and obstacles I’ve faced over the years
succeeding to a leadership role helped me exercise the parts of my brain responsible
for self-regulation and self-control and that helped create the neural imprints that now
support my resilience.
I’ve also definitely learnt from my mistakes, embraced my fears and summoned the
courage to take them on. As JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series has said;
there are fringe benefits of failure – failure can be the catalyst for discovering just what
a strong will and discipline you have. Many leaders, and thus resilient people, will
have powerful stories to tell, usually with epic failures along the way and characterised
by overcoming adversity on a spectacular scale. These leaders commonly have
energy and the resolve to push forward, despite obstacles.
I’ve also been aware of the imposter syndrome for years now … that is, when you fear
that you’re going to bump against the limits of your ability and thus you harbour
feelings of phoniness in spite of evidence of high achievement. You need to be aware
of when these self-doubts are about to come crashing in and deal with the fear, e.g. by
restructuring your negative internal dialogue into positive self-talk.
Career advancement and ways to support the next generation of
women leaders
What are some ways the next generation of women leaders might be
best supported?
Again, resilience is a core ingredient for being recognised as a ‘generous spirit’ and
this quality is particularly important for women helping other women to succeed. While
the concept of “Not pulling the ladder up behind you” isn’t specific to women in
leadership roles (it applies to anyone who achieves a certain level of stature and then
turns their back on their own kind), it’s well documented as an issue for women.
Women need to make a commitment to helping other women ‘stay afloat’. You can’t
be secure in yourself if you lack resilience. And if you aren’t secure in yourself, then
you will probably be that toxic person who criticises and pulls others down in order for
you to feel better about yourself.
It’s incredibly important to have good leadership in the workplace and foster positive
and happy environments. A resilience-cultivating workplace will be a psychologically
safe one, so leaders need to be attentive, consistent, honest, open and transparent.
Team members who have to play ‘mental gymnastics’ and deal with unpredictable
leadership will generally have high levels of anxiety, be less productive and will feel
unsatisfied.
A psychologically-safe workplace will encourage those within to improve self and
situational awareness that is, ‘holding-up-the-mirror’ so they can see the influence of
self-talk (their inner voice) and also spot the cues when there are some deficits in
either themselves or others. For example, it is critical people resist ascribing their own
thoughts to others to avoid reading negativity into situations where it doesn’t exist.
In the pursuit of gender equality, it will be more important than ever to be clear on the
purpose of what you’re doing, including change, and always giving a rationale and not
having a hidden agenda. To really lead, you need to show courage and that it’s a safe
environment for others to do so; and that takes courage (and resilience … and
buoyancy)!
Confidence and trust from the team will only be forthcoming if the leader’s modelling
reinforces there is attentive leadership and a psychologically-safe environment.
Register your place today
Register today!
Featuring at major cities across Australia:
- SYDNEY, April 5th
- CANBERRA, April 6th
- PERTH, April 7th
- BRISBANE, April 12th
- MELBOURNE, April 13th
- ADELAIDE, April 14th
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