Mar. 10, 2017 "How to cultivate a 'no apologies' leadership style": Today I found this article by Rebecca McKillican and Erin Young in the Globe and Mail:
“I’m sorry.” It seems like an innocuous phrase, but too often it makes leaders seem weak or insecure, even when they aren’t.
And since research shows that women are generally more prone to apologizing than men, this can be a particularly damaging habit for women leading companies. We face enough challenges every day – why add to them by starting at a disadvantage?
That’s why we have worked hard to cultivate a “no apologies” leadership style in our workplace. We find this especially relevant when balancing our busy personal and professional lives.
Instead of apologizing for having lives outside of work, or having demanding working lives, we celebrate the fact that we have exciting careers and engaging families at the same time.
We acknowledge that we love both our families and our work. We recognize that we do both jobs well – and even that we’re better parents because we work, and we are better leaders at work because we are parents.
At Well.ca, a Canadian e-commerce company, we’ve worked hard to both personally embrace this “no apologies” mentality and embed it in our corporate culture. Here are a few tips that help keep us on track:
Be true to yourself
Encouraging an open dialogue at work is critical to making everyone feel comfortable. And it starts from the top, with the leadership. We don’t have separate work personas – we are who we are, with employees, board members, customers, and peers.
And we encourage our employees to bring their whole selves to work, melding the personal and the professional. We recognize that when people feel comfortable bringing 100 per cent of themselves to work, they’re able to deliver 100 per cent at work.
Bring your work home and your home to work
We’re not suggesting that you bring your child to a corporate meeting or never put your laptop down, but pretending that you aren’t trying to balance the various parts of your life is a recipe for disaster. Sharing your family with your colleagues will help them understand why you can’t miss a doctor’s appointment or special school celebration.
And letting your family know what’s going on at work will help them know when you need to spend some extra time preparing for a big presentation or celebrating a big win with colleagues.
And letting your family know what’s going on at work will help them know when you need to spend some extra time preparing for a big presentation or celebrating a big win with colleagues.
Book everything in one calendar
Work and family are equally important and deserve equal recognition in your calendar. We book every board meeting and dance recital in one calendar to make sure that we are where we need to be – and that there’s no two-tiered system. It also provides some transparency for your colleagues, who can easily see when you’re available.
Be supportive
No man or woman is an island – and there’s no reason to behave like you are in the workplace. Asking others for help and offering to help get work done is an important part of our organizational culture and a key to our success.
We’ve been lucky to work closely together for several years, and have managed to have three kids between us over this time period. We have developed a system for collaborating and sharing work that requires no apologies and delivers strong results. We encourage our teams to do the same.
We’re not saying it’s easy, but openness, honesty and transparency on both sides of our personal and professional lives means that everyone has a better sense of the big picture, makes us better leaders, parents and partners and ensures that we don’t apologize for having full lives.
old understanding
1 day ago
"I’m sorry.” It seems like an innocuous phrase, but too often it makes leaders seem weak or insecure, even when they aren’t."
NO. It helps the leader to appear human and real to their subordinates. Someone appreciative of those around them.
Leaders who fail to show such consideration, tend to come off as arrogant and distant.
Not someone I would like to work for.
4 Reactions
daiheadjai
1 day ago
I agree - but I wonder if the authors mean for us to save our apologies for situations that truly warrant it: i.e. when we make mistakes or actually drop the ball.
The answer is in the balancing act between apologizing too profusely, and never apologizing at all.
oldgit_gittinolder
1 day ago
"Work and family are equally important"
Anyone who actually believes that is looking at a very dysfunctional family. Nothing is more important than my kids, and I have a responsible job with several dozen people reporting to me.
If I have family plans or one of my children is sick, no deadline or manufactured crisis will keep me at work. I routinely turn down meetings that have start times after 3 PM and politely explain that if the organizer needs my time, they can work around my schedule.
And I do say I am sorry whenever I am at fault. A no apologies style gains respect -- but not to your back..
1 Reaction
Harry011
6 hours ago
Absolutely NO business crisis would keep you at work? Really?
They can work around your schedule?
Somehow I doubt you have dozens of people reporting to you. That attitude would have gotten you fired long before this.
oldgit_gittinolder
6 hours ago
Um, No, actually. As of today I have 68 people reporting to me. I have no trouble in arranging my schedule since I made it perfectly clear when I accepted the job what my availability would be.
You will note that I said "manufactured crisis" -- which is the case with 90% of perceived crises in my experience. A true operational crisis is, of course, different but thankfully my area is run well enough that we see precious few of those.
I am told I am rather good at what I do and apparently senior management is willing to accept my insistence on work life balance on account of that.
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On-Line Reader
1 day ago
That’s why we have worked hard to cultivate a “no apologies” leadership style in our workplace.
So ... Instead of, "Sorry, I got to leave the meeting to catch the Go Train" at which point the woman (man) leaves in the middle of the meeting.
it's, "I'm leaving the meeting to catch the Go Train" at which point the woman (man) leaves in the middle of the meeting.
Sounds like a recipe for rudeness.
daiheadjai
1 day ago
One of my biggest peeves (shared by many coworkers and associates) is the clueless leader who books a meeting between 4-5pm, and then proceeds to drag the team through a pointless meeting or fails to control the agenda so that time is wasted.
Want to avoid your team from getting up during a meeting and leaving? Simple: Run your meetings better, and adopt common sense when scheduling.
Respect is a two-way street.
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On-Line Reader
7 hours ago
LOL.
Unfortunately there are managers who believe the best way to solve a problem (e.g. project is behind schedule) is to "hold a meeting".
I found myself on a project one time where senior management (who were actually located in another country and "their" part of the project was somewhat different than ours) couldn't understand why we kept telling them, "It ain't gonna happen."
Their solution was to all this contrariness was to hold two meetings a day to 'review' what was going on. I managed to negotiate it down to one meeting a day.
Oh to work in a workplace where the most pressing issue is that female managers say, "Sorry," too often!
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jojo ba
1 day ago
People also say "it is not personal, it is just business" commonly before they screw you, without apologies. Frankly when you are dealing with people it is always personal and if you wish to sleep at night maybe we need to treat people how we want to be treated.
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Sotiriosc
10 hours ago
Weakness is not being able to apologize and admit your wrong.
Being a leader is motivating your staff and team members to be accountable.
Being a leader is motivating your staff and team members to be accountable.
You do this by setting an example and the standard doing things that are not easy to do, your sense of weakness is derived from your realization of not accepting your wrong . So if you want to be weak don't apologize, don't be accountable.
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firef0x
1 day ago
Puff piece with little substance.
We live in an apology-oriented culture because of the constant worry and threat of upsetting people and their feelings. Disagree? Wait until the Human Rights Tribunal hears about it.
It is a BILLION dollar enterprise.
Bilderburger Bill
21 hours ago
I view any leader that says "don't apologize, it's a sign of weakness" as a gutless coward, too afraid of other peoples' opinion of their leadership ability. Own your mistakes and through your subsequent actions prove your sincerity and people will respect you.
1 Reaction
Bart F.
1 day ago
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". . this can be a particularly damaging habit for women leading companies. We face enough challenges every day – why add to them by starting at a disadvantage?"
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We have all worked for leaders who view apologizing or admitting they made a mistake as a sign of weakness. Such individuals, after inflicting a lot of needless carnage on other people's lives, are generally removed.
Insecurity and selfishness grows like a weed all by itself. It doesn't need to be "cultivated".
Jun. 22, 2019 "France boasts diverse boards. Can Canada do the same?": Today I found this article by Harvey Schachter in the Globe and Mail:
France has achieved gender balance on its boards. It’s not a miracle. It’s legislation. In 2011, the government set a requirement for a 40-per-cent minimum of either gender within six years on boards at large companies.
In Canada, of course, we don’t go in for such heavy-handed government machinations. That’s why we’re at 16.4-per-cent female board members in Toronto Stock Exchange companies, according to Catalyst, which pushes for the advancement of women in business. In 2016, Statistics Canada found that more than half our companies – 56.8 per cent – had boards of directors composed entirely of men.
That won’t change unless we legislate. We have been talking about gender balance for decades and the needle barely moves.
Will companies fall apart if we try equality because unqualified women will be replacing qualified men on boards?
Columbia University business professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic’s recent book, Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders, suggests that won’t happen because men may not be all that qualified, benefitting from the biases we have that favour potentially harmful traits, such as overconfidence. Women may actually be a better choice.
Columbia University business professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic’s recent book, Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders, suggests that won’t happen because men may not be all that qualified, benefitting from the biases we have that favour potentially harmful traits, such as overconfidence. Women may actually be a better choice.
France is a model. So far, top companies have not toppled. Nor in Norway, which similarly legislated balance.
Of course, in many ways, it’s the operational top team, not the board, that determines a company’s future. Here, France has yet to make huge strides in gender balance, but the hope is the board changes will percolate into the broader company.
Currently, 19 per cent of executive committee team members at the Top 20 companies in France are female, compared to 15 per cent at the Global Top 100, according to statistics from the gender-balance consultancy 20-first.
That’s only a four percentage point advantage, which seems feeble, but in fact it’s a 26-per-cent lead, given the small base of female executive committee members. In Canada, it’s 15.8 per cent for TSX companies, behind France.
Currently, 19 per cent of executive committee team members at the Top 20 companies in France are female, compared to 15 per cent at the Global Top 100, according to statistics from the gender-balance consultancy 20-first.
That’s only a four percentage point advantage, which seems feeble, but in fact it’s a 26-per-cent lead, given the small base of female executive committee members. In Canada, it’s 15.8 per cent for TSX companies, behind France.
The consultancy gives us a new way to view progress. It ranks companies as “asleep” if there are no women on the executive committee. The organization wins the classification “starting” if there is one woman and a bonus point if she’s in a line or significant profit-and-loss position. Staff roles, such as human resources, legal and communications, are important, but the consultancy says that these rarely lead to the very top.
Companies are deemed “progressing” if two women are on the top team. “Two voices are stronger than one. With two female voices on the EC, particularly in line roles, it’s less easy, consciously or not, to see them as ‘the token woman,’ " it says. “Critical mass” comes when three or more women are on the executive team. It becomes the norm and probably points to a pipeline lower in the ranks of talented women.
Nine of France’s top 20 companies have achieved critical mass. That’s still a big distance from actual gender balance, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
Canada’s top companies tend to be banks, unlike France, and most have been paying attention to gender balance. So, they tend to have two or even three women on senior teams of about ten to 12 people.
But the notion of critical mass says more women at that bank are seeing people like themselves at the top. Royal Bank of Canada, with two, lags (but its board is 42-per-cent female)
The Bank of Nova Scotia leads the pack with seven, according to its website, albeit on the largest executive team by far (30 members), so percentage-wise, it lags some of the others.
Other large companies I looked at weren’t bad but also weren’t great, with the most numerically at Canadian National Railway Co., which has 30 senior officers, five of whom are women. Nutrien Ltd. has two women in its 10-member senior team. Suncor Energy Inc. has one of nine, who is the general counsel. BCE Inc. has one out of a team of 13. Imperial Oil Ltd. has one of six. Power Corp. of Canada is zero for 19, but points to the better gender balance in its constituent companies.
The other companies generally also say that at the next level down, female leadership is greater. Is that a sign we’re at a takeoff point or just window dressing, with change at the apex still likely to continue to be infinitesimal? I’m worried it’s the latter.
Tanya van Biesen, executive director of Catalyst Canada says, while progress is slower than her organization wants, in the past three years, the volume and quality of the discussion has been better and there are signs companies are putting “horsepower and money” into the diversity issue.
We’ll see.
Cannonballs
- Helen Pitcher, chair of Advanced Boardroom Excellence, a board evaluation and effectiveness consultancy, says it’s time for more women to be named to head boards. The skills in that position require IQ and hard skills, but even more important are the EQ and soft skills that build on that base, to create trust and to coach, which she says are more often associated with women than men.
- There is often a debate about which is more important: Leadership or management? But consultant Wally Bock says that there are actually three interrelated skills: Leadership, management, and supervision.
- Management involves making things work, juggling priorities and tradeoffs,
- while supervision is the often avoided people part, helping them to succeed.
- A new trend spotted by the Nielsen Norman Group consultancy in studying top Intranet designs is making a big deal over the launch of a new or updated site, so people know it’s changed.
Incompetent men can become Professors at Columbia as well.
Knowledge does not equate to competency
Board , Director and Management in Public Trading Corporations should reflect the gender make up of their investors, therefore it is only fair to appoint 50% of these positions to females. We in Canada should follow France.
"achieved gender balance"
Why exactly "gender balance" is necessary for a performant business?
Why exactly "gender balance" is necessary for a performant business?
And why stop here???
Let's implement "racial balance" "age interval balance" "blond hair/black hair balance" , "smoking /non smoking balance"
Quotas are not the answer.
They’re never the answer.
This is sexism.
They’re never the answer.
This is sexism.
The author states: "France is a model." France has much higher unemployment than Canada, and weaker economic growth.
France, like virtually every country in the world except Canada and Cuba, allows private health care to compete with public health care.
France uses nuclear reactors to generate most of its electricity. Canada does not. How much of the France model should Canada adopt?
France, like virtually every country in the world except Canada and Cuba, allows private health care to compete with public health care.
France is certainly not a model and the author obviously has not worked with Frenchmen.
Their two tier health system, like those in most EU countries works far better than our broken medicare.
Most of Europe gets its electricity from nuclear reactors as there is not much else to get it from. I lived in Europe for a decade and never experienced a brownout, let alone a power outage
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