Women: do they make good coaches?

When I started my career in IT, I was often the only woman on the team.  What I observed was that men operated differently and I had to learn to adapt to a new set of team social rules.  In my experience men are;

• much more direct
• may even shout at you when irritated
• not hold a grudge afterwards.

Having a mentor to help with this learning became an imperative for me and was enormously beneficial.

If like me you are in the second half of your career, you may have ruminated on how you operate in the workplace.  Meeting up with a former manager from my youth, he reminded me how when I first worked for him I did not speak up in a group situation, even when he knew I had some good ideas.  This is not an uncommon trait in a woman at work.

Having a mentor to assist on how you operate at work can be really useful. 

CMI Women has launched a Blueprint for Balance to help organisations achieve 50/50 management.  Women recognise having a mentor can really help their career and have placed it third on the list of areas for focus.  But when you want a mentor, who do you approach?

It would seem sensible if successful, senior women gave their younger female colleagues a helping hand.  However I’m told by my younger colleagues we often seem unapproachable.  I do believe that women often work hard at work.  I’m told by my male colleagues that often more is expected of a woman, they are diligent workers and very focused especially if for family reasons they need to be out of the door on time.  Woman can be less social at work but as a result I think we are missing a trick.

Men are often good at looking at the broader picture, take time to nurture their personal network and upcoming colleagues.

To achieve greater diversity at work women need to help themselves, placing a higher priority on looking beyond their own responsibilities and helping each other to learn and progress.  Once women place priority and time on mentoring, I think they do it as well as anyone else.  However first they need to recognise the value they can add and encourage younger colleagues to approach them.

What are your experiences and views?

Alison Pooley-Wem – life coach, author and leadership consultant, MBCS CITP, former Business Transformation Director, IT Director, Programme Director who led major transformation programmes for corporate and multi-national organisations such as Amey PLC, Christies. News UK.

Alison is married with five grown-up children. Many of the techniques in her ‘leading yourself’ coaching and courses are based on her life experiences in her professional and family life. She retains a calmness and clarity enabling her to assess the right things to do.

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