How do we advance women's equity at the workplace?

Self-portrait by Adrienn Vigyinszki

I wrote a few times about my thoughts and values related to women's compensation and stance in professional settings (at the workplace), but haven't written yet about what I actually do.

When I'm taking interim positions, I inherently do leadership roles - simply based on my expertise and seniority (yeah, got there with age, so to say).

Therefore, every time I take such roles, I stand up for women reporting to me and around me, who deliver.

Safe to say, those who know me, they know that I'm not easy to convince about what got and didn't get delivered and I look at my own work the same way. I'm a tough person to impress as well.

So those, who managed to get that a-okay, delivered something remarkable, thorough and professionally sound, under the circumstances we had at the time.

They all deserve my respect and support, without further questions.

So how do I support and advance women's equity at the workplace?

Or simply put, everyone's equity in my team, not just women, but I check women's aspects with more scrutiny as it is usually neglected for years when I get to them:

1. I show up for them every day, no matter the need. Kid sick or you are sick? Family emergency? Deal with it and let me know how I can cover your urgent tasks, we cover gaps later (if I'm doing a good enough job as a leader, such issues cannot plug a substantial hole in our delivery).

2. I try really hard not to overload people and watch roles & responsibilities like a hawk as those tend to "scope creep" pretty fast simply due to how businesses can be challenged daily by the markets. I course-correct where I see I went wrong and loaded someone too much, or we work out at least options where we both see the light at the end of the tunnel (otherwise, I'm responsible - simple as that).

3. I correct visible pay gaps vs men for the same roles in the organisation to the extent of possibility and reality at the time.

4. I ensure that in my team, we do pay grading, annual benchmarking and internal alignments vs role contents and expectations (not seniority!).

5. I stand up against obvious discrimination and incorrect narratives, stand up against undervaluing work when it comes to evaluations given to men vs women (somehow women still need to deliver 100 times more than men in supply chain just to get a nod from management, not even recognition).

6. I take annual evaluations seriously and I'm honest when someone needs to improve and provide fair feedback including how I went about improving that area myself, or how I saw others overcome those obstacles already, or what I expect from them. If additional support is needed, it is given.

7. I never overlook achievement and delivered results and communicate these fairly to the leadership above/around me as well. It helps that in supply chain, both success and failure show up pretty fast and clearly at your door in your KPIs and cash-flow results.

8. I provide and give room for errors and improvement, as that's how we learn. This doesn't mean that cheeky bastards can get away with "murder" or get around me. It simply means that I am able to recover those errors, as I know what my team is doing, I can do their job if needed or help correct if needed.

9. I provide support every day. What do you need that enables you to do the best job you can? You get it, to the best of my abilities.

10. I take budgeting and planning for my area and team seriously. Including financing the support they need, training and potential salary corrections.

11. I am honest about what is possible and what is not. No going around that. No sugarcoating.

12. I say "thank you!" and "I'm glad you work for me" more than I say what else needs to be improved. I am also frank when someone is not delivering and I'm not willing to keep them (as long as I'm allowed to change the role holder).

13. Last but not least, I'm honest about my expectations and that they are high, before I hire someone. Same is true when I inherit a role holder, we sit down to clarify these.

This sounds and looks to be a lot. It is.

Yes, this means that when others go home, I likely sit down to plan for me and my team…or to do some work that didn't get done as someone had an emergency and it is due (can happen), or I need to send a few more emails to get extra help if we entered a longer-term problem….or schedule a few more meetings to help my team cope with tasks where they need functional guidance….or take away/cancel meetings to allow them to work and focus.

But if someone doesn't want to take people management seriously, they should not take leadership positions.

Do the work. Stay honest.

People will pay you back 100-fold every time….those who don't, will be on your list of outgoing staff anyway soon, as this is a door that swings both ways.

Give and take.

What you give is exactly what you can take.

We need to feel the same, we need to not forget that we aren't different in a leadership position. We aren't better.

We just got an opportunity to do a better job than those we had quit as employees before, a better job than those who left us feel like we are never enough only to pat their own ego in the back and hide their insecurities or their own failures.

That's how we advance women's stance in the workplace.

Be there for them. Be bold for them, as you already got to a leadership position.

Most importantly, never forget how it makes you feel when you get treated unfairly as a woman in a leadership position and channel that frustration, anger into doing the best you can for other women.

Otherwise nothing will ever change.

Ladies in board positions or in company ownership: please don't forget about the women in your leadership teams. They also need support! (I know you do too!)