To talk about success, you first have to define it. Everyone of us will do this differently, in our own time, in our own way. For me it has been a moving target all my life to what success is, and I don’t doubt that this is the way for most, as our goals change with our life, almost like seasons, perhaps just in longer intervals not month, but more like years or decades. My professional journey started in late 1998 as I changed my career path from health care to business. It was more of a necessity than a want as the client I was caring for was put into a care facility and I needed employment. I signed up with a temp agency and landed my first job in a small office for a crane rental company, and here is where I found my future profession. I have worked for five medium to large corporations since that time and can clearly identify the barriers I had to fight thru to where I am today. All of the industries I have worked in and currently, are male dominated at all levels of the organization, clearly challenging my future goals of attaining management. In all but one of the five organization I worked in, there was a higher standard of performance for women than my male counterparts. If it be putting in more hours to show that I was putting in more effort, or the expectation of completing more in the same number of hours to show my worth. I worked along some male counterparts that seemed to know that they could do the bare minimum, while I would stay late to complete the project that we all got credit for. With this being more of the organizational environment it was tough to change the stereotype that all employees were doing their share of the work, it was more that the project got done on time and correctly.
Working relationships is definitely one of my strengths, unfortunately not having control over gender prejudices has always been the challenge. Until I have worked with a company and a team long enough to prove the misconceptions about how women act and work. I have been blessed to have my male managers provide vital feedback and support in my development, but again most of gender prejudices come from those that are higher in the organization and are at other facilities or locations. Finally, one of the biggest barriers for women can be the personal barriers, where their home life can interrupt their ability to focus and perform their job assignments, where most men do not carry the same responsibilities. As I never had children, I have been able to have a balanced work-life and have very little impact on my job duties. It has taken almost ten years of exposure to work politics to be able to “play” in the game as my male counterparts. Understanding what politics are going on and who is involved can and will impact a person’s career path. I feel that most women don’t want to play this game and suffer the consequences for it. I have not been one to create the politics but have developed the skills to work within such a structure when needed. This is where as a woman I feel that I take on more of the masculine features to deal with such schemes.
With all that said, I understand that women have come a long way in making their mark in the world in all faucets. Changes have not happened overnight, but progressed has been made in trying to understand why we are at, where we at, and what needs to be done to make changes for all. So, I continue on my path as a women in leadership to strive for the things that anyone else would want, regardless of my gender or culture, mostly a stable position doing what I enjoy leading a team to success for the organization I work for.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Penn State University World Campus (2018, November 18). PSYCH 484 “Leadership and Diversity”. Retrieved from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942231/modules/items/25010917