At That Point
  • home
  • services
  • about us
  • our thoughts
  • videos

The dark side of female leadership – when women become their own worst enemies

6/8/2018

0 Comments

 
Authors: Dr Renate Scherrer‚ MD of JvR Consulting Psychologists and Dr Karina de Bruin, JvR Academy Managing Director
 
Throughout history we’ve seen women who stood out above the rest. They excelled against all odds in a society or a sector which did not acknowledge their contribution, whether in politics or business. These are arguably tough sectors for any leader to make a difference in, and have an impact on, but even more so for these women who often had to navigate the muddy waters of prejudice, stereotyping and even jealousy.
 
What makes women successful as leaders?
When one considers the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women, Germany’s Angela Merkel has been the number one for almost a decade – being ousted by Michelle Obama once in 2010. Other names frequenting this list are Melinda Gates, Sheryl Sandberg and Christine Lagarde – all strong women with unique characteristics. Closer to home, some of the names we have come to associate with power and influence would typically be Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Pam Golding, Thuli Madonsela, Wendy Lehabe and Gill Marcus. 
 
In broad strokes the similarities we perceive them to share are certainly some of the following:  courageous, focused, driven, self-confident, assertive, and resilient.  Overall, they do not conform to what society dictates, they are passionate about their beliefs, willing to take risks, and they often spearhead social change by speaking up about domestic violence, injustice, and discrimination of any kind and the oppression of minority groups.
 
Focus on the activities that are energising
Even though most women may not make the Forbes list or the top echelons of multinationals, there is no doubt that they start their careers in business and other professions with the same level of intelligence, education, and commitment as men.
 
Recent years have seen an increase in women taking up significant leadership roles, perhaps because of the realisation that the familiar glass ceiling is unfair, but also because of an increasingly urgent need for more leaders. What hasn’t changed, however, is the fact that women often get home from work, only to sign-in to a ‘second shift’ of motherhood and homemaking.
 
According to the Mckinsey quarterly (2008), this double burden of motherhood and management drains energy in a particularly challenging way.
 
Most people will agree that work–life balance is a myth, especially when you are in a leadership position in an always-on, always connected work culture. Mckinsey highlights that women’s only hope for survival is to balance their energy flows: in short, they need to focus on the activities that are energising (both at work and at home), and actively managing their resources. 
 
This is probably easier said than done. Countless women will attest to the fact that they are often too tired or occupied to even know what energises them. As a result, they land up being overworked, overstressed, and emotionally overloaded. 
 
The fire-spitting dragon queen
When we are stressed, tired, or distracted, we are at risk of overusing our strengths or operating from the dark side – by being, for example, emotionally volatile, manipulative, distrustful, passive-aggressive, and arrogant. In more every day terms, we become the cold-hearted ice queen, the colourful drama queen, the manipulative queen of hearts, the adventurous queen of the desert, the meticulous queen bee, or the infamous queen of denial?
 
Leadership in increasingly virtual, digital and global organisations with progressively diverse, multigenerational and highly educated teams will relentlessly test the resilience and character of women leaders. Leaders have a high level of influence and people generally look up to them. Others see them as role models and mimic their social interaction. 
 
We also know that employee engagement is specifically driven by the quality of the relationship between leaders and followers. It is therefore important that this relationship is defined by aspects such as respect, learning how to debate rather than fight, to not allow emotions to overrule reason, to inspire rather than micro-manage, to display humility, and have a fierce ambition for collective success.
 
Reputation is Queen!
Women leaders who tend to digress to the dark side when pressured will inevitably end up having a tainted leadership reputation. Such a tainted reputation will (sooner or later) derail the otherwise high-potential, competent and strong leader. Consequently, the wise women leader will manage her reputation very carefully.
 
Crucial aspects underlying reputation management are self-awareness and self-management. It is impossible to change your reputation if you are not aware of what it is and how it is impacting your leadership influence. A good start is to ask for feedback, truly listen to it, and then act on it with integrity and good judgment.  In doing so, they stand a far better chance to reach their potential and leave an inspiring legacy.
 
ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za
 
ABOUT JvR Africa Group:
JvR Africa Group of companies consists of JvR Psychometrics, JvR Consulting Psychologists, JvR Academy, and JvR Safety.  With its head office situated in Johannesburg, the group conducts business nationally and across Sub-Saharan Africa. They work with test developers, consultants and academic institutions all over the world, and support a range of development opportunities and host events around People Development in Africa, a cause they feel is extremely important to the future of our continent.
 
For more information on JvR Africa Group please visit:
Website:  https://jvrafricagroup.co.za/
LinkedIn: JvR Africa Group
Facebook: The JvR Africa Group - People Development in Africa
Twitter: JvR Africa Group
YouTube:  The JvR Africa Group
0 Comments
    Welcome to the JvR Africa Group Newsroom.

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017

    Categories

    All
    100 Most Powerful Women
    18 July 2018
    2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey
    3D Printing
    Accountability
    Angela Merkel
    Artificial Intelligence
    Aspirations
    Bell Pottinger
    Big Data
    Boss
    Business “unusual”
    Business World
    Cambridge Analytica
    Career
    Career Building
    Careers
    Company Morale
    Competent Drivers
    Complex Leaders
    Continuous Development
    Corruption
    Crime
    Dark Side Of Female Leadership
    Deloitte
    Disruptive Technology
    Diverse Society
    Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin
    Dr Gorkan Ahmetoglu
    Drinking And Driving
    Dr Jopie De Beer
    Dr Karina De Bruin
    Dr Renate Scherrer
    Dr Renate Scherrerr
    Economic Development
    Economy
    Emigrants
    Emotional Intelligence
    Emotionally Manipulate
    Emotions
    Employees
    Employment
    Engineering Safety
    Entrepreneur
    Entrepreneurship
    EQ
    Ethics
    Female Leadership
    FIFA World Cup Finals
    Forbes
    Fourth Industrial Revolution
    Gap Year
    Gill Marcus
    Global Village
    Government
    Grade 12
    Hapiness
    Harvard Business Review
    Health
    Humble Leaders
    Identifying Entrepreneurs
    Industry 4.0
    Innovate
    Insufficient Infrastructure
    Integrity
    Jacob De Coning
    Job Creation
    Job Opportunities
    Jobs
    Job Summit
    Jopie De Beer
    JvR
    JvR Acadamy
    JvR Academy
    JvR Africa Group
    JvR Consulting Psychologists
    JvR Group Africa
    JvR Psychometrics
    JvR Safety
    Karina
    Labour Market
    Leaders
    Leadership
    Learning Agility
    Listeriosis
    Madiba
    Madikizela Mandela
    Managing Emotions
    Mandela Day
    McKinsey Global Institute
    Melinda Gates
    Meta Profiling
    Millennial
    Misconduct
    Motivation
    Multicultural
    Nelson Mandela
    Niccolo Machiavelli
    Optimise Entrepreneurship
    Organisational Success
    Paperwork
    Political Leaders
    Population
    Power
    Power Of Emotions
    Problem Solving
    Productivity
    Promotion
    Psychology
    Random Acts Of Kindness
    Recovery
    Red Tape
    Regulatory
    Resilence
    Road Rage
    Self-directed Learning
    Skills Development
    Skills Programmes
    Snakes In Suits
    South Africa
    Street Wise
    Stress
    Tarzan Leaders\
    Team
    Team Rebuilding
    Technical Innovation
    Technological Literacy
    Temptations
    The World Economic Forum
    Thuli Madonsela
    Toxic Boss
    Toxic Leaders
    Traffc Congestion
    Trust
    Trust In Leaders
    Unemployment
    Unemployment In South Africa
    Unethical
    Unethical Behaviour
    Wellbeing
    Whistle Blowing
    Women's Month
    Workforce
    Workplace
    Workplace Safety
    Youth
    Youth Development
    Youth Employability
    Youth Unemployment

    RSS Feed

CONTACT US

office [at] atthatpoint [dot] co [dot] za
© COPYRIGHT 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  • home
  • services
  • about us
  • our thoughts
  • videos