Top Takeaways from a Women in Leadership and Learning Participant
My latest podcast featured an interview with Brenda Harvey, Managing Director of IBM Industrial. Piggybacking off of SHAMBAUGH Leadership’s new “Women Rise” research on women in the pipeline, Harvey and I talked about everything from the factors that are still holding women back in the workplace, to the importance of self-advocacy and how to develop a stronger adversity quotient (AQ) in today’s turbulent environment.
I’ll be covering each of these ideas in more detail in future posts, but I first wanted to share Harvey’s perspective based on a previous role that she played several years ago: joining me as a very active participant in our Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL) Program, where IBM had sponsored her to attend as a new executive.
During my podcast interview with Harvey, one of our first topics of discussion was what key strategies Harvey had taken away from her experience at WILL, and how those have helped her navigate her executive leadership. Since attending WILL, Harvey has gone on to lead multiple areas of IBM’s business in different parts of the world, including being named chairman and CEO of IBM Asia Pacific, and she’s also become a board director at Nissan Motor Corp.
“WILL was critical to my career journey and successes,” Harvey said. She then shared the following three areas that were her most important takeaways from WILL:
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Self-Awareness of Leadership Style and Behaviors
Harvey stated that first and foremost, participating in WILL helped her understand the importance of self-awareness and doing a self-assessment of her own management style and leadership behaviors. She recalled doing an exercise to compare feedback from her team, peers, and management to her own assessment so that she could see the differences in those perspectives.
“The gaps in those responses helped me realize early on where I could focus on actions and behaviors to be more effective—basic ones like listening or the idea of slowing down, getting input, providing clarity so that we could go faster as the team, even though it’s counterintuitive to slow down to go faster,” Harvey explained. She emphasized that WILL helped her learn early on about the value of asking for feedback and getting others’ perspectives to not only focus on areas of improvement, but also to become more aware of positive strengths and continue to leverage and build on them.
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A Time Management Method for Better Work-Life Balance
The second area that Harvey highlighted from WILL, which she feels is still critical today, is developing a method for time management and understanding the importance of making balance a priority. In the program, participants each completed an exercise in which they created a life wheel and split the percentage of time that each individual was spending across different activities: work, health, physical activities, sleep, family, friends, hobbies, spiritual, and other activities. When Harvey completed the exercise, she realized it was clear that work was taking up a disproportionate part of the wheel and her life.
The next step was to draw a second wheel, indicating what each participant would like the mix to ideally look like. As she did this, Harvey realized that she needed to be more intentional in allocating time for health and wellness. She noted that each person’s focus can change at different times in their lives, so sometimes the balance might need to be more about recharging or mental health or family situations—she said that she continues to readjust as needed depending on the circumstances. “You might have just taken on a new role, or you might be in a difficult project that’s time consuming, but at least you know that you could assess it and then focus on making that change as you go forward, and to focus on what you can control,” Harvey said.
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The Ability to Have Courageous Conversations
The third area Harvey found indispensable from WILL was related to communication and communication skills. In the program, participants received a book called Difficult Conversations, and Harvey said that she thinks of these as “courageous conversations,” emphasizing the importance of having courage and not being afraid to bring up concerns, ideas, and requests, and opening up yourself to be vulnerable.
“I use the guidance in giving feedback and performance-related discussions with my team or in my own assessments,” Harvey said. “Sometimes sharing business updates can be difficult when things aren’t working out as planned or in challenging delivery or client situations. The best practice that we learned in WILL was to be prepared to listen, to understand the emotions and feelings of those in the conversation, and to find a way to reframe the discussions to get to the best outcome.”
If you or your team have advice for women in leadership that you’d like to share or questions you’d like to ask about this topic, please reach out to me at info@shambaughleadership.com.
Link to SHAMBAUGH’s offerings on Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Coaching and Development Programs for Women, Keynotes, and Fireside Chats.
Listen to the latest Women Rise podcast episode: A Conversation with Brenda Harvey, Managing Director, IBM Industrial.
Make sure to follow the Women Rise podcast to stay up to date on Rebecca Shambaugh’s latest exclusive interviews and conversations with some of the world’s most inspiring business leaders and be notified when new episodes are released!
Rebecca Shambaugh is a recognized author and speaker on leadership best practices. She is president of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, founder of Women in Leadership and Learning, and author of the bestselling books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor. Read Rebecca’s best-selling Harvard Business Review article “To Sound Like a Leader About What You Say and How and When You Say It.
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