Being a woman in the workplace requires focus

The holiday season just past is a reminder that women are the world’s greatest jugglers. As a full-time executive and mother of twins with a hectic travel schedule, I look back on recent weeks and see that rest and recuperation are really only a part of the story. I also recall the demands of presents to be bought, houses to be cleaned, food to be cooked, guests to be entertained, parties to be thrown and holidays to be planned. Invariably, women pile all this stuff on their plate just to ensure it all gets done.

If you need something done, ask a busy woman.

The ability to organise, multitask and nurture at the same time is a great asset in any workplace. However, this quality also carries a risk. Burning the midnight oil to accomplish your work, home and family to-do lists can lead to burnout, or at least a severe dose of hurry sickness.

Our 24/7, always-on culture is making life even more difficult for the women who are trying to both have and do it all. The way to manage overload is to focus – we must stop, reflect and only then act. And focusing – screening out all the demands and noise – is more intuitive for men than for women. Women fear focusing, but it matters more than ever today.

If you are a woman juggling it all, take a little time to stop, reflect and reassess what investment you want to make in yourself and your career this year. The question is, what investment can you make this year that will last you a lifetime?

In a world where fewer than 20 per cent of CEOs are female, education has a huge role to play in helping women realise their potential and helping the business community appreciate their value.

Business confronts a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Women are ideally suited to leading in this environment. Their lives teach them to juggle roles. They are adept at managing complexity, coping with ambiguity and bringing clarity to situations characterised by uncertainty. They are also skilled at knowing when to lead and when to step back and let their team shine.

Business schools must house the brightest minds in business, from thought-leading faculty to talented leaders and future leaders. As the world of business evolves, the outlook for businesses needs to evolve too.

Women in business, whether in the GCC or worldwide, face a range of barriers in their careers. These barriers include gender discrimination and stereotyping, the high demands of family life and a lack of equal employment opportunities. Education encourages an individual to ask questions with critical reasoning, which challenges perceptions and ultimately changes the status quo.

Women can also lack strong female role models in the male dominated corporate world. Female mentors and inspiring professors can play an important role here, drawing on their own experiences to teach students how to tackle career challenges.

Business schools have a leading role to play in getting more women into business leadership globally. Increasingly, business schools are expected to ensure that the business community has the skills, knowledge and experience to carve out long, legacy-building careers, regardless of gender.

Educational institutions share new knowledge and develop the analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills essential to a successful career. They also influence the management style of the individual and their mindset through shared experiences.

Tomorrow's leaders will have to build global teams drawing on colleagues from diverse cultures, varied markets and multiple professional roles. Business schools are an ideal environment in which to foster these relationships more quickly than in the workplace.

Often, women spend so much time taking care of other people’s needs that there is little time for evaluating their own needs. I urge them to invest time in themselves. Strong leaders have an unfaltering sense of self and strong self-knowledge. Self-belief is often the first step on a successful career path.

Today, there is a need to put gender equality back on the business news agenda and to promote a dialogue about the issues women face in the corporate world. Change cannot be achieved overnight, but we must all realise the role we have to play in cultivating a shared desire to see change come sooner.

Wendy Alexander is associate dean for global business at London Business School, which has a campus in Dubai.

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