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Welcome to the powerhouse Revolution Podcast. I’m Lucy Gernon, ex corporate leader turned CEO of my dream business, helping corporate female leaders just like you to create your dream career and life. At 40, I quit the corporate world as I was tired of doing a job that no longer led me up and wanted to live my life my way. I created the power house Revolution podcast, to give you simple, actionable tips and strategies to help you create the perfect career and lifestyle that you and your family deserve. So if you’re a corporate female leader or manager who is ready to step into her superpowers, and live the life you were born to live, you are definitely in the right place. Because life is way too short to dread Mondays. Okay, let’s jump into today’s episode.
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Hello, they’re gorgeous. And welcome back to this week’s episode of the powerhouse Revolution podcast. It is the longest day of the year today. So if it’s morning time, and you’re listening to this assignment tension for yourself to actually make the most of today, because today was always a very, very special day, I suppose, back in the pagan days, where all the sun worshipers would come out and really, I suppose, lean into the summer solstice and really appreciate the beauty of the world around us and that gorgeous song. So I am assuming right now, obviously, it’s not the day that it’s released, I’m recording it, but the day you’re listening to it is coming out on the 24th of June. So I encourage you to set an intention now today to do something nice for yourself this evening, given that we are in the longest day of the year, today. And if you’ve got loads to work on, just set an intention to get out on time and go sit in your garden if it’s nice, or just at least like appreciate the beauty of the world around you. So I’m all about that at the moment I’m, I’ve really gone on this spiritual journey over the last couple of years. And I don’t think I’ve talked about it much in the podcast, I will probably do an episode on it actually. Because it’s really helped me a lot in terms of my own. Suppose my own inner peace, really just appreciating nature appreciating everything that we have in our world, and really just making the most of the time that we have here on this planet. So today, we are going to talk about how to empower female talent in your organization. Now, I’ve titled this five strategies to empower your talent beyond International Women’s Day. And why this is so critical. Because I’ve noticed that there is a big hoo ha about International Women’s Day, which is on the Eighth of March, okay. And I really appreciate all the companies who do this, who invest in their female talent. But from discussions with many of you, a lot of you feel like it’s kind of a PR opportunity. Or it’s kind of a promotional event for the company that they do once a year. And then it’s like, you know, what is their first for the rest of the year? Why does it have to be just on International Women’s Day. So I’ve been a keynote speaker at multiple International Women’s Day events over the last couple of years, I think, this year, I did seven or eight events in the week of International Women’s Day soul was fairly full on and I got to meet so many amazing people and really feel into the culture of the organizations I went into. And I know that of all the organizations I went into everybody cares. Everybody cares about their talent, everybody cares about there male and female talent. But some companies are just not doing it. Right. And, you know, from a gender pay gap perspective, in some companies, the report showed there was lots of work to be done in that space. And I had several women approached me afterwards privately to you know, hire me as their coach so that they can advance their careers because they don’t have the support they need and work. And I’m working with them now, which is just fine. But what’s really interesting is that some of the ladies can gain approval for for my my services and mentorship and coaching and programs and others can’t. And the funny thing is that the companies who make their female talent jumped through hoops to just get a few 1000 euro to invest in their development are the ones making billions. Okay? And what’s even more ironic is that we know that that when there are more women in senior leadership companies make more money, like this is grounded in facts and data. So it just doesn’t make sense. There’s something seriously amiss. But today anyway, we’re going to explore why it’s critical for companies to prioritize investing in their female talent. So if you are a manager yourself, which I’m sure you are, or if you work in HR, or even if like, you know you’re a man listening HELOCs and I have a few male listeners on the podcast, and this is all for you. So if you lead a team, this is for you. Okay, so you know investing your team. Female talent is not only to retain and develop them, but ultimately, it’ll help you achieve more in your site and your region or division or area. It’ll make your life easier. And ultimately it will increase shareholder value and company profits profits. So that’s why you’re in business, right? So I suppose firstly, why now? Like, why is it important for you to begin to start putting strategies in place for this now? Okay, so 75% of women have reported experiencing impostor syndrome at some point in their careers compared to just 62% of men. So we know that there is a confidence gap with money, women, not all women, okay? It all depends on our upbringings, our culture, our society, so many different factors. But the facts show us and it’s you know, it’s common I see it myself, is that women report our report, experiencing impostor syndrome more IE, they don’t think they’re good enough for the role that they think they shouldn’t be doing more, they think they’re going to be found out, they don’t think they’re up to the task. And as a result, they put themselves under tremendous pressure, they work long hours to prove themselves and work life balance can be an issue. And how you will see that in your organization is that you’re going to have women who are very stressed, you’re going to have women who are in fight or flight a lot of the time, because they are so they’re trying to prove themselves. They’re overworking, they’re not focusing on the right stuff, by the way, they’re focusing on the stuff actually, that they shouldn’t be focusing on. And they’re not really seeing the wood from the trees. Okay. The other reason it’s important to invest is that women apply for jobs. We know this famous HP survey that was done. And women apply for jobs if they meet 100% of the qualifications listed. Okay, whereas men apply for jobs if they meet to 60%. So there is a big mindset gap with the females in your organization about their abilities, and about their I suppose their potential. So men we know innate, they are risk takers, and we’ll put themselves out there it’s in it’s in their DNA, we’re just wired differently. But we can we can bridge that gap with women, okay, we can bridge that gap with women by teaching them how to do this. Okay. Another really interesting statistic again, which just shows the need for this woman, is that just 25% of women negotiate their salary compared to 46% of men? Like that is just crazy. And we wonder, why does the gender pay gap, right, this is the thing, we, we put it all on companies and we say there’s work to do in the companies and blah, blah, blah. And there is a lot of work to do, by the way, and it starts working on the women themselves. It starts with working on your female talent, given them the support, they need to strengthen their mindset to be more confident and to really step in and step up. Okay. So we know that women are exiting the corporate world at record breaking numbers in the last three years, they’ve had enough, they juggle too much, and they just don’t have the support that they need with the demands that are on them. So I remember in 2021, McKinsey released the women in workplace report. And, you know, the statistics were startling really saying that women weren’t doing more to support their teams during the pandemic, but they weren’t being rewarded. Women were bearing way more of the burden. And there was far more men in leadership. But yet women were taking on all of this extra kind of, I suppose emotional support roles. Okay, that takes a lot of energy. Okay. And I can tell you as a coach as well, you know, when I work with people one to one, I can only do so much of it in a day, because it takes a lot of energy. But yet you’re expecting your female talent to deliver on all these objectives. You’re expecting them to be there for their teams to know how to navigate, I suppose issues with them without actually giving them the support that they actually need to do their job, right. And what ended up happening then is McKinsey released. McKinsey made a recommendation in their 20 to 21 report, which was that companies needed to continue to invest in DNI and also specifically they called out in the recommendations to invest in their female leaders, or companies are going to risk losing the very talent that they need most right now. Okay. So lo and behold, the report in 2022 came out. And what we saw is that no companies did not invest in orphans or female talent. And actually, there was more women being promoted into senior leadership, which was great. But there was also more women leaving senior leadership leadership at record, nothing breaks or record, record breaking numbers. Okay. So what this tells us is that companies are definitely trying for sure. But there’s a lot more that needs to be done. Okay. There is a lot more that needs to be done. And the thing is then, right, is that so women are amazing, okay, I’m always going to advocate for women. We are multitaskers we are the empathetic ones. We care about the team we get shipped on Okay, I’m sorry, I don’t know. I’m gonna say it. I don’t know any man who can do what what women do I really don’t, I’ve never seen a man being able to actually effectively multitask. And you can multitask. By the way, it depends on your human design. Okay, you transcend your human design on a manifesting generator, I love multitasking. I’m good at multitasking. But I’ve never seen I’ve never seen a man being able to do and has a woman can, okay, so that’s why we get so many things done.
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Harvard did it. But Harvard Business Review did a study of 1000 companies, okay. And they looked at the companies with the highest percentage of women in the top management positions. And what they actually found was, is that when there’s more women in the top leadership positions, there was a 35% higher return in equity. And then there was a 34% higher return in total to shareholders. So what does that mean? What that means is that when there’s more women at the top, more women in leadership, overall company, financial performance increases, okay? They make more money, the more more stuff gets put out into the world, more problems get solved. Okay. So just to take a step back. So what we know is that women need more support in general, okay, in general, than our male counterparts. Okay. And we know that when women are in more senior leadership positions, companies make more money. So why are companies not investing more in their female talent in the right areas? That’s the question I need, I need somebody to answer for me, because I do not understand. Now, I know International Women’s Day is a fantastic initiative. Alright, I am a big advocate for it, I think it’s great. And it is essential to celebrate women and raise awareness about gender equality, and equity and all those things, but it’s not enough to create lasting change. Like I said earlier, you know, money companies, they invest in these fancy events with the cupcakes and the balloons, and, you know, the big gestures and, and it is fantastic. Don’t get me wrong, please continue to do that. But it’s once a year. And then they failed to provide ongoing support and development for their female talent. So this can create this kind of a superficial impression of support without making like a real impact. So for example, that’s why I have my mastermind groups, because I have mastermind groups for women in leadership, who cannot get the support that they need in their organization. And what do I mean by that? I mean, that sometimes they don’t feel safe sharing what’s really going on with them, because they don’t want to look like they’re not up to the task. Okay. They don’t feel like they have someone to talk to, they don’t feel like they can, I suppose they don’t have the skills or tools they need to develop to deal with like the money challenges that come their way in terms of performance management, being a more effective leader, setting boundaries, being able to communicate effectively on their superpowers and actually be able to step in and step up and show the world who they are and what they’re made of and what they can deliver. Okay, so that’s why they come into my world, which I’m so so grateful for. Okay. So I do want to address the elephant in the room that comes up all the time, which is why are women special? Or why do women need to be singled out? And I’m asked a lot. You know, Lizzy, why do you only work with women? What’s wrong with men and all these kind of jokes are women will say to me, I hate that term female leader, I’m just a leader. And I would have been like that, too. I hated being singled out. Some women actually hated parts of their women’s network. So they’re ERGs they don’t want to be singled out, they see themselves as equal, and we should we are okay. But the fact of the matter is, that 50 years ago, in Ireland, it was illegal for women to work in the public service when they got married. Okay, that’s in our Gen, like our generation or generation before, depending how old you are. Okay, that’s in our like, right now, that’s still embedded in our culture, we’re still getting over the hangover from that. We see American movies of women in their 50s with their pretty dresses, cooking lovely meals for their husbands. And I remember reading that book on how to be a good housewife in the 1950s. I don’t know if you’ve ever read it, read it, but it was like, you know, your husband has had a bad day. Make sure when he comes home, you cook a nice meal and you put on a nice dress and make sure the children are quiet and all of this like this is actually in this book. Okay. So, like this is how we have been conditioned this was the societal condition of women. Okay, this is what actually has happened. And because many of you listening are true powerhouses, okay. You do not like you do not resonate with that I was the same. I was like, That is not me. Oh my god, I’m out to prove myself I am going to show the world what women can do. Which is exactly why I started my business and I called my business powerhouse revolution. Because I know we are in the middle of a revolution. We are in the middle of a significant point in time where women are rising. We are saying goodbye to that old narrative of the woman at home mind the children. And we are now starting to see a more gender balanced world where we are all equal. And I think it’s fantastic and like this gives me goosebumps speaking about this because I know All that my life purpose is to support women to step in and step up to older superpowers to show the world what they’ve got. And, you know, they can’t do that without support. Because why? Because of subconscious patterns that are instilled in many of us. And this massive shift that’s going on in society right now. So whether we like it or not, women have different needs to men. And let’s face it, most of us care a lot. We are emotional creatures, by design, okay, it’s in our DNA. But I really feel that our genetic coding is changing. I just know it like I actually have a master’s degree, by the way, in biotechnology, and I studied genetics and bioinformatics. Back in the day, you probably didn’t know that, did loads of PCR tests and all those things. And I should probably look into this and see if there is scientific evidence to support that. But actually, that’s a topic for another day, but we are changing, okay, we are evolving as women. So in summary, with all of that, what I’ve said is, you know, what I’m saying to you, as a leader, it is more important than ever, right now that you invest in your female talent. And right now, I am going to give you five strategies to get you started.
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Strategy number one is to create mentorship and sponsorship programs. So this can be done in house, it doesn’t have to cost anything other than the time of the people. And this is where you will have people in more senior roles, or somebody who has, I suppose a different skill set that can provide guidance and support to women at all stages in their career. Mentoring is super, super effective, because especially the younger women in your organization are going to be looking to you if you’re a senior leader and wondering how you’ve got there, but they’re never going to ask you, right? People just don’t ask these things, which is what I encourage when people work with me, it’s like get out there and build your network and teach them how to network and all that kind of stuff and what to say. But by actually pairing the kind of more junior and the more senior female employees with different skill sets, companies can really help to provide opportunities for career advancement. So this does not have to cost anything does not even have to be a massive official corporate paying, because I hear some people say when I asked, Do you have a mentorship program, they’ll say, I think our company has one. And I say, well just get yourself a mentor on your site. Just go find somebody that you admire and ask them to mentor you. And they’re looking at me going well, actually not sure if I can do that. Because we have a corporate one, guys, there are no rules. Okay. So if you’re multitasking, come back to me, you can get so brainwashed into your organization’s way of thinking you forget to think for yourself. With a mentorship program, all you’re trying to do is what you’re trying to help other people, you’re trying to help other women succeed. So to me, unless you have some crazy corporate policy that says that you can’t mentor other other members of your staff or your your employees, there’s no reason you can’t do it. And if you’re in a company that says that, I would get out as fast as possible, because that’s like ridiculous, okay? So you want to start thinking about how you might implement that into your company or into your even if it’s in your own team, just encourage them to find mentors themselves and talk to them about this stuff. Okay. The second thing you can do is offer leadership development programs. So, leadership development programs, which is what I love to do, can really help women to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in their roles. And, you know, my programs in particular are very tailored towards women and specific needs. So there’s a massive focus on the competence gap, and how to really own your superpowers and overcome gender biases. Because I hear like, Guys, I’ve coached hundreds of women now over the last few years, and the same thing has come up over and over again, a lot of women find themselves getting frustrated by colleagues. They don’t know how to, I suppose regulate their emotions. They get intimidated by other people, so they don’t speak up. They second guess their decisions. They, you know, struggle with impostor syndrome. So they work too hard and too long to prove themselves and burn themselves out. And they often don’t know how to prioritize because why? Because a lot of women I was too is a people pleaser. So you’re trying to say yes to everything you’re like, yes, yes, yes, yes, of course. I’ll do this. Yes, yes, yes. But that’s actually not what’s going to make you successful. It’s not what actually what your organization wants, okay. Your organization wants you to watch, make money and get product or service out to your customers. That’s it. So when you’re busy trying to prove yourself to everybody else, your male counterparts are not doing that stuff. And they’re, they’re waving their Wotsits around and they are getting visible and they’re getting the opportunities. Okay, so I teach women in my programs, how to actually navigate this in a way that feels good and aligned for you. Not to be this bossy bitch or anything like that. There is way there are ways that you can really develop a strong executive presence, a strong leadership persona without being seen as a bitch. And sidenote, that’s just a complete Nutter myth that women who are who are assertive are seen as bitches. That’s something I believe that just has been passed around the corporate world. I don’t think that at all. Okay, I think it’s perspective. So it’s about us educating people, that actually assertiveness is necessary. Okay. It’s not, it’s not being bossy. The third thing you can do, then the third strategy to support your female leaders is to implement flexible work arrangements. So since COVID, obviously, there has been a lot of remote work and a lot more flexibility. But honestly, this needs to continue. Because there’s a lot of companies now that are starting to forget that actually, you operated fine during COVID. Okay, it was challenging, it was a change. But you know, what, everyone got used to it. The women were on the men were able to be at home or with their families, they were able to actually have a better balance in their lives. I know some people hate that term, but balance is the word I use, you know, they were able to put on a wash at lunchtime, and, you know, hang up during a meeting that really, they might not need to be asked like that. That’s not the end of the world. So, like, I promise you, we know from again, from all the research and from all the women I’ve spoken to is that when you give flexibility, you get it back tenfold. Okay, you get it back tenfold. So if you started to be more strict and say you have to be on site four days a week, people don’t want that, guys, I’m warning you now we heard it here first, they do not want it. And you’re gonna lose a lot of your female talent in the next couple of years unless you give them those flexible work arrangements. Okay. The fourth thing you can do then is obviously hire executive coaches like me, or for masterminds for women in leadership. So why should you hire executive coaches? Well, obviously, I’m biased because I am one. But, you know, coaches have been trained to provide personalized support and guidance for women in leadership positions. And what like my speciality and most coaches can help women navigate challenges like impostor syndrome, communication issues, and the work life balance piece, which really does affect their performance, okay, it affects their productivity, it affects everything. Coaches can help women be better leaders be more impactful, you know, female, more productive, all of the things. So that’s why, you know, many organizations will hire coaches, but I really don’t understand why. Now, personally, I don’t work with women more junior in organizations, right? It’s just starting out, I work with women who are more senior. But I often wonder God, if if your top feed and female talent at entry level management or given coaches at that stage, they are going to go through the absolute stratosphere, like I promise you that we know that coaching has a return on investment of over like up to 700%. Okay, so it is all but there’s always a return, if you have the right coach, that’s something I’d say to you actually make sure it’s the right coach for you, somebody that you resonate with somebody that you connect with, because not all coaches are the same. Okay. And then finally, strategy number five is to invest in employee resource groups for women. Now, I know a lot of you hate these groups, because you don’t like to be singled out. But the fact of the matter is, is that when we’re together, we’re better. And when we support each other, and we start talking about the struggles, and we start sharing our vulnerabilities and our strengths, and how we overcame them, we inspire others to do the same. So these can be a really valuable community for women in your workplace. And they allow, if you do it, right, okay, if you do this, right, and I’ve seen a lot of companies do it very wrong. And if you do it, right, it can be so so valuable. So if you invest, you know, I was working with a company, and they wanted me to come in, because I do work obviously, with employee resource groups. So women out and I remember one particular company, they were like, Yeah, we really want you to work with us. Some lady reached out to me and HR, connected me them with the women’s group lead, had a great conversation, she was super excited about what he was offering. And then she went to try and get funding, and she was told there was no budget, no budget. Now, this company, again, I’m not naming the company, but they’re a massive company, okay? And because of cost cutting, they weren’t going to pay like, it’s a very, very small amount, okay, for the amount of women that are actually in the group, okay, just depending on what you want, what you’re actually getting, it could be somewhere in the region of 1015 20,000. That’s not a lot when you’re investing in a year long program, or a few months long program for all of your female talent, like Are you joking me? They’re just they’re not. They’re not seeing the return on investment, which is just so so sad, which is why I really hope that this podcast helps some people to understand the importance of doing it. And when you actually do it, you want to create a really supportive and inclusive culture that empowers women to thrive.
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And the good news is, is that next week, I am going to be recording a full episode to help all the women’s women athletes and all the women’s groups and networks committees out there to help you make your employee resource group for women stand out and sell out. Okay, this is not all you can do a lot of the stuff that I’m going to be sharing in this, it’s not about hiring me some of it, obviously, you’re obviously welcome to but there’s things you need to do apart from hire external coaches, for sure. And because it needs to be a more balanced kind of a group than that. So stay tuned for next week. And I will be back to teach you all about how to make your employee resource group amazing. So we’ve covered a lot today, if you’re still with me, thank you, I appreciate you staying,
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I get so passionate about this topic, I just can’t even deal because there’s just so many amazing women out there and they just don’t see it. And that’s what I’m here to do on this earth. So to summarize, International Women’s Day is essential to celebrate women’s achievements and raise all awareness about our gender equity and equality and all that good stuff. But it is not enough to just invest once a year, companies need to invest continually in their female talent to support them to unleash their inner powerhouses. And ultimately, this is going to make more money for your corporation. Okay. So next week, please tune in. If you are not a lead or on a committee in your women’s group, please let them know that this episode is coming next week, pass this episode to them right now. Tell them to tune into my podcast next week. And if you are a leader in a committee, and definitely tune in next week, and if you want to learn anything about how I can support you and your female talent, please just go to Lucy garnon.com forward slash contact. There’s a short little forum there. Just tell me what you’re looking for. And myself or my team will be back to you to arrange a discussion where we can talk about your needs. Okay. So I’m really excited to talk to you about the topic next week. So until then, be safe, be well and have the best day bye for now.
