Guild is home to many professional communities that support, connect and inspire their members. Group hosts work hard to make sure their members feel welcome, stay engaged and feel part of the community and on International Women’s Day this year we wanted to spotlight some of the women leaders who make these communities thrive. Here, they share some thoughts on issues around the achievements of women in their industry, the struggle for gender parity, and how they incorporate their principles in to their own communities.
Advita Patel, co-founder (with Priya Bates) of A Leader Like Me
Advita is an internal communications professional, Chartered PR Practitioner and coach.
Q: Could you share an example of a woman (or several, or a group!) whose achievements you think should be celebrated?
I have to mention the womxn in our A Leader Like Me community, their achievements over the past few months have been exceptional and Priya and I are so proud of each and every one of them. We've had womxn receive new promotions and salary increases, some have spoken on the public stage for the first time and others have launched podcasts and their own blogs - it's been incredible to watch their progression.
Q: During your career as a coach, what positive changes towards gender parity have you seen in your industry?
I don't think coaching has had much of a problem with gender parity, it definitely seems to be an industry that attracts quite a few womxn. I think the challenges start as you start moving to executive coaching and top tier - those roles seem to be dominated more by men but that is probably a reflection of the corporate industry where sadly there is still a challenge with equality.
Q: "From challenge comes change" - have you noticed any positive changes in your industry during your career, and what would you still like to challenge and change?
The communications industry, like coaching, has no problem attracting women. The challenge is making sure that women have the opportunity to progress within the profession. There's still a disparity between the number of men in senior positions compared to the number of women in the profession.
Women are stepping up and are starting to be heard but organisations have a part to play in supporting this as well.
Q: What advice would you offer to young women joining your profession to help them in their career?
Don't think you have to change yourself to belong.
I did this when I first started in the profession and along the way, I forgot who I was. Stay true to yourself and as I say to some of my coaches: "If you were everyone's cup of tea, you'd be a mug!"
Q: Communities on Guild such as A Leader Like Me tend to be highly respectful, professional and supportive groups. Do you have any tips on how you make your own community a positive place for professional women in particular?
That's a very similar principle to A Leader Like Me. The community is a safe space for our members to ask questions and speak openly about any challenges they are facing. Priya and I are very clear with our membership principles - no judgement, everyone deserves a voice, and we always have each other's backs.
Amanda Davie, co-founder of She Has No Limits
Amanda is a coach and co-founder of change consultancy Equal Talent.
Q: Could you share an example of a woman (or several, or a group!) whose achievements you think should be celebrated?
All women’s achievements should be celebrated! Especially after what has arguably been the worst year for women’s emancipation and gender equality in the last century.
This is why we launched She Has No Limits last year – to bring working women together, create a supportive and encouraging community for them, and provide them with learning and development resources and interventions to enable them to boost their own wellbeing, confidence and career success.
The achievements that I think merit the spotlight currently are those of overcoming adversity arising from this pandemic. Notably working women who are feeling alone and undervalued, but who are determined to keep their careers on track against the backdrop of the societal gender bias that lockdown life has exposed.
Heart-wrenchingly, women are being made redundant, furloughed or feeling forced to quit in volumes that we’ve never experienced before – certainly not in my career lifetime.
Q: During your career as a coach, what positive changes towards gender parity have you seen in your industry?
In my industry – the coaching industry – we need more male and non-binary coaches.
And, in order to mirror our client base, we need more coaches who identify or empathise with all spectrums of being: age, neurodiversity, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, ability/disability and privilege/disadvantage, to name some.
I would wager that today we have too many middle-aged, middle-class, white women coaches.
Often the pathway to becoming a coach starts by having benefited from the power of coaching.
So we need more people – not just white, middle-aged women aka “the cardigan wearing brigade” as I once heard coaches being nicknamed, earlier in my coaching career - to seek out coaching as a professional or personal development tool.
Q: “From challenge comes change" - have you noticed any positive changes in your industry during your career, and what would you still like to challenge and change?
Because I coach across all industries I’ll speak to general themes of change for women in work.
I’ve heard comment from women who are now in their fifties and sixties that things are no better today than they were in the Seventies and Eighties. This is disheartening, given that women’s rights and the fight for gender equality in the workplace has been fierce and unrelenting in the decades since.
We still need government to hold businesses to account via the Equal Pay act. The Gender Pay Gap has so far fallen short of achieving this (and in fact it has been suspended since Covid-19 hit – the irony being that the pandemic has plunged the campaign for earnings parity into a far worse place than it was previously).
Sexual abuse in the workplace is still rife although Lockdown life and our new distributed working models have helped to reduce cases. Organisations must implement zero tolerance for it and encourage employees to report it.
And working parents – mums and dads – are not given the flexibility and the autonomy that they need to prioritise the wellbeing and growth of their families. And so until organisations can find ways to trust working parents to make the right adjustments in order to accommodate their families’ needs – while also ‘getting the job done’ – we will continue to have an outdated working model that doesn’t work for a large proportion of our working population, and it will continue to penalise and discriminate against working mums in particular.
In summary, there is still A LOT of work to be done in our collective mission to create workplaces that are fair and equal for everyone.
Q: What advice would you offer to young women joining your sector (or organisation) to help them in their career?
Again, this isn’t sector-specific… I would encourage all women, especially young women, to be on the front foot with their career growth plan. Careers – and life – shouldn’t be what happens to us; rather they should be designed by us so that we can live fulfilling lives.
Identify role models, seek out mentors and coaches and surround yourself with like-minded, ambitious and supportive people like you. Find or build your tribe, and experience the benefit of learning and receiving support and sponsorship from others.
There is a particularly potent effect when women support women: just ask any international women’s sports team. We cannot make it on our own, and we will learn, grow and have more fun if we achieve career success together.
Final piece of advice: know yourself. Make it your lifelong mission to know yourself better, inside out.
Self-awareness is the cornerstone skill for all learning and growth in our careers and lives.
Q: Communities on Guild like She Has No Limits tend to be highly respectful, professional and supportive groups. Do you have any tips on how you make your own community a positive place for professional women in particular?
Listen to your community. Listening builds empathy. Acknowledge what they share in the group – every post or comment is precious and valuable insight into that person’s experience. Some members have to dig deep to share their views or ideas. Encourage and thank them for doing so. And try to create a sense of fun in the community. Playful, joyful, silly, humorous fun. It’s the glue that binds.
Nikki Cole, Chair of the charity Spotlight on Young Onset Parkinson's Disease, NED and Advisor to boards
Nikki is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology who moved into a Non-Executive career in 2005 and currently supports a number of non-profits including as a NED at GEN UK and on the Advisory Board for the EDGE Hub at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Q: Could you share an example of a woman (or several, or a group!) whose achievements you think should be celebrated?
There are so many – I would pick Alice Maynard who, early in her career was a software manager. Challenged by a condition that means she has used a wheelchair for sometime, became Chair at Scope in 2008 (Charity) and is now on the Board at the Financial Conduct Authority and Transport for London. An amazing woman who remains positive and constructive through adversity and is able to challenge at the most senior levels.
Q: "From challenge comes change" - have you noticed any positive changes in your industry during your career, and what would you still like to challenge and change?
My industry is Engineering and more specifically Avionics. At the beginning of my career I was an anomaly and most men looked on with amusement. That has changed and any women who want to work in this area are taken seriously. That is the good news. I would like more women to apply and work in this area which is still seen predominantly as a male domain.
Q: What advice would you offer to young women joining your profession to help them in their career?
This is a great profession with a lot of options – and if you don’t like what you are doing, then change…plenty of engineers end up in IT – a bit obvious!; Finance – who better to assess the risk of insuring an oil rig; or Pharmaceuticals – they like the rigorous approach to safety and manufacturing drugs requires the process mindset.
There are so many options, just lift up your heads and look around.
Q: You use Guild to support the work of a charity board (Spotlight on Young Onset Parkinson's Disease) - do you have any tips on how boards can make themselves a more welcoming and positive choice for professional women?
Firstly, advertise where women tend to look and where they are taken seriously. If using a recruitment consultant, find out how many women they have placed on Boards. Secondly, listen with an intent to understand – women often use different words and examples than those that men are used to hearing. Make the Board diverse – all the various groups represented, including disabilities. Women make a greater contribution in diverse groups.
To find out more about the groups and organisations mentioned:
https://guild.co/blog/case-study-a-leader-like-me-uses-guild-to
https://guild.co/groups/1954/she-has-no-limits
https://spotlightyopd.org
To celebrate International Women’s Day, She Has No Limits has the following events scheduled in March and new members are encouraged to join:
8th March – ‘coming together’ to mark this important day of celebration. From 11am – 11.15am on Zoom. Details can be found in She Has No Limits.
18th March – Dr. Terri Simpkin, renowned academic, will lead our coaching webinar on Imposter Phenomenon. For full details and registration click here.
Join Guild ?
See for yourself how the Guild experience is different to WhatsApp, Slack, LinkedIn or Facebook Groups.
- Just want to join some groups? Simply join Guild and then look through the discoverable groups to find relevant ones to join.
- Thinking of running your own community? Look at your plan options and get started.
Guild is ad-free and protects your privacy. Guild is a safe space for professionals to connect, communicate and collaborate. Join us on a platform that is purpose-built for professionals and businesses. Guild is home to your professional community.
Contact us if you want to know more or have any questions.