By Renée Gotcher
elen Turnbull
is president and organizational development
consultant at Human Facets, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. She focuses
on helping Fortune 50 companies address corporate diversity
issues from a strategic perspective -- not just providing a quick
fix -- to make the right environment shifts. Among her clients are
technology leaders such as Texas Instruments, Motorola, Raytheon,
Hewlett-Packard, JP Morgan, and AT&T. Turnbull was a keynote
speaker at the Women in Technology International (WITI) conference in
Dallas, where she spoke of the challenges women face in becoming
integral parts of their organizations by bringing more of themselves into
their role. She can be reached at hfacets10@aol.com.
Gotcher: How can an employee who has experienced gender bias best deal with
attempts by her
manager to damage her reputation in the company or with potential employers?
Turnbull: This is a tough question. I would probably spend some time looking
inside myself to
examine the situation and make sure my own issues were clear. I would be looking
to examine
whether their projections of me are valid. Once I was clear that this person was
really determined
to damage my reputation unjustly, then I'd identify who I need to speak to to seek
the necessary
support and resolution. Who could I best present my story to within my company? But
I'd want
to have done my own homework first. I'd also want to talk to other women in the organization,
particularly senior women and not just HR [human resources], in the hope that I could
find a safe
place to talk about the issues, check out my perceptions, and seek direction.
I can also tell you what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't go to all my future clients and
tell them that my
boss was out to damage my reputation. I would go to my clients and do some very positive
networking of myself, and I would not put my boss down, even if I wanted to.
Gotcher: What's your opinion on professional dress codes for women in technology?
Women
are often expected to dress up, but in IT they often have to lug around computers
and do other
tasks that could best be handled with a more casual dress code.
Turnbull: I think people should dress appropriate to the culture they're working
in. Basically, if
you're going to survive, get noticed, get promoted, and be seen as leadership material,
you've got to
see what others are doing and conform to the culture. If you want to get noticed,
look at how the
women in leadership are dressing and do the same. Having said all of that, I'm not
big on women
dressing like men in order to be taken seriously. If it's company culture, then by
all means
conform. But I personally would not want to be in a position where I thought I could
only be
taken seriously if I wore pants or a tie! So dress professionally -- as defined by
the culture you
work in -- and don't get stuck in one dress mode because you feel that defines you.
Gotcher: Many women in technology have learned a different way of "leading"
meetings and
discussions by using consensus. Unfortunately, this isn't readily recognized as a
leadership
quality and may not bring such a person to the notice of others. What do you suggest
women do
to make their leadership efforts more noticeable without resorting to heavy-handed
tactics?
Turnbull: I think that increasingly corporate America is beginning to value
teaming skills as part
of the management tool set and the ability to manage more inclusively. In my experience,
many of
my high-tech clients are moving away from the heavy-handed approach of "my way
or the
highway" and moving toward empowerment and inclusion. Women are now being recognized
as
having the skills and talents needed to create these environments. I think it is
time to educate our
workforce -- both men and women -- that women intuitively bring something valuable
to the
human side of leadership, which is much more than their competence, skills, and talents
to do the
job itself.
What would you ask your career coach? Send questions to witi_fasttrack@infoworld.com.
