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To Women Leaders Everywhere: Prioritize Intergenerational Collaboration

In 2018, women held more than half of management roles in the workforce but remained grossly underrepresented in the top tiers of leadership.* Women earn advanced degrees at a higher rate* but still only earn 80% of what their male counterparts make.* Today, five generations of women coexist in the workplace. Each generation, shaped by their unique experiences, represents a powerful group of women who overcame adversity to pave the way for the next generation. Women have come so far, and yet there is still more work to be done.

Generations do not always share the same values and perspectives, which can make cross-collaboration difficult. By working together to create a shared dialogue on how to be authentic and operate as leaders, women can find more ways to better integrate across generations and empower each other. It is our collective responsibility to shape and groom the next generation of women leaders to be even stronger, better represented at the top tiers of leadership, and have more opportunities than those available to us today.

How can women work together to better foster intergenerational collaboration in the workplace? 

Talk about it. Name the dynamics you see that cause riffs between the generations. Form a focus group or hold leadership office hours for your staff and fellow women to share their experiences. Create a CLEARING to talk about how women’s leadership is perceived in your organization. Understand the individual experiences across the generations and identify the obscurities which need attention. Create a shared language to form a bridge between the areas of miscommunication.

Make commitments to each other. Identify how you can make your organization more inclusive and cohesive, and make commitments from each generation on how to shift the status quo. That could look like developing a special women’s career advising program or a women-focused Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion role.

Make Connections Across Generations. According to Adaptive Space, 80% of personal influence is achieved through in-person interactions. Reach out to members of other generations for coffee or lunch, listen to their stories and be curious about their past experiences. Make the time to speak about collaboration across women and encourage new generations to join the conversation.

Empower Young Leaders. If you are a member of an older generation or even a younger member in a management role, take the time to recognize other women as leaders in your organization. Ask yourself: who am I recognizing as a leader at my organization right now? What story am I telling about leadership and women’s leadership? Challenge that conclusion. These assumptions might exclude certain types of women and limit recognition of their work. Acknowledge leadership occurs at every level, regardless of title.

Mentor. As a female leader, choose both an older and younger female mentor. This enables you to understand the different demands facing women in the workplace across different age ranges, to practice and model humility, and to create a broader network of supportive women.

By making space for an intergenerational dialogue, women leaders will create a cohesive organization that strengthens women’s ability to thrive and lead as a whole. This month, and every month, take a moment to recognize and thank those strong and powerful women who came before you.

“Please remember that young women are not the leaders of tomorrow. We are leaders of the women’s movement today. However, do not think that this means that we want to do it without earlier generations of women’s movement activists.” (Lewis, Women’s Movements: Flourishing or in Abeyance)

How to Embody Intentional Leadership

Leaders who operate “intentionally” act with purpose, forethought, and authenticity in service of achieving sustainable and equitable outcomes. These leaders recognize their attitudes and behaviors set the weather for their teams every day—their presence is their impact. For self-aware leaders, this is a powerful truth that can be harnessed to benefit the team. For the oblivious, the effects can be costly.

In this blog, we will explore intentional leadership through the lens of “authenticity” and how leaders can adopt three authentic ways of being. At The Clearing, we define authenticity as thoughts and actions rooted in a deep sense of self-awareness and courage. This creates honesty both to the self and others that requires vulnerability and an openness to give and receive feedback.

True authenticity creates psychological safety for teams; shown to improve engagement, morale, and performance. It also creates a space for continuous learning and improvement both for the leader and their teams.

Leaders can operate from a place of authenticity through three ways of being:

Think: Make time for self-reflection
Speak: Communicate how you are showing up in the moment
Show: Act deliberately to cultivate the energy you want others to feel

Think. Intentionality in leadership begins with understanding the self. A self-aware leader recognizes their behaviors influence those of their teams. Those influences can have long term consequences—it is key for you to ensure you are showing up how you intended to. At the end of every day before you leave the office, take fifteen minutes to sit in a quiet spot and reflect on what you have done, whom you impacted, how you impacted them, and how you can change the interaction to better serve your team in the future. Record these reflections in a journal that you can reference at a later date.

Speak. After understanding how your behavior affects others, communicate your reflections with your team. Before a meeting or interaction, pause and ask yourself “How am I showing up today? How do I want to show up and add value today?” Once you develop a healthy dialogue with yourself—extend it to your teams. Choose to BE open and communicative. Create space in meetings for a conversation exchange, encourage individuals to share how they are showing up (noting positives and any areas for improvement), and compliment them for when they do so. If you rise above the circumstances, others will follow suit.

Show. After you set an intention for how you want to show up with your teams and openly communicate it, translate your intentions into action. Speak and act deliberately to promote the energy you want your team to feel. Look for ways to add value. If you want more honesty and transparency, begin by sharing how a recent challenge and how it affected you. Push the PERIMETER of the conversation to be the first to share a moment of moral courage. Remember your presence is your impact.

To be intentional as a leader is to operate with purpose and forethought. Carving the time out of a busy schedule to understand your story and identify how you want to show up with your team will cause a ripple effect and elevate the energy of your team to operate as a more cohesive and impactful cohort. Through self-reflection, communication, and deliberate action you as the leader will operate with integrity and your team will feel more connected to the work.

Share your story on you have approached your intentional leadership journey by sending me an email at: morgan.peterson@theclearing.com