DM Coaching and Development

Single Mothers...A Better Deal for Children?

Baroness Janet Cohen, who recently gave a lecture at Lucy Cavendish College of Cambridge, raised an interesting point in discussing career success. She made mention of one of the few benefits of being a single working mother. Now while I would agree that it is infinitely easier to raise a child with a partner, she said that sometimes she wondered if children didn't miss out on additional time with their parents because of the time the parents had to dedicate to each other just to maintain a relationship. She brought up the point that working single mums can at least spend all of the precious little free time they have with their children if they so choose, whereas married women or those in partnerships have the added time burden of finding quality time for the kids as well as for their partners. It reminded me of a friend of mine whose husband works long hours. They both ascribe to an "equal" relationship, but she once remarked in frustration that at least single mums knew they had to do all aspects of childrearing and hence couldn't resent husbands who were there but then sidestepped responsibility for childcare. She lamented that if she were a single mum "at least I would know I was on my own, and not hopelessly wait for my husband to do more!" Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Are you on the Right Career Path?

I don't always get time to read Personnel Today cover to cover, but when I have a few minutes I like to browse the site online to stay on top of the latest in people development and management. Found this great piece -(though sad!) about how many people questioned they are on the right career path! As writer Tara Craig points out "Most of us will at one time or another have wondered whether or not we were in the right job. While this may be no more than a response to a bad day in the office, research by the Skills Commission has shown that many of us are in the wrong job – one in five of us, in fact. And 41% of those questioned admitted to having been in the wrong job at some point in their careers. According to the research, people spend an average of four years and 10 months in jobs that fail to make the most of their skills. And just 4% of those who managed to escape from the wrong job sought formal careers advice before making a move."

That is dreary reading, so I responded with a plea that people get help if they are unsure they are in the right career for them. I commented " Rarely do we spend enough time in productive thought as to whether we are in the right career. The first step is in looking at whether it feels like a “job” or a “career”. If your answer is “job” you owe it to yourself, and your employers, to talk it over with a qualified careers advisor or coach, rather than quietly mull over the feeling that something is missing." Check out the full article here.

Perfectionists Are People Who Take Pains - And Then Give Them to Everyone Else

My mother, from whom I inherited my perfectionist and incessant list-making tendencies, recently shared with me the above quote. She said she heard it years ago in an away-day for marriage counselling - an apt place for such a great phrase if I ever heard of one. And whilst I can't say that she nor I have completely conquered our perfectionist streaks, it is an expression that I can recognise in myself.

Don't get me wrong, perfectionists are useful people - they set high standards for themselves and get a lot done. The problem only comes from setting the exact same standard for everyone else all the time, even when those people are likely to be able to come up with some wonderful way of their own to accomplish the same thing. If you can identify with the quote above, who could you be a little easier on? How might that surprise you?

Women Entrepreneurs Want Flexibility

I often work with women who are either setting up their own businesses or being slowly seduced by the idea. These women are under no illusions about what is involved, they know they will probably work longer hours than they did in paid employment, but it is the total control over those hours which is so attractive to women. In a governmental effort to encourage women's entrepreneurship, research consistently focuses on why and where women-owned businesses are lagging behind men's - in the acquisition of venture capital, risk-taking attitudes and in fields, such as technology, where the initial capital layout can be prohibitive. These factors may be true - but focusing on what women business owners lack is to ignore what they actually have - flexibility and job satisfaction.

I am a key case in point. This morning I was blogging by 7am, then took a break to do some Pilates (glorified rolling around on my living room floor!), then came back to begin my working day in earnest. Later I will take a "power walk" with my husband, as we like to do, before finishing the day checking e-mail. Longer hours than my previous career? Sure? More happiness and a timetable that fits around me? Most definitely! I remember meeting a business woman who said she started her own company after her boss said it wasn't "convenient" for her to leave to pick up her sick son from school - despite the fact that she would have taken extra work home and routinely worked into the evening. She quit the next day. And you have to wonder, how "convenient" was that for her employer?  It sounds like flexibility is key to American women's businesses as well....

Check out PlatinumScienceJobs.com for Academic Careers

I recently found a great job search website, http://www.platinumsciencejobs.com that specialises in academic science careers around the world. So many of the regular search engines don't give ample cover to this niche market, yet many of the women I work with are employed by academia and need a dedicated site where they can go when looking for their next academic position.

The site is run by Amy Ballantyne of Imperial College and she can provide a direct link to your organisations website, which can be useful if applicants have their own online application forms. Also, she is very happy to post jobs for free if job details are sent to her on admin@platinumsciencejobs.com

New Report Shows Women Leaving SET Fields in Droves

In the Times this week, Steven Swinford draws attention to what most of you already know - but needs to be recognised by a wider audience - that many women are leaving science and technology in their 30's fed up with having to choose between work and family life. While the research from the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York is global, the figures for the UK and Europe overall are pretty stark.  According to the research "In Britain more than 225,000 science, engineering and technology (SET) graduates are not working in the industries for which they are qualified, and 50,000 of those are not working at all, according to official statistics." The report claims the “sexist culture” persists despite concerns about dwindling numbers of female graduates staying the course. The European Commission has predicted that Europe will suffer a shortfall of 20m skilled workers in science and technology by 2030.  Have you considered leaving these fields? Or have you already left? What made you decide to leave?

Working Women...Treasure Your Mother in Law!

At a lecture I went to where Baroness Janet Cohen was speaking, she made a recommendation to all the working women in the audience "to treasure your mother and mother-in-law". The comment got many laughs from the audience but the advice was sound. Many of the female clients I have who have some of the most difficulty in balancing the demands of children and a career are the same ones who live far away from their parents. I know my own mother-in-law, Betty, has been a godsend, as my husband and I have raised my stepdaughter. She has always been available to take care of Lee at short notice and now that Lee is older, I wonder how much Betty is looking after Lee or the house, when we are away! But the two are close and we try to make sure she knows how much we appreciate her. It is a modern phenomena of career couples living further away from their families or origin. It undoubtedly leads to greater job opportunities but also greater costs, as having support in doing the school run, take children to doctor's visits or even greater levels of care are invaluable in a society where good quality care is expensive, if you can find it at all.

1. How have your parents or in-laws supported your career?
2. How much do they help with childcare?
3. How well could you cope without them? 
4. How do you let them know how much you appreciate their support? 

Are Women Imposing Their Own Glass Ceiling?

Are women creating their own glass ceilings by fearing a move up the ladder will tip their work/life balance out of kilter? Camilla Cavendish of the Times recently reviewed a new book "The Sexual Paradox" by Susan Pinker, which explores the idea that women define success as different from the traditional scope of upward and linear promotions.

Pinker posits the idea that some women avoid taking on more responsibility as they fear the extra hours and commitment that traditionally come with promotion. Instead they are happy to "stay put" as means of balancing personal and family needs, and that this emphasis on putting people first is biological in nature. What do you think? For more on the Cavendish article, read below.   

Congratulations to the Blackberry Women & Technology Award Winners of 2008

On Tuesday night I was lucky enough to be asked attend the annual Blackberry Women & Technology Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

I was a guest of Maggie Berry, the Director of Women in Technology and the evening was fabulous with a real atmosphere of celebrating top women in an exciting field. There was literally a buzz in the air and I found it inspirational to be amongst such spectacular company.

The night was dedicated to the women in the field, and started right with champagne cocktails and ended with some very respectable dancing to Beverley Knight - albeit I did spy several women still typing on their blackberries whilst the band played! I wanted to just congratulate the winners again and celebrate their accomplishments.

• Best Use of Technology by a Woman within the Corporate Sector - Jayne Opperman
• Best Use of Technology by an Under 30 Year Old Woman - Lisa Ditlefsen
• Best Woman in Technology (Public Sector and Academia) - Lizbeth Goodman
• Best Use of Technology within the Multimedia Industry by a Woman - Beatriz Alonso-Martinez
• Best Company Advancing Women in Technology - BT Group
• Best Use of Technology By a Woman in a SME - Polly Gowers
• Best Female Mentor - Kate Bishop
• Blackberry Outstanding Woman in Technology - Lizbeth Goodman 

Baroness Susan Greenfield Dispels Myth About Gender Disparity in Sciences

On Tuesday night, I attended an event sponsored by Barclays Capital and Women in Technology where Baroness Susan Greenfield talked about "Banana Skins, Bottlenecks and Elephant Traps: The Perilous Journey for Women in IT." I was so impressed with her as a presenter - she showed off a razor sharp mind and wit to match. She was extremely engaging and made the audience feel she was presenting for them alone. What I found particularly useful was the way she dispelled the various myths about why there are not more women in scientific fields. She used scientific evidence from her background as a brain specialist to dismiss claims that "it's all genetic" - explaining that no individual gene has been linked to understanding science and even if there was such a gene there is no 1 to 1 correlation between the highly complex interaction between genes and career choice. She then went on to tackle other myths with aplomb, such as "girls don't like science", "girls are bad at science" and my personal favourite "women scientists are not normal". It was with this last particular myth that she took the most issue as she said that the media's preoccupation of what women scientists look like (herself included) demonstrates just how narrow and ill-conceived our definitions of "scientists" actually are! She lamented the number of times she is described physically by the media before journalists go on to talk about her research, saying it "would be funny, if it wasn't so sad".