By Priscilla Marotta, Ph.D.

Women comprise forty-six percent of the work force and fifty-six percent (Neft, 1997) of students enrolled in higher education. Developing effective collaborative work teams of women and men has become a major new challenge for businesses. Executive women have been promoted for their talents and dedication to the job and are then placed in a male-dominated environment with complex interactions that create difficulties. Many executive women’s developmental experiences do not include adequate power training. Executive coaching to develop women’s positive power skills has been the focus of my coaching interventions.

Women have made significant headway in climbing the corporate ladder, and yet, are facing the Glass Ceiling. The Glass Ceiling is a term first coined in a Wall Street Journal article and used to represent the artificial barrier which prevents qualified women and minorities from advancing into top level management positions. This journalistic phrase captures a wide range of behaviors into a succinct and descriptive term. The Glass Ceiling, like any artificial barrier, robs the organization of the talent of all employees. Whether the organization is government, education, business or a non-profit entity, limiting the talents of the staff negatively impacts productivity and stops the organization from realizing its full potential. The Glass Ceiling describes the frustrating experience of being “stopped dead” at the top by unknown factors. The executive women I have coached have found the concept of power robbers and developing positive power skills crucial variables in maintaining forward momentum to move beyond the Glass Ceiling.

Power robbers are the subtle socialization messages that women receive as they grow up. Women are encouraged to be accommodating, to not make mistakes, to be polite, to defer, to wait to be recognized, to keep the peace and to not make waves. These are only a few of the power-robbing messages that negatively impact executive women. Once aware of power robbers, the women I’ve coached have monitored these behaviors and added new positive power behaviors.

Positive power behaviors separate the concept of control from the concept of power. Power and control are separate words, separate concepts, and separate constellations of human behavior. The mindset is power-with, not a power-over model of behavior. Once the stigma of control is removed, women’s ability to incorporate positive power behaviors is fast-forwarded. Power begins to be reframed as effectiveness. Power stands as an independent, less emotionally laden word, describing effective behaviors in the career-world and the home-world.

Power coaching is a six-step model:

1. remove negative perceptions of power,
2. introduce the concept of positive power,
3. review the power-robbing socialization messages women receive,
4. dispel gender myths that create artificial barriers for women,
5. coach positive power strategies, and
6. identify networking resources.

The power-coaching model for executive women has been well received. The following clinical examples demonstrate the variety of settings and issues that power-coaching addresses.

Maryanne’s Story

Lack of power can be expressed in many ways. Maryanne is an example of a woman rendered ineffective by a fear of making a mistake. Fears of being wrong can cause a power drain leading to powerlessness. Maryanne entered my office in tears. She was a woman in her early forties, and married with two teenage children. Maryanne was a college graduate who was experiencing extreme job stress, moving through six jobs in five years. She reported disruptive sleep, depressed mood, and feeling overwhelmed. She states, “I have trouble making decisions; I am afraid of being wrong.” Her fear of making mistakes was causing her to have a job paralysis that led to job dismissal after job dismissal.

During coaching sessions, Maryanne was able to reframe mistakes as an opportunity for learning. Additionally, Maryanne was able to focus on the value of taking initiative and mistakes were normalized as part of the learning curve of a new job. Just prior to the end of therapy, Maryanne received a raise and a promotion at her present job. Her ability to develop risk-taking skills and decrease her fears of making mistakes resulted in increased initiative and allowed her skills to be displayed more appropriately on the job. As Maryanne learned the power skills of initiative and risk-taking, she became an effective and valued employee and a significantly less distressed women.

Molly’s Story

Molly was a twenty-eight-year-old, attractive, divorced woman who had rapidly risen in the ranks of a telecommunications company. Molly had an outstanding sales performance record and was promoted to regional manager. This was Molly’s first management position. She was referred for managerial coaching by the national sales manager. When I first met Molly, her charming manner, sharp wit, and deferential behaviors were disarming. During coaching sessions, Molly had great difficulty in expressing her opinions clearly. If I in any way would question her position, she would immediately shift her position to what she anticipated was my opinion.

Molly was an adept chameleon with her antenna constantly adjusting her viewpoints to her audience. Her keen insight into others’ behaviors and her ability to mirror their needs was an exceptional skill for a salesperson. However, as a regional sales manager it was a problem for Molly to continue these behaviors, as she was not providing adequate leadership or direction to the sales staff.

During coaching sessions, Molly was able to recognize that the constant behaviors of agreement prevented her from developing a leadership style to manage her region. It took considerable time for Molly to tolerate disagreements, maintain a consistent leadership stance, and be open to disagreements among her sales staff, while providing clear direction. When the coaching sessions ended, Molly commented, “Becoming an effective manager was more difficult than creating a million dollars in sales.”

June’s Story

June was a buyer for a major retail store. During a difficult transition project with computers, June would often work sixteen to eighteen hours per day. Additionally, she coached, mentored, and trained a junior colleague in completing his projects. During this time, June was so involved in begin conscientious and completing all of her tasks, that she had minimal contact with her managers. Moreover, when she did attempt to have contact with her managers, she found herself being excluded. June was the supervisor for a number of field representatives. Much to her chagrin, she found out that meetings were being held with her staff, her manager, and the junior colleague, and she was being excluded. The final straw for June was when she was transferred to another store, and subsequently received a poor evaluation, whereas her junior male colleague received a major raise and was promoted.

June, up to this point, had not paid sufficient attention to having upper management recognize her work performance. The power-robing behavior of “low profile” was undermining her career progress. As a salaried employee, upper management had no tracking mechanism for her outstanding efforts. Her manager was not aware of the number of hours she worked or her contribution to her junior colleague’s projects. During executive coaching sessions, June appropriately contacted the human resources department, grieved her evaluation, and subsequently had meetings with higher levels of management. Only then was there an awareness of the significant contributions that she had made. Additionally, this retail corporation is a company that prides itself on its mentoring of women. In conducting research for Power and Wisdom: The New Path for Women, I found it ironic to have this corporation pay lipservice to a philosophy that they were unable to implement in reality.

After the grievance process, June began to be more conscious of the “recognition factor.” She documented her job performance and initiated meetings with her manager. Her initiatives resulted in a letter of commendation and a bonus. In her last session, June stated, “I will never be invisible again. I recognize that communicating your achievements is as important as the achievement itself.”

Debbie’s Story

Debbie was a forty-two-year-old married female with three high school aged children. She has been promoted to controller of a major corporation, with a history of ten plus years of employment and consistent accolades. As she assumed the position of controller of the corporation, she began to have more interactions with the board of directors. For the first time, during board of directors meetings, Debbie found herself needing to clarify and explain her investment strategies. Debbie was referred for executive coaching by her chief executive officer, a strong supporter of Debbie, who felt that her strong defensive reactions at board meetings called his promotion selection into question.

During coaching sessions, Debbie verbalized a long career of consistent success and the perception that her decisions were usually on track. She felt reproached and denigrated at the board meetings. She viewed herself as “on the spot” and under the microscope. Debbie was the first female controller of this corporation. She was angry, resentful, and felt treated unfairly.

As coaching sessions progressed, Debbie was able to see that the board of directors viewed themselves as part of her investment team. She began to consider the possibility the board was brainstorming the best investment strategies, rather than criticizing her. Once Debbie was able to shift her cognitive mindset to the board as part of her investment team, she reduced her defensiveness and began to develop a strong rapport with them. During her six-month follow-up visit, Debbie was relaxed and enjoying her new position. She also advocated for the inclusion of a female on the board. Her job performance and personal credibility had significantly increased. Debbie was now a major contributor to corporate policy.

Summary

Power-coaching helps executive women cope with their expanded roles and opportunities. American women have become trailblazers in the expansion of life options, experiencing lives of multiplicity, not simplicity. The expansion of women’s lives necessitates, now more than ever, the increased utilization of power. Women’s achievements, as with all successes in life, extract a price. Executive women who learn positive power behaviors make the price affordable.

I have found my role as a power coach for executive women has helped me “stay on track” in utilizing my own power skills. Moreover, the experience of watching women expand their power skills and embrace their own unique feminine wisdom is exciting.

References:

Aburdene, Patricia, & Naisbitt, John. (1992). Megatrends for women: From liberation to leadership. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

Costello, Cynthia B., Miles, Shari, & Stone, Anne J (Eds.). (1998). The American woman 1999-2000. New York, NY: WW Norton & Co., Inc.

Gaskill, Stephen. (1995, November). A solid investment: Making full use of the nations’ human capital, Recommendations of the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Griscom, Joan L. (1992). Women and power: Definition, dualism, and difference, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16, 389-414.

Marotta, Priscilla V. (1999). Power and wisdom: The new path for women. Ft. Lauderdxale: Women of Wisdom.

Neft, Naomi, & Levine, Ann D. (1997). Where women stand: An international report on the status of women in 140 countries 1997-1998. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

Saporito, T.J. (1996). Business-linked executive development: Coaching senior executives. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 48, 96-103.

Priscilla V. Marotta, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center of Psychological Effectiveness, a private practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Additionally, she is President of Women of Wisdom, an organization dedicated to helping women move beyond the Glass Ceiling and author of Power and Wisdom: The New Path for Women. She can be reached at 1-800-714-COPE (2673), www. womenofwisdom.com, E-mail: priscilla@womenofwisdom.com.