SHARE Washington, D.C., has more than 300 technical sessions available for members to explore and endless opportunities to learn what’s hot in the mainframe industry. With a growing workforce, professional skills and corporate culture awareness are a must have. For the Women in IT session, “Leading With Confidence: Navigating Assertiveness and Bias As a Woman in Leadership,” Shakirah Hill Taylor, chief digital officer at Fenton, will share how women and others can lead with assertiveness and remain open-minded to the diverse ideas, solutions, and pathways available in today’s mainframe workplaces.
According to Hill Taylor, gaining confidence as a leader begins with an understanding of relational dynamics in the workplace and how they can impact individuals, including women leaders. Once leaders understand the relational dynamics in their workplace, they can learn to effectively self-advocate while moving toward their objectives. Throughout that process, women leaders can gain confidence in their abilities and assert themselves and their ideas without losing support from colleagues. “It's okay for women to be confident,” she says. “Confidence is not a lack of humility, but it is important for folks to feel trust in their leaders.”
Identifying Workplace Dynamics and Bias
Gender dynamics can play a role in the workplace. In the broader cultural context, progress and social advancements that enable women to rise into leadership roles has eroded. “Not acknowledging that bias exists can become a form of self-gaslighting. Bias is real. To address bias, it must first be named and its impacts talked about,” says Hill Taylor.
Talking about biases that can impact the effectiveness of leaders and the enterprises’ bottom lines can ensure that leaders and their colleagues refocus their energy on common goals that improve the trajectory of the company. “At the end of the day, we all show up to our work with common and shared goals. But bias, regressive ways of thinking about collaboration, and who gets to lead and who doesn't are obstacles to creative solutions. They get in the way of having a positive impact for stakeholders and customers,” she says.
Shakirah Hill Taylor shares a preview of her SHARE, Washington, D.C. session.
Shifting Narratives Requires Allies
For women, defining what an assertive leader looks like is important. Being assertive can take different forms depending on a leader’s cultural upbringing and the values they have. For instance, a leader who values clarity will find ambiguity challenging and could express their wants in a more direct way, which could be off-putting to colleagues who have different values and cultural backgrounds. As leaders, there’s a need for self-reflection to understand how their leadership style is influenced by their own background, culture, and values.
The next step is to determine how their leadership style and assertiveness fits within the culture and values of the enterprise where they work. “If you are at odds with your organizational culture, there is going to be a tension there, and you’re going to have to reconcile that tension,” Hill Taylor says. Understanding the culture that exists in the workplace is key to learning how to be the best leader for that environment and can help determine which colleagues may be allies. “Who is going to have your back even when you are not in the room? That’s one of the questions you must ask yourself,” she adds.
According to Hill Taylor, “Changing the narrative is a shared responsibility.” Bias must be identified and defined before colleagues and leaders can discuss the implications and identify changes to workplace culture. “Having partnerships with others who understand that bias is present, building effective communication practices, and utilizing relationship-building strategies can reduce the sense of loneliness that bias can create,” she explains.
Through interactive role-play, small-group dialogue, and peer-to-peer conversations during Hill Taylor’s session, SHARE members will be able to identify bias, name it, and learn how to change the narrative with the help of advocates in the workplace. Hill Taylor adds, “We're going to do some reflection time, because that's important too, and folks will walk away with very practical steps that they can use right away.”
All leaders and employees face some form of bias in the workplace because each employee carries their own biases that inform their decision-making processes. Hill Taylor says, “Despite these cultural and value lenses we all wear, our minds should remain open to diversity’s possibilities.”
If you haven’t registered yet for SHARE, Washington, D.C., what are you waiting for? Join us in our nation’s capital and register today.
Serena Agusto-Cox has more than 20 years of editorial experience and six years of experience writing about mainframe and information technology. She interviews and crafts forward-looking and engaging technical updates related to the mainframe ecosystem, highlights the experiences of thought-leaders in the community, and shares important updates to technical education and training.