Last week, one of our essential colleagues was let go. I wrote about it on the day it occurred. I’ve been extremely moved and saddened by the situation. Luckily, I was able to take some time out of town, and generally away from work, to think through things. After 4 days off, I realized that my employer is NEVER going to see me as a full human being. They do not value my contributions and they do not feel like anything I do is creative. Or, actually, they do not give me the leeway to be creative and that is what is really problematic. Working somewhere that is ‘all business all the time’ and has no room for employee creativity is a sad place to be.
But that is not what this post is about. This post is about lifting up your fellow employees. And, in this case, lifting up your fellow women in the workplace. As I stated, we lost a matriarch. Someone that had been here for a while and many of us looked up to. Someone that we felt embodied a sense of fairness and expertise that has been hard to come by in recent years. Someone that was a rock and a listener. She was a woman that lifted up other women and never crushed our dreams. She would listen intently to our venting and then find the bright spots to help build us back up. And wow do we need building up sometimes. Much of the time. This place can be completely crushing, on a weekly basis.
Thinking through her dismissal and the circumstances that surrounded it made it clear to me that the leadership team (prompted by our parent company) is not going to fight for any of us – not even the most intelligent and committed among us. If our money lines up with what the parent company wants to save, heaven help us if we think we are going to keep our jobs.
But that is also not what this post is about. Lifting each other up requires that we see beyond the current situation to be able to support each other through the good and bad. Women in tech are such a small percentage of the overall workforce in this field that when we get some leverage we have to be willing to assist others that come after us. We cannot make it to the corner office and then shut the door. We need to lift up those around us so that we can all succeed. If someone that works for me excels, that is not a negative for me. Developing each other toward greatness is good for everyone.
In my current position, I report to a Director that is very committed but also has a hard time letting go. She has to always remain in power and that sometimes stifles the rest of us. She does not see that she needs to loosen up the reigns a bit and let the people that she hired to do their jobs. Yes – we need professional development. Yes – conversations about our daily work are helpful. Yes – we need to take constructive criticism and move forward in a positive manner. But trying to constantly intervene on behalf of your employees makes it look like you do not trust them. Giving them only one chance to do a thing well, does not leave room for the possibility that they could do better on the second try. I am a strong believer in letting people try and fail, rather than taking over a task before it is finished because you think it MIGHT be taking a turn for the worst. Seriously – give a Project Manager a chance.
Why is it so hard for women to help other women out? Why do we have to one-up each other, rather than giving each other props? Why is it so difficult for us to work together? The longtime patriarchal nature of the business world has instilled in us the need to be cutthroat. And, unfortunately, women most often act this way toward each other, rather than the men they should be competing with. Once a woman rises to a certain level of authority, she often closes the door on helping other women rise as well. But there are movements away from this behaviour.
The Lean In movement, prompted by the book of the same name by Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell, has become a worldwide effort to empower women. In the past couple years, allegations that have been ongoing for decades in the movie industry were finally given credence as more and more women have come forward to name their aggressors. The Me Too Movement (official site) has grown with recent allegations and several sub-movements have sprung up in its wake. People from all corners of the workforce have felt empowered, in this last year, to come forward, and that is tremendous, but without the continued support of women for women, all of this work will be for naught. We have to keep the momentum going or we will return to a place where women are considered second class citizens. Now that we have some of the power, we have to maintain and share it with one another. We must continue to lift each other up and not tear down our fellow woman. It is the only way to make a difference.
So today, on International Woman’s Day, let us start a new movement of women that will not only support each other in our time/s of need but also will lift one another up during our best moments. Praise and mentorship are the key to women rocking out the workplace. And just like Rosie the Riveter we, most certainly, can do it!
Keep on keepin’ on,
Chantale
