Women Project Leaders on Challenges and Change
Transcript
STEVE HENDERSHOT
Women have made great strides in the workplace, taking on projects in everything from construction to healthcare. But the pandemic seriously slowed down that progress. And that doesn’t just hurt women—it can hurt organizations, too.
NONTOBEKO MATHENJWA
Organizations need diversity. Diversity is good for business, and it’s good for innovation. We need companies to be innovative, and they can only be innovative when there is gender diversity.
NARRATOR
The world is changing fast. And every day, project professionals are turning ideas into reality—delivering value to their organizations and society as a whole. On Projectified®, we’ll help you stay on top of the trends and see what’s ahead for The Project Economy—and your career.
STEVE HENDERSHOT
This is Projectified®. I’m Steve Hendershot.
Inequalities between men and women in the workplace have long existed—and only got worse during the pandemic. Yet research consistently shows that organizations perform better with women in leadership roles.
One study in Harvard Business Review, for example, found those organizations are more open to change and less vulnerable to risk.
Another report, from McKinsey and LeanIn.org, shows women leaders provide more emotional support and better help their teams manage work-life balance—which then leads to desirable outcomes such as less burnout.
Yet, in some sectors, the balance remains overwhelmingly male. With International Women’s Day this week, we’re speaking with a couple of women project leaders about their careers and the changes they’ve seen, and the changes they hope to see. We begin in Johannesburg, where Nontobeko Mathenjwa is a project manager at the South African National Roads Agency, or SANRAL.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
STEVE HENDERSHOT
What was it like for you as a young woman engineer and project leader—what were some of the challenges that you faced early on?
NONTOBEKO MATHENJWA
I would say in the beginning, just not being taken seriously because, firstly, you’re female and you’re young, and it’s predominantly dominated by old males, the industry that I’m in. So that honestly was a bit of a challenge in the beginning. I remember how I would dream about just growing gray hairs because then people would really take you seriously. But I think the one thing that I was intentional about just from the start of my career was just having mentors around me.
I recall my then-MD [managing director] was a great mentor of mine. [He’d] send me to site meetings and represent him. I remember this one time we were just sitting in the site office and waiting for the meeting to start. The big guys in the meeting didn’t know who I was, so they are expecting Nico—that was his name—to pitch. And they started talking among themselves, just asking, “I wonder where Nico is.” I just sheepishly said, “No, I’m representing Nico today.” But because he would help me prepare for these meetings and sort of anticipate what questions they would ask, at the end of the meeting, usually we’ll be best friends with these very seemingly intimidating males because of how one handled themselves in the meetings. That really helped a lot in my career path, just having those mentors and just helped with this boosting the confidence.
STEVE HENDERSHOT
So there can be an element of proving that you do know your stuff, but you’re also building relationships. How do you go about doing both of those things at the same time?
NONTOBEKO MATHENJWA
I think the one thing that I had to learn very quickly was just being comfortable being who I am. I’m female, so I’m very empathetic, and my leadership style is very different. I had to really be comfortable in who I am. I always tell myself that being me is my superpower because initially I’ll try and be almost mean and have this just tough exterior. And really, it’s just tiring. But as soon as you are yourself and you know what you’re doing, and you’re good at what you’re doing, automatically people start respecting you. So I think that is how one was sort of able to close that gap: being comfortable with who I am and just playing on my strengths, and obviously, from a functional capability point of view, knowing what I was doing and being good at what I do and deliver.
STEVE HENDERSHOT
You mentioned earlier how construction is male-dominated. How true is that today, and how common is it for women to be in your position or among the people with whom you interact daily?
NONTOBEKO MATHENJWA
It’s really improving. We still are saying it’s male-dominated. It still is, obviously, especially the older males that are still there and who’ve got the experience and so on, but women are really coming through the ranks. I’ll say in terms of just being junior or middle management, we’ve got quite a good number of women being represented there. Obviously, we can improve a lot in terms of senior management. That’s where it’s still lacking. The numbers are still very low, but I will say women are definitely coming through. But as to whether they stay, that’s another discussion for another day.
Unfortunately, most of them get discouraged along the way because it can be very demanding. It can really have a very negative impact on your personal or family life. And especially as a woman, you want to be a present mom, you want to be a present wife, but work can be so demanding, and you’re obviously trying to also grow in your career. I don’t want to look back now when I’ve progressed in my career and I’ve achieved all the goals that I’ve achieved, but then I’ve got regrets that I did not spend enough quality time with my kids.
STEVE HENDERSHOT
So what changes would you like to see in your field to improve the opportunities for women to emerge as project leaders?
NONTOBEKO MATHENJWA
All we want is just to get the seat at the table, but once you get the seat at the table, you obviously need that support. Because, unfortunately, we don’t get measured with the same stick, women versus men, that is. We put so much pressure on ourselves because it’s almost as if we are trying to prove ourselves and prove that we are capable. So we just need platforms to be created within organizations where women are able therefore to be given opportunities, one, and just be given their ear as well when we talk because then as soon as you start talking about how you feel, then you’re labeled, “Oh, yeah, you guys are feelers. You’re always worried about how you feel,” and so on.
But it is a reality. That is just how we are, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. You can use it for your benefit. So I would say really that awareness for organizations—they need to be aware in terms of the unconscious biases that exist, especially where women are concerned. That’s really a start, and just creating that platform like I was saying earlier, where we can really have these dialogues, and we’re able therefore to talk and meet each other.
STEVE HENDERSHOT
What advice would you give to young women who are considering project careers, or who are still in the early stages? What should they be thinking about?
NONTOBEKO MATHENJWA
Don’t be afraid to raise your hand. Even if you are afraid, still raise your hand. Somehow, help is always there. And just be intentional about surrounding yourself with mentors as well. It just makes the ride much smoother. It’s just always soothing to have somebody to assist you along the way and just be your sounding board.
One article that I read over the week which really resonated with me, I think that will definitely be another [piece of] advice—is to stop figuring out how to beat the imposter syndrome. It’s a huge plague, especially among us as females. I wouldn’t say all females go through this, but I’ll definitely say [the] majority of females go through the imposter syndrome. So I’ll say stop figuring it out how to beat it. Do the work, raise your hand even if you’re afraid.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
STEVE HENDERSHOT
Lorraine Ong works in another male-dominated field—IT—as assistant director of advanced cybersecurity capabilities at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore, or GovTech. Projectifie®’s Hannah Schmidt spoke with Lorraine about her experience and what can be done to encourage other women leaders.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
HANNAH SCHMIDT
When you’re looking at the landscape of women in IT today, do you see a lot of other women project leaders versus when you started your career?
LORRAINE ONG
When I started my career in IT, there were fewer women in this field, as IT is a male-dominated industry. Working in IT constitutes long hours, [the] need to keep up with technology changes, and therefore not a favorable choice of career for many women. At the same time, there’s also gender stereotyping of women’s ability in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math]. Nonetheless, this is an unfounded belief. To me, being a woman project leader in a male-dominated IT industry will mean challenging myself to rise to the occasion, having my voice heard and making visible contributions to the team. It is also important for women project leaders to gain the trust and respect of team members regardless of gender and age so they will follow her lead.
In recent years, I see the gender gap within the IT industry improving as there are more women in the IT industry. In Singapore, women in tech workforce comprises about 41 percent, while globally the average stands at about 28 percent. However, this number is still lesser than the 59 percent of men in tech in Singapore. I do hope the numbers will improve in the next few years as organizations adopt diversity and inclusion policies.
HANNAH SCHMIDT
We’ve seen how COVID-19 has really hurt progress toward gender equality in the workforce. How has the pandemic affected women in your sector?
LORRAINE ONG
During the onset of COVID-19, schools, childcare and student care centers were closed, and many women were left in challenging situations of looking after their family and managing their careers at the same time. At the same time, COVID-19 pandemic has created a demand for rapid digitizations as companies are trying to implement digital solutions at [an] unprecedented pace to bring their businesses online. This has also resulted in much higher expectations at work.
I’ve seen women in IT struggle with this constant struggle of responsibilities between managing both their family and job demands. In my case, I’m fortunate to have good support from my family and kids. Other than family support, I feel it is important for companies to have people-centric policies and allow flexibility of work arrangements to be able to retain talent during these extraordinary times.
HANNAH SCHMIDT
Another place women often find support is through professional organizations. How can these help women, especially in male-dominated industries like IT?
LORRAINE ONG
Joining professional organizations can help individuals to consistently upskill and stay relevant. On the other hand, project organizations are also a great place for networking and building professional relationships, such as a mentor and mentee relationship. They also form great support groups.
To me, participating in a professional organization is both an opportunity to give back to the community and also to receive from them. I’m able to share my experiences and knowledge in such [a] forum, and yet gain new insights and perspectives from other women leaders.
HANNAH SCHMIDT
I want to go back to your comment about mentoring—how can women benefit from that? And how can organizations foster those relationships?
LORRAINE ONG
Well, typically for a mentor and mentee relationship, there has to be a form of matching process so that a mentor can be matched to a mentee based on their interests as well as their experiences. And also, there has to be some form of interest between the mentor [and] mentee to be able to strike a relationship. And [a] mentor can help the mentee in terms of sharing on experiences and also guiding the mentee in their course of career, [on] career decisions, as well as provide support for them. So I do see this as a very useful professional relationship for anyone to establish in their course of career, and it is definitely helpful for both ways. And being a mentor is also a way of contributing back to the community in terms of guiding the younger generations, as well as being able to share some thought leadership experiences.
At work in GovTech, I’m actually a mentor to two of our new, younger colleagues. I’ve also joined professional organizations such as the PMI Singapore Chapter’s Women in Project Management as well as the Singapore Computer Society’s Women in Tech forums and groups. At these forums, we do seminars as well as organized talks. In Singapore, we also have the SG 100 Women in Tech as well as our Girls in Tech, where we encourage the younger generations to study tech as well as take up the tech careers. I feel these support groups and forums for women to share their experiences are useful so that the other women out there who may be interested in such a career may consider IT.
HANNAH SCHMIDT
What changes would you like to see regarding gender equity? What can organizations do to be more inclusive?
LORRAINE ONG
Organizations should be able to accept different cultures and diversity in terms of ideas and experiences. Because women are able to contribute in terms of their different perspectives, this diversity and inclusion are actually very good for organizational improvements.
I hope to see a more balanced ratio of women to men in the tech industry and more women taking up leadership roles. I look forward to the day where diversity, inclusion and equality becomes a cultural norm for organizations, and there are equal opportunities for both men and women in any industry globally.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
STEVE HENDERSHOT
We’ve all seen the data—and likely experienced it firsthand: Gender equality can give organizations a competitive edge. And as companies around the world rebuild and reinvent, they would be wise to tap into the unique perspectives, insights and talents that women bring to the table.
NARRATOR
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