Will the real problem please stand up?

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 20 April 2010 | 0 Comments

Tags: Heather Ridout, women at work, working women, women on boards

I have always believed that the first step in successful problem solving is to question your assumptions. This means understanding how you arrive at your interpretations of the world, and how that influences your thinking about the particular problem at hand, or how it can be solved.

Unfortunately, Heather Ridout skipped this part of the equation when she commented on the problem of low numbers of women represented in senior positions in Australian businesses and on boards.

Her advice to Australian working women to socialise with their bosses if they want to get ahead is NOT the solution to Australian women's problems at work, it is the problem.

But the real problem is that Australian business leaders still follow blindly along old thinking habits, seeing the same old patterns, when they need some serious reflection, some critical thinking and a new point of view.

Yes, it is true that, in Australian workplaces, people get on best if they can engage with their bosses outside working hours. It is just that this is wrong, sad and pathetic. Did I say wrong? It is very, very wrong.

No-one, not women, not men, should have to schmooze outside normal hours to get ahead.

• Success at work does not depend on how matey you are.
• Success at work does not depend on how long you spend at the office.
• Success at work does not depend on whether or not you go to the pub after work with your boss.

Success at work is determined by how effectively you achieve the outcomes required in your job.

Regardless of gender.

Dr Francesco Sofo once wrote that 'If we do not occasionally change the way we understand the world, then we do not grow and learn. We remain fixed in our views and are unresponsive to the changing environments around us.'

That neatly sums up the problem women have at work in my opinion. So Heather, how about you think again?