Career Responsibilities

A significant hurdle to women in asset management becoming Portfolio Managers is that the promotion decision is typically taken around the time many women have children, i.e. early 30s or after approximately 10 years as an Analyst. While most women take extended parental leave, men rarely do; in addition, women typically bear the majority of childcare responsibilities after birth. Moreover, there is an age range where, if a woman has not made PM, she likely never will and is viewed as a career analyst. Relative earnings dynamics within a family amplifies workplace dynamics. If a woman is overlooked for promotion in her early 30s while having children, her earnings may have fallen significantly behind her partner’s by her late 30s. The family dynamic may either dissuade her from returning to work or require her to bear more childcare responsibilities after returning, further increasing inequality. The career interruption from pregnancy applies outside of promotion concerns. A woman in the early stages of pregnancy or intending to become pregnant may be reluctant to take risk (e.g. by speaking up, making a contrarian investment, or switching firm) because, if she is made redundant, it will be difficult for her to find a new job as she will be at a late stage of pregnancy. One interviewee knows of women who have had abortions because they were too new in the job and being pregnant would expose them to too much career risk. This issue is highlighted in my report on Cognitive Diversity in Asset Management for Diversity Project - Investment Industry. https://lnkd.in/eASk7x3P Potential solutions are in my response to the FCA's consultation on Diversity and Inclusion in the Financial Sector at https://lnkd.in/eWgkd8qz (see p7). I would be grateful to learn of additional solutions: please leave a comment.

Accountability Nearly every organization I work with at the moment is focused on some version of creating a "high-performance" culture. Alongside this goal is a push for greater speed of decision-making, efficiency, and accountability. However, a common mistake many organizations make is treating accountability as a binary attribute—individuals are either seen as accountable or not. In reality, accountability is more nuanced. Understanding accountability as a spectrum is critical for cultivating a high-performance culture. The Accountability Ladder illustrates this concept by mapping out various levels at which individuals engage with their responsibilities, ranging from unaware or indifferent to becoming proactive and inspiring others. Those familiar with the Leadership Circle Profile will note that accountability transforms as leaders pivot from an external to an internal locus of control. This move from a Reactive to Creative mindset is a critical prerequisite. Here is a summary of each step on the ladder: Unaware: At this level, individuals are not aware of the issues or their responsibilities. They lack the knowledge necessary to understand what needs to be done. Blaming Others: Individuals recognize the issue but choose to blame others rather than taking any responsibility. They see the problem as someone else's fault. Excuses: At this step, individuals acknowledge the problem but offer excuses for why they can't address or resolve it. They often cite external factors or limitations. Wait and Hope: Individuals here are aware of the problem and hope it gets resolved by itself or that someone else will take care of it. There is recognition but no action. Acknowledge Reality: This is a turning point on the ladder. Individuals acknowledge the reality of the situation and their role in it but have not yet begun to take corrective action. Own It: Individuals take ownership of the problem and accept their responsibility for dealing with it. They start to commit to resolving the issue. Find Solutions: At this step, individuals not only take ownership but also actively seek solutions. They explore various options to resolve the problem. Take Action: Individuals implement the solutions they have identified. They take concrete steps to resolve the issue. Make It Happen: Individuals not only take action but also follow through to ensure that the solutions are effective. They monitor progress and make adjustments as necessary. Inspire Others: Leaders inspire and encourage others to take accountability, creating a proactive problem-solving culture. As a team exercise, try writing the steps of the accountability ladder on a whiteboard and ask: What level of accountability do we see across the organization? What level do we exhibit as a team (to each other and our stakeholders)? And finally, where would I place myself?

Accountability is one of the most important—and often overlooked—skills in leadership. It’s not about micromanaging or policing your team. It’s about setting people up for success. How? 🤷♀️ Through the three C's of clear expectations, challenging conversations and consistent follow-through. While we all want to believe people will naturally follow through on what they commit to, that doesn’t always happen. And when it doesn’t, too many leaders let it slide. But brushing these moments under the carpet doesn’t help anyone, all it does is erode accountability over time. So, what DO you do?? 1️⃣ Be crystal clear about expectations. Ambiguity is the enemy of accountability. If people don’t know exactly what’s expected of them, how can they deliver? Take the time to clarify actions and responsibilities WITH them, not for them. 2️⃣ Document commitments in 1:1 check-ins. Writing the actions down is REALLY important. It ensures nothing gets lost and sets a reference point for everyone involved. 3️⃣ Explain the 'why.' People are much more likely to follow through if they understand why their actions matter. How does their work contribute to the bigger picture? What’s at stake if it’s not done effectively and efficiently? 4️⃣ Anticipate and address barriers. Ask if there are any obstacles standing in the way of getting the job done. When you help remove these barriers, you’re building trust and giving people every chance to succeed. 5️⃣ Follow up at the agreed time. Don’t leave it to chance—check in when you said you would. Ideally, your team members will update you before you even have to ask. But if they don’t, don’t skip the scheduled follow-up. 6️⃣ Acknowledge effort or address gaps. If the action was completed, recognize the effort. If it wasn’t, outline the expectations for the role and provide specific feedback on what needs to improve. Be transparent about the implications of not meeting role requirements over time, ensuring the person understands both the consequences and the support available to help them succeed. (A lot of people need help to develop the skills to have this conversation!!) 7️⃣ Plan the next steps. Whether the task was completed or not, always end by agreeing on the next steps and setting clear timelines. If you need a lean/leadership coach to work on these areas and help increase accountability right across your organization, then get in touch! It's one of my specialties... 😉 _____________________________________________________ I'm Catherine- a Lean Business and Leadership Coach. I take a practical hands-on approach to helping teams and individuals achieve better results with less stress. Follow me for insights on lean, leadership and more.

Are we punishing women for prioritising their families? Data from Career Returners shows that 94% of returners find it difficult to re-enter work, with CV gaps still triggering bias in hiring. If you’ve ever stepped away from work to care for a child, a parent, or simply to protect your own health, you’ll know that coming back isn’t always easy. Confidence fades. Skills feel stale. And even seasoned professionals are often made to feel like they’re starting from scratch. But let’s be clear: A career break is not a career ender. And no one should be penalised for putting family, caregiving or wellbeing first. This impacts everyone, but disproportionately women. Mothers. Daughters. Carers. Founders. Women who haven’t stopped working, just shifted the nature of their work. As someone who built businesses with toddlers at my feet, I know this story well. If we’re serious about inclusion - especially in midlife, we NEED to redesign our systems to welcome returners with confidence, not suspicion. That means: → Removing bias from job ads, interviews and ATS filters  → Offering mentoring, reboarding and coaching for returners  → Promoting their success, not hiding their stories Talent doesn’t disappear because someone stepped out of the workplace. It’s time we stopped acting like it does.

Hello LinkedIn ! Imagine sitting in a job interview for a multinational company and being asked: "Are you planning to get married?" "Do you intend to have children? Now, ask yourself: Would a man be asked the same questions? Despite all the progress we claim to have made in workplace equality, these intrusive and discriminatory questions still exist. They send a clear message: a woman’s career potential is evaluated not by her skills, experience, or ambition but by her personal life choices. The Cost of Ambition: What Are Women Expected to Sacrifice? For women in male-dominated fields, like oil and gas, the reality is even harsher. What kind of job requires a freshly married woman to be sent to the field for seven or more weeks without flexibility? Is this about business necessity, or is it a failure to accommodate diverse career paths? I've been witnessing some sad stories of incompetent managers forcing a freshly married woman to stay in the field more than here rotation schedule basically "6 weeks" in the cost of her own mariage !!!!! The real issue is NOT women’s ability to handle demanding roles. Women have proven, time and again, their competence in high-pressure environments. The real problem is the systemic unwillingness to adapt workplace policies to support employees regardless of gender who want both a successful career and a fulfilling personal life. Men are rarely asked about their marital status or parental plans. Why? Because corporate structures were built with their careers in mind. But when a woman steps into the same space, she is expected to prove that she won’t “disrupt” the system with her life choices. Companies love to highlight their Diversity & Inclusion initiatives. But true inclusivity is not about hiring women just to meet quotas it’s about ensuring that they don’t have to justify their personal lives to keep their careers. If we want real progress, we must shift the conversation: - Stop penalizing women for wanting both a career and a family. - Stop questioning their commitment to work based on their personal choices. - Start designing policies that support all employees, men and women, in balancing career ambitions with personal fulfillment. This is not just a women’s issue it’s a workplace fairness issue. And it’s time for companies to catch up. Let’s break the cycle. Let’s demand change. #Diversity #Inclusion #WomenInLeadership #BreakingBarriers #WorkplaceEquality #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEnergy #WomenInTech #GenderEquality #EmpowerWomen #CareerGrowth #WomenInBusiness #WomenInOilAndGas #WorkLifeBalance #EqualOpportunities #Leadership #RepresentationMatters

I was terrified to go back to work after having my daughter. Not because I didn’t want to - I love my career and the independence it gives me - but because I couldn’t see how to do it without sacrificing the time I wanted with her. And when I looked around, I saw exactly what I’d feared: - Brilliant women stepping out of the workforce because flexible roles were like gold dust. - Friends taking minimum-wage jobs just to work part-time. - Talented candidates ghosted by recruiters the moment they said “I want flexibility.” And the impact of stepping away - even for a short time - is brutal: 🚫 Salary cuts of 40%+ 🚫 Roles you’re overqualified for but overlooked for 🚫 Confidence that vanishes almost overnight I lived it. I saw it. I hated it. That’s why I built Investing in Women - to prove that part-time can still be powerful, that flexible doesn’t mean less committed, and that no one should have to choose between a career they love and a family they adore. And four years on, I wanted to know: has anything really changed? So we asked. Hundreds of women shared their stories in our Return Ready Survey and the results are honest, eye-opening and, in places, heartbreaking. 📉 3 in 4 women rated their confidence as medium or low when returning. 📉 58% said work-life boundaries are their biggest challenge. 📉 45% told us low self-worth is holding them back. Behind every statistic is a real woman with talent, ambition and potential that too often goes untapped. It’s time we stopped accepting this as normal. 📊 You can read the full findings here: https://lnkd.in/eAvNE4Q3 Because returning to work isn’t starting over. It’s starting stronger. ❤️ #FlexibleWorking #GenderEquality #ReturnToWork #InvestingInWomen #MotherhoodPenalty

As a full-time working mum to a five-year-old, I'm always fascinated to read and learn more about the impact of motherhood on women's careers. It's well documented that mothers encounter a penalty impacting wages or advancement opportunities, but I was intrigued (and dismayed) to learn of recent research that highlights that the ‘motherhood’ bias affects all women’s careers, regardless of whether they plan to have children or not.    “Women don’t have to be mothers or even want children to be affected by a “maternal wall.” Simply being a woman means being viewed as a potential mother — or someone who should be a mother — which is enough to create such a wall at work.”    As this article highlights, a survey of 913 women leaders highlighted various forms of bias. This included women not being hired or promoted due to assumptions they would become mothers (‘maybe baby’), to being expected to ‘do more’ if they didn’t have children, to being ‘paid less’ as they weren’t working to ‘support a family.’    Authors, Amy Diehl and Leanne M Duzubinski, recommend several solutions to combat bias including: ➡ Offering flexibility without judgment, ➡ A ‘flip it to test it’ exercise to ensure inappropriate assumptions are not being made,  ➡ Equitable allocation of workload, ➡ Ensuring equal pay, and, ➡ Encouraging men to demonstrate caregiving     Additional considerations include implementing clear and fair performance metrics, addressing stereotypes through education and capacity building, and promoting a balanced work culture where all individuals are encouraged to take time off and schedule leave.  #genderequity #motherhood #bias

Accountability is a sign you care about your team members. When I was a first time manager, I felt unsure how to balance maintaining high standards for projects and giving feedback to team members about meeting expectations. The truth is: I wanted to be liked. So I stepped in to fix things instead of giving feedback—solving problems, rewriting final briefings, and rescuing them from deadlines (though I added more of them for myself). It took time to reframe what I now hold true: Accountability isn’t the opposite of compassion. It *is* compassion. Now in coaching and advising higher ed advancement leaders, I hear similar worries: What if they don’t like me? What if I push too hard? What if they’re already overwhelmed? I remind leaders these are valid concerns and also signs you care. Here’s what it looks like to lead with both clarity and compassion: ✅ Set clear expectations ✅ Provide the tools and resources your team needs to succeed ✅ Coach them through growth and challenge ✅ Believe in their abilities ✅ Give clear, specific, actionable feedback—because you care enough to help your team grow Leaders who hold their teams accountable build trust, culture, capacity—and stronger organizations. In university advancement, where the work is deeply human, we need leaders who do both: care deeply and lead boldly. If you’re navigating this balance right now with your team—or your managers are—let’s connect on how we can support you.

Accountability does not require micromanagement. Most leaders confuse the two. Micromanagement happens when: •expectations are unclear •trust is replaced by control Strong leaders do something different. They design accountability before the work begins. Here is what accountability without micromanagement looks like and how leaders can apply it immediately: 1. Define the outcome in one sentence If it cannot be said clearly, it is not clear yet. 2. Assign one owner per outcome Shared ownership often means no ownership. 3. Agree on what “done” means upfront Quality. Timeline. Constraints. Decide once. Revisit only if needed. 4. Set checkpoints, not constant updates Ask for progress at moments of risk, not moments of comfort. 5. Protect autonomy intentionally If you step in, explain why. Otherwise, let people decide. Micromanagement creates: • hesitation • dependency • low initiative Clear accountability creates: • confidence • speed • better judgment The real leadership shift: From tracking effort to trusting outcomes From constant involvement to deliberate direction Accountability without micromanagement is not hands off leadership. It is high standards leadership. Clear expectations. Clear ownership. Clear trust. P.S. Which of these is hardest to apply in your team today?

The Hidden Wealth Tax on Women no one talks about! Over coffee last week, a friend - marketing head at a major fintech firm, said something that stopped me cold: "I earn the same as my male counterpart. But I know I'll end up with far less wealth." She's right. And she's not alone. This isn't just about the pay gap. It's about four invisible taxes that compound over decades, systematically eroding women's lifetime wealth: 1. The Career Break Tax Take 3-5 years off for caregiving. You don't just lose 5 years of salary—you lose 5 years of raises, promotions, and compound growth. That single "break" can cost lakhs to crores in lifetime earnings. 2. The Part-Time Penalty Return at "part-time" hours? You'll likely do 80% of the work for 60% of the pay. It's marketed as flexibility, but it permanently caps your earning potential. 3. The Negotiation Gap Women negotiate less—not due to personality, but social conditioning. We're taught that asking is aggressive. Over 20 years, that "politeness" becomes a multi-lakh penalty. 4. The "Safety" Trap Women are steered toward "safe" investments—FDs and savings accounts earning 6-7%. Men are encouraged toward equity. That 4-5% return difference? Over 20 years, it's the difference between security and wealth. The solution isn't to "lean in harder" or "act more like men." The data tells a different story: Women are actually better investors than men. Less emotional trading. More discipline. Better long-term focus. The traits society penalizes in corporate culture are superpowers in wealth building. The system is rigged. But you don't have to play by its rules. Financial independence isn't optional—it's survival. To the women reading this: Have you cracked the code on any of these four taxes? Share your strategies below. Let's build collective wisdom that actually moves the needle! . . #personalfinance #moneymatters #financetalks #linkedinforcreators