Over three-quarters of healthcare employees are women, yet only around 19 percent of hospitals have female leaders, and just 13 percent of healthcare CEOs are women.1
During an October webinar hosted by Becker’s Hospital Review and sponsored by Ensemble Health Partners, Kendall Herold, public relations manager at Ensemble Health Partners, moderated a panel discussion about women’s leadership and how female professionals can cultivate more inclusive workplaces. The participants from Ensemble Health Partners were:
- Shannon White, chief operating officer
- Tanya Robbins, vice president, revenue cycle
- Amy Summers, vice president, marketing communications
Four key takeaways:
1.) Many women actively undermine their female peers or simply fail to support them. According to Development and Learning in Organizations, 70 percent of female executives report having been bullied by other women in the workplace and that the bullying has stunted their professional growth. “A competition mentality can lead to a poor self-image, which can cause women to judge and gossip as coping mechanisms,” Ms. Robbins said. “We must hold ourselves accountable and stop those behaviors. Let’s pledge to build one another up, instead of participating in negative commentary.”
“When I think of women supporting women, I think the key phrase is ‘supporting,’ which implies an active demonstration of encouragement,” Ms. Summers added. Support may take the form of advocacy, providing opportunities to participate in high profile projects or cultivating the confidence needed to advance in senior leadership roles.
2.) Mentorship can be powerful for women professionals. Ms. White said she was once passed over for a promotion because her female peers felt she wasn’t ready to lead them. Her manager, however, had no actionable recommendations about how to improve. “I sought out my own female executive coach and that was a turning point for me. I learned how to relate to other women without being perceived as a threat,” Ms. White said.
3.) Fostering equality and inclusion in the workplace is a gender-neutral activity. Teams succeed when leaders recognize and embrace the talents that different people have. “Don’t turn away people who think, look or act differently. Those are the people you want to invite to the table to be heard and supported,” Ms. Robbins said. Fostering inclusion also means rethinking the standards that define a good leader. Organizations must ensure that their systems recognize different styles of leadership.
4.) Emotions can be a leadership strength, not a weakness. Effective leaders often use genuine emotion to build trust, set a vision, inspire others and make difficult decisions. “Emotions are a strength because they are authentic. I strongly equate emotion with empathy and empathy is what makes some of the world’s best leaders,” Ms. Summers said.
Women leaders have a responsibility to champion all great ideas and provide a platform for voices to be heard — both female and male. “Our legacy will never be about the brands we wear or the shape of our bodies. It will be a combination of how we live each day and the impact we have on each other. We can close the gender gap faster and shatter more glass ceilings if we treat each other as equals and raise people up,” Ms. White said.
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Source1: https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-healthcare/
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