Is it possible for women to truly do and have it all? Perhaps… with a few caveats attached. Seasoned HR professional Nglan Niat has worked in various facets of Human Resources Management spanning North America, Europe and Africa. Drawing on her wealth of knowledge and experience, she shares with us some crucial tips and insights on how women (and men) can achieve both career success and a fulfilling work-life balance.
With experience working on three continents, what are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned over the course of your career?
Work hard and get the job done! I did my work in a focused and deliberate way, putting my whole self into it each time. I realized that hard work does pay off, so I just strived to deliver. For me, no matter where I worked, excellence was excellence everywhere.
Be deliberate about building strong relationships. As I grew in my career, I became more intentional about nurturing relationships and began to appreciate that they must be reciprocal. It’s a two-way street, so I built relationships where I could support people as they supported me, and eventually I found that the more I put into building positive relationships, the more I got back from them. Additionally, it was important to me that I didn’t burn any bridges so that I could return to those relationships when necessary. Professionalism doesn’t go out of style, so I strived to remain professional in all circumstances.
If you are in a senior or supervisory position, be firm but fair. Respect everyone. As a manager, my style was to be no-nonsense, but still approachable. The results mattered to me, but so did the people. I found that balance tricky but necessary in helping my team to develop in our joint career goals and individually.
Build credibility early when you take on a role within an organization. During my time with my former employer, I would hold positions for 3 to 4 years and move on to the next bigger role. Because I moved so quickly from one role to another, one country and continent to the next, I had to build credibility quickly to have measurable impact. Naturally, when you are given a new role, people rapidly begin to assess you and your capabilities; I used this as a challenge and an opportunity to shine.
Are there any things you’ve had to let go of or ‘unlearn’ along the way?
Definitely! One was fighting every battle. I had to unlearn this over time, becoming selective about what’s worth spending energy on and deciding what I could overlook. When I did address a delicate issue, I did so with proper workplace etiquette. Whatever the case, I spent time reflecting on the lessons I took away to prepare for future challenges.
The second thing was trying to be Superwoman by doing and having it all. I believe that it is possible for women to relatively have it all and do it all — BUT
- Not at the same time
- Only with a great support system
- By accepting the need to make sacrifices along the way
The key is flexibility. As Indra Nooyi (former CEO of PepsiCo) says, “We can’t expect to have every part of our life perfect; we need to learn to make some tradeoffs.”
There were several times during my career when I had to make sacrifices to balance my work and personal life. One example is when my eldest son, now 17, was 6 months old, and I was offered a transfer to Canada as Head of HR for our manufacturing centers in Edmonton and Calgary. This was not a role I could do remotely from Douala, so I had to leave my baby with my husband for 10 months. I travelled back and forth, spending 6 weeks in Canada and 3 weeks working from home each time until my husband and son could join me in Edmonton. We had a very strong support system to help while I was away (nanny, grandparents, friends) and it worked.
As we grow in our careers, our family commitments usually grow at the same time. We often want to deliver in the same way as our peers, but we may have to do so creatively.
Building on your belief in the importance of growing strong relationships, why do you think this is such a critical factor in attaining career success?
Relationship building has been key to every aspect of my career. It has helped me understand and navigate the workplace better, provided visibility and has often opened doors to new opportunities and promotions.
In addition to maintaining good relationships within the work environment, another key to my success is maintaining strong relationships outside of work through professional networks and associations. Networking in this way has helped me develop my skill set, stay on top of the latest trends in my industry, meet prospective mentors, business partners, clients and gain access to resources that have fostered my career development. So undoubtedly, relationship building is an essential skill to master if you want to be successful.
To make the most of your networks, you need to prioritize the relationships you build and make the time to nurture them.
Personally, I choose to have few but very impactful networks. One of them has been the African Leadership Network (ALN), a pan-African network that brings together emerging, dynamic and influential leaders of Africa. I have been a member for more than 10 years and attend the flagship yearly gatherings. The ALN women’s network is particularly informative and supportive and I’ve built solid personal and business relationships there.
The higher up the corporate ladder, the fewer women there are. How did you overcome the barriers on your way to attaining a position of leadership?
Though we have made progress with more women up the corporate ladder compared to 10 or 20 years ago, we are not there yet. One of the critical challenges we face as rising female leaders is retaining our personal style while being sensitive to feedback from others. Often, we are labelled as ‘aggressive’ for demonstrating the same qualities that might be described as ‘driven’ if they were displayed by a man.
In my career, I always strived to retain my integrity and style. The level of self-confidence to be me just grew with age and experience.
As a black female in a male and white-dominated multinational for most of my career, I also had to work harder, and still do in my new organization. Putting in extra work is non-negotiable! Luckily, I worked for an organization that asked its employees to voice their career aspirations and goals via a confidential career development portal accessible to their managers and HR. We (HR) would then use that information in our talent management processes: assignments, transfers, career development, succession planning.
I was deliberate about taking those opportunities to let my voice be heard; I didn’t let anyone guess!
Besides that, I had a trusted sponsor, who was my boss at one point in my career and who boosted my reputation to other senior execs and decision-makers, supporting me throughout my 19.5 career journey in that organization. Each time I moved in my career from one role or country to another, I knew for a fact that he was behind the move and I worked hard to maintain his trust and support throughout that time.
What do you think it will take for more women to rise to the top?
For more women to rise to the top it will take efforts not only from the organization but also from women themselves:
First, women need to have faith in their proven abilities. We are very creative problem-solvers and avid multitaskers at home, for example, and we should translate this confidence to our work settings and have confidence that we can take on senior roles.
Secondly, we need to push ourselves to take higher positions even if we don’t feel 100% ready. When I worked at my former employer’s HQ in Paris, I was offered a new and exciting role. I doubted that I could do the job and did not feel 100% ready for it, but I took it anyway and did extremely well! My work had a very high impact on the organization and that was one of my most rewarding roles.
From the organizational standpoint, there must be a conscious effort to place women in key positions, and executive or senior management support is a determining factor of success.
Quotas are a great way to ensure this. At my former company, which was in a male-dominated industry (Oil & Gas), we had a yearly quota set for recruiting 30% more women. This objective was not only for the HR department, but also for senior business managers and executives. By the time I left last year, we had largely surpassed our yearly goal and had shifted our focus to more challenging gender diversity issues.
Although gender equality in the workplace is slow, we should remain positive and make individual efforts towards improvement. Younger women should look up to more seasoned ones to provide the encouragement they need, then take a risk and go for it. The more mature women professionals should pull up the younger ones as they climb up the ladder and not pull the ladder up as they climb. As the saying goes, “once a glass ceiling is broken, it stays broken”.
Having worked with people at different stages in their careers, what advice would you give to those wanting to excel in their professional lives?
Seek to differentiate yourself and be open minded; you will need to make some sacrifices in your journey and that’s ok! On the flip side, prioritize the important things. Carve out time you need to spend with family, and be intentional and unapologetic about that.
As you climb the corporate ladder, be aware that every job is an important job. Do not demean any job you get and DO IT WELL!
If you enrich yourself with wide experiences and new skills and pursue work that interests you, everything else will fall into place.
Deliberately look out for a sponsor in your organization. While mentors are an important part of personal and professional development and can be in or out of your organization or network, sponsors are influential advocates in your organization who will support and defend your promotion. Obviously, you would need to excel in your job and build visibility to arm the sponsor with the tools to advocate for you.
Having a high sense of integrity is critical. Walk your talk!
Finally, and especially for women, choose a supportive partner. That sounds clichéd but truly is important and is one of the main reasons I have been able to work in different countries and continents and rise in my career. I have a supportive partner who, although he’s a professional himself, joined me living across 3 continents, which helped me to focus on the job at hand.
