45: Closing the Leadership Gender Gap with Dr. Amanda Sterling cover art

45: Closing the Leadership Gender Gap with Dr. Amanda Sterling

45: Closing the Leadership Gender Gap with Dr. Amanda Sterling

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Women continue to face unique pressures, balancing professional, family, and social expectations while carrying the often-invisible mental and emotional load. In this webinar, we’ll explore the experiences of women in leadership roles and what organisations can do better to support women into senior roles and maintain their wellbeing.

In this episode, we sit down with leadership coach and consultant, Dr. Amanda Sterling, to delve into questions on gender equity in the workplace and closing the gender representation gap. Dr. Amanda will share insights from both her research findings on women in leadership and her own experiences in the field.

Amanda's Biography:
Dr Amanda Sterling is an award-winning consultant who partners with organisations to remove barriers for women into leadership and create inclusive workplaces where people and businesses thrive.

Amanda combines her decades of experience working in corporate leadership development and culture change, as well as deep expertise on leadership, gender, and inclusion, to help organisations attract and retain more women in leadership and close their gender pay gaps.
Amanda’s groundbreaking PhD research (completed in 2023) revealed critical insights into what is still holding women back from leadership roles and the opportunities to address this. Her research has been featured in multiple media channels such as RNZ, and was highlighted by Global Women and the University of Auckland.

Amanda is originally from the Kaipara region but has called Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland home for the last 20 years. She is also a proud parent to one son.


0:00 – Introduction
2:20 – Why Amanda decided to research women's leadership
4:35 – What barriers prevent women from becoming leaders?
6:05 – What assumptions perpetuate these barriers?
7:55 – How can we challenge societal assumptions about mothers in leadership roles?
9:30 – Why men are key to increasing leadership opportunities for women
11:00 – How can we help men feel comfortable being part of the solution?
14:05 – How can women influence men in the workplace to change the status quo?
16:50 – Why women's leadership development programmes alone are not enough
17:55 – Why representation does not equal inclusion
20:00 – How to develop the measures needed to drive organisational change
21:15 – The case for men's leadership development programmes
22:20 – What are the benefits of having more diverse teams?
23:55 – Why women leaders leave leadership positions
25:45 – The false assumptions behind the belief that women are less confident than men
28:05 – Are organisations acknowledging the additional emotional burden women face?
30:00 – The four-factor framework for increasing women in leadership roles
31:55 – Factor 1: Flexible work
32:19 – Factor 2: Partner support
33:10 – Factor 3: Manager support
33:35 – Factor 4: Women's leadership development programmes
34:40 – How workplaces can shift gender expectations around parental leave
37:00 – When is there a place for women-only safe spaces?
39:15 – What can workplaces do to create more supportive managers?
42:45 – How the four factors change across career stages
44:33 – Making the case for change in the workplace
46:15 – Case study: Z Energy
49:20 – What are the long-term measures for assessing the impact of inclusive teams?
50:04 – What is one thing organisations can do to create change?
51:00 – Amanda's one wellbeing practice

Learn more about Amanda
https://dramandasterling.com/

Learn more about Clearhead
https://www.myclearhead.com/
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