Jane Wells Schooley's Tips for Building Leadership and Influence

An increasingly collaborative and connected world calls for a fresh approach to leadership, and women are bringing indispensable strengths to the table. Jane Wells Schooley of Bethlehem-based Northstar Team Development offers her insight and advice on what's unique about how women work with others, and how to cultivate leadership and influence without trying to fit an outdated mold.

The Meaning of Management

Leadership is the act of accomplishing a goal through others. “[It's] all about connection,” Wells Schooley says. “There's no leading without people following.”

Leadership requires a compassionate and communicative set of behaviors, yet has long been dominated by traditionally masculine ideals of top-down control. Research has challenged that concept, including a 2007 report from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company setting out nine leadership behaviors that equate to improved performance for an organization as a whole. Of the nine, women apply five of them more often than men, and they happen to be more heavily represented specifically in those skills that contribute most to success in globalization.

The business world is coming to recognize that understanding is called for when diverse cultures, languages and views come together, and that's where women's leadership behaviors make the difference.

Yet, McKinsey's extensive research shows that in corporate America, women often fall behind early through lack of support. Fresh commitment to gender and racial diversity is there, but the best methods for implementation remain hazy for many companies. In order to stay viable, the 70 percent of companies reporting deficiency in their leadership development of women will need to act on the fact that diversity as a business imperative leads to better outcomes and a higher bottom line.

Networking, a.k.a. Squad Goals

Whether or not your employer is proactive on providing the tools to power up, there are steps you can take to develop yourself.

Wells Schooley regrets that all too few women know they can ask for a “sponsor” at work, as well as a mentor. A sponsor is a much higher-level colleague who advocates for her while she is not in the room, recommending her for high-visibility projects and resource allocation for which women are frequently passed over. When women do get projects, they are often lower visibility, and have less access to the resources needed to succeed.

Building an influential network is a great way to get ahead and develop your skills, but that looks different for women and different for black and Hispanic women than it does for men. Research shows that a female-dominated inner circle is most useful to women, so if your go-to friends and advisors are mostly fellow ladies or people of color, you're on the right track.

A recent study showed that more than 75 percent of high-ranking women maintained such a circle, and it jumps odds of job placement to 2.5 times greater. “Their experience of rising in leadership as female will be entirely different from a man's,” Wells Schooley points out. Her example of a congressional candidate reaching out to women with political campaign experience makes it obvious: a man's insight is good, but inherently incomplete. The same holds true when racial diversity is in play.

The Three Cs

Wells Schooley's method for building influence is made up of three interlocking principles: connection, contribution and credibility.

“Get mindful about who you're connected with,” she says. “It's a synaptic system of give and take that generates productive activity greater than the sum of its parts.” A double-sided list could include those you want to influence and those whose influence you seek.

The contribution angle entails an inventory of what you can offer to those you want to mentor or coach, as well as those who will be building you up. With whom or with what opportunities can you connect them? Book recommendations, speaking engagements, other people with knowledge to share? It's a more purposeful version of the connections and advantages of any likeminded group, put to developing your influence in your chosen field and in your community.

Credibility is created by meaningful connection, practicing contribution and doing what you say you are going to do. Follow through and be trustworthy.

Stay Focused

Women are particularly susceptible to being handed busywork and often err on the side of taking care of others' priorities. Wells Schooley advises looking at where your time is committed and whether it's really what we need or want to be doing for our goals and dreams.

“If we don't have a plan for our future,” she says, “we're just supporting someone else's.”