In the Boardroom
Do you have a voice at the table?
In the Boardroom
Sitting in an oversized comfortable leather chair too tall for my feet to touch the floor, I adjust the chair height and roll up to the conference table. The meeting room has a panoramic eastern view of the Oquirre mountains as I gaze towards the windows from the 13th top floor meeting room with an inviting outside balcony. Seven others enter the room and find a seat.
The only female on the executive team of a technical engineering company, I take in stride the fact that I am fortunate to be a team member. Irrelevant chatter among us eventually subsides as we get down to business. We begin our weekly executive meeting as the high-ranking professional gives his update.
He begins with bravado about his accomplishments. I begin to realize he has broken the commitments agreed to by our team the week before. In fact, he reports a totally different set of actions than our agreed strategy. Breaking an agreement is not something I take lightly.
My body heats up. Literally. The heat rises from the bottom of my feet firmly planted in 2-inches heels, up my calves, into my solar plexus, up my throat. My head is about to explode. My vocal cords feel slightly constricted as I begin to probe. “Was there a specific reason you changed our strategy? Did something change? Was anyone else on the team consulted?” No one else spoke up. I brought the obvious contradiction to the table as every other person pushed chairs backwards as if distancing from the truth of the situation.
My mind could not grasp that it was acceptable to the others in the room pretend were all on the same page. But the unwritten code of conduct in the leader dominant culture of the organization required us not to challenge or confront him. As direct reports to the executive, we would wait until after the meeting to complain among ourselves lacking the courage to face the truth. Although I was a valued member of the team, I believed I did not have the clout to make waves for fear of being labeled ‘whiny’. As a single mother, I needed this job to complete my academic education which the company was funding as part of my compensation package.
This time was different, though. My body signaled loudly that something needed to change. At least needed to change for me. This time I decided to listen to my physical cues. My team members often confessed they were uncomfortable confronting the boss in a group setting. They preferred to ‘work behind the scenes’ to lobby for alternative negotiated outcomes which led to distrust. For me, it was time to see, hear and feel my personal reality. I was ready to acknowledge I was uncomfortable because breaking agreements was out of alignment with my values. I decided I wanted to sit at a table that allowed open, transparent communication and decision making that would give me the opportunity to create the menu. My exit strategy began to form.
Other professionals, male and female, have shared similar experiences about feeling unseen, unheard, and disregarded as valued humans in their workplaces. The impetus for using my voice for positive change was born in that heated experience.
What I came to understand through my continuing professional and personal development, is that identity creates destiny. Who we think we are sets up the framework of our beliefs, values, and behaviors? The ageless question, ‘who am I’ is the basis for how we create our lives. Yet, it is one of those questions that gets by-passed in the busyness of working to meet quarterly short-term goals and/or put food on the family table.
It also occurred to me that the companies and organizations where people work also have obscure identities shrouded by branding and marketing strategies often disconnected from the humans who produce, design, and create goods and services.
My career blossomed and crisscrossed between psychology, business and organizational behavior. My quest became exploring the what, the why and the how work gets accomplished, satisfies, sustains, aligns, or misaligns with long-term health and well-being of the entities where work happens.
Working to live or living to work? Two aspects of the same question. Considering how success is defined is one of the themes of my book, Shaping Your Future with 6 Dimensions of Success available in paperback, Kindle and Audible.