How to Pave the Way for Women of Culture?
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In this week's episode of the 'All Inclusive Podcast,' Natasha speaks with Kanchan Prinsloo, Executive Coach and founder of KAPri Consulting.
Kanchan's leadership journey spans over 26 years, marked by her relationship-focused approach. This method, enriched by her diverse viewpoint and empathetic understanding of the universal need for belonging, has fostered environments of efficiency, loyalty, and trust within her teams. The highest accolades she cherishes are acknowledgments of inclusivity and attentiveness, hallmarks of her leadership style.
She advocates for the crucial role leaders play in seeking feedback from women of culture, viewing it as an untapped opportunity for making a significant positive impact. Furthermore, Kanchan emphasizes the duty of culturally diverse women to pursue personal and professional growth, enabling them to emerge as influential and well-supported leaders.
Episode Highlights:
The Importance of Representing Culturally Diverse Women in the Workplace (00:28)
Debunking the Myths Behind the Lack of Women of Culture in Executive Roles (03:08)
Strategies for Culturally Diverse Women to Overcome Obstacles (08:31)
Curiosity, Compassion, Courage, and Commitment: The Four C's Transforming Leadership for Women of Culture (14:47)
Navigating Uncomfortable Scenarios on the Path to Career Success (20:33)
Beyond Mentorship: The Critical Role of Sponsorship in Advancing Women of Culture (25:12)
Looking Ahead: Kanchan’s Aspirations for Women of Culture in the Workplace and Leadership (30:56)
Connect with Kanchan Prinsloo on LinkedIn
Transcript
Natasha: Hi, Kanchan.
Kanchan: Hi, Natasha. How are you?
Natasha: I'm good. How are you today?
Kanchan: Wonderful. Excited to be here and have the conversation with you.
Natasha: Yes. So let's kick things off. I really want to delve into your fantastic mission, which is to increase women of culture representation within the workplace. So could you share with our listeners a little bit more about that goal, what inspired it, and also I want to just highlight the fact that usually we say women of color but within your mission it is women of culture so I'd love to hear a little bit more on that as well.
Kanchan: Wonderful, yes women of culture was something that I coined. It was a real sort of passionate move on my end because I saw a lot of the women leaders executives I worked with, landing, resonating with what I had to say, and it wasn't because of the color of their skin. It was their lived experiences, their traditions, their viewpoint of the world, their values, that brought them outside of the cultural norm, of the dominant norm. And they could, they, they sensed an alignment with that, which is why women of culture really landed for me personally. And as well with a lot of the leaders. Now, my mission is to have 29% representation of women of culture leaders in C-suite. For a lot of people, the number 29 feels really super low. Are you like really? Come on, could you not level that up? Know that you're nodding because you know the next part of it. Right now, our representation for women of color specifically is 6%. It's single digit. It is the lowest in C-suite. So for going from 6 to 29 actually is my life's mission. That is going to take mine and possibly my daughter's lifetime to try and see that movement. Now that mission is in place because I know with every cell in my body the importance of having the right level of representation in C-suite, which is talking about women of culture because of the diversity of thought, experience, and creativity that is happening at the decision making tables. And that's why it's so important for me to continue to have that movement happen in two forms. One is through women of culture executives and leaders. And the other is through their leaders who they report into. And it's too pronged in terms of the approach I take.
Natasha: Fantastic. And we're gonna dive into those too prongs there in just a bit. So could you outline the common misconceptions that we are seeing when it comes to the reasoning behind the lack of representation?
Kanchan: Absolutely. The first one that just immediately comes up for me is that, well actually it's a paradox that we live in as women of culture, that we are highly visible while simultaneously being invisible. Visible because there is a double standard in terms of the expectations that are expected from women of culture in terms of their work performance and who they are and how they show up. While being invisible, meaning that they actually aren't seen as someone who may have the competence to hold the roles that are senior enough. Why? Because there isn't, it's a cycle. There isn't representation, so there isn't a belief that the next one can go in and we continuously go down a downward spiral in terms of movement for women of culture. The other big bias that I see repetitively is that they're not ambitious. That is so counter to the research and there's not a lot plus even for my own experience when I talk to a lot of women of culture leaders the ambition is there. The inability to get to where they need to be is a whole other, a whole other space. Yeah, there's a little break down right. Absolutely, Absolutely. The other key piece that I would say as well, a bias that I see a lot is around tokenism, someone coming in because of your diversity card. And the bias that goes with that is limiting on both sides for sure and at the same token, pun intended, I guess, at the same time, we do need to have markers to look at the equity of what's happening in the world right now. In terms of that limitation, that can be a double-edged sword for both the leader and also the people around them in terms of how they are viewed for sure.
Natasha: How can we challenge and overcome some of those stereotypes that you've mentioned?
Kanchan: A lot of what can happen a lot of what is necessary is from an educational perspective is how do we educate what can, what is possible with having diversity of thought and experience at the table? What impacts our creativity? What impacts our organizational culture by having full representation. Because we already knew that when we did not have women at the table, our creativity and our productivity levels were down because we weren't thinking in terms of how we were able to effectively communicate our ideas. We also knew that the change that was required in our communities wasn't happening because half the population was not represented at the tables. So that was a huge piece. And then the other key piece that is required in terms of the educational component is understanding bias and how it shows up. So whether it is unconscious bias, conscious bias, implicit or explicit, the knowledge, knowledge is power. So knowing that piece allows people to understand, where do I show up in this? And then the big thing with that knowledge is then we're able to transform it. And that's a big piece that, that I've learned in my journey in terms of the organizational culture work that I've done. And then finally the piece that I always say to every, every person that I ever work with is let's get comfortable with the uncomfortable because we are gonna screw up. We're gonna mess up. I have, I still do. The difference is now I call it out and I say, okay, how do I move forward from this? So that is the piece that is absolutely required in terms of the educational aspect.
Natasha: Absolutely. And it's so powerful because it's those uncomfortable conversations and it's having that dialogue with yourself and also with your teams that will lead to that change. So let's pivot a little bit. And now I want to dive into your two prong approach that you mentioned. So how do you really support women of culture and rising through the ranks and attaining those senior level positions?
Kanchan: Absolutely. So the first prong is looking at women of culture leaders themselves. And I have a lot of a program that is specifically dedicated to them. And what I do is there's a lot of, a lot of components to it. But the key pieces are around building up their leadership presence, their personal brand, how do they make those connections that are required for them to really show up and make that space? The other big piece that I look at as well is their strategy. How are they, what is their three to five year plan in terms of where they want to go? Because a lot of the women of culture leaders I've worked with have never been asked that question before. No one has said to them, where do you want to be? What does that look like for you? How do you see yourself represented in terms of the organization and what does that look like? And that's such a key piece because then they're able to, when they have the visibility of that, then they're able to start saying, oh, I want to take these, these roles. These are the stretch roles that I'm looking at. And the other big piece that I would say as well in terms of women of culture leaders is mentoring. And having those mentors, both from within their organization and also externally, because that diversity of thought, that diversity of experience that they bring in allows for the women of culture leader to have that space of okay, how do I show up in this way? I may not have had that experience, but how do I, how do I move forward in terms of that? And then the other prong that I look at is the leader's leaders. And it's so key because what happens a lot of the times is that we look at the women of culture leader in the organization and we're like, yeah, yeah, let's level you up. But the leader's leaders, there's no one there to help them and support them in terms of how do they provide that space? How do they give that visibility to the women of culture leaders? How do they mentor them? How do they sponsor them? How do they allow for that space to be for the women of culture leaders to really shine? So those are the two prongs that I really look at in terms of that approach. And there's a lot of moving pieces, but those are the key, key pieces in terms of how I'm able to move forward in that space.
Natasha: Fantastic. And, you know, I'm just thinking as you're speaking and I'm thinking, you know, these conversations, these initiatives, this education, it's so important because it's not just a one and done, right? It's not like we can have one conversation and then that's it. It's constant and it's continuous because we're constantly evolving. So, you know, as we sort of wrap up, I'd love to know what are some of the things that we can all be doing today to really support the mission that you're on?
Kanchan: Absolutely. First and foremost, it is, I would say, educate yourself. It is, it is a, it's a journey. It's not a destination. So it's not like you're going to read one book and you're like, I'm good to go. Right? So educate yourself on where your biases lie, how they're showing up, because we all have them. And the moment we acknowledge that, then we're able to move forward in that space. The second piece that I would say as well is get curious, ask questions, right? If you see someone that has a different lived experience than you, ask them, what's, what's, what's, what's your experience been like? What is, what are you, how are you experiencing this organization in a different way than I am? Right? And then the third piece that I would say as well is, how do you support? And support comes in many different forms. So whether it's mentoring, whether it's sponsoring, whether it's championing, whether it's, I'm going to share your name with someone else because I know that they could use your skills and expertise. So that's, those are the three pieces that I would say are the most, the most key in terms of what we can do right now.
Natasha: Absolutely. And it's really just about showing up and being present and being supportive. So, Kanchan, thank you so much for joining me today. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on. And thank you for everything that you're doing to drive change forward.
Kanchan: Thank you so much for having me, Natasha. It's been an absolute pleasure having this conversation with you.