Women at the Top of Telecoms and Tech

This week, I'm going to be talking about something that I think is incredibly important, how to overcome gender bias in the workplace. So within your organisation, how to take practical steps that you can look at and take away right now in order to overcome and start to bridge the gap around gender bias in the workplace.

I will start off by talking about where we are right now, why it's important to tackle gender bias. And then I'm going to go through 12 super quick tips that you can implement right now.

Here are the highlights:

• (02:12) It is a competitive advantage to have gender parity
• (04:26) Facts and figures round gender bias
• (08:08) Look at the recruitment process
• (10:22) Conduct regular pay audits
• (11:52) Enable flexible working
• (13:41) Analyse an equalised promotion opportunity
• (14:52) Lead by example
• (16:37) Establish clear company policies
• (18:21) Encourage mentoring
• (19:35) Tackle the unconscious bias
• (20:56) Use language consciously
• (22:00) Make sure gender equality is an absolute priority
• (23:08) You need to listen

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact my through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

Produced by the Podcast Boutique

In this week's episode, I'm going to be talking about something that I think is really, really important to tech and telecom organisations. I'm gonna be outlining four steps to developing a gender pay gap action plan.

All organisations that are of a certain size need to create a gender pay gap report each year as part of their annual report. Having a gender pay gap report shows a commitment and an investment to closing the gender pay gap. This is obviously going to impact your share price, it's going to impact how you are viewed by your shareholders and also by your consumers. It's becoming more and more important to become an organisation with a social conscience.

Here are the highlights:

• (02:33) It's incredibly powerful to have a gender pay gap action plan
• (05:22) Set up ways of monitoring information
• (08:07) Consult and engage
• (11:01) Revise, assess and embed your action plan
• (13:11) Allow enough time

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact my through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

This week, we're going to be talking about what men can do to support women in tech and telecoms. I just want to start off today by being really, really clear about where we stand at the moment with the lack of gender parity, the gender pay gap and the lack of gender equality, we don't put any of the blame on men, this isn't a judgment on their position, not at all.

But there are more John as CEOs than there are women, there is a 136-year gender pay gap and there are still numerous complaints around sexual harassment. So, men need to be part of the solution because women will never achieve equity in the workplace or in life if they're the only gender working towards it.

Here are the highlights:

• (05:12) Understand what privilege is
• (07:45) Gender and equality come up in more than one form
• (10:46) Advocate for fair workplace policies
• (14:02) Take the parental leave
• (14:51) Offer to mentor or sponsor
• (16:52) Be mindful of harassment
• (18:09) Give women credit for their ideas
• (20:10) Don't interrupt
• (21:16) Speak up

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact my through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

This week, I'm joined by the wonderful Jo Gilfoy. Jo is someone that kept me sane throughout my corporate career and is someone that I looked up to and I am very much inspired by her. She brings a brilliant combination of being very strategic, very directive, and very clear but also brings a lot of femininity and sparkle to any room that she's in.

Jo is Global Head of Commercial, Planning and Engagement at Vodafone and has worked in telco for over 25 years.

We talk about Jo's career, being courageous and kind, the importance of being part of a woman's network and Jo's shoes!

Here are the highlights:

• (02:48) Jo's career
• (06:48) Women's network
• (11:01) Don't grow a wishbone where your backbone should be
• (15:30) Be courageous and kind
• (18:08) You've got to be the voice for people who feel they don't have one
• (22:09) Jo's biggest challenges in her career
• (27:44) Paternity leave
• (34:24) What Jo wants to achieve in the next 10 years
• (35:25) Jo's final message

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact my through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

About Jo:

Jo has worked in telco for over 25 years from working at Nokia when Snake was THE only game to be playing, to launching the first global MVNO with Virgin Mobile, disrupting the world of using your phone abroad by abolishing roaming with Vodafone & have had the privilege of leading great people in global teams in sales, commercial, engineering, product, marketing & products teams. Jo is passionate about education, equality diversity & inclusion, she enjoys leading multiple Women's Networks & has lectured on BA Hons & MBA courses in the UK & the USA.

Contact Jo:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannagilfoy/

Produced by The Podcast Boutique

I'm really excited about today's episode because this is a subject that is very close to my heart and something I often focus on with clients.

This episode is all about how to own your value. How to own your unique value that you bring to your organisations. So I'm going to be talking about a video I watched from Margie Warrell that inspired this episode, and then I will talk a little bit about why it might be challenging for women to own their value. Then we're going to talk about how you might be hiding your light a little bit and what sort of things you are doing and finally, I'm going to help you to recognise your own value.

Here are the highlights:

• (02:38) Power has no gender
• (07:23) Why are you not owning your value at the moment?
• (07:36) Negative comparisons
• (08:47) Overly focused on your development needs
• (09:44) You're not owning your values
• (13:02) Identify your magic
• (16:02) Share and speak to your value
• (18:03) Set yourself some self-growth goals
• (20:30) As a woman at the top of your organisation you have a responsibility to own your value

Margie Warrell - Power has no gender talk

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact my through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

In today's episode, we're gonna be talking about something that I am really passionate about. It's at the heart of the work that I do within my coaching and consulting business, it's the benefits of gender equality within organisations.

We have made huge progress over the last couple of years that are really supporting women. Things like flexible working, policies around compassionate leave for miscarriages and also menopause support. There are a lot more things in place but that is off the back of really going backwards during lockdown.

The story for women through lockdown is that they tend to step into the breach and carry more of the invisible load at home. So juggling huge roles at work with homeschooling, keeping things ticking along at home and all of the invisible load that goes with it. This actually meant that the gender pay gap went from 100 years to 136 years.

So what that means is, if everything carries on the way it is within organisations, the gender pay gap will be closed within 136 years. Women are still routinely underpaid compared with men when filling the same roles

Here are the highlights:

• (10:49) It will lead to a better economy
• (12:20) Improved productivity
• (15:02) Increased growth and innovation
• (17:57) More flexible working
• (20:05) A more stable workforce
• (22:39) Happier employees
• (23:36) Improved customer targeting
• (25:09) Better quality of life
• (26:02) Consumers care about a company's ethics and social responsibility

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact my through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

This week, I'm joined by the brilliant Victoria Bond. Victoria is the founder of Space HR an employee feedback and engagement business. Her team have built a new style of employee engagement approach and put employee feedback at the heart of business.

We talk about the benefits of anonymous feedback, why it's so important and the joy of watching Undercover Boss!

Here are the highlights:

• (04:42) Setting up Space HR
• (08:00) Employee engagement
• (14:19) Why is employee feedback so critical?
• (24:15) How can something start a feedback culture in their organisation?
• (28:49) How does a huge change affect the feedback and engagement?
• (36:36) Undercover Boss
• (40:58) Quickfire questions

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

Contact me through Speakpipe here: https://www.speakpipe.com/femaleleadersonfirepodcast

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

About Victoria:

Victoria is the Founder of Space HR, an employee feedback and engagement business. Her and her team have built a new style of employee engagement approach & put employee feedback at the heart of the business.

Victoria has over 15 years' experience working in senior HR roles within high-growth and ambitious businesses.

She specialises in helping start-ups and companies with high growth ambitions reach their potential. Having worked in various industries and headed up a high-volume M&A team, she is passionate about business success.

Contact Victoria:

Website: https://www.spacehr.co.uk/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/employeeengagementvb/

Podcast: HR Director's Cut

Produced by The Podcast Boutique

This week, I am joined by Jake Morrison. Jake is the Chief Executive at Citizens Advice Wokingham in Berkshire. At 18 he was the youngest elected politician in the UK joining Liverpool City Council in 2011 and working as a Member of Parliament at 19. He is open about living with mental ill-health, having Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, C-PTSD and ADHD.

His style of leadership is completely true and real. It's almost beyond authentic leadership. This is leadership where you are showing up with how you are feeling. You're showing up with empathy and understanding, and you are also showing up with vulnerability and sharing the truth of what's going on for you. And that's when you are at your most powerful because you set that as a culture, you create that role model for everyone else in your organisation.

Here are the highlights:

• (06:12) Jake's story
• (14:33) Being a CEO at such a young age
• (23:28) I feel that our team massively care
• (30:20) Becoming a mental health first aid instructor
• (36:04) The health and safety executive stress survey
• (41:51) How has his mental health journey helped him grow into his CEO role
• (47:01) It's about stigma
• (55:05) The importance of having empathy
• (56:20) Jake's final message

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

About Jake:

Jake is 29, from Liverpool, and is Chief Executive at Citizens Advice Wokingham in Berkshire. At 18 he was the youngest elected politician in the UK joining Liverpool City Council in 2011 and working for a Member of Parliament at 19.

He is open about living with mental ill-health, having Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, C-PTSD and ADHD. Working to raise awareness and increase people's knowledge, skills and confidence, he became a Mental Health First Aid instructor and has now trained over 540 people in 15 months.

Contact Jake:

Website: www.citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmorrison92/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eijake?lang=en

Produced by The Podcast Boutique

In this week's episode, I am going to be revealing 5 leadership lessons I have learnt over the past year of producing this podcast. I get to speak to incredible women who are at the top of organisations every day in my job and I will share what I have learnt from them whether that's from the interviews I have done, through my clients or from the research I'm doing for my white paper.

Here are the highlights:

• (02:53) Put yourself first
• (07:19) Think about your support network
• (12:25) Find your purpose
• (14:20) The impact ad oiler of role models and mentoring
• (17:08) Sharing your ambition
• (20:39) Overview

How to know your life purpose in 5 minutes by Adam Leipzig

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

This interview concludes our week celebrating the podcast's one-year anniversary and its name change. Today's interview is with Jules Sivajoti, Jules is an HR Director in BT's Digital Unit supporting the people strategies for the division's CIOs alongside the business' start-up hub. Her role entails driving organisational development and design, supporting people management for the leaders in the business tasked with modernising BT and driving its innovation into new sectors.

We are going to talk about not being afraid of your own ambition and that you can have success in different streams of your life which will look different for everyone.

Here are the highlights:

• (05:53) Jules' career story
• (09:31) Having a lack of clarity whilst on maternity leave
• (17:39) Women articulating their ambition
• (27:23) Ambitious men are treated differently than ambitious women
• (31:39) How can we keep progressing and moving up?
• (34:39) Ask for feedback
• (39:12) How can organisations help women foster their ambition and speak about it?
• (41:10) Jules' final message

Listen and subscribe to the podcast now, and find out more about me at www.nicolaskorko.com

Follow me on Linked In here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-buckley-strongher/

Download the Overwhelm to On Fire Checklist here:

https://nicolaskorko.com/overwhelm-to-on-fire-checklist/

For more details on how to work with me

Go too www.nicolaskorko.com

Or email [email protected]

About Jules:

Jules is an HR Director in BT's Digital unit, supporting the people strategies for the division's CIOs alongside the business' start up hub. Her role entails driving organisational development and design, supporting people management for the leaders in the business tasked with modernising BT and driving its innovation into new sectors. As programme lead, she supported in the creation of the digital organisation for BT, which included coalescing seven separate functions out of various parts of BT and forming them into the Digital unit.

Her previous experience spans FMCG, Telecoms, manufacturing, global, full E2E organisational design, working in both unionised and non-unionised environments.

Prior to joining BT, Julie-Anne worked in a range of HR roles at Unilever, both for U.K. and global businesses.

Jules is also a mother to three young children, and still learning how to balance her work and her family life!

Contact Jules:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-anne-sivajoti-016a2517

Produced by The Podcast Boutique