Culture Says It All: Tools to Break Through the Glass Ceiling
By Cathy Hansell, Skytop Contributor / January 10th, 2022
Cathy Hansell, the Founder and President of Breakthrough Results, has over 35 years of leadership experience in safety, health, environmental (SHE), product and manufacturing quality experience, holding various senior-level roles at several international corporations including BASF, AlliedSignal, Honeywell International, American Standard, and Trane. Most recently as the Corporate VP of Safety and Occupational Health at American Standard/Trane, she led a strategy throughout 500+ manufacturing, sales, and service operations globally, to create a company-wide safety culture and drive for risk prevention and wellness. The breakthrough results of these efforts translated into a 90% reduction in incident rates, unprecedented insurance premium reductions, increases in business productivity and employee morale, prevention of 22,000 injuries and cost avoidance of $152 MM in seven years.
Cathy is a frequent guest speaker at business, safety (SHE), and academic conferences, councils, and symposia on such topics as safety culture, sustainability, financial investment assessments, leadership engagement, six sigma, and wellness. Cathy is currently a member of ASSP, CSSE, NSC and the NJ and American Bar Associations. Cathy is currently a member of the Corporate EH&S Management Roundtable, the NJ and American Bar Associations, ASSE, CSSE, and NSC. She is an affiliate with Yellow Dynos and Breakthrough Marketing Technologies. Cathy was previously the nominated US delegate to the EU-US Joint Conference on Occupational Health and Safety in Portugal, the International Sustainability Conference in the Canary Islands, and the Safety professional exchange with China. Cathy has co-sponsored and presented at sustainability symposia in London (2012), Guangzhou, China (2013), Rome (2014), Denmark (2014), Toronto (2015), and Naples, Italy (2018). Cathy is also an adjunct professor at the West Virginia University, College of Engineering. She is also the creator, executive producer and host of the Safety and Sustainability Breakthroughs Podcast show.
Cathy holds a BS in environmental science/wastewater engineering from Cook College; an MS in environmental toxicology from NYU Institute of Environmental Medicine (GSAS) and a JD in environmental law from Rutgers University Law School. Cathy is a certified Malcolm Baldrige examiner and instructor from Crosby, Deming and Juran Quality Institutes; a Total Quality Master, certified Six Sigma Belt and a certified CSR practitioner. She received the BCSP Certification as a Safety Management Specialist and ASSP Certification in Executive Safety Management. She was awarded the 2010 Woman of the Year in the Safety and Health Field from the National Association of Professional Women, and one of the Top 100 Women in Safety Engineering from the ASSP.
The Set Up
“This is Cathy Stevenson, the new little girl who’s going to try to take my place.” As the new Corporate Director of Product Stewardship and Toxicology in a Fortune 50 global corporation, this was my introduction to my new business colleagues from the male incumbent, who was retiring. Some of my immediate reactions included shock, anger and pity. I held degrees in engineering and toxicology and several certifications, none of which the incumbent held, plus my many years of experience.
What did I do? Laughed it off, with the hope that these colleagues saw through his unprofessional remarks. They did.
Being a woman in business for over 40 years, and working my way up through different organizations to hold executive leadership positions, I’ve experienced many challenges, both expected and unexpected. I also benefited from solutions and assistance from expected and unexpected sources. These challenges and solutions are a result of four cultural norms operating simultaneously: the roles of women in the family, company culture, country culture and the type of job.
This combination can be referred to as a “glass ceiling”. The causes, and therefore the solutions, are based inside these cultural norms.
Challenges All Too Familiar
Expected challenges include the one I previously described, from men of equal or higher positions, and of all ages. Reasons? Jealous of the size of my office, I had a window in my office, my title, my job scope, my multiple degrees and certifications, and my proven track record of success. My roles were in safety, toxicology and regulatory compliance, which were typically held by males. Additional challenges stem from the traditional role of women in the family versus in the business world, especially in senior leadership roles.
Globally, women holding executive leadership positions have become more common, but are not yet a norm, particularly in fields which are traditionally more male dominated, such as engineering, safety, operations and quality. Over my career, challenges manifested themselves as withholding critical information from me, publicly degrading me or unprofessional “joking”, and divisive behaviors with our mutual teammates. More subtle actions included politely ignoring my comments in group discussion or team meetings, or needing a “male” confirmation of my recommendations.
Women Peers Fall Shorter Than We Would Like
Challenges have also come from women peers. One would think that we, as women, would join together for mutual support, advice and coaching. However, this is not always the case, and is disappointingly unexpected. I’ve experienced the same situations described above with women peers and leaders. In fact, the length and severity of these challenges were worse with added grudges, catty behaviors of “damning with faint praise”, actions to “have the last word” and striving to appear “right”.
Wisdom from a Glance Over My Shoulder
As exhausting and disheartening as these challenges and glass ceilings appear, I experienced many cases of wonderful assistance and was able to develop a plan to build my credibility and business value. If you want change, you need to first effect the change within yourself.
1. Select your direction, not your path
Generally, know what you want to achieve, what area or topic is exciting and motivating for you. For me, it was and remains to be protecting the environment and people, to serve and create a better world. It started with saving the whales, and has expanded to the environment and people over the years. Yes, I am a “bunny lover, tree hugger”.
My path has been quite circuitous. One mentor advised me to hold four serious jobs, from graduation college to the age of 40 years. I followed this guidance, and it provided valuable experiences, networks and relationships. My path also involved leaving companies. New experiences, education and bypassing a corporate ladder allowed me to accelerate my career development.
2. Educate yourself
Knowing my general direction and following the advice of 4 jobs, it led me to pursue more education. My father advised me to get as much education as possible. It will only benefit me and can never be taken away. Every new job or assignment led me to realize that I would be more successful with additional knowledge. The cultures of my companies and of my supervisors believed in personal development. Today, I hold degrees in engineering, toxicology, law and 14 certifications in safety, quality, operations, leadership, sustainability and the latest as a Board Advisor in ESG from Competent Boards.
3. Volunteer
New tasks, assignments, and project teams are constantly being formed. Seek them out. Volunteering was facilitated by company cultures of continuous improvement, which encouraged improvement projects and more employee engagement. I realized multiple benefits from volunteering for new projects, such as new experiences, challenges, relationships, and demonstrated what I could achieve. Adding variety to my current job and building my visibility and credibility as a meaningful contributor, team player and team leader.
4. Find mentors
Take the step. Talk with your boss, your HR department, and leaders in other departments in which you have an interest. Be open to learn and discover how you may improve your own technical, leadership and interpersonal skills. I had six incredible mentors throughout my career, who taught me how to be a better strategic leader, to focus on my team and their development, to effectively engage business leadership, and to be open to new challenges. Mentors also helped me work through the challenges of leaders who believed women are best suited for HR roles, rather than other traditionally male business roles.
All of these mentors were men. Effective women mentors were rare. Some women mentors believed that I had to find my way, like they did. Today, women mentors are more common, available and helpful. There are many women- based mentoring organizations and resources (like CareerEducation.columbia.edu; torch.io) and women groups within large organizations, like the American Society of Safety Professionals and National Safety Council.
5. Be a mentor
Give back to others what you learn. Help other women in your company or other organizations to find their voice and direction. Mentoring can start at any age. I have been a Take Stock in Children mentor for a young lady for the last six years. She is now a senior in high school and entering college.
Mentoring extends to all team members. Your male team members can benefit from your experiences and guidance. I am happy and proud that I am still in touch with several men and women with whom I’ve worked and mentored over the years.
6. Take the high road
Challenges and situations can get intense. Always remain professional. By remaining civil and professional, disagreements or conflicts can be worked out amicably and efficiently. Over the years, I have been in heated, complex discussions with women. In several series of emails, they would continually copy the senior leaders and explain in detail why they were right. I didn’t play along. These emails only served to discredit them.
7. Carefully pick your battles
Most things in our work lives are not worthy of battling, either in person or worse, emails. We can agree on some points and simply “agree to disagree” on any remaining points. The real damage of a battle between two women is the impression that the women are both power-seeking, aggressive, unprofessional and not team players. This is a huge credibility destroyer, regardless of who is the original aggressor. It is best to not engage at all.
Success From Perseverance and Capitalizing on Change
These experiences span a 40-year career. The worst of these occurred early on in my career, and the frequency has substantially decreased over the years, and now rarely occur. Why?
HR policies have since evolved to prevent overt discriminatory behaviors, but allegations are often difficult to prove and many destructive actions are very subtle.
The percentage of women is slowly increasing in representation in leadership roles. The situation still exists where women are underrepresented in Fortune 500 senior management positions, averaging 30% globally, ranging from 27 to 38% in different regions of the world in 2020.(1) In 2020, 26.5% of the Fortune 500 Boards members were women (2). In 2021, 36% of the S&P 500 Boards had three women Directors. All of these companies have at least one woman Director, as of Nov 2021.(2). Bottom line is women are still underrepresented in management and Board levels.
Although many fields are still male-dominated, there is an increasing acceptance of women in leadership and mid-management roles. This is perhaps influenced by more women possessing higher levels of education.
More women support and mentoring groups, giving women more confidence and defined actions to take.
I’m smarter, more experienced, more confident and know when and how to engage with peers and leaders.
As women, we are making progress through our perseverance and determination, and leveraging the culture changes of accepted norms of women’s roles in business and management levels.