Women and men from across the asset finance and leasing sector attended the sixth Women in Leasing networking event in London in February, arranged by the Leasing Foundation, with topics covered including communication and impression management. Sotiris Kanaris reports
Jonathan Andrew, chief executive of the commercial finance division at Siemens Financial Services, took the stage and shared with the audience his experiences as a company leader as well as suggestions for creating an optimal leadership style.
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Values, diversity and risk were some of the themes which caught the audience’s attention, triggering discussions in break-out groups on characteristics that participants can adopt in their leadership style.
Mary McNamara, chair of Leasing Foundation’s governors, believes that it’s important for people to share their leadership style as people can learn from each other.
"I think some people come to realise that they have to change and flex some of their behaviours to maximise future opportunities," said Sue Hossack, managing director at The Brand You Company, a communications and public relations executive, and former leasing executive at GE Capital.
Education is at the forefront of Women in Leasing’s objectives, and session themes at the events are selected specifically in order for attendees to gain knowledge to help their personal development.
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By GlobalDataPrior to the initiative’s launch, McNamara and other female governors agreed that the sessions should be primarily educational.
"We wanted attendees to be able to learn things that they could use to further develop themselves, their careers and their organisations," said McNamara.
McNamara, who held various leadership roles at GE in the UK and mainland Europe and latterly at Close Brothers as chief executive of its commercial division, tells Leasing Life that the educational character of these sessions means that everyone could get value out of them, as themes are not gender-specific.
Women in Leasing will celebrate its second anniversary in April, and since its inception the programme has seen a general increase in support by companies and industry professionals.
When the Foundation was launched, a number of senior people from the leasing industry identified the lack of diversity as an issue to tackle.
McNamara, who had previous experience on gender diversity initiatives while working at GE, agreed to lead the initiative with the support of other female governors.
The target of the initiative is to see a positive change in the number of women holding senior roles within the leasing industry, in what is seen as a traditionally male-dominated sector of the financial services industry.
In order to measure a potential shift, the Foundation is creating a gender diversity scorecard. Companies will be asked to record how many women are in which jobs within their organisations.
The number of women in senior leadership roles in the leasing industry has increased over time, but is still low.
"I’ve been part of the leasing world for just about 20 years," said Hossack. "There weren’t many women when I started. In different pockets of the industry the number of females differed slightly, but certainly it’s very male-dominated across the board.
"I have seen an increase over time, but I wouldn’t think that much more than 10% of the senior leadership roles are held by women," Hossack added.
Yvonne Wiseman, regional director at Metro Bank SME Finance, believes more women have been "breaking through the glass ceiling" because the industry has evolved in the past five to seven years, appreciating the benefits of diversity.
"I think businesses came to realise that diversity within organisations is important. Women can bring empathy and experience to the boardroom," said Wiseman.
Women in Leasing aims to help more females climb the career ladder through exposure and networking, areas that women in the industry feel that they are lagging behind male colleagues.
According to McNamara exposure is important because when company leaders look to hire someone for a senior role, they often appoint someone they know or who has been recommended by a member of their network.
Hossack shares this view and stressed the significance of networking: "My motto in life is build your network before you need it.
"It’s extremely powerful to be able to use contacts in the future to hire talent or get your name on the slate of some roles that are out there in the industry."
Networking can help people with their current and future positions through the sharing of challenges, experiences and ideas.
Lauren Phipps, senior risk manager at Bibby Financial Services, said: "These events provide a professional environment where you can meet like-minded women and discuss challenges and issues that you may face on a day-to-day basis.
"You may also approach women who have been more successful and are prepared to mentor you and give you guidance on your career and the way forward."
In addition, the initiative aims to help women build their confidence and teach them ways to promote themselves better.
Lack of confidence was identified as a major issue faced by many women in the industry. Some of the event’s attendees believe it could be a reason behind the low number of women in senior positions, as women can be less confident than men in putting themselves forward for promotion.
During the break-out groups’ discussions, some women shared the view that when looking into a new role they often focus on what they can’t do rather than what they can offer.
"Focus on what you’re good at and realise that you are never going to be 100% perfect, whatever gender you are," said McNamara.
"You need to highlight the areas where you are strong, understand the ones where you aren’t and make sure that you work hard on them or have people surrounding you that will support and help you."
Confidence building will be the theme of the next event which will take place in London in April. A leadership position does require high levels of confidence. However, when it comes to leadership style there’s a range factors a leader should consider in regards to personality and approach.
"Do you really understand who you are in a business perspective and what you want to be doing?", asked Andrew at the beginning of his speech.
Before talking about specific leadership styles, Andrew wanted to highlight that it’s essential for leaders to acknowledge their values and inspirations.
He suggested understanding company and personal values is important, as people in senior positions often have to inform more junior employees about them.
The audience heard that there needs to be an alignment between work values and the values people have in their private life.
"If you don’t reflect in your private life what you’re doing in your business life, you’re going to have a dichotomy that will stand in the way when you’re moving ahead in terms of a career," Andrew said. "This is because you’re not going to be true to yourself."
As part of leadership style, he mentioned it’s important to treat people the way you want to be treated. However, he specified to the event’s attendees, they should be careful not to wear their heart on their sleeve.
Andrew called for everyone to think about diversity. He talked about his conscious decision to have a diverse – in terms of gender, experience and ethnic background – management team, which he calls ‘mavericks’.
Despite admitting that a team that shares common views and values can probably do things faster, Andrew maintained that a diverse team is crucial for sustainability in management. He believes it is "phenomenally stimulating" to have team members who challenge each other and take a while to get aligned.
However, he underlined that eventually people have to get aligned and this may require a leader to remove or add members.
Apart from his philosophy in employing a diverse team, Andrew spoke about an old adage he embraces, which is "to hire people better than you are".
He suggested to the audience of senior professionals that they should hire the best people and not feel these appointments could be a threat to their jobs.
"People who are successful often hire people much better than they are. By doing that you will always be the smartest person, as you have a vision to identify what these people should be doing," he said.
Andrew also discussed the importance of mentoring and coaching for industry professionals. He argued that coaching could be used to help individuals enhance their knowledge, ideas and experiences.
"Something even more powerful is mentoring; it’s about pairing people from different cultures, gender and industries. Mentoring really allows you to sit down and have conversations around lifestyle and values.
"Find somebody with industry experience who you can talk to and share ideas with," he added.
Andrew’s speech ended with a discussion about risk-taking as a leadership style. He said sometimes risk-taking at different stages of one’s career is easier, "somewhere in the middle is more difficult."
"Some people are naturally risk-averse. You have to judge how much risk you are willing to take in your life and career, because if you don’t understand that, it will restrain you or you’ll get very frustrated. You will be expecting to do things that your heart would not be willing to do or move forward with," he noted.
Values
Large organisations in the leasing industry have their own set of values, but all companies have to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved values.
However the break-out groups’ discussions concluded that the mere existence of these values is not enough, suggesting that everyone needs to understand and embrace them.
Wiseman said: "Visions and values within the business are great, written on a piece of paper, but they need to become part of the DNA. Something that everyone preaches from the top down – there shouldn’t be any hierarchy with this."
Through the discussion it became clear that values at work should reflect those outside work. It was agreed that they are a key influencer of leadership style. Leaders are often role models and therefore they can inspire others to obtain the right values.
Phipps said: "People within this business are viewed as important, and equally they have to reflect that and act in a certain way. The number one way is with integrity and treating fellow employees and customers in the same way as they would want to be treated themselves."
Loyalty, honesty and integrity were cited as core values. Wiseman – who’s worked in the leasing industry for 33 years – believes it is essential for industry professionals to possess these values, as they often work with customers on how to develop their businesses.
The biggest debate after Andrew’s speech was about ‘wearing the heart on the sleeve’, and to what extent people in leadership positions should display empathy towards staff.
Andrew spoke about his experience of having to make hundreds of people redundant while working for Gateway. It was vital to retain control of his emotions at that time, he said. McNamara commented that, as a leader, it’s important to show empathy and at time it’s also ok to express some emotion, for example when delivering a retirement or leaving speech.
There were a variety of responses from the attendees. Some identified the ability to empathise as a positive leadership style characteristic, while others said they thought that showing too much emotion could be unprofessional.
Diversity for the leasing industry is critical, just as diversity in portfolio and asset mix is regarded as key to sustainability over a credit cycle. Andrew called for leaders to consider having diverse teams as part of their leadership strategy.
According to Wiseman, companies in the industry have already started to see the advantages of having a diverse team.
"Companies have seen the benefits of diversification over the last decade. It’s great because we have a lot of talent entering the industry regardless of ethnic background or gender. The most impact has been in the last decade, when the industry has gone through challenges itself," Wiseman explained.
The discussion focused on how important it is to have people with different skills and mindsets in the team, as they bring a range of ideas to the table.
"It’s important to have a team of people that will continue to challenge and evolve, making sure the business stays in line with the journey. You need what we call calm and storm," Wiseman continued.
"You need people that come up with great ideas and don’t have to implement it, as well as people who look at the idea and assess how it can be achieved and whether it fits the strategic plan."
However, some of the attendees considered the idea of employing a team of ‘mavericks’ risky. Forming the ideal diverse team takes hard work, as sometimes the team leader would have to add or remove people from the team. It might also involve effort to make everyone supportive of the final decision.
In terms of gender diversity, the people attending the event believed the industry needs both men and women in senior roles to bring a better balance of views and approach.
There were also references to research which found companies employing women in top-level positions have performed better than those that don’t.
"One person cannot drive an organisation: it’s a team that drives it," said Andrew, adding that it’s important for leaders to acknowledge they need to employ the best people, even if the new employees have better skills than them in some areas.
He mentioned that it’s not an optimal leadership style to refuse to hire skilled people in the fear that your position could be threatened in the long-term.
Commenting on Andrew’s words, Phipps said: "He’s as good as the team around him, so he’s not afraid to admit that the skills of his team are possibly in certain areas better than his own skills.
"That shows a good style of leadership and understanding that you cannot be a master of everything. I would suspect that some of the best leaders of businesses around the world employ that tactic."
During the break-out group discussions, participants unanimously supported this leadership style. It was argued that the adoption of this style does not solely depend on the leader’s personality, but also on the culture of the business.
It was agreed that this attitude should come from the most senior people in a company, such as the chief executive officer and senior management teams.
Attendees heard that they should find a mentor, as they will be given an opportunity to share their ideas and challenges with someone more experienced. It is regarded as essential for personal development, and it has the ability to change a leader’s style and approach.
According to attendees who had experienced mentoring and coaching, through these processes they came to realise who they are and where they want to be from a career perspective. Many believe that encouraging employees to undertake coaching and mentoring should be part of a leadership strategy.
"Organisations are very busy; they employ people because they see potential and a value added to the business," said Wiseman.
"What the coaching and mentoring does is to help you learn more about these people and what they can bring to the business."
"It’s about giving everybody the opportunity to develop themselves, by giving them a door that’s open for people who don’t feel comfortable in a large group to speak up and say what they are interested in.
"Mentoring and coaching is absolutely key to develop talent."
Most women at the event characterised themselves as risk-averse, citing lack of confidence as the main reason behind their reluctance to take risks.
They said that their insecurity for not having a perfect understanding of a subject, makes them follow less risky routes.
The majority of women who took part in the discussion believed they need to add a more risky attitude to their current leadership style. In addition, they want to change their mindset regarding the need for perfect knowledge.
"Nobody would expect you to know everything, but I think often we expect more of ourselves than other people do. Therefore, we’re less prepared to take risks because of lack of confidence stemming from the feeling that we haven’t got all the skills. We probably do – if you don’t have 10% of knowledge, you should have a team that has the 10% you’re missing," Phipps said.
There was an acknowledgment that a lack of risk in some cases may lead to missing opportunities. However, the need for a balance between risk and rewards was underlined.
Editor’s message – The events are growing and the Leasing Foundation would like us to ask all interested parties to join them at future events and to bring a work colleague. Details are on the Foundation’s website.
