Finding organisations that are open to women in supply chain; a whole lot of perseverance and belonging to a professional body are rated amongst the top factors that determine the success of women entering the demanding field of supply chain management.
That’s the word from one such
woman, SAPICS Director Kea Mpane, nominated as a finalist in
the 2014 Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government awards.
According to Mpane, she’s but one of many talented women who’re entering the
industry right now. “As the number of women entering
the field rises, it’s encouraging to note that they’re not just filling lower
level positions, but increasingly taking top spots in the industry,” she says. “But,
it’s not without a fight. Women often need to be better at what they do than
their male counterparts in order to get recognised in some companies.”
Perseverance in the face of challenges
Trailblazing author of the seminal book MRP and Beyond, Carol Ptak, was one of the first women in senior supply chain management in the USA. She believes the top challenge facing women is credibility: “A man is typically given the benefit of the doubt but a woman has to be twice as good to get half as far,” she remarks. “This is the reason I wrote my first book - it didn’t increase my knowledge but it gave me credibility.”
Furthermore she says that a woman
who is emphatic about her position, when challenged, is called aggressive while
a man with the same argument is regarded as assertive. “To move forward
in your career you have to know when to push and when to pull back. An
advantage that women have is that we are more empathetic to those around us, so
if we tune into that capability it can help us move ahead without leaving too
many damaged relationships behind,” she says.
Pick the right organisation
According to Ptak, who has spent much of her career working for IBM and PeopleSoft, another important issue is finding an organisation that is open to women in supply chain.
“You need to find an organisation
that values the contribution that women can make and fights for their rights to
advance in their careers,” says Ptak.
Belonging to a professional body
Another key factor in helping women to advance in the supply chain field is belonging to a professional organisation such as SAPICS. Of her involvement in a similar body in the US, Ptak says what she learned at APICS has been invaluable in her work.
“Your APICS colleagues will tend to forgive your mistakes more readily than the
boss as work does. APICS was a great source of learning – not just for
production and inventory control but also how to be successful with management
and people. The best thing from APICS is the strong network of
people. When you go into that relationship without a thought of what you
are going to get out of it, you will be blessed with more benefits than you can
ever repay.”
Good advice
Ptak says there are three things that the next generation of women in supply chain need to have if they are going to be successful in their careers: the ability to think critically, to communicate effectively – both in written and verbal forms, and the ability to work effectively both in a team and alone.
“Nothing significant has ever been achieved by anyone working totally alone,” adds Ptak. “The biggest innovations – like Demand Driven MRP – have come from a small group of dedicated individuals focused on a common objective. It is imperative that every member of the team is trusted by the others to do their job.”
“The biggest advice I can give is to NOT think of yourself as a woman in supply chain. My advice would be to become the best supply chain executive, period. I never thought of myself as a female operations manager or the female APICS president – I always tried to be the BEST operations manager or the best APICS president,” she concludes.
More great advice from senior women in supply chain below:
What challenges have you faced in your career being a woman in supply chain?
Nancy Wendorf – Senior Executive Practitioner and trailblazer for women in SCM
A challenge for me was balancing my family life and job. To balance both family and career while making it look effortless to our male counterparts takes great organisational skills, concise communication and focused control in our daily jobs. In past corporate cultures, this delicate and skillful balancing act has been maligned and or misaligned with “glass ceilings” limitations of women being preoccupied, stressed-out or vulnerable in the eyes of “corporate executive fathers” whose job is solely to be the breadwinner for their family and who often have a wife who is (respectfully) a valued homemaker for the family.
This dichotomy of corporate “value” cultures has held many creative, talented and innovative women hostage through the years because of these compartmentalized responsibilities. As women rise up in the ranks and corporate mindsets change to the dual role/balancing act, the more women will have opportunities to fit into the offerings of higher management.
How has being part of a professional organisation assisted you in your career and helped you to overcome challenges?
Nancy Wendorf – Senior Executive Practitioner and trailblazer for women in SCM
Belonging to and serving in various positions within a professional organisation for so many years has helped me to understand that I was not alone with trying to succeed as a wife, mother and having a career. The value of being with a group of professionals outside of the workspace truly helped me through those years with their guidance, knowledge and support. The professional evolution of knowledge sharing, cultivation of talent and support by the group becomes a mutual symbiosis of producing success-orientated individuals that are a measurable validation of how successful the member organisation is.
Caroline Mondon – Senior executive level France and Association management FAPICS
Being an active member of an
association linked to an international network allowed me to know 5 to 10 years
ahead what topics were going to become hot and get prepared. Being an active
member of my national association gave me strength to face resistance at work
because I wasn’t alone to promote new practices.
What advice would you give to the next generation of women in supply chain
Nancy Wendorf – Senior Executive Practitioner and trailblazer for women in SCM
The best advice I can give is be willing to genuinely listen to what others are saying to you and by continuing to be a hard worker proving your value you will be recognized as a knowledgeable person who people will respect and listen to. In this field, you have to have a very open mind, as each day is dynamic by nature. You’ll need to be able to quickly absorb and resolve “snapshot situations” when they arise. Also, stay in tune with all levels of your organisation. Don’t be pigeonholed by what your job responsibilities are. Connect with colleagues, peers and management to allow yourself to understand what they do and how you fit within the company infrastructure, strategies and goals that affect each and every one of us as shareholders.
Sonia Daviaud – Senior Executive Practitioner and Association management – Director APICS – France
Stop thinking that being a woman is a barrier! If you want to work in SC, just do it and do not ask for special favor because you are a woman.
Caroline Mondon – Senior executive level France and Association management FAPICS
I have always considered “soft
skills” as important as “hard skills” for successful teams. This wasn’t
difficult to say: it was well accepted that a woman could say such strange
things like that. And as the results of my teams were often very good, it was
even considered “cute”. I could work very well with Human Resource
departments, most of the time managed by a woman director, as this function
also wasn’t considered as important. Take advantage of being a woman to bring
new ideas and new methods to your company. Don’t hesitate to be
yourself - all of yourself - at work.
Contributed by
SAPICS, the supply chain network
