Elevating Women in the Workforce with Cynthia Barnes

In this episode we’re following up on a recent episode focused on supporting women re-entering the workforce. To build on this discussion, Bill is joined by Cynthia Barnes, Award-Winning Sales Influencer, Professional Keynote Speaker, and Best-Selling Author to talk about identifying opportunities for success for women in the workforce. With a specific focus on women in sales after spending much of her sales career leading sales teams across the nation in a variety of verticals for the nation’s top companies, Cynthia is a sought-after expert on women-centric sales training and coaching by companies such as Google, Michelin, and Toyota. 

Bill Harmon is a registered representative of Voya Financial Partners, LLC (member SIPC).

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

You're listening to the hire through retire podcast with Voya bill Harmon, tackling all things from 401ks to HSAs and everything in between. We're talking to the best and brightest in the industry to bring you the latest in benefits, savings, and investment trends in the workplace. Come along with us on our journey to help all Americans become well planned, well invested and well protected.

Speaker 2: 0:24

Hello everyone. And welcome back to the hire through retire podcast. I'm your host bill Harmon. And thank you very much for joining me today. You know, we recently had Renee sch on the pod for an important topic about supporting women who are reentering the workplace. She, she really shared some great tips for employers on the topic. So today we thought we'd take that and expand the conversation further to talk about identifying opportunities for success for women in the workforce. So joining us here today to talk more about that, the Cynthia Barnes, she's an award-winning sales influencer, professional keynote speaker and bestselling author. And she's got a specific focus on women in sales, and she's doing this after spending much of her career in sales or leading sales teams across the nation in a variety of verticals for the nation's top companies. Cynthia's a sought after expert on women centric, sales training, and coaching by company such as Google and Michelin and Toyota. Cynthia that's, that's quite a background. I tell you, I am thrilled to have you here for this engaging and really important topic. So thanks for joining the pod.

Speaker 3: 1:29

Thank you so much for having me. I am excited.

Speaker 2: 1:32

I'll tell you, I know that this is a podcast, but if you could see what I'm seeing, Cynthia's got a setup right there. She's got her microphone, that's hanging down. It's like, it's almost like you were radio host right there. I can tell that you were a professional.

Speaker 3: 1:45

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:46

So Cynthia, before we get started on our topic today, could you start by sharing a bit more about your background and how you landed in the field that you're practicing today?

Speaker 3: 1:54

Well, like most people, nobody ever decides in high school, I'm gonna grow up and be in sales. I landed completely by accident. Um, I took a job at a for-profit university. They told me that I would be an enrollment counselor and come to find out when you work in enrollment at a for-profit university, it is sales. But what I quickly learned was that if I applied myself, my income was in direct relation to the amount that I applied myself. So after that I sold pharmaceuticals, the legal kind I've been a recruiter. My whole career has been about sales. I've even gone so far as to sell logistics, uh, for a trucking company and hair for hair pieces for men. So I've, I've sold it all.

Speaker 2: 2:37

Well, that does cover the cam. So let me set the stage for the conversation, by sharing some data. According to research from McKenzie companies with more diverse leadership teams are more profitable than those without in fact, their recent study found that for every 10% increase in gender diversity earnings before tax rose by three and a half percent. So aside from empowering women in the workplace, by simply doing the right thing, there's a business case here as well. So in your opinion, where do you think companies today can provide opportunities to support women at work?

Speaker 3: 3:11

The number one thing is to realize that women do add value and a different type of value to the workforce. And diversity of demographic always leads to diversity of thought. And when you have diversity of thought, you have different ways of looking at a problem, attacking a problem, and you have more solutions that are brought to the table. So yes, there is the right thing to do. But like you said, it's a business case. And for businesses who want to be competitive, who want to be profitable, gender diversity is one of the things that they can do now, as far as where do I start? How do I get more of a diverse, whether it's gender, whether it is, um, ethnicity, how do I get a more diverse team? You have to go where those diverse populations are. And I tell people, if you're looking for a trucker, you go to trucker.com. If you're looking for diverse accountants, engineers, whomever, go to those associations that specialize in having their membership of the diverse population you want.

Speaker 2: 4:13

I love how you said that. Diversity of thinking before we even talked about those statistics. If you said you really wanted to have a robust sales team of successful sales team, wouldn't it be great to go and put everyone into a room and come up with about five different ways to approach a strategy, to approach a sales opportunity. You would just be that much better and who would ever say no to that?

Speaker 3: 4:35

Exactly. Exactly. And your people have the answers. You just have to ask the questions. How can we.dot, dot and let the brainstorming start?

Speaker 2: 4:47

I love, I love that so many times I've been in a room and I throw out a question and I just watch it go. And it is so fun to watch the thinking. So we've talked a lot about mentorship here on the pod. And so, and it, I, I think it's so important, particularly with this topic, in your opinion, Cynthia, how can programs like mentorship, help individuals?

Speaker 3: 5:08

Well, let's start by talking about the differences for men and women. And I'll give you some statistics that when I read them were, were like the, the nail in the coffin. If you will. Number one, women involved in mentoring are promoted five times more often than those who are not number two 78% of women in senior leadership roles have served as a formal mentor. At least once in their career, 93% of mentees believe their mentor mentoring relationship was useful. And 25% of mentees experienced an increase in their salary compared to 5% of people not involved in mentoring. So even though we know mentoring is so important to the success of diverse populations, 63% of women report that they've never had a formal mentor. Then we go into the sobering facts that men are more likely to get workplace guidance than women. Men are more likely to be asked to be a mentor. Men are more likely to have a mentor. And lastly, men are more likely to have asked someone to be a mentor. So there's a huge gap in mentoring men versus women. Quite frankly, men will ask for a mentor and be a mentor far more often than women do women see the benefits far more often than men do. So we have an opportunity there.

Speaker 2: 6:31

So we've been throwing out some statistics that are pretty staggering that, uh, hopefully our listeners say, wow, that's compelling. I mean, why wouldn't I do that? It's just so compelling. So if I could take that comment and talk about gender differences, and I can tell you that as a male leader in our own organization, one important role that I played and I've played a mentor, both men and women, different ethnic backgrounds as well. And I learn a lot. In fact, we've done reverse mentoring to where I want them to teach me. I wanna learn. It's such a, win-win just, as you described with some of those statistics, another way to look about this, another role to play is simply getting an ally. So in your opinion, what opportunities as individuals do, people have to help empower women in the workplace through things like allyship.

Speaker 3: 7:16

We as women need allies in every form, demographic, specifically men, for example, in the sales industry and in leadership, there are more men in leadership than there are women. We need those men who are in leadership positions to reach back and lift. As they climb. We need men to be allies for us to be sponsors for us to say things and mention our names in rooms, where we don't even have access. We need some in our corner to say, you know what, let me put my arm around you and, and tell you why that's not the best career move. If someone had told me, when I first started my career, that I should have negotiated my salary for the average base salary of my male counterparts. I would've started at$8,000 more per year, which doesn't seem like a lot. But now as I retire or get close to retirement, imagine$8,000 per year throughout a 30 year career, how much more I would have in my 401k compared to what I actually have. We need those allies to see something and say something.

Speaker 2: 8:29

I wanna talk a little bit more about kind of just women in the workplace and, and oftentimes how they have a dual role, both at home mm-hmm<affirmative> and at work. And so with that mind, how do you think about this new hybrid model that we're in post pandemic? Does that help, um, in those situations or, or will continue to help women specifically? I mean, I know that this applies to both men and women, but will help women specifically.

Speaker 3: 8:53

If there's one thing I know about women is that we are highly adaptable and flexible and we rise to any challenge. Most of us took the pandemic, looked it in the eyes and said, okay, is that the best you got? So as far as the hybrid model, working for women that remains to be seen, but I do know that if you offer women options, offer them flexibility, they will shine. For example, there are some managers who say, you know what? You need to be logged in from eight o'clock to five o'clock. And I need to see you that may not be a realistic for a woman who has young children at home, whom she has to homeschool. What if, as a leader, you say, you know what, I don't really need to see you clocked in. If you get your work done at 10 o'clock at night, at two o'clock in the morning, as long as you get it done, then I'm happy. And that's the freedom and flexibility that women need. Not just policy. Does that make sense? How I explain that?

Speaker 2: 9:52

And it does. And I think it's boy, I tell you what, it's, that's really a big description of successful employers and how, and their relationship with employees. So I have to see you and you're in all the time or that I'm appreciating your work environment. I know you're gonna get the work done and it's not necessarily just a nine to five. Exactly. Right. And rather than measure by hours clocking in, but maybe more about results in productivity.

Speaker 3: 10:16

I think everyone could benefit from that. You trusted me enough to hire me, trust me enough to do the job and get it done in my own way, just because I do it differently. Doesn't mean that it's wrong

Speaker 2: 10:28

And we can all learn from different can't we, we

Speaker 3: 10:30

Can,

Speaker 2: 10:31

Cynthia, I first just wanna thank you. Uh, this has been such a great conversation and I think there have been so many great thoughts and ideas that our audience will really find truly valuable. I tell you some of the statistics, like I said earlier are staggering. Why wouldn't you do this? And think about changing if you're not already thinking in this way. So let me end with one question. And that is what advice would you have for employers today who are looking to create intentional programs within the organization to elevate women in the workplace and how can they create these programs with measurable growth?

Speaker 3: 11:05

That's an excellent question. And the key is intentionality and you hit the nail right on the head, make a decision to do it, then reverse engineer. The how. So for example, what we find with organizations who want to hire, attract, develop, and retain women in sales is that they miss one of the key components and that's development. When you hire women for your team, if you don't develop them or show them a career path forward with your company, they will go someplace else where they can get it. So the development is the key, not just industry knowledge and product knowledge, but professional development. How can you dot.dot<laugh>? How can you create programs that encourage them to amplify their strengths while helping them overcome the challenges that they face? That's the question that I want employers to ask. And if you want to get really granular and specific, you can measure the performance of your diverse populations and compare them to each other, to see where the gaps are.

Speaker 2: 12:17

And, you know, I wonder, so you could look at the different groups and say what's productivity by grouping. Uh<affirmative> whether that be by gender, by ethnicity. But, but I also think there's this multiplying factor that I love what you said, just to summarize that when you have diversity in the people, you have diversity and thought mm-hmm<affirmative> and when you have diversity in thought everybody gets better. Yes. And so I think just to wrap things up and summarize, if you're listening to this and you have a client facing team, a team that either sells new products or services or solutions to customers or services them, and tries to expand the relationship. If you look at that team and they all look the same and they might all have grown up in the same background, then you probably have a bunch of people that nod when you suggest an idea. And they're all thinking the same. You don't have that diversity of thought that doesn't make everyone go ahead and expand their thoughts and get that much better. I've been in so many meetings that are so enlightening to where I look at someone and think how'd you come up with that? I never, I never would've thought of that. Wow. That just made that was an adrenaline rush. Yes. And just to go ahead and do all of that, then you go and bring in all those stats that prove everything out. Why wouldn't you do this?

Speaker 3: 13:34

Why wouldn't you mm-hmm<affirmative> why wouldn't you and your customers are looking at your team to see whether or not they can do business with anyone that looks like them

Speaker 2: 13:43

And understands them. Yes. He thinks a little like them, maybe challenges a little bit to the thinking, but doesn't necessarily come from a completely different background with completely different thinking. Right.

Speaker 3: 13:52

I can't think of any negatives to having more diversity,

Speaker 2: 13:57

Cynthia, you are so right. And boy, I wanna, I wanna thank you so much for your time. And so appreciate you being here today.

Speaker 3: 14:04

Thank you so much. This has been a truly enlightening conversation and I'm grateful. Thank you, bill.

Speaker 2: 14:09

And I wanna thank our listeners and you know, don't forget if you enjoyed today's conversations, please follow us and you could subscribe. So that you'll be the first to know when we have new episodes drop every other Tuesday. We'd also love to hear your thoughts. So head on over to iTunes to leave us a review. I really want to thank everyone for joining us and stay well.

Speaker 1: 14:28

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