Bringing more women into leadership
Interviewer: Jasmin Schweiger Leadership Coach
I got interviewed by my coach Jasmin Schweiger. She is a part of my journey on my mission to bringing more women into leadership. Below you find the English version of the interview.
Jasmin Schweiger:
Bringing more women into leadership - that is a topic close to my heart. That is why I think it is so wonderful that Katharina Engelhardt has dedicated herself to this goal. As an experienced manager in a male-dominated field, she knows what she is talking about when she says that she wants to help "make female careers something commonplace".
I interviewed Katharina, who is also a graduate of “Train the Leadership Coach” and “The Leadership Mastermind for Coaches”, to get even more insight into what she does and her mission. The result is an exciting interview in which Katharina tells us how she came to be a coach, what she does, and with what services she now wants to support women. But read for yourself.
Katharina, in addition to your work and many years of experience as a manager in a large company, as a mentor you are very committed to bringing more women into management positions. How would you describe yourself? And why is the topic of women in leadership so close to your heart?
Katharina Engelhardt:
The starting point of my professional training was studying clothing technology, i.e. the production of clothing on an industrial scale. The majority of my fellow students were female, very talented and open-minded. However, after 20+ years in industry, I have been mostly surrounded by men in decision-making meetings for quite some time. At the same time, I keep hearing in the networks and also from my team that women don't know how to approach their careers. I hear comments like "I don't like to sell myself", or frustration like "I do everything and then in the end it's the men who get promoted".
My goal is not to be the only woman in meetings, but to contribute to making female careers commonplace.
Another point that is very important to me is: I am a mother of two teenage girls. My wish for them is that they can start and continue their professional lives completely unbiased by gender roles.
Jasmin Schweiger:
As a mentor for women, your aim is to support women on their self-confident career path. Who exactly are you targeting? Who is in the right place with you
Katharina Engelhardt:
I address all women who have the feeling that they are not perceived appropriately, but now want to change this. For example, women who feel trapped in a hamster wheel, who feel like worker bees and miss the appropriate recognition in their job. But they are also ambitious women who want to advance professionally and have the feeling that everyone else is being promoted but they are not. Additionally, I also address women entrepreneurs who want to find their identity in order to become more visible with confidence.
Jasmin Schweiger:
You have now also designed an online mastermind to help women get started in leadership roles. What is your focus here? What goal can participants achieve with it?
Katharina Engelhardt:
I have tackled this topic in your course "Train the Leadership Coach". The working title of the course is "(RE):Start to lead". The starting point was that I noticed with colleagues that the transition to team leadership was bumpy and sometimes frustrating. The reason was often that they had not prepared themselves inwardly for the task. Before you can lead a team, you have to be able to lead yourself. In my course, you therefore clarify your attitude to leadership and develop your personal profile as a leader. But also experienced leaders have the challenge to validate their profile as a leader again and again and can thus benefit from this course. The result of the course is a plan on how the participants sharpen their profile as a leader.
Jasmin Schweiger:
I was able to accompany you on part of your journey. But I would now be interested to know: What three things helped you to create your programs? And what did you learn from them?
Katharina Engelhardt:
The following three things helped me to create the programs:
The first is my own career path against the background of my personal history. In my family, equality was never an issue, as my mother has always worked full time. And in the course of my career in an international environment, I have naturally wanted and taken on leadership responsibility.
Secondly, my experiences and observations in professional interactions have sharpened my eye and ear for the challenges that women have globally - and with which (false) beliefs they partly boycott themselves.
The third part is my further training, both internally in the companies for which I have worked and continue to work, as well as my external masterminds and seminars, in which I invest privately. Your Leadership Mastermind for Coaches, for example, has (and still does) expand my knowledge and network enormously.
Jasmin Schweiger:
That sounds totally exciting. Finally, what I would like to know is: Where are you going in the future? What are your plans for this year?
Katharina Engelhardt:
I love my job and I love working at my current company. My passion is to develop products, organisations and people. I am a creator in the truest sense of the word. I will continue to dedicate myself to this activity with all my energy and at the same time continue and expand my heart's project of promoting women professionally. At the moment my course "SHOW UP!" is running, a course in which one learns to know oneself better, to position oneself and to present oneself, with 70 participants from a global environment. I have already created a waiting list for the next run, where you can sign up. And in a few weeks I will launch "TAKE THE LEAD", a course for direct and indirect leadership. The course language of my courses is English. But I could imagine giving the course in German on request.
Jasmin Schweiger:
Great, Katharina. That sounds like a great year ahead of you. I wish you much success and joy in the implementation of your projects.
Katharina Engelhardt:
Thanks, Jasmin for the interview! Let´s continue to empower women!
You can find more about Jasmin Schweiger here:
https://www.linkedin.com//in/jasmin-schweiger/
https://www.jasmin-schweiger.de
https://www.instagram.com/jasmin__schweiger/
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You cannot know everything there is to know about how to get where you want to be in life. While it’s possible to learn the needed skills, this will take time and likely a lot of money. Instead, what if you had someone (or a group of people) who can help guide you to success?
A mentor is someone who currently is where you want to be. The relationship you have with a mentor can be an official one, or it can be informal such as following in the footsteps of someone you admire. Mentors have experience and have gone through growing pains towards success. They will know what kinds of training you may need or skills to develop.