{"id":564,"date":"2018-11-18T10:54:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T18:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/?p=564"},"modified":"2019-10-23T10:39:04","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T17:39:04","slug":"women-in-leadership-interview-with-cindy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/2018\/11\/18\/women-in-leadership-interview-with-cindy\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in Leadership Interview with Cindy"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this assignment I had the pleasure of interviewing Cindy, who\u2019s currently the Head of Human Resources for Aboitiz Power Corporation, which is a leading energy provider in the Philippines. Cindy holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology, both from the University of the Philippines. She\u2019s worked in various roles and business units within Aboitiz Equity Ventures before attaining her current role as Head of Human Resources with Aboitiz Power. <\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout our interview, we discussed variety of topics illuminating her experience as a female leader in the corporate world. We talked briefly on gender differences she experienced during her 15 years with Aboitiz, her leadership style, the changes she\u2019d like to see within the organization to further close this gender disparity, and the influence that ethnic cultures have on workplace cultures. <\/span><\/p>\n

To my surprise, her company was very progressive in terms of the culture and policies surrounding women\u2019s ability to level the gender playing field. Going into this interview, I admit I had a preconceived bias towards the management style of third-world companies being traditional and somewhat discriminatory towards women. I\u2019m glad to see how incorrect I was with \u00a0this bias and just goes to show the advancements we\u2019ve made as a global community in addressing gender disparity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below is a general transcript of the conversation we had on Zoom. The required assignment questions have been bolded and were followed by questions I had to further investigate gender disparity within Aboitiz: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the greatest challenge you have faced or are facing as a woman in leadership?<\/b><\/p>\n

Since I started working, what I consider major challenges for me are when the company\u2019s values conflict with her personal values. However, I feel that I haven\u2019t experienced much gender biases in my time with Aboitiz primarily because I\u00a0 work in HR, which is typically a female-oriented position. We\u2019ve also taken steps to balance the HR department by actually hiring more males. We\u2019re very open to female leaders as there\u2019s women currently occupying high ranking positions such as herself and their Chief Finance Officer, Corporate Services Head, etc. However, the highest ranking officials in the company are still male-dominant\u00a0(personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Was there a conscientious effort to hire more female leaders within the company?<\/p>\n

\n

There was no conscious effort in terms of gender. Leaders and HR was mainly looking for people who fit with their work culture and have technical competence required for the role. But recently we\u2019ve hired a female to fill the role of Chief Operating Officer in one of our business units, Aboitiz Infra, a new business unit of the conglomerate. (personal communication, November 16, 2018). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Did the new COO experience any backlash from her male counterparts when she initially took the position.<\/p>\n

\n

As far as I\u2019m concerned, there wasn\u2019t any backlash but I imagine that she had to do more to prove her competence than a male typically would. One thing is that the Filipino culture is generally more accepting of women in society. For example, female neighbors or acquaintances are often associated to as \u2018older sister\u2019 or \u2018auntie\u2019 by their neighbors. This is partly why I think it\u2019s easier for women to move into leadership positions and get accepted by their male counterparts; because Filipino culture is generally accepting of women in the workforce and in the community\u00a0(personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What are some policies her company implemented to accommodate women temporarily leaving the company for pregnancies or maternity leaves?<\/p>\n

\n

One policy we have is that we shoulder the hospitalization during the pregnancy. We also cover the difference between what the government gives you with what her salary currently is with the company. Women also typically return to their previously held positions prior to their maternity leave and isn\u2019t much of an issue in the workplace. I haven\u2019t really seen female employees ask for a different job or reduced hours after coming back from maternity leave. What I would see, but is very rare, is for women to leave their jobs to become full-time housewives (personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How would you describe your leadership style?<\/p>\n

\n

I describe my leadership style as very situational. I adjust my leadership style based on the competency of employees. If I see they need to be supervised more, I will provide more guidance and structure. If I see that the person is competent, I usually let them run their show (personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Did you have any mentors whom you modeled your leadership style after? If so, what were the qualities they had in which you tried to implement in your own leadership style?<\/span><\/p>\n

My recently retired boss was probably my biggest influence in my leadership style. My former boss was very direct and honest. He was always very clear about his goals, very authentic, and very transparent. He had high standards but offers people the chance to learn from their mistakes as he believed mistakes are life\u2019s biggest teacher. I feel I\u2019ve mostly implemented these qualities in my leadership style and hope to improve on the blunt communication style as I feel I can be authentic without necessarily being blunt (personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What does she feel is the primary role of a leader?<\/span><\/p>\n

To me, a leader is responsible for setting the direction of the group and making sure that people develop during the process. If the leader sets a good direction and has the right people around them, goals are usually achieved. But the key is finding the right people who are concerned with their own self-development\u00a0(personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is something that you do that helps you to meet or deal with this challenge?<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the challenges I see other women experience in the company is when they work they have to work graveyard shifts in the engineering department\u2019s power plant. There\u2019s often a disadvantage when women must physically exert themselves as men are typically stronger. This is especially challenging during the graveyard shifts as they\u2019re usually left on their own (personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How do you think organizations can close the gender gap in leadership between men and women besides hiring more female leaders?<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to see a female operations manager within the company as there\u2019s never been one who has occupied that particular position. We\u2019ve also began to hire more female engineers for the plants to further balance the gender differences. In terms of pay difference between men and women, there aren\u2019t any differences even in the upper management (personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you have any other advice or encouragement for women in leadership?<\/b><\/p>\n

I have a friend in another company where there\u2019s an explicit culture that discriminates towards women. My friend advanced near the highest level position within the company and is even doing the work of the Chief Operations Officer but her boss refused to promote her to the position because their ethnic culture didn\u2019t support or allow women to be in such a high position. They also discriminated against her Filipino nationality as this particular company wasn\u2019t based in the Philippines but had an operations branch there where she worked. I advised my friend to quit and find another company that\u2019s more inclusive of women and better aligns with her personal values. She stayed with the company for 12-13 years already and had exhausted all her options to advance to the COO position (personal communication, November 16, 2018).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Overall, I felt Cindy\u2019s experience provided great insight into the management practices of companies outside North America. It\u2019s exciting to see global companies adopt practices of diversity, equity and inclusion in their workplace culture for the values it brings to its employees, their business, and the environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

From our conversation, I also noticed how she incorporated the value of balance in her leadership, from her gender-ratio hiring practices to her demeanor towards others. On Aboitiz Power Corporation\u2019s company website (n.d), they state that balance is a key central tenet in their corporate philosophy. They balance values of affordability, sustainability, and energy security in their operations as an energy solutions company as well as prioritize social development and environmental stewardship in their mandate of profitability as a public company (Aboitiz Power, n.d.). Cindy\u2019s leadership and Aboitiz\u2019s management practices represent the gold standard in sustainable business initiatives as they demonstrate how diversity can complement profitability and preformance. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you again Cindy for the wonderful interview. For anyone interested in further communicating with her, please visit her LinkedIn account (<\/span>https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/563a153\/<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aboitiz Power. (n.d.). AboitizPower believes in the power of balance. [Blog post]. Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/aboitizpower.com\/about-us\/balanced-philosophy\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n

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For this assignment I had the pleasure of interviewing Cindy, who\u2019s currently the Head of Human Resources for Aboitiz Power Corporation, which is a leading energy provider in the Philippines. Cindy holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology, both from the University of the Philippines. She\u2019s worked in various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":889,"featured_media":565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,128,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-8","category-women-in-leadership","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/889"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions\/578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/insightsofakahuna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}