The Art and Science of Influence

On November 10, 2018 we had a Women’s Leadership Development Workshops to kick off CAWIC’s (Canadian Association of Women in Construction) Women’s Leadership Program.

More than 30 women working in the Construction Industry attended the event. Participants were of different professions and of all levels in their careers: business owners, project managers, HR representatives, team leads, directors, sales managers, and many others.

The workshop, entitled the Art and Science of Influence, explored topics such as power of trust, building and maintaining relationships for success, and behavioural styles and their impact on the results women achieve in their professional and personal lives.

In two words, the workshop was all about becoming a more effective leader others are motivated to work for and work with, not because of your own position title and authority you have but because they want to.

Being a woman leader in this industry is quite challenging. This kind of event, it motivates women to develop and to realize they are not alone in their adventures. Through support and understanding and learning the tools that help them succeed.

We were discussing and learning to apply the three-step strategy to achieve this:

• Becoming more self-aware and understanding your own behavioural style, your strengths and potential limitations
• Identifying and accepting the styles of others
• Modifying your own behaviours to be more effective communicator and becoming more effective at influencing others

Feedback received after the workshop revealed that the tools and strategies discussed were of a great value to everyone, and at the same time, the insights were individual and unique for each woman in the audience.

Below are few examples of the answers participants provided when asked: “What was the most important and valuable for you?”

“It introduced ideas and made me think of approaches to take with colleagues and in my personal life”

“I need to manage a team, and I very much need to understand personalities to be successful. This helped me and it was exactly what I needed!”

“Helps understand how others think and work, helps build relationships both personal and professional.”

“Making me more aware of the people who work around me, and how to get them to work more efficiently and effectively.”

“Improve culture at work.”

“Strategies to engage with people different than me.”