The leader of an agency choosing to change and be more inclusive is working to empower all women.
Ontario Northland president and CEO Corina Moore was the keynote speaker for an International Women's Day event hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce on March 8.
Moore took over the commission in 2014. Today, the agency's senior team is 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women, compared with 14 men and three women (18 per cent) in 2012.
With diversity at the manager and entry levels lagging, she said the focus for the next five years is attracting young women and making sure their career aspirations include male-dominated professions.
Ontario Northland's already above the industry average.
It has over 800 transportation experts, with 22 per cent being women, said Moore, adding that's almost 10 per cent above the rail and trucking industry average.
To help women find their voice, Moore has tips to stay on track.
At some point in your career, someone's going to ask what you want to do. When the question comes, you'll have one to two minutes of focused attention, she said.
Whether you're a young woman or someone who's been in the workforce a long time, she encourages having a personal, two-minute elevator speech.
"You want to be able to able to rhyme off some of the reasons that you’re great, and it feels really uncomfortable. What I would say is it’s really important to write it out and then find your friend or a mentor or a sponsor or someone that you trust, that you know has your back, and practise it out loud with them for what you’re going to say,” she said.
Throughout her career, Moore's had a number of mentors. She said her biggest help was having a male sponsor — someone at the senior level — for guidance.
“If we don’t have the male leaders on our side, this will never work because it’s still 80 per cent around the table,” she said.
From walking a tightrope between being assertive or aggressive, having to prove your competence or feeling invisible, Moore said microaggressions happen all the time.
“I think we all as women have to just learn to be ourselves and we’re not quite often yellers and that’s OK. And there’s a different type of leader now that is strong but caring and that provides a better work environment as far as I’m concerned,” she said.
Things are happening regularly that can start to turn the table, although she noted women are still generally only 20 per cent around the table.
Some of the ways to choose change is developing a strong team, having a plan and communicating it, and continually improving.
In training people on diversity and inclusion, she said inclusion is the most important part.
— TimminsToday
