A leader who is accessible and responsive can help prevent ‘bottlenecks’ in the decision-making process.Getty Images
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Ask Women and Work
Question: I manage a large team working on big, long-term projects with many moving parts. I enjoy being at the helm, but it can be a challenge to stay on top of everything that needs to get done. How can I keep from getting bogged down in the details and keep the big picture front of mind?
We asked Lisa Zarzeczny, co-founder and CEO of Elevate Festival (happening in Toronto Oct. 1-3), to tackle this one:
This is exactly what I deal with on a daily basis. We’re managing an event with 10,000 attendees, 350 speakers and hundreds of volunteers. It’s a huge project with a tonne of moving parts and so many things from a tactical perspective that need to get done that you can quickly find yourself in the weeds.
The key to managing this has been to build a powerful team, especially when it comes to my direct reports. I’ve made sure to find people who are better than I am in their respective fields so I can completely trust them to deliver in their areas of expertise, from the programming team to the operations team to the finance team. I see my number one job as recruiting, empowering and retaining a top level of talent. Once I have the right people in the right roles, my role is to support them in whatever capacity they need.
I think regular, consistent check-ins are extremely important. I would rather have something in the books and cancel it if there’s nothing urgent or timely to discuss. I’m also an extremely accessible leader, so team members will book ad hoc meetings with me. One of the jobs of a leader is to make sure that they’re not blocking people, so I give people answers as quickly as possible.
I think women sometimes have a difficult time transitioning from an independent contributor to a manager or leader. I certainly did in my career and my journey. It’s very easy to default to things that are in your comfort zone, like the tactical or executional areas. It’s more difficult to take on aspects of the business that may be more challenging for you.
There’s also this tendency to say, ‘It’s easier to do something myself,’ versus taking the time to properly train someone and give them the resources needed to perform at the same level.
One of the things that I did when I transitioned to CEO was I forced myself every week to enter areas where I was uncomfortable to really encourage my own growth and development. For me, that was becoming the face of Elevate, meeting with external stakeholders, doing business development, fundraising and sponsorships.
Every week I would set a target for myself to meet with X number of people or take X number of meetings and hold myself accountable to that growth and development versus going back into areas where I was more comfortable. That’s been a big part of my learning as a leader.
Submit your own questions to Ask Women and Work by e-mailing us at GWC@globeandmail.com.
This week’s must-read stories on women and work
Finding balance as a working mother requires examining your boundaries and beliefs
Business coach Rachel Morris says in working motherhood everything can feel up for grabs: Your body, your time, your focus and your energy.
“You are in demand, you are needed. Your child needs you. Your partner needs you. Your friends might need you. Your wider family might need you. Your work needs you. Your line manager probably needs you. Your colleague might need you,” she writes in her book Working Mother.
She now specializes in helping other working mothers and urges them to address boundaries.
How Knix underwear founder Joanna Griffiths knew it was time to sell
“Selling a majority stake in Knix wasn’t something I was intending to do, but right after I closed a $50-million series B financing, I found a partner that had the same long-term vision for Knix as I did. It felt like being asked to prom by my dream date,” says Knix founder Joanna Griffiths.
“I closed the financing on a Friday in March 2021 – the money hit the bank at 4 p.m. – and was induced on the Monday. On Tuesday, when I was still in hospital after having twin daughters, I got an offer from Essity. And I knew deep down that I wasn’t interested in running a public company.
“I’ve built Knix by being authentic, transparent and open, and I just didn’t see a world in which I could continue to do that if I was running a public company.”
Progress on improving board diversity in Canada is slowing
The push to add more women to boards of directors is slowing at Canadian companies as diversity initiatives lose momentum, a new report has concluded.
A review of 610 companies shows women held 29.8 per cent of a total of 4,860 board seats in 2024, a 1.3-percentage-point increase from a year earlier, according to an annual diversity study by law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. By comparison, the proportion of women on boards climbed an average of 2.1 percentage points annually between 2015 and 2023.
Anne-Marie Pham, chief executive officer of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, said the slowing progress is concerning, and urged companies to tackle the underlying issues.
In case you missed it
For many Black women, fear of failure takes a heavy toll on mental health
Amie Archibald-Varley remembers being bullied by her boss to the point that she would hide in her office.
“I would hear her coming down the hallway, and I would turn off the lights in my office or hide underneath my desk to the point where I was having panic attacks,” says Ms. Archibald-Varley, a nurse, educator and mental health advocate based in Kitchener, Ont. “I had to take a mental health leave from work. It was probably the worst time in my entire life.”
Ms. Archibald-Varley’s feelings of anxiety and fear were intensified because she felt that as a nurse and a Black woman, failure wasn’t an option.
Interested in more perspectives about women in the workplace? Find all stories on The Globe Women’s Collective hub here, and subscribe to the new Women and Work newsletter here. Have feedback? E-mail us at GWC@globeandmail.com.