If you need an example of women supporting each other, consider the senior female staffers in President Barack Obama’s office.
Together, they came up with an excellent tactic to help get heard — after coming into Obama’s cabinet which was originally dominated by men who’d worked on his election campaign and being frustrated at having to “elbow their way” into important meetings.
They adopted a strategy called ‘amplification’, according to a number of interviews with female staffers by a much shared article from the Washington Post this week.
Pay attention — this is a good one, and something you might want to share with your female colleagues.
Basically, when a woman in a meeting made a key point, other women would ‘amplify’ it by repeating it and giving credit to the speaker, thereby ensuring the men in the room would not only hear it, but know exactly who said it first.
As one anonymous staffer told the magazine: “We just started doing it, and made a purpose of doing it. It was an everyday thing.
Apparently, Obama noticed the strategy. And much has changed in his office, with women reaching parity in his inner circle.
So could the strategy work in the meeting rooms of corporate Australia? As the Post points out, the White House has its own unique power struggles — where the goal is to get as close as possible (and heard by) the president. Still, anything that helps women get heard — especially when they’re underrepresented in a room — will help.
