Why women need to be daring, take risks and compete

Journalist

Mwananchi Communications Limited

What you need to know:

Women have every reason to believe in themselves both at home and in the work environment, this is particularly so because they often bring a lot of value to an organisation ...

Dar es Salaam. Traditionally, women in Tanzania have not been being prioritised, something that has caused some of them to lack self confidence in various aspects.
This is still the case in some households in some communities, whereby boys are given more opportunities than their counterparts, girls.
National Bank of Commerce (NBC) chief operating officer Alelio Lowassa explains to Mwananchi Communications Limited’s Rising Woman Initiative that it women have to utilise effectively their natural confidence and fight for opportunities that come their way in order to attain top management positions.
With over two decades of experience in the banking industry, Alelio says she started from junior positions and gradually climbed to her current position, mostly thorugh hard work, working smart and for always believing in herself and her capability to excel.
“It is important for one to perform well in your job. From the day I joined, I strived to do the best I could. I realised from early on that I was to be a team builder and ensure that the works of my colleagues go well. I also learned that building good rapport with my colleagues was crucial for my development, that of others and of the organisation,” she says.
Alelio reveals that it has been due to her self confidence that she is not afraid of facing challenges, and has over time become a problem solver.
She recalls how she prepared a paper containing recommendations on what should be done to end long customer queues in bank halls.
The recommendations were adopted by the management and hence ending the problem of customer long lines waiting for services.
Alelio says she often reads her organisation’s policies, and this helps her to have a deeper understanding of the entire organisation and how it works, hence giving her the competence and skills of being in the position to give appropriate suggestions to most of the departments and units.
She is of the conviction that young women, in whichever life career they may be in, need to be self-confident and share their arguments without fear.
Alelio says, she is never afraid of asking questions in order to broaden her understanding of issues as well as give the right suggestion of piece of advice, something that has helped shape her journey to becoming a leader.
On her leadership style, she says she prefers dialogue and treatmetn of other people with respect irrespective of their positions. She says it is important to draw up productivity from others, and hence giving others sense of self-confidence and being productive without fear.
“I’m more of a collaborative leader, who usually engages others especially in sharing ideas which I believe is the key when it comes to evaluating leadership success. Sometimes, I reinvent myself to interact with different people,” she says.
Alelio also talks about the importance of modelling on successful leaders both within and outside the organisation. She says, she has been doing so for years in the organistion an outside the organisation.
“I often assess my capabilities before embarking on something. I did the same before going for the roles of technology and management operations. I also looked for vacancies and opportunities related to technology before starting to work in different positions,” she explains.
To become someone in life, one needs to be motivated, hinting that this guidance may help someone to move up the levels of life by tackling challenges that may hinder realisation of their dreams.
The NBC COO reveals that her motivation arises from her readiness to take on different jobs, plus striving to add value to what she does in delivering the best outcomes.
“In my personal mission, I want to be an agent of change, so that I can improve the experience and lives of the people at least in every community I serve. For me, multi-tasking is a good thing because it gives me experience to hold different positions in the organisation,” she says.
Alelio narrates that, there are different factors that hinders women from attaining top leadership positions, naming family responsibilities including raising children.
“There are those who fail to strike the balance between their responsibilities at home and those at the office. We need to master the art of delegation some responsibilities,” she says.
According to her, it is important for organizations to allow room for discussing women issues and come up with the resolve to ending their problems for them to grow careerwise, and hence improve their efficience and performance.
“When I gave birth to my first born, office roles required me to arrive as early as 6.30am. it was challenging, sometimes I would arrive late, but I’m grateful to my family that supported me and helped me manage my roles well,” she says.
Furthermore, she says her own experience has made her respect even more female leaders.
On coaching, Alelio says she was coached by competent leaders, and she too does the same by coaching and mentoring upcoming female staff and others.
Ms Lowassa argues that having women leaders in an organisation helps tackle the challenge of gender equality, but there are immense economic values that women bring to institutions.
“Women are important in finance and budgeting because they are endowed with the capacity to hold many details and are risk takers in terms of decision making. We don’t have shortcuts, this is crucial for organisations,” she says.
“Gender balance is one of our top priority at NBC. We evaluate ourselves through discussions taking place at the board level as we have a lot of initiatives including managerial training, group discussions and provide them with flexible hours,” Alelio notes.
She advices young women to ensure that they do their best when they hold top positions in management, and help fellow women do better.
“Women sometimes don’t want to compete, we don’t want to be vulnerable. However, we need to dare, compete and take the risks. The world is changing fast and women need to sharpen their swords in their preparation and strive to become achievers in what they do both at home and in the office,” she explains.