The few women who have risen to powerful positions in the manufacturing industry, attaining positions such as president, chief financial officer, comptroller, operations manager, or chief engineer, are usually the only woman in their companyโs leadership team.
As the only women in their employerโs board room or leadership group, they donโt necessarily have female colleagues with whom they can discuss work issues, talk about their hopes for future promotions or solve problems.
In response to that void, The Paranet Group, a Brookfield-based networking organization for manufacturing company managers, has created a place for women in non-traditional roles in manufacturing companies to network, share best practices and talk about workplace issues.
The invitation-only group, named Latitude, is open only to women in leadership positions with manufacturing companies that have traditionally been held by men. Latitude has met quarterly for about one year.
Because they arenโt normally able to associate with other women in parallel jobs, networking with other women is a rare opportunity, Latitude members say.
โIn my area, operations, there are not a lot of women,โ said Lenore Lillie, vice president of operations for Milwaukee-based Koss Corp. โItโs a nice change of pace, to meet with women who are in your area.โ
While she is able to talk about operational strategies with her male colleagues in other groups within The Paranet Group, Lillie said she isnโt able to talk to them about what itโs like to be pregnant on the job or how to balance time with her kids and volunteering in the community.
Similar, gender-specific concerns are what Latitude is all about, said Linda Kiedrowski, president of The Paranet Group.
โThey want to be the best they can be,โ Kiedrowski said. โThey (Latitude members) work with men and they work hard not to be known as the woman in the group. We want them to think of (them being women) as a plus, we want to highlight the fact that they are different. But at the same time, they donโt want to be promoted just because they are women.โ
Rhonda Sullivan, president of Lavelle Industries, a manufacturer of plumbing supplies based in Burlington, agreed. She said the topics that come up in conversations with her peers in Latitudes are different than other peer-based groups for manufacturing executives.
โItโs just a different angle,โ she said. โItโs not necessarily better, itโs just different. Itโs an opportunity to have a smaller group and a really broad range of topics where you can hear different perspectives.โ
Sullivan was attracted to the group because it can show women that careers in manufacturing can be viable and that advancement is possible.
โItโs just an opportunity to see that it exists (women in management positions in manufacturing) and the reality of the situation,โ she said. โAnd most important, we can just show that it is a good field and that there are good opportunities in manufacturing, generally, for women.โ
Part of Latitudeโs goal is to help raise the profile of women in manufacturing companies and to shine light on the women who are working in roles traditionally dominated by men, Kiedrowski said. For some of these women, the need is particularly strong because of their own tendencies to not draw attention to themselves, she said.
โWhat we see today is women developing a higher profile instead of being a behind-the-scenes person,โ Kiedrowski said. โWe ask them, โHow can we do that?โ Women donโt want to blow their own horn.โ
Latitude will help more women get hired in executive and management positions in manufacturing, Kiedrowski said, because The Paranet Group has easy access to top-level managers and executives for manufacturing companies.
โPart of my job and role is to ask them, โHow many women do you have on your board (of directors)?'โ she said. โMost (manufacturing) companies are run by men. It takes a big leap to bring women on board. But I have fabulous candidates to sit on boards.โ
The members of Latitude can also play an important part in increasing the number of women in leadership positions in their companies, Kiedrowski said.
โI ask them who they are bringing up, who they are mentoring,โ she said. โWho have you identified in your organization to take your place or sit next to you on your team?โ
Latitude should also help younger women working as an engineer or finance director, for example, to draw on the experience of women who have been in the male-dominated manufacturing world for longer, Kiedrowski said.
โThe group can give perspective on large projects or workplace issues,โ she said. โThings like, โWhere does a VP of operations go from here?โ Or โHow do you prepare for your next role?โ Weโll talk about it.โ
For more on The Paranet Group, visit www.paranetgroup.com. For information about Latitude, call Linda Kiedrowski at (262) 796-2560.