‘Becoming a better leader has helped me ensure women are heard’

Men and women’s communication styles are often different, and part of being a leader is making sure women are heard in the team, says Charlotte Dawson.

The 35-year-old senior lecturer at the RVC and head of ophthalmology at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals said undertaking leadership training for women has changed how she manages her team and workflow.

“There are generalised differences in workflow between men and women – particularly in teams,” Dr Dawson explained. “I now know I can predict a situation sooner and improve communication around it.

“So before holding a meeting I think about who might volunteer to do something in the meeting or offer ideas. Then I plan how to facilitate it so that quieter people – usually women – put their ideas forward, too.

“Afterwards, I send an email around everyone to mop things up, and find that, after having mulled things over, women often come up with great ideas.”

Part of this difference is that men tend to approach problem-solving in a much more black and white way, said Dr Dawson, and so come up with ideas on the spot, whereas women tend to be better at seeing multiple perspectives.

“So, it’s about learning how different people communicate and being able to fascinate things so that everyone is heard,” she said. Dr Dawson said she is also now better at delegating and working collaboratively.

“I’m now much more open to different people’s perspectives and ways of doing things, and so work more collaboratively,” she said.

“It’s also helped me let go when delegating. Before I would think I needed to do everything myself because I didn’t want to overburden other people, but I was getting burnt out.”

Dr Dawson has also learned to network better, and said BSAVA Congress is “an excellent opportunity to re-establish old connections and make new ones”, and encourages women to virtually network to explore exciting options in their field of interest.

Closing the gender gap needs more work

Although she doesn’t feel she’s faced gender discrimination in her career, Dr Dawson said big inequality still needs addressing at higher pay grades – particularly in academia.

“In my pay grade it’s quite transparent, but we know there is a gender gap in pay grades above me and that most professors in the UK are male,” she said. “As you go higher in universities, that gap continues to widen.”

Having her first child 15 months ago, and struggling to juggle child care and being on call, exposed the lack of flexibility in the profession for working parents, said Dr Dawson.

“We don’t have many emergency care only services in the UK, unlike the US, so there is little flexibility for working on-call hours,” she said. “There are single vet mums out there who have to take their children with them on call.”

The COVID pandemic has, however, shown employers that people can work more flexibly and from home sometimes, and Dr Dawson hopes this will push change.

“I think employers are starting to think outside the box more, but the profession is a bit behind, so we have some way to go,” she said.