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Working with the UK's largest FTSE100 clients their


to strategic


understand objectives,


financial management and human relationship management challenges, Salma


determined


appropriate solutions (both business and technology) and mapped those solutions to roadmaps for execution. She


says that developing coaching and employees is not a


one-size-fits-all activity. Race, gender, class, education, culture and religion can all affect the needs of employees. Coaches, leaders and line managers must address this. Based in London, Salma now


works with clients at a senior level in public, private and voluntary sectors; supervises and trains other coaches; and presents


keynotes


at events both in the UK and internationally.


A WOMAN IN THE TECH INDUSTRY After gaining a degree in psychology and an MSC in Information Systems, Salma went to work in the tech sector for a small UK software house. She says being brave enough to ask for the job at interview, even when she was inexperienced and not full of confidence, was a turning point in her career. “They were


looking for


somebody who had one year of work experience on the graduate training programme. I had none. I just had my MSc but at the interview I told them: ‘I assure you, you will get a lot from me if you give me this opportunity’.” It paid off and she got the job


and ended up travelling all over the world. “Even if I haven’t always felt


confident on the inside, I’ve put myself out there and that's paid off,” she says. “My parents came to the UK from Pakistan in 1963 and one of the things I did was learn how to navigate different worlds quite early. When I started getting given global assignments at work in my 20s it was actually really easy for me to navigate different cultures. I was curious and open to learning about other cultures.” She spent over five years at the


software house before moving to Oracle, where she learnt how to navigate the tough corporate US


culture that was prevalent in the 1990s in technology. “They were looking for


somebody more experienced than me, but I went for the job. It was a very different culture from my first job and it took me a while to figure that culture out. I learned a lot and found that being in a minority meant that I was remembered, often as the only female. “I learned


that if I had


something good to say, people did listen. What I was not aware of naively, in my late 20s, was that there was a whole layer of people and groups I had no access to.” After working for a number of


other smaller software companies Salma


studied for a coaching


qualification and began to take on clients in the evenings and weekends. “In my early 30s I was really


passionate to get back to human behaviour and coaching, but


At that I


had to keep it a secret from my corporate world.


time,


psychology and coaching were seen as fluffy and not serious. I was in the sales part of the company, which was very macho and aggressive.” Running her own business was


also a departure from her family background, which she describes as “risk averse”. Learning to be self-employed was a big change from working in the corporate world, where she had a car, pension and sick pay. Learning to manage her cashflow, set boundaries, build up a support network and avoid burnout have all been important lessons. “Running my own business


is one of the hardest things I have ever done, but now I would not want to go back as an employee. I'm a people person and I am innately curious about people.” She says that


if organisations really want to change,


then


leaders need to be prepared for “discomfort and challenge”. They need


to


Below: Salma speaking at the Relocate Global Think Women event at the IoD in London


at what changes need to be made through an intersectional lens, so that the conversation is not just about women as a single group, but a recognition that people have different strengths and backgrounds. “Some leaders want to make they have


changes because a


strong ethical belief that diversity and inclusion are important,” she says. “Others can see that there is a business case for change. Organisations are


now waking


up to the fact that this change is necessary, and that it is not about box ticking.”


also look


23


THINK WOMEN


GLOBAL LEADERSHIP


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