WOMEN IN TECH BLOG SERIES: EMPOWERING WOMEN IN IT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY AND RECOGNITION
Written By: Katelyn Montgomery, Founder and President, Worldgate LLC
Katelyn Montgomery is the founder and President of Worldgate, llc and is responsible for helping to define Worldgate’s vision, values, policies, and corporate strategy. In addition, Katelyn is responsible for all internal operations including Human Resources, Finance, and Internal Communications. Katelyn brings over 30 years of management experience across both small and enterprise businesses in the IT, telecommunications, and non-profit sectors. In her executive leadership roles, she has been responsible for setting strategic direction and overseeing implementation of several large-scale initiatives. Katelyn earned her MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park and is proud to be an alumnus of the University of New Hampshire.
She is passionate about Worldgate’s programs to give back to the community, including our public school and youth sports philanthropy programs.
In sitting down to write this post, I thought a lot about the advice I may give to other women who are running businesses or departments in the Information Technology space. In this reflection, I asked myself what two things I might tell a female colleague to help her be successful whether she is just starting out or is leading an organization.
Find your circle. One of the best decisions I made early on in establishing our company was to find a group of women business leaders with whom I could connect. I have found this group to be invaluable. It’s a safe space where I can share ideas, celebrate wins, learn, and frankly be vulnerable. Sometimes when you are leading an organization, you feel like you need to be strong for your team all the time and never admit fear or doubt. By finding this circle of like-focused women, I was able to have a place where I could get feedback on ideas, learn best practices from others, and share things that were causing me to lose sleep. I always leave those monthly meetings with new and fresh ideas, solutions to challenges and renewed focus and energy.
Celebrate your team. The second thing that I have treasured as a leader is to celebrate and recognize our team members – we do this through monthly coffee chats, quarterly recognition ceremonies, and by celebrating each team member’s birthdays and anniversaries. We receive feedback from our team that these small things mean so much. Don’t forget this when you’re pushing towards tight deadlines and impossible deliverables. Showing this appreciation and letting your team members know how special they are creates a culture of caring – it’s so simple, but means so much.