“It's not just about one month.”
Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on and honor the contributions that women have made throughout history (as well as honor the women in our lives today). We take this moment to recognize the women before us who paved the way and broke down barriers to create greater strides towards equality. Today, one way that we see women make an impact is through their leadership roles at organizations.
At Lulafit, Founder and CEO Colleen Werner has created a work culture that aligns with the other goals that women have. As someone with a love and passion for wellness, she makes sure to create an environment in her organization where everyone can thrive - both at work and in their lives outside of work.
We wanted to learn more about what Women’s History Month means to Colleen, along with what advice she has for other women who want to lead.
Let’s meet her.
Meet Colleen Werner
Most people in Colleen’s professional network know her as the founder and CEO of Lulafit. Prior to Lulafit, Colleen was a professional ballet dancer, which is how she found her way into wellness and discovered her love and passion for it. Back in 2014, when the company started, Colleen was still dancing professionally. With two careers going at one time and multiple injuries, she realized the direction she was meant to go in was to become a full-time entrepreneur and CEO.
Since then, Lulafit has grown tremendously and is now a national and international wellness brand that works with all different types and sizes of companies to build cultures of wellness in physical and digital spaces. Colleen is also a mom to a beautiful one-year-old daughter and works alongside her husband, who joined Lulafit in 2019 as the CFO.
Let’s take a look at her responses.
Q: As a Female CEO, what advice would you give to women who want to be leaders?
A: “You already are one. I think everyone's a leader. The moment you decide to step up and lead, you're a leader. It doesn't matter if you're the janitor or the CEO. Everyone's time is just as valuable and important. Your title does not matter. It's how you show up every day and act and lead and encourage. That's what makes a leader.
I've really tried to promote that every single person is in a position of leadership because you represent your company, which means you represent each other and a brand that stands for more than just the sum of the individuals in it. When you are in an executive position or a department head, it’s really important to find ways to get the other leaders in your company to have a voice; this will make for a stronger business.”
Q: What are some strategies you’ve learned that can help women achieve a more prominent role in their organizations?
A: “I think first and foremost, don't be afraid to ask for promotions, for more responsibility, or for raises. I will say, being the CEO of a company, all the men are doing it. Every male in my company is asking for these things and I love when I see the females in our company doing the same thing. Don't ever stop asking for what you want.
I'll caveat that with: When you do, be prepared. Sometimes you are going to be told no, but that does not mean you should stop asking. It's about being vocal about what you want and being respectful about why you deserve it and how you're going to do something really exceptional for your company, for your team.
I always love when people make a business case for why it's good for our organization for them to get what they want. Here's a problem that I see, here's how I think it can be fixed, and here's why I'm the person to do it right. Put together that PowerPoint, put together that brief and send it to the people who need to see it. I think that's the best way to ask for anything.
Secondly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. I always say what has made me successful about being a mom this year is that I have absolutely no shame in asking for help. I have so much help because that's what I need to be functional as a human, to be a good mom, to be a good boss, to be a good wife, daughter, friend - all of these things. And that's what makes me successful, it’s that I don't have a fear of asking people for help.”
Q: What do you think are the most important changes an organization needs to make to break down barriers to leadership roles for women?
A: “It's a cultural shift that needs to happen. Let’s create work cultures that align with other goals that women have: Supporting their families mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. I think what truly makes a very high-performing company, is when you get the support to be good at different things and to be hungry for a lot of different things. A Lot of those are going to be professional. Some of them aren't going to be. Even though my work is so important to me, my company is my first child. There are other things that are important to me, and that's okay. It should not be frowned upon to want a life outside of work. It should be praised because that’s what helps keep us balanced as humans.
Some of the ways that we do it is through paid parental leave. It's very clear that there are things that I do and can do as a mom and as a part of our business that my husband cannot. So, he needs to step in and support either our parenting or our business when I was focusing on one or the other, and then vice versa. Families need that ebb and flow and families should be able to make that decision for themselves. It's very important for employees to feel that support from their employer. Not just moms, but families, because that's the only way we're going to break a lot of these.”
Q: What trends are you seeing in the workplace excite you?
A: “A shift from a focus on wellbeing culture and programs as a nice to have, to a need to have. The number one most exciting thing that I'm seeing is that this is employee-driven. Creating a good culture, I think, is more than just Summer Fridays and unlimited PTO. It's a deep care, for not only who your people are, but how they work and how you support them. Let's not focus as much on what the employer needs from their insurance company or in order for them to hit certain benchmark to qualify for best places to work, but let's focus on what an employee needs to be successful in all of the different areas that they want to be successful - personal, professional, all their mental health, their physical health, their social health. The employers now are coming to us and saying, “this is what I'm hearing from our people” and “this is what our people are asking for” and that is a big shift from three years ago. A lot of business outcomes are going to be positively impacted by listening to our teams and understanding how we can help them, how we can help support them.
I think we have to change our definition of what a high performer is. I learned this as an athlete. A high performer is not someone who works harder than anyone else. They work hard, but intelligently. It's the age old saying of “work smarter, not harder”. What does that mean? That means exactly what it means. You're not burning the candle at both ends 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can't do it. It's not possible. I’m seeing employers start to say “let's look at outcomes”. I don't care how the work gets done. I care that it gets done and I care about the outcomes.
I've been very, very passionate about mental health, always, because I saw in the ballet world a lot of people struggle. It comes out and eating disorders, burnout - it can get quite bad. But even though I was passionate about it, we weren't really doing a lot for our own team and a few months into the pandemic. June of 2020, I noticed that I was struggling myself with just the weight of everything going on in the world. We decided to offer mental health coaching sessions during the month to every single one of our employees - paid for. As a leader, I recognized that the impact of the pandemic was so severe, it was really impacting the business and our employees’ ability to make decisions, and their ability to think outside the box.
When we started these services, 87% of our company started to use them and still today, almost two years later, we have over 80% of our company using them. It was just like a phenomenal shift that happened, prioritizing our employees' mental health. We added it to our platform for our customers because we saw such an unbelievable difference. We, as employers, have to get creative about how we can support our team from a mental, physical and social health perspective.”
Q: What's your Women's History Month message?
A: “It's not just about one month. This month is a reminder to keep uplifting, supporting and encouraging each other 12 months a year, 365 days a year. It's on women to uplift and encourage and support and mentor other women because it is a unique experience to go through as a woman. It's also men encouraging and supporting, uplifting, advocating for, and fighting for women. And I hope that one day we live in a world where we don't have to have a Women's History Month.”
This Women’s History Month, give a shoutout to the women in your life - it can be your mother, friend, colleague, or boss. Let’s all make an effort to create work cultures that empower everyone in the workplace, and let’s uplift women to be leaders in their communities and in the professional world by recognizing that organizational culture should reflect the other goals that women have outside of work.