Let’s talk about PMS, premenstrual syndrome and why it’s utterly important for you, as a leader, to know about it.

You can’t choose who you lead!

We call them Engineering Managers, Product Managers, Directors, and so on. And while these folks sometimes lead people who do a similar job, like for example, developers – in the end, they lead an individual. Their job title actually doesn’t say a lot about how you have to lead them. It doesn’t matter if you manage only designers, only developers or a combination of both. You manage people. And for that, you need people skills. Empathy. Knowledge. Experience.

Throughout your career as a manager, you will meet various kinds of people. Different age, different background, different personalities, people with different ways to learn. It’s your responsibility to figure out how to manage the individual person. How to help them grow. Surely, this can become quite challenging the more people you lead. Which is usually the reason, you start with leading only one or two. And with time and experience, more will follow.

The gender gap

According to the We need more women in STEM abstract, only 26.7% of people working in the tech sector in the UK are women. In the US, worldmetrics (see the “Gender Representation” section) shows a percentage of 25.9%. These low numbers highlight a non-irrelevant issue for leaders: they get way fewer opportunities to gain experience leading people who menstruate than people who don’t.

At the same time, the attrition rate is immense: Womenhack.com, for example, shows in the “Retention & Attrition” section, that 50% of women are leaving tech by the age of 35 and that the workplace culture is the primary reason for that. Interesting and unfortunately not surprising, or is it? Good news, it doesn’t need to stay like this. Culture can change. Leadership can change. You can change.

Workplace culture – and what PMS has to do with it

In Germany, we have the saying “Der Fisch stinkt vom Kopf her” (“A fish rots from the head down”) which is used to describe that systematic issues often start on the leadership level. But it mustn’t be issues that start at the top, it can as well be defining a positive and safe environment that originates there. And creating a safe environment might start by understanding the effect PMS has on team members.

Said effect can be quite different for each individual as symptoms of PMS and similar syndromes vary. You don’t have to remember all of them. It’s even okay if you forget that PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome when you are done reading. It’s awareness I’m after.

Depressed mood and mood swings are 2 common symptoms. Headaches, fatigue, muscle and breast pain, inability to concentrate, weight gain, a feeling of being overwhelmed and anxiety are others. There are more and intensity varies – what’s important to remember is that these symptoms appear regularly, possibly monthly, without any input from the person. It’s a condition. Not a choice.

No special treatment

Knowing about PMS doesn’t mean you have to give out special treatment. It means to be aware and to offer support. Someone who has a hard time following a meeting mentally doesn’t need to hear that they have to stay focused. Let them watch the recording at a later time if possible. Be aware that someone suffering from cramps might lie down during the day. And someone with a challenging client might need support when a difficult situation arises. Offer guidance on how to communicate when being on edge.

Learning about PMS and what it means for you as a leader can be a starting point to shift workplace culture for the better, to reduce attrition and to lead intentionally.