If you work for male-dominated corporation, please share this post with the leaders of your company.
Talk has heated up around forcing companies to promote women into senior positions. Although many would say that this is the only way to break down the control of the male elite at the top, would you take a position based on filling a quota? This offer doesn't sound attractive to me.
What's fueling this movement? According to a recent article in The Economist, France will now force companies to increase the number of women on their boards to 40% by 2016. Spain also introduced a quota at 40%. Italy and the Netherlands will probably be next. Britain's government is threatening to make companies formally report their efforts to increase the number of female directors.
Here in the United States women still only hold 14% of board seats at Fortune 500 companies according to Catalyst. Catalyst has also found that among high-potential graduates from elite MBA programs, women still lag behind men in advancement and compensation starting from their first job through management positions. The Harvard Business Review found women representing just 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs and less than 15% of corporate executives at top companies worldwide. Many feel that these dismal numbers reflect a need to force the issue.
Lawmakers aren't just screaming for social justice. According to analysts in both the United States and Europe, the more women in a company's senior management team, the less its share price fell in 2008/09 during the recession. In another study spanning the last 19 years, Pepperdine University found that the Fortune 500 companies with the best record of promoting women outperformed their competitors by anywhere from 41 to 116 percent. McKinsey also did a global study that showed significant difference in the financial performance of companies that have women in least a third of their senior management positions. Women leaders mean good business.
I'm still queasy about quotas.
I think the problem lies in the pipeline. If leaders say they don't have enough qualified women to promote, then they should work on how they 1) develop women and 2) create corporate cultures that appeal to top female performers. This process might be slower than imposing quotas but it is likely to get more buy-in from the women themselves.
Here are some ideas to share with your company's leaders:
1. What about making sure women are appropriately developed? A 2009 study of 376 organizations found that 50 percent more men get special attention than women, including mentoring and attending "high-potential programs." Women are quicker to look for another job than men when they feel frustrated and under-appreciated. Many are choosing to start their own businesses as soon as they have the experience and funds.
As a result, many women don't stay long enough in one corporation to earn the highest positions. If companies want to keep their best female performers in the Pipeline, they should look at how they select and develop women early on.
Also, provide women with a chance to network and give them on-going, real time coaching to help them navigate through an environment that doesn't always appreciate their leadership styles. Give them the right tools and they will rise to the challenge.
2. It's not just about developing women. Their managers need to be developed, too. Most leaders do not know how to manage high-achieving women. I'm not talking about a woman's need to juggle family and work responsibilities, though both men and women have this issue. I'm talking about what high-achieving women need even more than men to fully commit to their work. In their words, this is what women want at work.
• Help us see how our work is meaningful. Even if our products are not that meaningful in the bigger scheme of life, we want to work for companies that care for their employees, respect the environment and support their local communities. We struggle with committing to a monetary goal or a drive solely focused on beating our competitors. We don't just work to make a living. We will align our energies with your penchant for profit when we can see the evidence of our good work in the world.
• Continually affirm our contribution and value. Our sense of contribution to the organization is as important to us as our paycheck. We need to know how well we did in relation to the people we touch, whether it's our peers or our customers. It's not enough for us to know we have great knowledge and ability. We need to know if we have made an impact.
• Give us frequent, new challenges. We love to learn and to apply what we learn to resolving new, complex challenges. Never assume our outside responsibilities will get in the way of a demanding new task. Let us make that decision. Then work with us on creating flexible work schedules. We can be creative in how we achieve goals. We abhor the "who can stay the latest" contests.
• Design and foster a creative and collaborative environment. We love to work for leaders that create environments that provide an open flow of communications in all directions. Organizations are flatter today; let us help you design how work gets done by engaging everyone in the process instead of working through hierarchies.
I don't think we should go the quota route. What about taking the sensible route of engaging top performers today, including women, so you aren't struggling to retain them tomorrow? Helping women climb the corporate ladders makes good business sense.
Want to take the next step? There's a letter you can copy and send to your CEO at www.wanderwomanbook.com under Social Media.
Follow Marcia Reynolds on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MarciaReynolds
"As an employer's organization, although we wanted more women in senior positions, we were against the quota law from day one, believing such decisions were entirely up to shareholders... But now we have to acknowledge that it is only because of the law and the public debate it provoked that real change had happened."
The reality in Norway today is that quota legislation for women on boards has succeeded where all other efforts had failed.
Of course women would rather be promoted on their ability than as part of a quota system. Reality is, however, that this is unlikely to happen with the context of today's organizations. Just as it took a change in legislation to give women the vote at the beginning of the twentieth century, so it may take similar action at the beginning of the twenty-first century to overcome the resistance to women leading organizations, governments, and countries.
Lynn Harris
Author
Unwritten Rules: What Women Need To Know About Leading In Today's Organizations
I believe that the ONLY way women would be able to be represented equally on boards in OUR times and not our grand-daughters times is by taking the quota route.
Taking women on board by quota does not mean taking women that are not qualified for it. It means just giving those who are ready and willing, those who are talented and experienced the Jump-Start that they need to prove those qualifications
This old tune that there isn't enough qualified women out there to do the job has been proven wrong and falsified by the Norwegian example. Men found out that there is so much talented and qualified women out there that today this has stopped being an issue.
We need to stop thinking that just because there is quota, untalented women would be taken on board. At the end of the day those women would have to prove themselves with results.
I totally believe that if we wish to become the leaders we can be and make a true difference in the world TODAY, as the world needs us TODAY, we need to embrace and support any actions towards quota for women otherwise we might face a future where our daughters, might be accepted as leaders but inherit a world that they could not even be changed or improve!
Nearly 30 years ago when I started in advertising, there was a lot of discussion about having greater ethnic diversity at agencies. Huge efforts were undertaken to recruit people of color into the business, but despite their good intentions, the business is nearly as homogeneous today as it was then. Why? Because the real root issue is not the people, it's the pay. Advertising is notoriously stingy with its entry level pay packages, and if you're an ethnic minority with lots of student loans to pay back, you need to be self-supporting immediately.
The way I see it, women not being promoted into executive positions has more to do with discovering the real root issues behind their inability to get promoted. I don't think it's training or coaching--most companies are providing training to all their employees. Anecdotally, I can tell you that a lot of women have a problem with the politics and cutthroat nature of the workplace, and in many cases, we're our own worst enemies. It's why I believe the number of women-owned small business start-ups is growing at a pace faster than those created by men. They can control the environment and not have to change their true nature to succeed.
My point in all this is to say, unless corporate culture fundamentally changes, companies will have to institute a quota to retain top female employees. The cards are stacked against us to get there by traditional means.
"...the more women in a company's senior management team, the less its share price fell in 2008/09 during the recession..."
All my career, I heard "how will this affect the bottom line?" or "what's the ROI?" Well...these statistics speak louder than any justification I've heard previously as to why women should be seated at the senior executive and board room tables.
I, too, am very uneasy with quotas. I am not a big fan of affirmative action either. I think such mandates create a climate of mistrust and bitterness. It would be another set back for women rather than a support.
I love your suggestion that managers be given the skills to better manage women. I think this is true of women managers as well as male. And I think the "what women want" list is a great beginning to a manifesto for change. Thanks for articulating reason beyond mandates, Marcia. Please keep up the outstanding work!