Look at the facts and face the truth. The discussion on boardroom diversity will not work unless organizations stop the haemorrhaging of women leaving businesses while at the management level, never reaching the the executive suite. The truth is most organizations struggle mightily to retain talented mid-career women. The New York Times reports that even Norway (poster country for board diversity) faces these same challenges, too few women in line for the C suite.
While researching MNC’s across Asia Pacific recently, I heard business leaders vehemently state, ‘We have a robust pipeline of women in the workforce – slight pause – in middle-management.’ Probing further into this ‘percentages and pipeline’ beyond management, the number of women mysteriously and significantly dwindle.
Given this drop- off rate, disparity in the boardroom will clearly continue to be an issue unless organizations rethink how to address a looming problem.
The recent frenetic talk of women in board rooms is often built on the hope that it will lift women to the top, and having women in senior roles will trickle down to the others.
But such a board focus and subsequent ‘trickle-down theory’ undermines the real issues, stalling progress. There are fundamental issues at stake, some more obvious than others, that need addressing.
Sally Krawcheck, President of Global Wealth and Investment Management at Bank of America, has it right: ‘ Hang on to women in their 30’s.’ If nothing else ensues, this should be the primary focus for the next decade. At midlife, women re-evaluate purpose, an introspective time and a critical period for leadership development.
The real cost to organizations is losing talented women at this pivotal juncture. While significant energy, resources, and research have focused on board diversity, women continue to be stuck in the middle, and fewer numbers rising to the top.
What’s the hold up? The dearth of women in executive roles is attributed to lack of networks, experience, and role models, but the big hurdle to overcome is bias and mindsets.
Not everyone sees the world in the same way, more of a truth in leadership. Ask about great leaders across cultures, and it generates lists of interesting people; infamous, notorious, good, bad and different. Leadership is often in the eye of the beholder, and very different across cultures. We thus need to fundamentally broaden our view of what defines leadership.
Most view leadership through a cultural filter, but inside an organizations this frame of reference needs to expand, as leaders come in all shapes, sizes and colours.
Widening this view requires a focus on bias awareness. Bias impacts every aspect of the employee life cycle from selection to promotion to redundancy. To ensure talented women thrive and move towards the executive suite, consider these three steps:
- Focus on mid-career talent
- Expand leadership definitions
- Embed bias awareness
