Organizations around the world have made commitments to develop future leaders
and enhance diversity in order to achieve better results for customers,
stakeholders and employees. However, there is a marked lack of emphasis on
leadership development for women, the largest of all diversity-targeted groups
in any geography.
This disconnect poses a tough challenge for learning leaders, whose programs and
initiatives for leadership education must overcome this organizational inertia
in order to develop more women for top executive roles.
The solutions may not come easily or soon, but facts are emerging to sharply
outline the problem. According to the 2011 Women's Leadership Development survey
conducted by Mercer in conjunction with the Human Capital Media Advisory Group,
the research arm of Chief Learning Officer magazine, 71 percent of global
organizations do not have a clearly defined strategy or philosophy to develop
women for leadership roles.
These findings underscore a Harvard Business Review research report released in
January 2011, titled "The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Through the Last Glass
Ceiling," which stated: Women occupy 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions, are
outnumbered four to one in the C-suite, comprise less than 16 percent of all
corporate officers and occupy only 7.6 percent of Fortune 500 top-earner
positions.
The Mercer survey included responses from more than 1,800 human resources,
talent management and diversity leaders at organizations throughout North
America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. A broad cross-section
of industries took part, with for-profits, high-tech/telecommunications,
financial/banking and durable manufacturing organizations representing the
largest segments. Responses, which addressed current commitment and support for
women's leadership, plans for the future and obstacles to success, were fairly
consistent across regions.
Survey data reveals 47 percent of employers surveyed globally indicate their
organizations do not offer any activities or programs targeted to meet women
leaders' development needs. While 21 percent of organizations said they offer
some activities or programs, only 6 percent said they are planning to add
programs and activities in the future.
Global Differences, Top Programs
It appears while many multinational organizations value gender diversity in
leadership, they are focused on broader diversity objectives and not
specifically on accelerating the development and pipeline of qualified women
leaders. As a result of not having a clearly defined strategy, the climate of
support for developing women leaders is mixed.
Of survey respondents, 44 percent said their organizations support development
of women leaders to a moderate extent, while just 19 percent said their
organizations support women's leadership development to a great extent.
Organizations in the U.S. and Asia Pacific showed a higher than average
response, with 27 percent supporting the development of women to a great extent,
while organizations in EMEA were below average at 14 percent.
This affirms that gender diversity in leadership can be a complex issue. While
some organizations don't recognize the unique attributes women leaders bring to
the table, others don't believe women should be treated differently than men.
Even organizations committed to having a more diverse leadership team may not be
making the kind of progress necessary to achieve their goals.
This lack of progress might be attributed to a flawed perception of what's
valuable to women's leadership development. For example, according to the
survey, the top solutions listed by organizations worldwide specifically
targeting women leaders' needs were flexible work arrangements, 66 percent;
followed by diversity sourcing and recruiting, 44 percent; coaching, 44 percent;
and mentoring, 43 percent.
These same four programs also were identified as the most effective in
developing women leaders. The emphasis on flexible work arrangements is an
important acknowledgement of a work-life issue that traditionally has been
associated with working women. But executive sponsorship and programs such as
coaching and mentoring may be more valuable for leadership skills development
even though survey respondents viewed these solutions as having less of an
impact than flexible work arrangements.
In the U.S. and Asia Pacific regions, organizations showed a higher than average
response of 69 percent that provide flexible work arrangements, while Canadian
organizations showed a lower response, 60 percent. More U.S. and Asia Pacific
organizations also provide coaching, 51 and 45 percent respectively, compared to
42 percent of organizations in EMEA and 37 percent in Canada.
Levels of Concern, Limiting Factors
What's worrisome is where there is inconsistency of a lack of targeted
strategies for developing women leaders, organizations do not appear to be
overly concerned. When asked about their level of concern regarding various
aspects of women in leadership, the top three issues ranked "very concerned"
were having enough women in the leadership pipeline, 21 percent; retaining women
once they reach leadership levels, 20 percent; and having women develop the full
range skills necessary for a senior leadership position, 19 percent. These
relatively low levels of concern don't square with organizations' overall
strategies around diversity and leadership.
That said, the top three factors preventing women in leadership talent pools
from advancing to the next level in their organizations were work-life balance
and lack of an executive sponsor, which were nearly tied at about 42 percent,
and insufficient breadth of experience, 29 percent. Organizations in Asia
Pacific and EMEA also listed willingness to relocate as a leading factor
preventing advancement, 36 percent and 27 percent respectively.
Similarly, survey respondents said the biggest challenges women face in their
development as leaders pertains to work-life balance, lack of role models, lack
of opportunities for career advancement and a lack of support from upper
management. And while their organizations may not have expressed significant
concern about women's leadership development, many survey respondents indicated
their own desire to improve their program's effectiveness by instituting formal
coaching and mentoring programs, promoting development for all potential
leaders, emphasizing younger-generation leaders and launching affinity groups.
When it comes to offering programs to help women advance as leaders, the
solutions being provided by organizations don't always address the issue.
Leadership development is a multiphase process that goes beyond flexible work
schedules and basic coaching; it must include opportunities to obtain leadership
experience, and more importantly, it must have support from senior management.
Many organizations have talented women in their leadership pipelines, but to
successfully advance them into leadership roles, they need a strategy. In
addition to plans and programs to develop women, this strategy should outline
how to change the organization's corporate culture to recognize the business
value inherent to diverse leadership.
Learning Implications
Learning leaders have an opportunity to frame the issue as a strategic
imperative and to advance the science and practice of women's leadership
development. Most companies still rely on traditional approaches such as
offering flexible schedules rather than taking a more systematic and integrated
approach. Accelerating the development of women leaders will require coordinated
individual and companywide change efforts. The problem should be attacked on two
fronts: helping women build and demonstrate their leadership skills while
simultaneously changing the organizational culture.
Further, the lack of executive sponsors and an insufficient breadth of
experience were cited among the top factors preventing women in their
organization's leadership talent pool from advancing to the next level. This
calls for an exploration of exactly how executive sponsorship can drive career
advancement, and what touchstones may be required for it to work effectively. Is
it necessary, for example, for an executive sponsor or mentor to have had
diversity training and specific capabilities to effectively mentor women
executives? What must women bring to the task of partnering with male executives
in terms of shared vision and career growth?
Leadership in today's global business world is about creating and sustaining
cultures of risk taking and innovation, and unleashing new ideas and fresh
approaches in order to drive business results. Despite the thin ranks of women
in the C-suites, there's ample evidence that high-profile women CEOs and
executives have been among the most aggressively innovative and fresh thinking
on a global scale. Programs and initiatives that can develop and reinforce
techniques to promote business innovation and creativity will be vital for
tomorrow's women leaders.
However, embracing these goals and strategies isn't going to change the
long-standing leadership paradigm overnight. Among the comments made by
respondents to the Mercer survey, there were frequent references to the
predominance of "old boys' clubs," inflexible corporate cultures and
male-dominated leadership teams that do not support or enable women to move into
comparable leadership roles.
Further, there are some real development challenges ahead for women. Survey
respondents cited women's "struggle to be able to relocate or work on a
long-term global assignment due to spouse work commitments and inability to
travel." Others said there was not enough recognition of the need for targeted
development, noting a lack of leadership support, while still others opined that
"Women don't ask for the promotion. Men do and get it, whereas women wait to be
recognized for all their hard work, and it never comes."
Chief learning officers can play a major role in ensuring women and minorities
have the experiences and leadership development opportunities they need to be
successful. After all, who could deny that true leadership diversity is a
fundamental element of a global talent management strategy and a bottom-line
necessity for global business in the 21st century?
[About the Authors: Colleen O'Neill is a senior partner in Mercer's human
capital business. Stacey Boyle is vice president of the Human Capital Media
Advisory Group.]
For more Articles and Information: http://www.developmentnetwork.conr/
No comments:
Post a Comment