Are businesses succeeding in making the most of their female talent? Sandra Buckley, principal consultant at Berkshire Consultancy, says:
"I think not. I would even go further and suggest that the glass ceiling in terms of progression is still very much in existence. This is despite evidence that women may be naturally more suited to leadership as traditionally feminine traits can better meet the requirements of a modern business leader."
"Our society has generally outlined successful leadership characterised by traits commonly attributed to men. Those women that did make it to the top usually did so by conforming to male stereotypes: they had to be tougher, more confrontational and often more ruthless than the men around them."Today, however, the role of senior management is changing, and traditionally 'female' traits, such as social and relationship building skills (for example, empathy and team caring), may actually better meet the requirements of a modern business leader than the archetypal 'male' ones.
"More importantly, in a world where women make most of consumer decisions, businesses must make sure they are represented at every level within the organisation by a true demographic of their customer base."
So what can you do to develop female talent in your business?
"To avoid wasting female talent and putting themselves at a disadvantage, companies must implement talent management strategies that take into account the needs and preferences of all employees; managers need to understand why women are not choosing to take up more senior roles and why their talents are not being consistently spotted and developed. A few starting points may include:
1) Create a mentoring scheme for junior women who are progressing their career and ensure they have support and guidance to help them reach the higher ranks. Businesses need to identify and nurture leadership potential wherever it lies.2) Organisations should look to support the challenges professional females face, by considering flexible working hours or even crèche facilities for those with childcare difficulties. Women can find part-time working hard emotionally and physically – for example, feeling guilty because they are not around all the time for their team. With the right support, fewer women will leave to go it alone.
3) Organisations need to challenge white, male ways of working at the highest level – for example, ensure there are female as well as male toilets in the executive office area, have a board or senior management team, comprising a mix of gender, flexible working practices and academic backgrounds.
For those companies that do recognise that one size no longer fits all and implement the changes required to retain and make the most of all their talented employees, the benefits may be vast."
Steve Miller:Modern leaders need to have strong emotional intelligence, and based on my experience I have to be fair and agree that women tend to have the upper hand in this area. The ability to tune in with staff, understand how to build strong people connections, and recognise the need for what I term empathic honesty are all essential facets of modern-day leadership. I agree women do seem to have the edge over their male counterparts when it comes to this.
However, I am a balanced professional and I cannot agree with any recommendation that suggests separate mentoring schemes for women. In the real world, this causes resentment from the men and, to be honest, many women find it completely patronising. I am all for mentoring, but open it to both sexes.
In terms of offering women flexibility, I am in favour of this as long as it doesn’t disrupt the business. Family-friendly policies are great but so are business-friendly policies. Let’s just be balanced rather than getting carried away by yet again more theory that building a crèche and offering flexibility across the board is going to make everyone happy and build opportunities for women.
Carry out a feasibility check first to test whether the business can cope rather than automatically assuming offering flexibility is a given right and the best thing to do.
I am sorry but the third point you recommend is in my opinion typical of the touchy-feely, non-commercial HR brigade. Do you honestly think women are that bothered about whether they have to nip downstairs for a call of nature? The truth about a board or senior management team is you have people on it that have the skills to do the job regardless of gender, race or academic backgrounds. To recommend you have a board that has different genders, different races, different working patterns and different academic backgrounds is naïve and is in itself yet more red tape that stands in the way of getting the job done.
You mention benefits of carrying out your recommendations. What are they? Where is the hard bottom line evidence?
One female leader that made it to the top is Karren Brady (pictured at the top), managing director of Birmingham City footbal club, who was featured in Personnel Today's Leadership focus: Looking after your leaders - How to nurture good leaders
