– Ayan Deb (First Runners Up: Kairos- Article Writing Competition)
Women empowerment and engagement are the two trends that have been in vogue in the corporate world. Much has been said but little has been done when it comes to promoting women for top management. A testament to this is highlighted in the Grant Thornton International Business Report, which states that the proportion of women in senior roles is stuck at 24%. Indeed, there is a glass-ceiling for women in the corporate world.
Many corporations have realized the unique proposition that women employees bring to the workforce and hence they have been proactive in getting the right diversity quotient for their organisation. Any initiative toward promoting women for top management needs to focus on the three parameters namely women, company and policy framework.
Aspiration & Individual Needs
Research shows that women are as ambitious as men when it comes to career aspirations, but they are less deliberate to achieve it. This is partly because of lack of supporting environment and partly due to the child-rearing and family commitments.
Thus to ensure infusion of women in top management it is imperative to form the correct “Talent Pipeline”. This starts from hand-picking the right female candidates from the middle level roles to fast-track their careers towards top management. In order to ensure success of this programme the following pointers should be considered.
Company Imperatives
The organisational strategic objective of inclusivity and gender diversity would be effective if the below mentioned aspects are incorporated.
Creating a culture that promotes women for senior positions require commitment not only from the CEO but also from the managers, executives and the HR department. They have to appoint more women in the top team and stake their personal reputation on ensuring that these women succeed in their given roles. This in turn would bolster a culture of openness, synergise teamwork and establish transparency & authenticity, thus leading to the desired cultural transformation.
Policy Framework
The organisation and the people are guided by the policies. Hence the policies need to gender inclusive and should encompass the following principles:
Also it is imperative to guard against paternalism and we should not assume about a woman’s type of flexibility, her working hours, her ability to travel, her commitment or her ambition.
Companies should encourage and support women to professionalise (instead of leaving to ad hoc arrangements) their childcare in line or before taking on more senior roles with greater work commitments.
These are some of the indicative policies which when implemented would boost women participation at all strata of the company, particularly in senior positions.
Organisations must encourage the aspiration of women, nurture it in a gender neutral progressive organisational culture; and simultaneously balance the individual family needs through a supportive policy framework.
Many corporations have realized the unique proposition that women employees bring to the workforce and hence they have been proactive in getting the right diversity quotient for their organisation. Any initiative toward promoting women for top management needs to focus on the three parameters namely women, company and policy framework.
Aspiration & Individual Needs
Research shows that women are as ambitious as men when it comes to career aspirations, but they are less deliberate to achieve it. This is partly because of lack of supporting environment and partly due to the child-rearing and family commitments.
Thus to ensure infusion of women in top management it is imperative to form the correct “Talent Pipeline”. This starts from hand-picking the right female candidates from the middle level roles to fast-track their careers towards top management. In order to ensure success of this programme the following pointers should be considered.
- Talent Identification: Use objective assessment frameworks and transparent assessment criteria, sometimes with the help of external facilitators, to identify, develop and earmark middle and senior-role successors.
- Increase the talent pool of available women talent by connecting with ex-employees (female) who were in executive levels or were HiPOs during their tenure. Also network with their alumni network or women who have started their own business.
- Talent identification at early stages in the career of the women is a must. It ensures that the individual gets more exposure and experience and hence it can be assumed that she should be less prone to quitting her job post child-birth
- Succession Planning: It is imperative that each of the identified women would have Individual Development Plan (IDP) along with stretched goals for each milestones based on her individualised Career Graph. There should be stints (cross-functional or international) to increase her competency level. The top management should be involved in planning out and periodic monitoring of the progress of the individual. For the holistic development of the individual, feedback sessions and 360 degree approach are very much essential. In most cases the individual should also be assigned to a senior/experienced person whom she can shadow.
- Talent Capability Building for the selected women executives would comprise of :
- Counselling: Women executives might need to juggle between their personal and professional goals and hence it is imperative to include counselling.
- Coaching & Mentoring: Women senior executives should be given an opportunity to connect experienced professionals who would act as mentors. Also coaching should be provided for personal guidance on critical job duties or responsibilities.
- Socialising Programs: These would facilitate internal women talent to reach out to successful women senior executives and learn from their experience. These also encourages peer learning and promotes loyalty to the company.
Company Imperatives
The organisational strategic objective of inclusivity and gender diversity would be effective if the below mentioned aspects are incorporated.
- Direct involvement of the CEO and top executives in creating the Talent Pipeline for women executives.
- Mandate clear goals and set targets and milestones inline to the diversity initiatives.
- Create an inclusive mind set, undertake sensitisation programs for managers through bias testing, and use active modelling of behaviours to be more gender neutral.
- Discuss with the top executive teams and HR leaders about the direction and implementation of the women engagement drive
- Create organisation wide awareness on the importance of women in the top echelons through floor shows, business cases and board / CEO announcements.
Creating a culture that promotes women for senior positions require commitment not only from the CEO but also from the managers, executives and the HR department. They have to appoint more women in the top team and stake their personal reputation on ensuring that these women succeed in their given roles. This in turn would bolster a culture of openness, synergise teamwork and establish transparency & authenticity, thus leading to the desired cultural transformation.
Policy Framework
The organisation and the people are guided by the policies. Hence the policies need to gender inclusive and should encompass the following principles:
- Anti-Discriminatory Policies:
- Policies fostering Flexibility:
Also it is imperative to guard against paternalism and we should not assume about a woman’s type of flexibility, her working hours, her ability to travel, her commitment or her ambition.
- Policies catering to Family Needs:
Companies should encourage and support women to professionalise (instead of leaving to ad hoc arrangements) their childcare in line or before taking on more senior roles with greater work commitments.
These are some of the indicative policies which when implemented would boost women participation at all strata of the company, particularly in senior positions.
Organisations must encourage the aspiration of women, nurture it in a gender neutral progressive organisational culture; and simultaneously balance the individual family needs through a supportive policy framework.