What’s Hindering Women’s Advancement?

Why can’t we advance women (STILL)?!

Many factors are at play, but here are 3 leadership commitments (plus a bonus round) for advancing women

Multiple factors in an employee’s career hinder women’s advancement. I’ve spoken in the past about the broken rung, a lack of accountability and the need to actively engage men in the process.

Now, research from leadership consultants Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman provides additional compelling evidence that while women are perceived as being highly effective leaders across a wide range of competencies, the percentage of women in senior leadership roles remains stuck in single digits.

Zenger and Folkman implore senior leaders “to take a hard look at what gets in the way of promoting women in their organizations.” They stress the need to take proactive steps to overcome biases to advance more women into top positions.

Let’s explore three commitments we can make to close the retention and advancement gap for women:

1. Encourage women to apply for promotions earlier

The research showed that younger women tend to underestimate their leadership capabilities and lack the confidence of their male peers to go for higher-level roles. Managers should proactively mentor early-career women employees and encourage them to seek promotions, even if they don’t meet every qualification. Assure them that they have the leadership skills to succeed and can continue developing on the job.

To encourage more early-career women to apply for promotions:

  • Provide additional training for managers in allyship, mentorship and sponsorship skills
  • Ensure fair distribution of high-visibility “stretch” assignments
  • Offer targeted leadership coaching and training aimed at helping women hone their leadership skills
  • Help early-career women build confidence through skills development, feedback from multiple sources, coaching and peer support networks
  • Establish sponsorship and mentoring initiatives that pair high-potential women with influential leaders
  • Recognize and acknowledge achievements and tie them to organizational values and goals

2. Continually check for gender bias in hiring and promotions

The data shows women outscoring men on most leadership competencies as rated by peers, managers, direct reports and others. Yet very few make it to the senior executive ranks. When considering candidates for advanced roles, managers must pause and ask whether unconscious biases are causing them to overlook or undervalue highly capable women. Establish criteria and processes to ensure true equal opportunity.

To check for gender bias, organizations should:

  • Review senior leadership job descriptions to eliminate gender-stereotyped language
  • Clearly define and communicate the job criteria and qualifications upfront to avoid moving the goalposts during evaluation
  • Provide comprehensive unconscious bias training for all hiring managers and recruiters
  • Be proactive about addressing ageism and gendered ageism

3. Breakdown institutional barriers and mindsets

By systematically evaluating and updating talent processes through a gender equity lens, organizations can begin to break down the institutional barriers and mindsets that have stalled women’s career progress. It starts with understanding your demographic data.

Ask your HR department to pull some reports, review the data with your management team and have candid discussions leading to the following action steps:

  • Analyze promotions data by gender and function to identify and address gender gaps
  • Review regrettable losses
  • Require diverse candidate slates for all senior leadership openings
  • Set public targets/goals for promoting women into senior executive and P&L leadership roles
  • Implement calibration processes that bring leadership together to review promotion candidates through a diversity lens
  • Change succession planning processes to actively identify and groom more women for future roles
  • For more ideas of metrics to track and hold leaders accountable for advancing women, see my white paper on the topic.

But this isn’t the whole picture, as Dr. Mira Brancu noted in her recent article “Why High-Potential Women Are Ambivalent About Leadership.” She writes that ambitious and talented women – especially those in mid-career – can be reluctant to take on leadership roles. Her research found that a woman’s initial ambition can easily turn into wise ambivalence when she isn’t sure she will succeed in an environment not set up to bring out her best.

Brancu found that women are not motivated by traditional forms of power and dominance, but instead “their motivations revolve around personal growth, impact and alignment with their values.” By directly addressing the ambivalence factors stemming from negative work experiences, lack of support, bias and misaligned motivations, organizations can create an environment where more women feel empowered to embrace leadership roles. She encourages organizations to:

  • Tailor opportunities to individual motivations. Take time to get to know the top performers and align leadership roles with their personal interests, values, strengths and leadership styles.
  • Support parenting and equal parenting at work. Men’s engagement in supporting gender equity must happen at work and at home. Promoting engaged fatherhood and equal parenting and gender equity allyship at work benefits all employees.
  • Prioritize outcomes over desk time. Many women have multiple competing demands at work and home due to the invisible emotional labor they provide. For many, that experience has helped them become more effective and efficient in meeting productivity metrics. Reward them for that effectiveness and efficiency by evaluating their outcomes and engagement rather than how much time they spend sitting at their workstation.

In short, organizations must address systemic unconscious bias and make comprehensive changes across the employee lifecycle if we are to see more women in leadership positions. The ensuing changes will benefit your entire workforce.

Related article: Overcoming Resistance to DEI Initiatives with Awareness, Accountability and Advocacy

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