We want more female leaders.
In the western world, close to 50% of the work force is female, a great progress over a few decades. But women are still quite scarce in leadership positions, the higher up the fewer women. And why is this?
Great leaders are in general known for being good listeners, to give feedback, to communicate well, to understand work/life balance, good at co-creating, connecting, empowering, etc. Most of these qualities are common for successful female leaders, if you read an extract from Steve Tappin’s and Ana Marinovic’s “Secrets of Female CEO’s” Yet, in 2015, only 4% of Fortune 500 chief executives were female. In another article from McKinsey- Women in the workplace 2017, gender diversity in executive teams is strongly correlated with better financial performance.
So, what can we do to improve gender equality? The first and most important step is to have a plan supporting and advancing women, making sure your talent plan includes women from the very beginning. Then, McKinsey is proposing the following five actions:
- Make a compelling case for gender diversity.
- Invest in more employee training.
- Ensure that hiring, promotions, and reviews are fair.
- Give employees the flexibility to fit work into their lives.
- Focus on accountability and results.
All this seems quite obvious but facts show only the really successful companies are following this advice. Are you one of them? But for a starter you can have all your leaders practice more core leadership skills by using Yomento — a Personal Leadership Trainer in your mobile.
“Assume the person criticizing you is right, just for a moment.”
— Kat Cole, President of Focus Company.
