By Nicki Gilmour, Founder and CEO of The Glass Hammer
Where does the fine line lie between lip service and action when it comes to gender and other diversity initiatives? Can institutionalized behaviors be changed? Is there hope that women can reach critical mass in leadership positions in the middle, upper, and most senior echelons of business?
Well, research conducted in 2010 shows that we are still not hitting the 30% mark needed to make a difference. Many firms have stated diversity and gender parity as a goal (let’s call that diversity 1.0) but have not understood what it takes to manage the whole notion of assimilation throughout the processes of the organization. Then they wonder why the needle isn’t moving.
It is my observation that many companies are still trying to fix the women and don’t understand that team dynamics at play may undermine their good intentions when good processes are actually needed to realize the successful integration of talented people irrespective of gender, ethnicity, etc. Programs that take a critical mass approach to gender inclusion will be more successful.
For example, Renée Haugerud, founder and chief investment officer of the $1.1bn hedge fund Galtere, recently talked to the Financial Times about founding, along with along with Lauren Templeton, Lauren Templeton Capital Management, a multi-disciplinary trading program at the University of Tennessee, designed to represent a female perspective. Haugerud expressed the need to understand brain chemistry differences in trading and is adamant that critical mass is needed to keep women trading. As the FT quotes:
“One or two women on a desk of 20 men is not enough, because they will just learn to blend in.” That is in the unlikely event they manage to stay on the team: “Women in hedge funds are steered into research and sales – you have to fight to stay in the trading arena.”
An Issue that Crosses Industries
We discovered a similar issue with women in technology who are encouraged to stop programming and move into project management. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and The National Center for Women & Information Technology did some research around this (and, in fact, we held an event for 200 technical women to inspire them to stay tech-focused). As with trading it seems, there is definitely a broken pipeline issue, as women entering the industry doesn’t seem to guarantee they will stay there.
Putting women on the replacement slate as candidates is also a work in progress and snapshots of figures of women in leadership vary year on year. It’s affecting women in the university system as well. Dr. Lucie Lapovsky, Board Member of The White House Project, and Co-Editor of TWHP’s recent Benchmarking Women’s Leadership report, says:
“The White House Project’s comprehensive Benchmarking Women’s Leadership research released in 2009 shows that there has been no change in the numbers of women college presidents in the last 10 years. Because women now head up some of the most prestigious of these, it’s a surprising figure. But currently over half of all college Presidents and Chancellors are over 61 and will be retiring. After a presentation on the Benchmarks report, those attending a specially convened American Council on Education meeting to explore the leadership issue, the group reaffirmed its commitment for ACE to continue its work to get more.”
The Connection Between Leadership and Resources
Leadership plays a big role as resources are needed to move the needle.
Call it being gender bilingual or having Gender IQ, but the fact remains some people still don’t understand that its not about convincing senior executive management and others that forcing women to act more like men in the organization will bring the best results for the business.
Each firm has its own DNA of course, and a deep understanding of what the strategic and business outcomes should look like around gender parity is the first step. Operational commitment and metrics to plot progress is necessary – with managers leading from the front, incentivized to do so and supported by HR, not the other way around.
Laura Liswood, author of The Loudest Duck and Goldman Sachs senior advisor, draws parallels to market failure and lack of gender equity in her recent Huffington Post article. She writes, “Leaders make things change, either for the better or worse by their action or inaction. Gender equity does not happen because it is wished to be so. Leaders must make it so.” She continues:
“Gender inequity is also about efficiency. Often managers are not rewarded for the ability to recruit, retain, and promote their diverse talent. Short-term awards of compensation are often focused on profits without the calculus of costs of retention, loss of female talent, and dissatisfied women who ‘off ramp’ from one employer and “on ramp” to another with more opportunities.”
I recently saw Laura speak at the Goldman Sachs Brokering Change: A Wall Street Multicultural Women’s Exchange Conference. Leadership support is evident in Goldman Sachs, creating empowering dialogues for the women themselves and implementing processes that level the playing field, reduce bias and create a system that is meritocratic in its principles. Are these systems fool proof? Of course not – there are many human factors such as the deep unconscious biases that are very hard to remove entirely. Reduce yes, eliminate probably not (until Apple invents an app for that, perhaps). The point is, this is diversity 2.0 in action. Advanced support around fixing the systems not the women is what all firms should be thinking about in 2011.
Support to Grow and Thrive
Talent management means not only attracting and hiring the best individuals, but creating an environment where that talent can grow and thrive. But what you want and what your company has planned for you may be two different futures, according to the Harvard Business Review article on “How to Keep Your Top Talent.” According to the report, 1 in 5 people think their aspirations are not in line with their company’s plan for them. And, the article states, by the end of 2009, 21% of employees could be described as highly disengaged – “those most critical of their coworkers, admittedly reducing their effort, and looking for new employment opportunities.” According to the HBR, only 8% of employees were highly disengaged in the first half of 2007. Numerous recent reports show that employee engagement is not improving. One reason for this is that today’s high performers want more from their employer – they want to work for a company that stands for the same values they do.
Our new site, www.evolvedemployer.com allows you to learn more about a company’s value set and culture before you join – including its efforts toward diversity and inclusion, sustainability, work/life issues, etc – which is good for you and for the company. For example, the companies that do not openly provide and encourage flexwork policies may risk losing high performers, as flex work is evolving from an almost exclusively female perk designed around childcare needs to a work-force-wide expected feature – which bodes well for its ultimate acceptance at any workplace.
Underscoring the importance of progressive workforce benefits, this year in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For survey, there is a “perkfinder” function which allows you to identify programs and policies around flex-work, same sex benefits, compressed work weeks, job sharing, and even gym membership.
Companies Need to Measure Their Progress
My advice to firms that are trying to get results but feel it is not happening as quickly as they would like is to examine your culture formally with an audit. Find out what your employees really think about their roles and the compensation, review, and promotion system attached to them.
Jane Weiss, co-founder of Women’s Roadmap explains, “Culture audits provide an organization with valuable information about what policies and practices exist in key areas that support an organization’s performance and how effective those initiatives and programs are aligned – or not – with the real day-to-day experiences of employees.”
Here are a two issues to consider:
- How does management communicate?
In a recent FT article, Lucy Kellaway compares Statestreet’s hyperbole in its layoff holiday message with Gawker’s honest staff communication around management changes. Everything starts with communication – what is the messaging to the women in the firm?
- How useful are the networks, affinity groups, and mentoring programs?
And if there isn’t a grassroots effort, is it because the people in the firm are scared to stick their necks out? Proclaimed meritocracies are sometimes institutionalized Darwinesque cultures that are far from level playing fields. 2011 will see many discussions around the improvement of sponsorship and mentor arrangements for women. For example, as Catalyst and HBR have recently shown us, the benefits of mentoring have been significantly fewer for women than for men.
Culture Means Unwritten Rules
Culture is a tricky one. It’s sometimes invisible to the naked eye. Ann Daly, one of our contributing experts, encourages women to know their workplace culture, so as to play within the boundaries and win. In a recent blog post, she explains:
“Culture is the web of signs and symbols that enmeshes us so completely that we imagine it is inevitable, or “natural.” Everything from language to images and institutions to rituals are part of this deep structure for our everyday lives. That’s why patriarchy is so hard to pin down, let alone change.”
Firms need to understand the strategic value of a totally inclusive culture and the commitment to see it through just as if were any other business objective.
For deep change to happen, objectives must be set, measured, and made public. For example, when Working Mother Media formulates its best companies list, it asks companies the following questions:
- How many women corporate executive hires year on year
- How many women are participating in management or leadership training
- What % of women are participating in formalized executive succession planning as a % of women and as a % of total staff
- How many women were promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement (if you have a flex-work scheme)
- Are there formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance?
Women should be able to ask these questions of their own companies.
There are the unwritten rules that, for better or worse, are ingrained into business culture historically. Make sure everyone knows how to play the game, or risk watching celebrated hires leave in significant numbers, putting us back to square one – and no one likes to have the same boring conversation over and over again. Remember, as Albert Einstein once said, the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Have a great festive season and here is to Diversity 2.0 in 2011.
Beyond Flex: Four More Ways Prudential Succeeds at Retaining Working Moms
Work-LifeRecently Prudential was named one of Working Mother‘s 100 best places to work – which comes as no surprise to Maureen Corcoran, the company’s vice president of Health, Life and Inclusion. She said the company has worked hard over the past two plus decades to build a culture of inclusion and to become a place where women want to work. According to Corcoran, the company excels at communicating with its female employees about what they need, and being responsive as well.
“We asked what are the barriers – and said let’s remove them,” she said. “We are building a culture that supports all types of differences. We want our people to be able to contribute to their utmost abilities irrespective of their background.”
Because the company has spent decades measuring female retention rates, as well as surveying women on what they need or what can help them improve performance, Corcoran is able to back up her claims with results. For example, she said the company’s flexwork policy is utilized by 73% of the Prudential population each month – up from just 9% in 2001. She also knows that flexwork is contributing to the company’s retention of women – according to a recent survey, women are coming back to work after maternity leave at impressive numbers.
Additionally, she said, when focus groups of Prudential women were asked what would keep them on board after having kids, the top answers were flex options and the support of bosses.
“They felt that if they could return with support, they would be happy to stay – and the numbers show that they do,” Corcoran said. But Prudential’s female retention strategy involves a lot more than flexwork options. Here’s how Prudential has created a winning strategy to keep its working moms happy – and how your firm can too.
Read more
Diversity 2.0 Means Fixing the Systems, Not the Women
Featured, Managing ChangeWhere does the fine line lie between lip service and action when it comes to gender and other diversity initiatives? Can institutionalized behaviors be changed? Is there hope that women can reach critical mass in leadership positions in the middle, upper, and most senior echelons of business?
Well, research conducted in 2010 shows that we are still not hitting the 30% mark needed to make a difference. Many firms have stated diversity and gender parity as a goal (let’s call that diversity 1.0) but have not understood what it takes to manage the whole notion of assimilation throughout the processes of the organization. Then they wonder why the needle isn’t moving.
It is my observation that many companies are still trying to fix the women and don’t understand that team dynamics at play may undermine their good intentions when good processes are actually needed to realize the successful integration of talented people irrespective of gender, ethnicity, etc. Programs that take a critical mass approach to gender inclusion will be more successful.
For example, Renée Haugerud, founder and chief investment officer of the $1.1bn hedge fund Galtere, recently talked to the Financial Times about founding, along with along with Lauren Templeton, Lauren Templeton Capital Management, a multi-disciplinary trading program at the University of Tennessee, designed to represent a female perspective. Haugerud expressed the need to understand brain chemistry differences in trading and is adamant that critical mass is needed to keep women trading. As the FT quotes:
An Issue that Crosses Industries
We discovered a similar issue with women in technology who are encouraged to stop programming and move into project management. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and The National Center for Women & Information Technology did some research around this (and, in fact, we held an event for 200 technical women to inspire them to stay tech-focused). As with trading it seems, there is definitely a broken pipeline issue, as women entering the industry doesn’t seem to guarantee they will stay there.
Putting women on the replacement slate as candidates is also a work in progress and snapshots of figures of women in leadership vary year on year. It’s affecting women in the university system as well. Dr. Lucie Lapovsky, Board Member of The White House Project, and Co-Editor of TWHP’s recent Benchmarking Women’s Leadership report, says:
The Connection Between Leadership and Resources
Leadership plays a big role as resources are needed to move the needle.
Call it being gender bilingual or having Gender IQ, but the fact remains some people still don’t understand that its not about convincing senior executive management and others that forcing women to act more like men in the organization will bring the best results for the business.
Each firm has its own DNA of course, and a deep understanding of what the strategic and business outcomes should look like around gender parity is the first step. Operational commitment and metrics to plot progress is necessary – with managers leading from the front, incentivized to do so and supported by HR, not the other way around.
Laura Liswood, author of The Loudest Duck and Goldman Sachs senior advisor, draws parallels to market failure and lack of gender equity in her recent Huffington Post article. She writes, “Leaders make things change, either for the better or worse by their action or inaction. Gender equity does not happen because it is wished to be so. Leaders must make it so.” She continues:
I recently saw Laura speak at the Goldman Sachs Brokering Change: A Wall Street Multicultural Women’s Exchange Conference. Leadership support is evident in Goldman Sachs, creating empowering dialogues for the women themselves and implementing processes that level the playing field, reduce bias and create a system that is meritocratic in its principles. Are these systems fool proof? Of course not – there are many human factors such as the deep unconscious biases that are very hard to remove entirely. Reduce yes, eliminate probably not (until Apple invents an app for that, perhaps). The point is, this is diversity 2.0 in action. Advanced support around fixing the systems not the women is what all firms should be thinking about in 2011.
Support to Grow and Thrive
Talent management means not only attracting and hiring the best individuals, but creating an environment where that talent can grow and thrive. But what you want and what your company has planned for you may be two different futures, according to the Harvard Business Review article on “How to Keep Your Top Talent.” According to the report, 1 in 5 people think their aspirations are not in line with their company’s plan for them. And, the article states, by the end of 2009, 21% of employees could be described as highly disengaged – “those most critical of their coworkers, admittedly reducing their effort, and looking for new employment opportunities.” According to the HBR, only 8% of employees were highly disengaged in the first half of 2007. Numerous recent reports show that employee engagement is not improving. One reason for this is that today’s high performers want more from their employer – they want to work for a company that stands for the same values they do.
Our new site, www.evolvedemployer.com allows you to learn more about a company’s value set and culture before you join – including its efforts toward diversity and inclusion, sustainability, work/life issues, etc – which is good for you and for the company. For example, the companies that do not openly provide and encourage flexwork policies may risk losing high performers, as flex work is evolving from an almost exclusively female perk designed around childcare needs to a work-force-wide expected feature – which bodes well for its ultimate acceptance at any workplace.
Underscoring the importance of progressive workforce benefits, this year in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For survey, there is a “perkfinder” function which allows you to identify programs and policies around flex-work, same sex benefits, compressed work weeks, job sharing, and even gym membership.
Companies Need to Measure Their Progress
My advice to firms that are trying to get results but feel it is not happening as quickly as they would like is to examine your culture formally with an audit. Find out what your employees really think about their roles and the compensation, review, and promotion system attached to them.
Jane Weiss, co-founder of Women’s Roadmap explains, “Culture audits provide an organization with valuable information about what policies and practices exist in key areas that support an organization’s performance and how effective those initiatives and programs are aligned – or not – with the real day-to-day experiences of employees.”
Here are a two issues to consider:
In a recent FT article, Lucy Kellaway compares Statestreet’s hyperbole in its layoff holiday message with Gawker’s honest staff communication around management changes. Everything starts with communication – what is the messaging to the women in the firm?
And if there isn’t a grassroots effort, is it because the people in the firm are scared to stick their necks out? Proclaimed meritocracies are sometimes institutionalized Darwinesque cultures that are far from level playing fields. 2011 will see many discussions around the improvement of sponsorship and mentor arrangements for women. For example, as Catalyst and HBR have recently shown us, the benefits of mentoring have been significantly fewer for women than for men.
Culture Means Unwritten Rules
Culture is a tricky one. It’s sometimes invisible to the naked eye. Ann Daly, one of our contributing experts, encourages women to know their workplace culture, so as to play within the boundaries and win. In a recent blog post, she explains:
Firms need to understand the strategic value of a totally inclusive culture and the commitment to see it through just as if were any other business objective.
For deep change to happen, objectives must be set, measured, and made public. For example, when Working Mother Media formulates its best companies list, it asks companies the following questions:
Women should be able to ask these questions of their own companies.
There are the unwritten rules that, for better or worse, are ingrained into business culture historically. Make sure everyone knows how to play the game, or risk watching celebrated hires leave in significant numbers, putting us back to square one – and no one likes to have the same boring conversation over and over again. Remember, as Albert Einstein once said, the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Have a great festive season and here is to Diversity 2.0 in 2011.
Movers and Shakers: Susan Ganz, President of the Financial Women’s Association of New York
Movers and Shakers“I got involved with the FWA 11 years ago – I was essentially a newlywed, pre-kids. I wanted to give back to the community, and had always been involved in mentoring,” said Susan Ganz, President of the Financial Women’s Association of New York and a Financial Services Professional at the Center for Wealth Preservation.
“I began helping recruit mentors for the Wall Street Exchange program, a workshop series for to-be college seniors who were interested in the Financial Services arena,” she continued.
“And from there I was hooked,” she said. While Ganz’s interest in the FWA began with the Wall Street Exchange mentoring program (which is now going on its 35th year), her commitment to the organization has grown, having served first as a volunteer, then a committee chair, later Annual Dinner Co-Chair, then Treasurer and Vice President, before being asked to take on the President role.
“As the whole financial services landscape is changing, we are working to ensure our own sustainability for the next 50 years,” she explained. “My passion is educating and empowering women, businesses, and non-profits.”
Read more
Leadership Gender Quotas – The Research Perspective
Managing ChangeHas the time come for bolder policies for diversity at the top of corporations?
That’s what was discussed last Friday at a conference hosted by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School.
The first half of the conference focused on academic research on the subject, performed by social scientists and researchers from top business schools. The second half focused on the practitioner perspective (check back next week for another article discussing the practical reality of corporate gender targets).
By and large, the researchers agreed that a more targeted approach to gender balance in corporate leadership would be beneficial. Kathryn Kolbert, Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies and Professor of Leadership Studies at Barnard, said, “When you change the people at the table, you change the conversation.”
Read more
Studies Suggest a Different Career Outcome for Women
Office PoliticsBusiness writer Kevin Lewis does a daily round up of academic studies for National Affairs. I’m tempted to start one for studies about women in the workplace. Suddenly, the results are popping up everywhere and it’s clear: for women at work, it ain’t easy.
First, it seems, women are challenged even getting the job. That was the outcome of research conducted by Rice University Professor Michelle Hebl and her colleagues, fellow psychology professor Randi Martin and Juan Madera, an assistant professor at the University of Houston. In their study, “Gender and Letters of Recommendation for Academia: Agentive and Communal Differences,” published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, they analyzed 624 letters of recommendation on behalf of 194 applicants for eight junior faculty positions at a university.
They discovered that letters of recommendation for women were more likely to contain words such as “caring,” “sensitive,” and “compassionate,” but letters of recommendation for men were more likely to contain words like “aggressive,” “confident,” and “independent.”
Further, when the researchers concealed the identity of the recommended individual and controlled for academic criteria, those recommendation letters that contained words with feminine associations, like “nurturing” were ranked lower.
Dr. Hebl notes that, “When you use communal terminology, it is linking people to a feminine type, and they are not seen as credible and they don’t get hired. It’s not just men doing this to women, and it’s not just women being hurt, but it hurts women more.”
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Voice of Experience: Arlene Isaacs-Lowe, Senior Vice President, Commercial Group, Moody’s Investors Service
Voices of Experience“I think it’s really important that women are authentic in their professional lives,” said Arlene Isaacs-Lowe, Senior Vice President at Moody’s, and recently appointed to head business development for Moody’s Commercial Group’s bank loan franchise.
She continued, “There are aspects of you that make you the best you – and if you put up a facade to fit into an organization, eventually that facade will crack. You are better suited to put that energy into contributing to the organizations strategic objectives.”
Isaacs-Lowe’s drive to learn – to excel at multiple disciplines – has often taken her to the next professional opportunity. Moving from accounting to investment, to entrepreneurship, and now to the credit industry, Isaacs-Lowe has diligently followed her authentic interests.
She said, “Rather than worrying about what people think of the real you, be thoughtful about working for a company that can embrace the authentic you.”
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Catalyst Finds Mentoring Isn’t Enough – Here’s What’s Missing
Mentors and Sponsors, News“All mentorship is not equal,” said Debbie Soon, Vice President of Executive Leadership Initiatives at Catalyst. Soon said she was shocked by the huge discrepancies between men and women, which were revealed by a report released today by the organization. According to the report, men benefit significantly more from mentoring than women do.
How much more? $9,260.
Once again: $9,260. That’s how much more men with mentors make in their first post-MBA job than women who also have mentors. Men get a considerably higher promotional increase as well, compared to women.
Why the discrepancy? According to Soon, it comes down to quality. “Women seek mentors, but men seek sponsors,” she said. Men tend to have mentors who are higher ranking, higher paid, and have more influence in the organization – in other words, sponsors, who are willing to spend their own personal political capital to advocate on their behalf.
“Mentorship is not sufficient,” said Soon. “Sponsorship closes the gap.”
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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-Up
NewsEconomic Backdrop
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5 Holiday Gifts for Your Mentees
Mentors and SponsorsIt’s the holiday season, and while it’s not compulsory, many mentors and managers like to find small gifts for their mentees and team members. The Glass Hammer has gathered the top business books that will grace any Christmas stocking this year. Enjoy!
1. Get-It-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More by Stever Robbins
This excellent book by time management expert Stever Robbins covers everything you need to know to be more productive at work. “The best way to work less,” he writes, “is to make sure you only do work that helps you reach your goals.” It’s a witty, entertaining book with advice on managing emails and other technology, handling meetings, structuring your working week and getting things done. “I’ve seen people spend an entire weekend formatting a presentation to get the perfect fonts, with perfect animated sparkles at perfect junctures… ‘It has to be perfect for the board of directors.’ Get real. The board of directors cares about the substance. They know how to add sparkles, they don’t know how the division is doing. Perfectionism is sucking up time.”
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The Glass Cliff – Turning to Women During a Crisis
Breaking the Glass CeilingA recent study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology concluded that female leaders are preferred during a crisis. This study, “The glass cliff: When and why women are selected as leaders in crisis contexts,” notes that when a company is in crisis, the perception of what constitutes an ideal leader shifts to someone with stereotypically non-male characteristics.
According to the study, since the feelings regarding what men bring to the table have shifted, the woman candidate is viewed as more effective, essentially by default, since men are seen as unqualified. On the other hand, the phenomenon is dubbed “the glass cliff,” because the troubles the company may be facing are seen as so insurmountable that the woman who has been selected to lead the company will probably not succeed, and thus, be sacrificed – pushed off the cliff.
What is interesting in this phenomenon is that the perception of female leaders does not change markedly – women are seen as stereotypically nurturing caretaker types in the study using a fictional successful business scenario and also a crisis situation. In essence, female leaders are best perceived to clean up the mess in a bad situation, after other options have been exhausted.
This preference for a female leader increases when the last several leaders have all been male, indicating a desire to break from a pattern. In the BJSP study, researchers Susanne Bruckmüller and Nyla Branscombe explain:
“Our findings indicate that women find themselves in precarious leadership positions not because they are singled out for them, but because men no longer seem to fit… There is, of course, a double irony here. When women get to enjoy the spoils of leadership (a) it is not because they are seen to deserve them, but because men no longer do, and (b) this only occurs when, and because, there are fewer spoils to enjoy.”
Even if the female leader does manage to clean up the mess, the researchers imply, she will not be seen as deserving of accolades as her male counterparts. The woman was a last resort – not the first choice.
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