During any discussion about poor representation of women in leadership roles, you are likely to hear one question: “But aren’t women holding themselves back?”
This question is often followed by an observation, such as: “In my experience, women just don’t want the long working hours required at executive level” or, “Women need to develop more confidence in their own ability and start promoting themselves more”.
I run an organisation dedicated to inspiring women leaders to create extraordinary lives and careers and am often asked if women hold themselves back. My answer, somewhat confusingly, is “No. And yes”.
Organisations are responsible
When it comes to improving gender equality in the workplace, I believe that the biggest responsibility lies with organisations rather than the women in them. Organisations have inherited a way of working inspired by industrialism and the military. Leadership has been a primarily masculine pursuit; combative, competitive, hierarchical and directive. It is an approach that is as ineffective as it is outdated. Given we are a country predominantly run by middle-aged white men it remains our dominant model for how organisations are led.
As such, women who are welcomed into the hallowed halls of leadership face an unfortunate and often unconscious double bind. If women display the traits associated with the dominant (read: masculine) leadership model they are seen as unlikeable and inauthentic. If they act outside this traditional model of leadership they are seen as soft and ineffective.
This double bind is one of a number of systemic and long-held issues that contribute directly to gender inequality in the workplace. The gender pay gap, currently 17.5% in Australia, is another. Culture, remuneration, recruitment, retention, succession planning and leadership all need to be examined and – in many organisations – overhauled if we are to improve gender equality measures in the workplace. This is why my answer to the question “Are women holding themselves back?” is “no”. The buck must stop with the organisation.
Slow pace of change means women need to step up
At the same time, my answer is “yes”. I worked as a management consultant for long enough to know that organisational change is a slow-moving beast. Even when culture change is tackled effectively, and this happens rarely, it takes years. The current generation of women in the workplace, like those before them, is still tasked with negotiating a less than ideal environment in which to flourish as a leader.
In our leadership and coaching programs for women leaders we hear a commonly expressed sentiment. Women coming up the corporate ladder observe the women above them. Much of the time they see talented, clever women who are tremendously successful in their roles – but who don’t enjoy them. They watch women leaders working long hours and missing out on both family and fun.
And so these aspiring leaders are opting out as a result – they’re either staying on their current rung or leaving the ladder altogether. They say to us: “If that’s what it takes to be a leader, I don’t want a bar of it”
This is why I answer “yes” to the question, “Are women holding themselves back?”. Until organisations get their act together, we need women leaders to develop the confidence, courage and determination to step into leadership roles and shape the way work gets done themselves. This will help show other women that it is possible to experience tremendous success and enjoyment in a leadership role. To stop opting out and instead step up.
This is why the mission of my organisation is to inspire women leaders to create extraordinary lives and careers. In doing so, these leaders act as role models for the next generation of women in the workplace. As a result we have a pool of talented and energised women who are excited about becoming leaders. This is how we create a sustainable pipeline of female talent – and how we bridge the gender gap at leadership level.
We can do all this while organisations creak and groan through the long process of culture change.
So what can women leaders specifically do?
1. Prioritise their own pleasure. Many women shy away from the concept of seeking pleasure for themselves. It is seen as naughty, illicit and selfish. My view is it is the least selfish thing we can do. Pleasure allows you to serve with energy, enjoyment and passion. It keeps the tank full. It makes us better mothers, lovers, leaders and role models.
2. Understand their natural strengths, and draw on them as much as possible. We live in a society that has drummed into us a belief that we need to focus on fixing our weaknesses. The opposite is true. We only achieve our greatest potential by focusing on our strengths, never by fixing our weaknesses. When working on our weaknesses we feel weaker. When working on our strengths, we feel stronger. For this reason, using a strength-based approach to performance is critical to both succeeding in and enjoying our careers.
3. Work out what their passion and purpose is, and use it as fuel. Many women we work with are experiencing huge success but also huge fatigue. They have spent their lives in service of others: achieving others’ goals and meeting others’ needs. We can only keep this up for so long. Women leaders gain so much energy and joy when they uncover their own purpose and passion, and use it to fuel their work.
4. Develop a strong, persuasive and authentic voice. In general women fear speaking and are more likely to pass up opportunities to practice, so when speaking is a necessity, nerves take over. These are moments that define you, advertise your personal brand and position you for your next career move. Not developing the skills required to convey ideas and opinions confidently, effectively and authentically clearly impacts women’s careers in the long-term.
Leaving the task of gender equity purely to women is both unfair and unsustainable. While it is paramount that the current generation of women leaders thinks and acts as role models for up and coming females in their organisation, the organisation itself must start its own change process – and quickly.
So what can organisations do?
The biggest bang for bucks spent on improving gender equity in the workplace comes when organisations:
1. Set clear equity targets. Many organisations shy away from setting targets for women at the executive level because they “promote on merit”. If women make up less than 30% of their executive team, then I suggest the organisation actually doesn’t promote on merit.
2. Conduct a remuneration audit. When compared side by side, are women earning less than men in similar roles? If so, organisations need to develop a five-year plan to address this imbalance.
3. Increase awareness of gender equity right across the business. We are currently running diversity workshops across one of Australia’s biggest banks. Women leave feeling supported and understood. Men leave wide-eyed and determined to change the status quo. And all participants are provided the tools to gradually shift the workplace culture towards gender equity.
4. Develop your current and high potential women leaders. According to Mercer, many organisations make the mistake of focusing on broader diversity objectives and not specifically on accelerating the development and pipeline of women leaders (Mercer 2011). This comes at a cost to the organisation, but also to its women leaders, who find the biggest challenges to succeeding to be a lack of role models and lack of support from upper management.
This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in SA Life Magazine.