So, you’re taking on all the advice about what gets women ahead. You’re networking, seeking mentors, self-promoting, developing your people management skills.
But what if the advice you’ve been getting is only telling part of the story?
What if you’re missing the key points that will propel you into senior leadership?
According to Susan Colantuono, women have plenty of people telling them how to secure their first management positions. But that same advice doesn’t apply to women who want to go one step further – into executive and senior management ranks.
And this, believes Colantuono, is the missing link. It’s a good reason why men are still dominating at the pointy end of organisations.
According to research released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency last week, women make up just 25% of positions in the top three layers of management in Australia. Women account for just 27 CEOs on the Fortune 500 and, following Gail Kelly’s resignation from Wespac early next year, just 3% of CEOs on the ASX 200.
This week, Colantuono spoke to me from the United States where she runs Leading Women, a consulting firm supporting corporate initiatives to advance women.
As she explained, she’s fed up with seeing women being continually told to do things they are often already doing, and will actually only get them so far – such as being assertive, speaking up, setting career goals, networking, honing their people skills and self-promoting.
“The cliché about women being more inclusive managers? Well, my observation is that tends to be true. But women can too often believe that is the secret to continuing to advance. It isn’t.
“And what women aren’t always told is that in order to make the transition into senior executive positions, it’s not just about managing people, it’s about leading the enterprise.”
So what advice do women actually need?
Well, it’s the same as what any good leader needs – male or female. That is, solid business, financial and strategic skills. They need to develop business acumen, and experience in projects, teams and roles that are close to “heart of the business”.
“Both men and women who make it to the top share the common experience that they’ve stayed close to the business,” she explains. “Women are often guided away from that with comments like, ‘You’re so good with people, you should go into human resources’?”
Business and financial skills can be developed through informal mentoring, as well as by putting your hand up for projects that directly contribute to a business’ bottom line. Men are doing that more than women, believes Colantuono.
Meanwhile, Colantuono believes many organisations continue to run outdated leadership development programs for women. These tend to focus on what her research has identified as 11 pieces of career advice (think, ‘speak up!’ and ‘be assertive’) that make up only 66% of the equation for success leadership.
Indeed, she believes that most leadership programs actually play to male weaknesses, particularly those that promise to develop your people skills – although the way these are pitched at women, you’d believe it was the other way round.
“We often come across women who have excellent business acumen, strategic and financial skills but they’re not demonstrating it because they believe that what’s important are the people skills.”
To counter this, Colantuono teaches the power of language. She urges ambitious managers to talk in terms of ‘outcomes’ rather than about their people and teams.
She advises women to say yes to opportunities that can bring them close to the ‘heart of the business’, even if they don’t believe it’s within their skill-set of previous experience.
She also suggests women seek mentors who can help reinforce strategic business thinking, rather than people management skills. Join professional and industry associations that offer skills and expertise on financial acumen. Seek experiences and opportunities that can help develop the 33% of skills you’re not getting in more traditional leadership programs (nine of those are listed below).
And get reading. Colantuono wants to see more women not just quoted in the business press, but also regularly reading it. “Trade at least some of the women’s magazines for business media.”
The ‘missing 33%’ in the career advice success equation includes:
1. Mentoring that earns sponsorship
2. Strategic acumen and track record
3. Actions based on financial acumen
4. External strategic relationships
5. Exuecitve presence
6. Proven business acumen
7. Ability to align teams to business strategy
8. Experience holding line, international and strategic jobs
9. Executive board and media communication skills.