It is no secret that women are powerful agents of change. Women are more inclusive and open to taking divergent views. They also bring fresh perspectives and unique ideas to the table. However, their leadership role has been overlooked for generations; their incredible impact on an organization’s success is still underestimated. McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2021 report highlights that inadvertent or targeted biases in the corporate ecosystem diminish women’s ability to rise to C-suite roles.
This practice of offering the majority of leadership roles to their male counterparts has been further backed by a study. It says that 29% of women already feel their gender gets in the way of their way up the organizational ladder. It’s essential to note that this doesn’t imply men are more qualified for leadership positions than women. Rather, the observed gender disparity in leadership often stems from biases related to gender stereotypes and perceived competence.
So, how can organizations foster a work environment that offers more leadership opportunities for women in the workplace? Before that, let’s learn how female leaders drive organizations’ success.
When a company empowers its female workforce to take command of human resources, it is bound to benefit everyone. Decades of studies in psychology and evidence-based reports outline how women’s leadership can help boost productivity, inspire teamwork and dedication, and mitigate bias. Their innate leadership skills often go unnoticed, but the worth and potential of most women as powerful leaders cannot be denied. Discover what sets them apart with these six reasons why they excel in HR leadership positions.
Unique perspectives abound with female leadership, as they bring various skills that effectively solve problems. Their heightened awareness and ability to attend to detail offer a distinctive approach that can benefit companies structurally and culturally. With a vision for the big picture, women leaders analyze minute details, becoming valuable assets for their organizations.
Recent research indicates women are more effective in 84% of the competencies required to be a good leader. These competencies include confidence, clarity of thought, resilience, self-development, enthusiasm, determination, and displaying high integrity and honesty.
Of all the traits, empathy is often considered one of the greatest superpowers of a female. Women’s empathetic leadership style influences others and builds trust, increasing productivity and efficiency. Additionally, this leadership style facilitates the exchange of ideas and the generation of fresh perspectives about processes.
Leadership and workplace communication go hand in hand. A great leader must communicate effectively, inspiring and motivating the team. While some male bosses excel as good orators, women tend to express themselves more eloquently than men. Additionally, they excel at perceiving body language and feelings while being good listeners
Working women, especially mothers, are seasoned caregivers who can manage and handle crises with compassion and patience. In a crisis, such as tight deadlines, staff shortages, or team conflicts, women are more competent than their male counterparts.
The significance of effective mentoring and coaching cannot be ignored in the workplace. Women are more understanding, determined, skilled, intuitive, and focused on self-development than men, which makes them great mentors and coaches. They share their wisdom and experience and help employees navigate career challenges. They inspire new ways of thinking and motivate mentees to develop creative solutions at work.
All these qualities or traits make women highly competent leaders, according to those who work closely with them. However, they still fail to move up the organizational ladder. What’s keeping them from advancing in their careers is not a lack of capability but a dearth of opportunity! This brings us to the strategies organizations can devise to promote women in leadership positions.
1. Create a Safe Psychological Environment for WomenInvesting in the psychological safety of your employees is vital for cultivating a culture of equality and growth. Psychological safety entails ensuring that employees are not humiliated or penalized for taking risks or admitting mistakes. When female employees feel mentally secure, they are more inclined to unleash their creativity. Employers should strive to establish a work environment where women feel secure to:
The internal talent pool is always the best way to fill vacancies in an organization. It promotes female employee engagement by giving them opportunities to grow in their career. Promoting female employees from within the organization’s current talent pool can have additional benefits, including:
Organizations must support and invest in women’s initiatives and events at work. For instance, organize seminars, conferences, and events to encourage aspiring female leaders to gain confidence, skills, and expertise. Invite women leaders from the same or other industries to deliver lectures to inspire more budding women leaders in the organization. These guest speakers can also share their challenges and how to overcome them.
Another way to support women’s leadership is to offer internal learning and development programs. It helps women identify career goals, acquire the necessary skills, and develop leadership abilities.
Adobe is one such company that has introduced an executive mentorship program for female employees. The program allows women to rise to higher positions, negotiate salary raises more effectively, and build social capital in a male-dominated corporate landscape.
One of the common challenges faced by working women revolves around biases and assumptions regarding their career aspirations after becoming mothers. Managers or supervisors may assume certain roles or responsibilities may not be suitable for a woman with children.
It’s crucial for managers to recognize that having kids doesn’t negatively impact women; in fact, it often enhances their professional capabilities. Working mothers bring a wealth of life experiences that seamlessly translate into their professional domains. These women routinely encounter and overcome various challenges in both personal and work spheres. Additionally, they frequently demonstrate high levels of motivation, multitasking abilities, and drive, inspiring others and fostering success within their teams.
Data from Visier Solutions Inc. reveals that a female employee earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by a male counterpart; in 2020, that amount was 83 cents. The management must ensure wage transparency across the organization to level the playing field for working women. Moreover, organizations must work toward disrupting occupational segregation, increasing accessibility to paid leave and child care, and creating equity in gender pay.
This is particularly important in the case of working mothers. Most women quit their jobs or refuse promotions to care for their family and kids. Offering more flexible schedules that accommodate family and work hours would help women pursue their career goals.
Bumble is one organization that has effectively embraced this strategy and has 85% of the workforce made up of women. To better accommodate women employees, the organization maintains a flexible interpretation of work hours and allows parents to bring their children to the office as required.
In today’s corporate landscape, fostering a greater number of female leaders is essential. While empowering women in leadership roles may seem challenging, it is achievable with support and active participation from everyone in the company, irrespective of gender. By creating an inclusive and supportive environment, companies can tap into a wealth of diverse perspectives and skills that female leaders bring to the table. Recognizing and valuing the unique contributions of women in leadership not only enhances workplace dynamics but also contributes to overall organizational success.
Engagedly offers a platform to make the HR process more seamless and transparent. Our cloud-based software strives to help businesses create more leadership opportunities for women with effective performance evaluation, training, and compensation management. Schedule a demo today!
The glass ceiling refers to the invisible and societal obstacles that keep women from moving up the career ladder and assuming leadership roles in an organization. The glass cliff is, however, the opposite practice. It refers to a situation wherein a female employee is elevated to positions of power during a crisis. This pushes a woman leader into a precarious situation to take control when things are falling apart.
Tokenism refers to an act wherein the employer pretends to believe in certain workplace practices but does not follow policies to support their implementation. For instance, managers may hire a candidate from underrepresented groups to create the appearance of racial or gender equality in the workplace but fail to implement workplace diversity and inclusion practices to support the action.
Maternal wall refers to a workplace bias where working mothers or pregnant employees are considered less competent and less committed toward work.
© 2024 Engagedly. All rights reserved.
