Women in Leadership: Gender Diversity Matters

Malia Mason: When leadership teams don't mirror the demographics of the workforce, it is a sign that something might be off. We know that women and people of color are underrepresented in positions of power—there are far fewer than you would expect. This disparity can be attributed to a variety of forces: discrimination, an unhealthy corporate culture, opportunities going disproportionately to white men, women doing more than their fair share of "administrivia," women being sidelined due to unique challenges they face if they are mothers or a combination of these forces. Addressing this disparity is crucial for no other reason than it is unjust. Beyond ethical reasons, you could argue that employees want to work at organizations they feel are inclusive and fair—it can be disheartening to observe a leadership team with inadequate representation. Today's customers prefer to buy from companies sensitive to these issues. I think you could also make the case that diverse teams often make better decisions because considering problems from different viewpoints is generally beneficial.  

If you don't see a leadership team that reflects the demographics in the workforce, it suggests that there's something amiss. Underrepresentation exists for several reasons. Whether it's discrimination, excluding certain groups of people from leadership positions because they face unique workplace challenges, a poor culture, or all these forces combined, this can result in leadership that does not reflect the greater workforce. 

My view is that you'd want to address those things for ethical reasons alone. But then, beyond that moral, ethical stance, there's an idea that having representation in senior managers and leadership roles matters to employees and customers. It's demotivating to see senior management roles that lack representation. It's also demotivating to see that nobody looks like you, especially if there are many people like you around. I think customers are more attuned to this stuff. They know they have options. They'll select companies that care about representation and put words into real action. 

A lot of evidence suggests that having diverse perspectives matters where organizational performance is concerned. It's not that we necessarily need one woman for every man or one person of color for every white individual. It's that you want to see that there's representation and that it's proportional to the workforce. Otherwise, it suggests something's wrong here. 

Trish Gorman: Past participants who have expressed substantial impact from our Women in Leadership program come from four categories. 

 The first category is someone who really wants to break select patterns after some reflection. We often say, "You don't learn by doing; you learn by reflecting upon what you've done." For people saying, "What got me here won't get me there. I'm stuck. I want to break old patterns. I'm ready for something else. I'm not quite sure what that might be," that is category one. And we welcome those people with open arms because they are ready to learn and move on in their professional lives. 

 The second category is someone who sees a path through their organization. They might be rising women leaders at a major bank or in early management positions at a construction firm. They can see a path, but they're looking for more skills to navigate it successfully. They need to be better at networking and are looking to improve their negotiation skills. They can see some of the steps they need to take and are ready for that help with their leadership capabilities. 

The third category doesn't see a clear path. They're breaking new ground. They're just wandering and don't see a road to where they go next because there isn't a path in their industry, location, or particular company. So, they're asking for more guidance on crafting what their particular, unique, idiosyncratic path might be and how to navigate it. 

Sometimes, people are sitting in their offices or working in their jobs and saying, "I want more people to discuss my business strategies and my plans with. I want to build a community. I feel like I don't have those allies that are outside my firm, my industry, my age group, or my demographic, and I want more diverse voices who I would trust to share my aspirations and my plans with." That's the fourth category. 

The four groups aren't that distinct. There's a lot of overlap, but that's what we see in our women's executive leadership program. And those people benefit so much from investing in themselves. 

Trish Gorman:  Some of the biggest challenges that women in leadership face today are being heard, finding their voice, taking up space, and being acknowledged for their own power. Being taken seriously and having their ambitions respected, overcoming some expectations that they'll take on more nurturing, supportive roles like roles in talent management, for example. They are taking on or feeling like they're obligated to accept uncompensated and non-promotable work requests. They are permitting themselves to be less than perfect. Some say 'imposter syndrome,' but it's more a feeling that you can't own your own achievements. Women tend to share collectively, like saying, "Malia and I are great," as opposed to, "No, actually, I'm also great in my own right." A lot of these circumstances sideline women from moving as nimbly and effectively as they'd like in their careers. 

One other challenge is following their calling, not just finding their next job. It's the lack of feeling that they have the right to find the appropriate job that amplifies their own unique skillset as opposed to taking a job that's offered simply because it's in the city where their family is living and that suits their childcare needs. Women, especially those of a certain demographic, oftentimes 'get work' as opposed to 'pursuing careers.'  

In our women's senior leadership program, I talk about breaking norms. A woman who is unusual in her organization faces the same resistance that innovation in an organization faces. So, if you are the innovation, you embody something new every time you walk into the room. That's another layer that you need to understand and deal with, in addition to everything else that comes with being a leader. 

Malia Mason: We help women think more strategically about their careers and their next steps. With our women's leadership program, we give attendees an opportunity to apply some of what they're learning to the challenges that they're facing right now. It's an opportunity for them to reflect on where they are with their leadership skills, explore what success means for them and their future career, develop their skills and abilities, and think more strategically about their career, including the tricky management situations they might find themselves in. 

Some leadership programs for women tend to be heavy on case studies where you'll learn about a few female executives in specific situations and their experiences. These stories can be memorable and inspiring, but there are limits to what you can learn from a person's idiosyncratic experience; it doesn't always generalize. Other leadership programs are heavy on exercises aimed to help people develop skills, but you sometimes need the concepts modeled for you by someone who does it well. Still, other programs are all about reflecting on what's going on in your work life and workshopping challenges with peers. The reality is that there are benefits and drawbacks to all these approaches. 

 In our women's leadership development training program, you get a combination of these approaches. You're going to get examples of effective female leaders. You're going to work on critical skills via exercises. You'll have time to reflect on your situation as a female leader and workshop ways to move forward given your career aspirations. You'll also get the benefit of joining a phenomenal network of women executives and developing new friends and sources of support outside your organization. And it's not just high-performing women leaders who are in the room. The program creates a strategic network, a community. And we hope executives thinking about attending or taking that next step will be a part of it. 

We help women think more strategically about their careers and their next steps. With our women's leadership program, we give attendees an opportunity to apply some of what they're learning to the challenges that they're facing right now. It's an opportunity for them to reflect on where they are with their leadership skills, explore what success means for them and their future career, develop their skills and abilities, and think more strategically about their career, including the tricky management situations they might find themselves in 

Trish Gorman and Malia Mason are the faculty co-directors of the Women in Leadership: Next Level Success program.