5 Things that DO NOT WORK! #womenandequality

Thank you, King’s College London and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership for reviewing 175 papers on the workplace and gender equality, which proved my gut feel that what most companies are doing as regards supporting women and minorities is largely useless (research report link).

As we know, over their lifetime, women earn on average ￡263,000 less than men because of the gender pay gap which currently stands at 17.3% in 2019. 

There is countless research that shows that diverse and gender balanced teams out-perform teams that all look like themselves, yet there are many companies failing to do anything at all to make themselves more inclusive. The UK Government’s most recent Hampton Alexander Review identifies some of them (Link).

Increasing the female employment rate from 57% to that of Sweden (69%) would, I am told, result in gains of around 9% of UK GDP, or ￡178 billion. So why is it that companies are finding it so hard to change when the business benefits to them individually could be so significant? 

Women on Boards UK today has 28,000 members. Consequently, and sadly, I have heard many stories about who is making an effort to change their culture and who are not. Listening to these stories it is very clear to me that most companies are failing to tackle and face up to what is most important - their inability to manage diverse teams. 

There is no doubt that managing diverse teams is harder. You cannot predict outcomes and to lead well you need to create a trusting environment (for all) and to have trust you first need to understand the different ways in which people not like you approach problems.   

There are many factors that explain the gender pay gap, currently at 17.3%, some of which are to do with women working in less well-paid industries and or working part time after childbirth. 

However, what is interesting and less well understood is that a sizeable share of the pay gap (according to a new study) is due to “unobserved factors” that cannot be explained by the job choices women make.

According to Pilita Clark of the FT, “This could include discrimination, harassment or personal choices, “constrained or otherwise”. Either way, the pay gap is large, persistent and glaring, so a lot of companies have been trying to close it”.

Having reviewed 175 papers the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College have identified the 5 things that do not work, things that nearly all large UK companies.

What does not work?

1. Women’s networks run by employees

2. Offering training and networking opportunities after hours or outside the office

3. Mentoring programmes, if not done by professionals who have specific researched backed, or business knowledge, that you need

4. Diversity and unconscious bias training

5. Making sure hiring committees have one women on the panel, the most surprising finding and one that requires more research. Apparently the Institute, when reviewing research, found that there was no evidence that one women made a difference to hiring diverse teams. However we do believe that diverse panels are important and that the panel should be as balances as is practically possible. Interestingly research on meetings shows that one token minority does not make a difference either in the boardroom but 2-3 (30%) does make a difference.

In fact research today now shows us that unconscious bias training puts the company at most risk because it can create anger if not well handled, alongside bringing previously unconscious bias to the fore which it seems can increase discriminatory behaviours.

So what do Women on Boards UK think that companies should be doing?

Firstly, companies should invest in collaborative leadership training for all middle and senior managers to enable them to lead diverse teams more effectively and handle disagreement to ensure competitive advantage. 

Research shows that most leaders run poor meetings, which tend to be status arenas (UGM Research Link). This leads to disagreement being handled badly despite the fact that disagreement is generally a good thing when solving complex problems. If managed well disagreement supports genuine collaboration and high-quality thinking so avoiding it or allowing certain individuals to dominate decision making should be avoided at all costs. 

Second, support minorities by identifying skills gaps which might prevent them from taking stretch promotions. According to Boris Groysberg, Professor of business administration in the Organisational Behaviour unit at the Harvard Business School, when promoting or searching C-Suite candidates companies are looking for individuals with the following skills; 

- Results Orientation

- Strategic Thinking & Implementation knowledge and experience

- Professional Competence and how technology will disrupt your industry

- Ability to be inclusive and understand cross country cultures 

- Influencing

- Change Management

Research shows that minorities, male of female, tend not to apply for promotion until they feel competent in new areas. So receiving extra training in skill based ‘gap’ areas is vital.

This is why we have been running a skills based leadership programme called Getting to the C-Suite (information link), priced at a level that women can potentially fund for themselves if required.

Third, give them knowledge of the boardroom and board committees, from a young age, and encourage them to take on a small external board positions as part of a career development strategy. Adding a board appointment or directorship to your CV is a sure way of drawing attention and validating your capabilities whilst catapulting your career up the ladder of success. There are many benefits to be gained from joining a board – click on this link for seven reasons why being a director will benefit your career.

Fourth, companies should encourage their employees to network and talk to as many senior people, two levels above you, as possible. Carolyn Poretta did this to great effect. Listen to her story via this podcast link. 

We work with about 30 companies today all of which allow us to engage with their employees, men and women, and share with their employees vital knowledge about the boardroom (what it does and why it matters). This is how we inspired Carolyn to get 'on board'.

Please do get in touch if you would like to find out more about our corporate work (link).

Fiona Hathorn - November 2019

CEO of Women on Boards UK