How will change ever happen if leaders don't care about the problem?

I saw the e mail come through with the link to this year's 'Women Count' report and immediately feared the worst. 'What depressing figures am I about to see about the lack of women in CEO and P&L leadership roles?'

My next thought, before even opening the report and reading the figures, was 'when is this ever going to change?'

As expected, on reading the report I saw once again depressing figures from the top FTSE 350 companies:

96% of CEOs in the top FTSE 350 businesses are men.

96%. Still.

The Women Count report also looks at the key succession roles into CEO positions, namely CFO roles and P&L leadership roles:

83% of CFOs are men.

Only 16% of P&L roles are held by women and almost half of the companies have ZERO women in P&L roles.

Then having read these figures and the full (excellent) report, excuse my language, I never swear on LinkedIn, my next thought was 'do any of the male leaders actually give a sh!t about this?'

Because every year we have a range of different reports about the state of diversity in organisations, and every year it's the same depressing stats, and lots of women commenting and being angry, frustrated, upset (I certainly am) but VERY FEW men getting involved with the discussion, and very little changing as evidenced by the figures.

I appreciate these things don't change overnight, but it's been 11 years since the first Lord Davies report and so we have had a long time now to focus on our succession planning for future women leaders.

The report shows beyond doubt there is a link between profit and diversity, as do many other pieces of research, so intellectually and commercially we know that diversity is a good thing. Morally we also know it's the 'right' thing. (And although the focus of this report is on gender diversity the same is true to all kinds of diversity, and the figures for women of colour are even worse.)

But surely our leading 350 CEOs are talented and successful individuals, so if they turned their mind to it, and cared about the lack of diversity at the top, they could affect change?

Given that this is a blog about positivity and reflection, I encourage you to read the full report (link at the bottom), reflect and then get to action.

What can you do to drive change?

“Instead of a diversity policy, why not write an action plan?”

The Women Count report makes four suggestions:

1. It starts at the top. The CEO of each company in the FTSE 350 must own and lead action on gender balance. The behaviour of the CEO sets the tone on this agenda. Without the example and leadership of the CEO, then all efforts will ultimately falter and fail.
2. Set targets. Companies need to have targets for the numbers of women they want at each level of the organisation. Having clear targets creates a climate of accountability, shared goals, and an impetus for action.
3. Male ‘allyship’ is crucial. Men within companies have a major responsibility for their actions and behaviours. Men must buy into the drive for gender balance with more than lip service. It cannot be left to women alone.
4. Zero tolerance on bad behaviour. There must be a zero tolerance approach to the behaviours and cultures which prevent women from reaching the top of companies.

Since reading the report I have been reflecting and would add these three suggestions:

1. Introduce a diversity objective for leaders at all levels, linked to their bonus. This is more than a target. This is incentivising leaders financially to change their behaviour. To sharpen their focus on the area. Those that have never focused on it because they don't care, might focus on it because they care about their earnings.
2. Support women at all levels with development, mentors and sponsors. Women Executives have far fewer role models than men. There aren't many who have gone before them, that look like them. But as well as senior women, anyone can help with this, regardless of level of experience or gender. Are you a mentor? There is always someone who would value your support.
3. Ensure when hiring you consider the best person for the team, not just the best person for the role. It is no longer enough to find someone that ticks all the boxes for a role when hiring. Instead, consider the hire in the context of the whole team: What are they bringing to the team that doesn't already exist? How are they adding to the diversity of the team composition?

Please share any other ideas, especially if you are a man in leadership who cares about the statistics.

Read the report in full: Women-Count-2022-1.pdf (execpipeline.com)

I highly recommend The Pipeline, who created the report, and am proud to work with them as an interview coach on two of their development programmes.