The ROI of Developing Women Leaders

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”?– Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist

It has been critical for ages to have a deliberate and structured strategy for nurturing and advancing women leaders. But with changing times, it is even more pertinent for CEOs and CHROs to focus on developing the women leaders within their organisations.

The HR department might have implemented policies or procedures to assist women within your company, such as diversity training or goals focused on hiring and promoting women. They might have also started some flexibility policies and acknowledged that women often face challenges balancing caregiving duties with leadership roles.

But HR policies and initiatives are just one piece of what’s needed to prepare and encourage women employees to take on leadership roles.

More is needed, and it starts with your culture.

Why is it important to develop women leaders?

Developing women leaders is crucial for various reasons.?

1. Increased Innovation and Financial Performance: Studies show that having more women in leadership roles is linked to more innovation and financial performance.
2. Enhanced Productivity and Collaboration: Women leaders help increase productivity, enhance collaboration, inspire organisational dedication, and improve fairness.
3. Better Mentorship: Women leaders provide better mentorship, especially for the younger generation, helping to overcome obstacles to advancement.
4. Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Women in leadership roles can help close the gender pay gap and bring unique qualities like adaptability and community-driven thinking to decision-making processes.
5. Diverse Skills and Perspectives: Women leaders offer diverse skills and imaginative perspectives and can contribute to more inclusive and effective decision-making processes.

By fostering women leaders, organisations can benefit from a more inclusive and effective leadership that reflects workforce diversity and society, ultimately contributing to better decision-making and organisational success.

How to Prioritise Retaining & Developing Women Leaders - Here are 5 keys to success.

5 proven things to consider when promoting and developing women leaders.

1. Address women’s leadership challenges and needed competencies.
2. Leverage the power of choosing.
3. Rethink systems and challenge assumptions.
4. Provide flexible women’s leadership development experiences.
5. Create the right networks.

The organisational culture, departmental dynamics, and even the beliefs of a single manager can significantly influence whether women choose to remain in a company or seek opportunities elsewhere. Unspoken performance standards and informal networks also contribute to this decision-making process. Additionally, women's individual experiences and viewpoints are significant factors.

Organisations should adopt a comprehensive, holistic approach that considers the entire system to foster an environment that promotes the retention, development, and advancement of women leaders.

1. Address women’s leadership challenges and needed competencies.

Ensure your female leaders have the experiences and the resources to learn what they need most. Interventions for developing women leaders on an individual level could include targeted training, guidance for on-the-job learning, coaching opportunities, and mentoring at work.

It’s important that the organisation — and individuals — are clear on the perspectives, skills, and capabilities that are needed to be effective in various leadership roles in your organisation. In general, as noted in a research by Centre for Creative Leadership has found that:

• The top 4 leadership challenges for women are typically establishing credibility, managing up and across the organisation, negotiating adeptly, and influencing others.
• The 2 most important competencies to start developing are managing organisational complexity and strategic thinking and acting.

2. Leverage the power of choosing.

Individual women also need to be intentional about their careers and their development as leaders. The power to choose is sometimes overlooked by women, due in part to cultural conditioning. Encourage female leaders in your organisation to recognise their own agency and:

• Exert greater influence over the choices they make.
• Take the lead in shaping conversations about their career.
• Take ownership over their career choices.
• Create a personal leadership development strategy.
• Be as strategic about family responsibilities as they are about workplace roles.

Women leaders should receive messaging from the organisation that embraces a more individualised — and less stereotypical — perspective on professional and personal roles that may have historically been categorised as “men’s roles” and “women’s roles.”

3. Rethink systems and challenge assumptions.

Simply focusing on individual women's leadership development isn't sufficient. The pandemic-induced "SHEcession" has underscored systemic disparities impacting women, organisations, and society at large. Addressing unconscious biases within organisations that hinder women's opportunities and motivation is crucial. Prioritising workplace equity across the board should be a central goal for organisations.

Organisations can actively mitigate these issues by cultivating leaders who can identify and tackle both conscious and unconscious biases. Establishing an environment where female leaders feel psychologically secure to voice concerns, backed by an organisation dedicated to fostering broad cultural shifts, is essential.

Take concrete steps to evolve your organisational culture to orient toward building greater equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) — starting with a focus on equity— and connect developing women leaders to your broader EDI approach.

Meeting scheduling, social norms, networking opportunities, mentoring programs, and talent management policies and processes are some potential areas for focused improvement. Also, ensure that managers are aware that they should ask, rather than assume that they know, what woman in the workplace want from the work (this is also a good idea with all employees).

Above all, organisations should create a culture and systems that make it easier to have candid conversations.

4. Provide flexible women’s leadership development experiences.

Skilled women seek organisations to invest in their growth, advocating for their inclusion in program selection. Offer varied formats, such as virtual options, and empower women leaders to pause their daily tasks for development, providing support and permission.

Another consideration is whether an all-women or all-gender experience is more beneficial for your organisation’s unique situation. Both approaches can have a positive effect on retaining and developing women leaders. When making the decision, evaluate these factors:

• Are women a demographic minority in the leadership ranks of your organisation? If so, they may benefit from an all-women leadership development experience. Connecting and networking with other women across their ranks can sometimes be more meaningful when it’s less available in their day-to-day work lives.
• Do you have executive-level support? All-women programs are most effective when they have executive sponsors' explicit support and involvement. This sends a message to women leaders that their needs are seen and that the organisation is investing in the value they can create.
• Is the development hosted within your organisation? If so, sponsoring and mentoring women on an ongoing basis should also be considered. Doing so can provide guidance and support from senior leaders to help women integrate what they’ve learned into day-to-day operations.

Mixed-gender leadership development settings are also incredibly advantageous. Since women lead in diverse organisational settings encompassing various races, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and genders, inclusive development programs can enhance participants' abilities to network, influence, and lead across demographic boundaries. Additionally, it can be reassuring for women leaders experiencing burnout to learn that many of their challenges are common among individuals of all genders, roles, and industries.

5. Create the right networks.

Establishing strong connections and relationships is crucial for accessing information, advancing professionally, and seizing opportunities. Effective leaders leverage their networks and trusted allies to influence others and achieve results.

Many women face challenges in networking, particularly exacerbated by the pandemic. These challenges stem from time constraints, societal norms, and perceptions of networking as disingenuous or manipulative. However, the ease of building connections only sometimes equates to their usefulness.

Organisations can support women by helping them cultivate the relationships necessary for success. Women benefit from having a network of advocates, including mentors, sponsors, and coaches, which enables them to assess their current network and identify areas for growth. Women leaders can strategically establish new relationships by prioritising short-term and long-term connections.

Organisations serious about retaining and developing women leaders will want to ensure they are helping all their talent build the right relationships, political skills, and networks to succeed.

Please reach out if we can support you in any way on your journey of developing women leaders.

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