What Glass Ceiling?

Bluegem Learning Vice President Jane Joseph, who leads the UK side of the business, gives her thoughts on the issue of "the glass ceiling".

"Recently a friend of mine sent me a photocopy of an article written in The Evening Standard called “What glass ceiling?”  The article asked and addressed one simple question …where are all the women?  Women comprise approximately 47% of the workforce but only 4% of the senior positions in blue chip organisations.  So where is the female talent?  The article quotes from a report by a research company called Catalyst who have been looking into the issue of gender inequality and have looked to dispel 5 of the myths, which exist to explain why women do not rise to the top as readily as the male counterparts.

Myth 1 – Biology

The maternal instinct is the problem, the genetic pull for women to stay at home to raise children and because of this they tend to sacrifice their careers.  According to Catalyst the real reasons that women find themselves on the bottom of the management totem pole is that

ü  They are shut out of most informal networks

ü  They do not have sufficient role-models

ü  Suffer from gender stereotyping

Not quite the genetic explanation we were expecting is it?

Myth 2 – Glass Ceiling

Suggesting that women and men start off equally and it is only when you get to senior positions that you see a difference.  Again the research shows that women start off behind men and very rarely catch up. Catalyst calls if less of a glass ceiling and more of a lead weight. 

Yes, a humongous weight that drags women back from the moment they enter into the workplace and aspire to gain the credibility and position that their excellent exam results or their natural abilities suggest they should attain.  No matter how we try to dress it up for 2014 that lead weight is gender bias.

Myth 3 – Queen Bee Syndrome

Now didn’t you know that it’s women’s fault why enough women are not rising to the top.  Well, women are their own worse enemies; aren’t they?  Once one woman makes it she will cripple any other female from getting to where she is. 

However the research shows that women are more likely to assist other women, when they achieve success in their field and that they are more likely to champion the cause of women, when they reach senior positions.

Myth 4- Simply having a mentor will do the trick

Although having a mentor is a good thing, most male mentors tend to mentor men and vice versa.  Therefore, because males tend to be higher in the organisations, they tend to have more clout than their female counterparts. 

Catalyst suggests that more than a mentor women need to find an ally.  A person who can assist them in being seen and gaining the reputation and work that will help them to promote themselves and be placed on the pathway that leads to senior management.

Myth 5 – Time

Time will cure all gender equality ills and that the next generation of women will rise to the top as swiftly as men. 

However in 2015 gender legislation will be 40 years old (Sex Discrimination Act 1975).  Many women have been campaigning and championing the cause of equality for many years.  Helen Morrissey a chief executive of Newton Investment Bank states that although there has been some progress in the Boardroom what needs to be addressed is the pipeline to getting women into these positions. 

This suggests to me that no matter how much time passes if women are prevented from getting into the pipeline that feeds the top jobs then we will still be having this conversation in another 40 years. 

So if you are in an organisation where women seem to lag behind their male colleagues, don’t believe the hype or the myth about why women just don’t seem to make it.  If talented women are not rising to the top, there is something fundamental that needs to be addressed in the organisation that you work in.  It is also true to say that where one discrimination issue flourishes there tend to be others lurking just beneath the surface.

No doubt we will return to this topic in the future as it seems to be one that, for now, rumbles on."

Jane will be writing future articles for the blog, so watch this space.

THE TOP 5 PITFALLS THAT AFFECT NEW LEADERS

It’s a transition that many of us face at some point in our career – making the transition from team member to team leader or to put it another way from a doer to leader of doers. For many this can be an exciting time full of challenges and new opportunities, for others it can be a somewhat bewildering series of events that can lead them to feel somewhat overwhelmed and unsure of themselves.

This last part sounds crazy, didn’t we select this person because we’d identified their talent and innate ability? The truth is that in many organizations people are promoted to leadership positions because they are good at their current job and not because they have demonstrated sound leadership capabilities. In fact according to Anne Fisher author of New job? Get a head start now; Fortune; 17 February 2012 up to 40% of new executives fail in their first 18 months. Having taken all that time and money in the selection process doesn’t it make sense to you to take the appropriate steps to make the onboarding process for new leaders successful?

Research suggests that there a number of reasons why new leaders potentially fail and in this guide we are going to focus on the top 5.

1.            They fail to establish a cultural fit.

2.            They fail to build teamwork with staff and peers.

3.            They are unclear about the performance expected of them.

4.            They lack political savvy.

5.            Their organizations do not have a strategic, formal process to assimilate executives into the organization.

Examples show that effective onboarding minimizes the need for terminations and costly replacements by helping new leaders navigate successfully the areas most critical to their success. High-performing organizations use effective onboarding strategies to assimilate their leaders; they do not apply a "sink or swim" mentality. Instead, the most successful organizations understand they may choose to invest valuable time and money to position their new leaders to succeed rather than expending those same resources in lost productivity and turnover.

Let’s consider each of these pitfalls in turn:

1.   They fail to establish a cultural fit.

Mismatch to culture –new leader’s style is inconsistent with that of the company. This can manifest itself in their style of leadership eg too autocratic or too laise faire. Whilst this can be less of an issue for someone promoted from within the organization an internal promote may face the challenge of managing the different dynamic of being a team leader rather than a team member and having to renegotiate relationships with former colleagues.

2.   They fail to build teamwork with staff and peers.

Internal hostility or mistrust of outside individuals –new colleagues withhold information or are quick to criticize new leader. This is likely if an internal candidate failed to obtain the position. The new leader fails to build or maintain key relationships up, across or down within the organization. This can be with key stakeholders within their new team and/or peers and/or supervisors. By failing to correctly identify key stakeholders a new leader may be storing up problems that don’t surface until months down the line.

3.   They are unclear about the performance expected of them.

Conflicting messages –new leader hears contradictory expectations about their expected performance in the new role. There can sometimes be a rush to get results, built upon unrealistic expectations of the new leader. As a result they feel pressured to get results and make an impact and act too rapidly or prematurely, without understanding the context fully. One of the biggest mistakes new leaders make is that they believe successful delivery is down to them alone – it isn’t it’s down to having a high performing team and failure to build one fast enough may result in the leader “failing”.

4.   They lack political savvy.

Linked to point number 2, the new leader may fail to identify the key stakeholders and understand what their needs are. This may be caused by the new leader struggling for information –internal networks are lacking; the new leader does not know where to access key information. Ideally the new leader should be looking for early wins to cement their position, however failing to understand what their own manager needs from this can lead them to focus on less important areas of the business.

5.   Their organizations do not have a strategic, formal process to assimilate new leaders into the organization.

As was mentioned above many organizations have an ad hoc process to assimilate new leaders into the organization that can lead to matters being rather “hit and miss”.

The expectation is that a new leader will hit the ground running and will require little support from others. In reality this is a false assumption as high performing organizations realize that to be successful new leaders require a formalized onboarding program accompanied by suitable training and coaching that will enable the new leader to deliver of their best.