Women in Leadership Positions: What is your role?

In the last 100 years, women have made great strides, but this is the generation that has the best chance of achieving equality.

As a female leader for the past 30 years and as the founder of FastrackToRefocus Coaching, I am proud to be part of that effort by continuing to take active steps to help women move forward in the world corporate. But true progress is a collective effort.

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The state of female leadership

To move forward, we must know our starting point. Although they hold almost 52% of all managerial and professional-level positions, women are substantially behind men in terms of their representation in leadership positions. Why aren't we seeing more progress?

Women face challenges and stereotypes that are obstacles to their advancement. Understanding those dynamics is the first step toward a more equal and productive workplace.

Here are some key ideas to keep in mind as you work to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce, and ways we can support our effort collective.

1. Create a pipeline

Leaders need to pay close attention to how many women are in leadership positions and focus on how these women are being developed for future roles. To support the creation of this pipeline in your organization, make sure you are building and supporting a workplace that offers more diverse development opportunities, executive visibility and leadership in the change.

2. Celebrate successes

Generally speaking, women tend to feel less comfortable with self-promotion.

With this in mind, there is an opportunity for co-workers, both male and female, help make the environment more welcoming by calling on the good work done by women surround. This includes recognizing female colleagues during team meetings, highlighting their impact on leadership, and even recognizing them on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.. If someone does a good job, they should be appreciated and celebrated for it. Be men as women.

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3. Push women to more projects

One way to celebrate women's successes (and indeed give them the opportunity to achieve more) is to have more of them on important projects. Studies show that women are less likely to be assigned to larger projects with larger budgets. As we all know, those projects are the ones that regularly lead to promotions and recognition within the company.

In projects large or small, women often end up with administrative tasks. Leaders must actively work to put women in diverse roles. Without experience doing different things, women may not have the same opportunity as men to discover their talents, find what they like to do or demonstrate their potential for leadership.

Not using the full skill set of women not only hurts their career development, but could also be an inefficient use of a company's resources. You don't know what someone can do if you don't give them a chance.

Women should help themselves in this area too. As a woman, it is up to you to stand up for yourself and ask for more opportunities. You can't have advancement expectations if you're not willing to put yourself out there, stretch your own abilities, and step out of your comfort zone. Fortune favors the brave.

Be a sponsor and advocate

Being a sponsor or advocate can have as much impact as mentoring. Mentoring is a relationship based on advice and guidance (a wonderful thing to have) but not necessarily associated with direct advancement. As a sponsor or advocate, you can actively work to promote women and recommend them for specific projects, development opportunities, or leadership roles.

It is also beneficial that people have a sponsor in different departments or areas of the company. That exposure to other people and jobs can open up opportunities that make women candidates for leadership with more options.

The role of HR

Progress in diversity and inclusion does not depend on HR teams, but their active leadership can be transformative. As a leader, here are a couple of suggestions to advocate for change.

1 know the facts

HR departments need to know how teams are structured from all perspectives: race, gender, etc. This data must go beyond the number of employees.

Consider examining recruiting, promotions, identified successors, performance ratings, and compensation. After running the numbers, then you have to communicate where your company is with the leadership. Identify opportunities (and there are always opportunities) and suggest specific actions to drive change. People may find these conversations uncomfortable, but I have found that a lack of change begins with a lack of awareness.

2. Take measurements

If the data shows that there is room for growth, you must take steps to improve the situation. Are there changes you can make to your management development programs that will help more people? Can you do more to actively ensure your talent pipeline is diverse? Are you creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for your team?

See everything from recruiting to performance management, development programs, diversity and inclusion efforts, and be intentional in how you direct your role to support diversity.

Concluding

Women's allies in the workplace play a key role in driving it forward, but ultimately, the best sponsors for women are themselves. Therefore, this International Women's Day, I want all women to stand up for themselves, seek new opportunities to grow, and take risks in their careers. Together we can continue the progress of the women who fought before us and set the stage for an equal and inclusive future.

Nobody is going to give you anything. Whether you are a man or a woman.

You have to appear in your life and sit in front of the table. And if they don't offer you a chair, always carry a folding chair in your backpack, briefcase or purse. And of course I am here to go hand in hand with you as Executive Coach and Job Orientation in this new leadership and career development project.