To help more women get on to boards, fix the funnel leading there

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One generation ago, a major challenge in business was paving the way forward for women to possess top leadership positions. Today, we can all point to successful women in business who hold senior roles across various industries.

While progress has certainly been made, the problem is not solved.

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To help more women get on to boards, fix the funnel leading there Back to video

According to new data released by Statistics Canada, fewer than one in five board directors in Canada are women. While this varies by industry — with government agencies performing the best at 28.8 per cent of the boards made up of women — at no point does the percentage of women crack 30 per cent.

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This is a problem endemic to the corporate world. We often think of certain industries as “male-dominated,” including the industry I’m in – financial services. But the truth is, it is only at the level of associate vice-president and above where men predominate. The industry is not dominated by men, but it is the men who are getting promoted more often.

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The question therefore isn’t: “How do we hire women?” The question is: “How do we promote women?”

It’s up to us to understand how to fix our promotion funnel so we find the qualified women that already work for us and elevate them to a level at which they will create even more value.

Commit to your employees

Your next female leader is out there — and more likely than not, she’s already working for your organization. You just need to avoid the temptation to look outside your walls and commit to finding her.

Much has been written about how unconscious bias plays into perceptions of male and female competence — how men are assumed competent, whereas women have to prove themselves.

The effect of this bias is predictable: many women are working in positions far below their level of qualification. This is partly due to these women not putting their hand up — but mostly, it is due to them having been overlooked.

While the systemic effects of this bias are overwhelmingly bad, there is an upside: your organization likely has a number of underemployed woman workers who are already familiar with your processes, stakeholders, and culture — and are ready to create value.

Once these candidates for promotion are identified, they must be supported. Women don’t often assume they are qualified to take on a leadership role, and can be reluctant to put themselves forward. They need to be supported in taking risks that are both new to them and the organization.

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What does this mean? An organization that is committed to promoting women will find achieving gender parity in leadership roles much easier to attain.

Commit to a goal

What gets measured gets managed — and this is as true with respect to Diversity & Inclusion as it is in other areas of business.

Take the example of HSBC Canada’s CEO Sandra Stuart. Sandra committed to achieving gender parity in her leadership team and set herself a deadline of 36 months.

She achieved her goal in 18 months — because of the wealth of untapped female talent waiting for a leader who would recognize and leverage it.

But without that goal, there would have been no target to strive towards — and no way to hold people accountable for progress against it.

Raise your hand

Raising my hand for new opportunities is something I have learned in my own career: when I was passed over for promotions, I sought out a leadership position in other departments and organizations. I actively put myself out there: I participated in speaking opportunities, I networked, I sharpened and perfected my elevator pitch.

You may have to overcome barriers to do this — self-promotion doesn’t always come naturally to many people, especially women. I myself had to overcome my natural introversion.

But once I did, my life changed. I found a new job within six months of being passed over for that early promotion in my career, and I am in an even better leadership position today.

Facing my fears and pushing myself to take strategic risks has been a key factor in advancing and growing my career – and is critical to emboldening the pipeline of women in leadership.

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Raise them up

While we as women need to push ourselves forward, much of the onus for ensuring women are in corporate leadership positions rests on the leadership teams of organizations.

Seek diverse candidates and establish a diverse pipeline of leaders. Invest in training, development and mentorship. Set goals for your teams and don’t let those deadlines pass.

The problem of women’s under-representation in management is a thorny one – but if organizations and leaders alike can commit to raising the profile of women in leadership, we can find the solution sooner than you think.

? Terri O’Brien is Chief Risk Officer at Interac