Women Leadership: New Age Imperatives

We are in the era of Radical Shifts. The corporate dynamics is flipping at a fast rate and fostering gender equality remains a high visibility agenda across companies. While we may have seen a surge in the number of women entrepreneurs, the number of women CEOs and executive team members is stagnating. It stands at a meagre 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. Where is it emanating from?

According to the Women in Workplace study 2016 - Promotion rates for women lag behind those of men, for every 100 women promoted, 130 men are promoted. Secondly, at senior levels, women shift from line to staff roles. 90% of CEOs were promoted from line roles and 100% of those were men.

So why are women leaders important and how will we benefit from women leadership?

• Women have circular vision, one moment they could be talking about the latest pub in town and next moment giving you perspectives on the stock exchange. They can switch gears real quick, making them exceptional motivators and problem solvers.
• Women are multi-taskers and highly collaborative and process oriented.
• Women are skeptic by nature and look for legitimacy in the prospective solution to a problem. Thereby, building an authentic yet practical model for work.
• Improved staff retention, innovation and access to talent.
• Lead to higher employee engagement since the diverse strength of all employees can be leveraged.
• Role Model effect will lead to a better socio-economic quo,

Companies can enforce gender equality in the following ways:

• Stop relegating women contributions as supporting and not central/leading role.
• Develop women’s skills and capabilities by trainings.
•  Do not brush off critical feedback from women as non-competent.
• Commitment to gender diversity should be percolated from CEO to every employee.
• Put better systems in place to ensure the policies are working towards fair hiring, promotions and role alignments.
• Encourage and ensure direct interaction of women employees with senior management.

Finally, the women must follow the 3L Strategy to achieve leadership roles – Learn, Lead and Legacy:

•  It is not only what you know, but also who you know that defines success. So connect with people, transformational leaders and exchange knowledge and learn.
• Be fearless and be a good negotiator. Be aggressive wherever needed.
• Overcome traditional gender expectations with élan and grace to leave behind a positive legacy.