Since John Gray’s book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, even the most oblivious among us know that there are certain differences between men and women that go beyond physical appearance. However, the statistics show that women are treated like men in a workplace, and are expected to show the same reactions.
For reasons that are more commercial than moral, companies are realising the benefits of recruiting, developing, and retaining women in their organisations. A survey that was published this week in the International Journal of Business Governance revealed that companies that have more women on their boards have better results.
The survey of 600 female board members showed that women underestimate their abilities and skills more often than men; but they are more likely to consider the rights of others, and take a cooperative approach to decision-making. This approach translates into better performance for their companies.
Despite this revelation, however, companies don’t make an active effort to understand and retain women in their organisations. Despite women having the same education, intelligence and dedication, they are lower on the career ladder than their male counterparts. According to Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook, this is not only because of tradition and organisational factors, but also because of real-life career road blocks.
Sheryl writes, “If a woman is competent, she does not seem nice enough. If a woman seems really nice, she’s considered more nice than competent. Since people want to hire and promote those who are both competent and nice, this creates a huge stumbling block for women.” Sandberg supports her statement with an interesting gender-bending experiment that focused on Heidi Roizen, a successful female entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. As part of the experiment, a professor handed out a case study Heidi had written to male and female Columbia University students. Half of the case studies were handed out with Heidi as the author’s name, and in the other half he changed Heidi’s name to Howard. After the individuals had read the case study the students were polled to find out their perception of Howard and Heidi.
Were the man and woman perceived differently because of their genders? In the poll results Howard and Heidi were perceived as equally competent. Howard, however, was perceived as more likable than Heidi, and was described as a great guy. Although Heidi was described as competent, students were not sure they wanted to work with her; they were not sure they could trust her.
Sheryl Sandberg notes that, starting in junior high, if you ask boys and girls if they want to lead their high school class, junior high school class, club in college, or the organisation, team, or company they join as adults, more men than women said yes. All the studies show this. This is how we have reached a world where 14 percent of the top corporate jobs are held by women.
Women think differentially, and their actions are driven by different motivators. Attracting and retaining women in leadership positions takes an understanding of their female-specific thought processes. It takes more than a competitive salary and a flashy position with power.
A recent McKinsey study identified 5 Leadership Essentials to attract and retain women:
Leadership essential 1: Meaning – loving and agreeing with what you do on a daily basis, and feeling it matters (Dave Ulrich);
Leadership essential 2: Positive Framing – adopting a more constructive way to view your world, expanding your horizons, and gaining the resilience to move ahead even when bad things happen (Martin Seligman);
Leadership essential 3: Connecting – working in a team, supporting each other, and enjoying the collective “power of many”;
Leadership essential 4: Engaging – getting and taking opportunities;
Leadership essential 5: Managing Energy – a sense of being so engaged that you don’t notice the passage of time (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).
When another survey was conducted by the Business Results Group (BRG) on 2000 South African employees to ascertain South African women’s most common concerns, it was established that they are less able to raise issues that are important to them in the workplace; they are not listened to as much as men at work; they score themselves lower when asked if they are respected by their bosses; and they also score lower in respect of being recognised in their organisations.
Are women aiming too low? Their sense of achieving their potential is just 5.9 out of 10. This shows they have a lot more to give. The reality in South Africa is that women account for only 10% of CEO positions, 32% of CFOs and 15% of board positions. 21% of SA organisations have no women representation in senior management positions.
Another reality is that companies who have successfully achieved gender parity are the happier companies.
At Initiate International we strive not to only match the candidate to the job spec, but also to the culture of the company. Should you feel you are misunderstood in your current position, feel free to discuss your job requirements with one of our specialist recruitment consultants.
