Gender Diversity Within Senior Management

Twenty years ago I wrote a book called “It Takes a Village.” A lot of people looked at the title and asked, “What the heck do you mean by that?” This is what I mean: None of us can raise a family, build a business, heal a community or lift a country totally alone. Hilary Clinton

None of us can shift the issue of gender diversity alone. No matter what your view on politics is, you have to agree that if Hilary Clinton is voted in by the American people as President she will be the first female President – this is a massive milestone. However, it is not just politics that this can happen – it is possible in every industry. The main thing to consider is how do you encourage gender diversity within your senior leadership team? It is important to note that if your senior leadership team is gender diverse – it bares an example on the rest of the organisation

It truly is a top down approach. We must first look at the leadership team. How do we encourage people of various genders to be promoted into the leadership team? What avenues do we take to encourage these promotions – incentives, flexible work arrangements, having a presence at universities etc.

The way to analyse the issue of gender diversity within your senior leadership team is by talking to your middle management team and understanding what is resisting their willingness in promotions. Why do they not want to further their skills to be promoted into senior leadership? What do they believe is lacking in the organization for this to take place? Are your salaries on par at that senior leadership level? What are the thoughts behind being a senior leader – for example do they believe once they are at this level their work hours will no longer be flexible or that there is a lack of work/life balance etc.?

Another thing to consider is how do you encourage senior leaders to come back to work after maternity/paternity leave? Is there a crèche being offered at your organization? Perhaps a day care subsidy? There are a few options and many that can further encourage senior leadership diversity.

For more information on gender diversity at a senior leadership level, please email pennyl@4iGroup.com.au or call 0419 320 341