In the News: Unlocking the Full Potential of Women at Work

A newly released publications exploring the persistent lack of women in leadership...

McKinsey & Co. have recently released a report Unlocking the Full Potential of Women at Work. Following on from previous publications, this report is based on research involving 60 Fortune 500 (or similar) corporations in the US, and interviews with CEOs, senior business leaders, HR and Diversity professional and female executives.  The views of company employees are also harnessed, with 4000 employees from 14 of these companies providing information on career aspirations, ambitions and attitudes.

The report is jam packed with information, but here are a sample of the findings:

Corporations with the greatest success in achieving gender diversity at all levels of their organisation met one or more of the following metrics:

• A starting position that reflects the talent - the percentage of women recruited into entry-level reflects the available talent emerging from universities and colleges.
• Better odds of promotion past manager level - in a structured corporate pipeline, promotion to manager represents the first step to CEO. Women have good odds (at least 85% of that of men) of being promoted past this level in successful companies.  Interestingly, the metric used is not equal odds!
• More women at the top - successful companies have a high representation of women at the executive committee level.
• Women in the line - women hold at least half of the senior management roles in line positions, rather than staff positions from which they have a lesser chance of reaching the executive level.

Intervention at the middle management level can make the greatest difference.  The report showed that the rate of progress of women beyond the manager level (in line roles) was far less than men. At this level of experience, it was found that many women moved to staff or support roles instead.

A number of stubborn barriers to women's advancement remain. They are deeply intertwined and hard to eliminate. The barriers are described as:

• Lifestyle choices  - for example: to accommodate caring responsibilities, women may shift roles to increase flexibility and lessen travel
• Structural obstacles - for example: it is more difficult for women to access sponsorship or the right networks
• Institutional mindsets - for example: managers and recruiters making assumptions about women's career preferences or mobility
• Individual mindsets - for example: women holding themselves back, not asking for opportunities 

So what to do? The report offers some key areas of focus for moving from "good to great":

• Hands on leadership, starting at the top
• Diversity leadership with clout
• Pervasive sponsorship
• Robust talent management
• Strong accountably supported by data

The Bickley Blog would love to hear from you...

What is your company doing to ensure that they "Unlock the Full Potential of Women at Work?"  

Do the stubborn barriers resonate with your own experience? 

 Have you moved away from the pipeline to CEO - if so, what drove your choices?  

Email us with your stories or drop us a line on twitter or Facebook.