What group makes up half of our population, yet only 15.6%
of corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies? What group
holds half of all management and professional positions in
the United States, but less than 3% of the CEO positions in
the Fortune 500? Women!
Moreover, studies have shown that companies with the
highest representation of women (top 10%) on their top
management teams had better financial performance than did
the group with the lowest women's representation. Women
purchase 83% of all products and services in the United
States, so it makes sense that your employees reflect your
customer base. In order to be successful, companies need to
recognize what they are doing with respect to women, where
they're succeeding and where they need to improve.
What you can do. You can play a significant role in
conveying the importance of the topic, assess what is being
done well at your organization and what needs to be
improved, and work toward implementing the necessary
changes.
In my work helping women succeed in business, I've found
that two kinds of barriers exist: one is external, male
dominated organizations with a subconscious bias against
women; the other is internal, how women themselves operate
in the corporate world. Much of this is based on gender
socialization in the United States. Obviously, there are
exceptions to all of these situations. But there has been
significant research done, and I've witnessed plenty of it
in my fifteen-plus years in corporate America. Corporations
need to pay attention to the barriers to minimize them,
thereby maximizing their success, and women need to be
aware of how they position themselves.
Bringing up gender biases in the workforce is a touchy
subject. Some perceive it's casting women as the victim.
However, if we don't admit it can exist, it can't be
addressed. In her book Necessary Dreams, Anne Fels cites a
significant amount of research that shows women continue to
receive less recognition for their accomplishments than
men. This starts at pre-school and happens with both male
and female evaluators. For example, in one study, two
groups of people were asked to evaluate particular items,
such as articles, paintings, and resumes. The names
attached to the items were either clearly male or female,
but reversed for the two groups. So, what one group
believed was created by a man, the other believed was
created by a woman. Regardless of the items, when they were
credited to a man, they were rated higher than when
credited to a woman. This discrepancy was consistent across
male and female evaluators. What you can do. Create
objective standards for success at your organization. Make
success transparent, including performance measurements and
competencies. When standards are objective, women succeed.
Another result of male-dominated organizations is that many
are structured on the idea that the employee (a man) had
someone at home (a wife) taking care of the children and
house. This is rarely the case anymore. The fact that women
still bear a disproportionate burden of childcare, house
care and eldercare results in an additional stress on them
in the workplace, and often results in what has been termed
"opting out". See "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps" by Sylvia Ann
Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce in the Harvard Business
Review (March 2005). It offers a comprehensive overview of
that phenomenon and what companies can do to reverse the
brain drain of women leaving corporate America, and help
women when they are ready to reenter it.
What you can do. Support flexible workplaces, put informal
structures in place to stay in contact with strong people
who have left your company, and make sure someone contacts
them on a regular basis.
Talking about internal barriers that women create for
themselves can bring up a different kind of resistance, as
people perceive it as "blaming the victim." Instead this
approach empowers women to take control of their destinies
by finding techniques that increase their success.
Finding a voice in corporate America is still a big issue
for women. The range of issues includes not feeling
comfortable speaking in public (especially when being the
only woman in a group) to feeling very comfortable to
speaking in public, but not having your ideas taken
seriously because you are a woman. In a recent Catalyst
report about women on Board of Directors, a woman director
confirmed that "they're predisposed against hearing you
because you've got on a skirt."
In a recent focus groups of professional corporate women,
one woman stated it well when she said "If I'm 99% sure,
I'll talk like I'm 95% sure, as opposed to men who talk
like they are 150% sure even when they are not. We need
more confidence in our communication."
There are ways of communicating that decrease the speaker's
credibility, which I call "power sappers." They are more
common in women and include the following:
• When stating an opinion, qualifying it too much ahead of
time. For example, leading off with negating phrases, like
"I am not the expert on this," or "I could be wrong on
this".
• Saying "maybe" or "I think" even when making a definite
statement.
• Using a lot of "ums" or other fillers in speech.
• Ending sentences with "... OK?"
• Saying "I'm sorry" when it's not necessary.
• Talking too much when somebody does not want to hear all
of the details.
• Phrasing statements as questions by pitching your voice
up at the end of the sentence.
Women often fail to speak up if they don't think they have
the precise answer or have something significant to say.
The result can be that they don't say much and they lose
credibility. I have seen examples of this even on company
boards of directors and it results in the woman failing.
What you can do. Become aware of these phenomenons and
point them out when they are occurring (both to women and
men). Mentor the women in your organization who are not
communicating effectively.
You can have a significant impact on how women succeed in
organization by communicating the benefits, becoming aware
of the obstacles, and putting action steps in place to
address problems or take advantage of opportunities. This
is not something to do simply because it is the right thing
to do, but because it is good for business. It will pay off
for your company in terms of increased retention,
productivity and morale. And, on the bottom line.
----------------------------------------------------
Kerrie Halmi of Halmi Performance Consulting specializes in
increasing women's success in business through speaking,
coaching and facilitation. Kerrie has over fifteen years
of experience in the Human Resources field
with such clients as eBay, Bank of America and Kaiser. She
received her MBA from the University of Michigan and is
certified in coaching with Corporate Coach University
International.
See
http://www.halmiperformance.com
