Out this month, the Davies Review looks at the lack of women in our boardrooms, assessing a huge wealth of ideas to nurture women in business and widen the talent pool for upper management.
It’s not about paying lip service to gender equality, despite women’s growing consumer power, the Davies Review states that nearly half of FTSE 250 businesses do not even have a female board member. Don’t take action and risk a competitor seeing just how this impacts on their business strategy.
So, how do you go about turning corporate culture on its head?
Don’t sideline her:
Let her take real risks and engage in real business, just like the men. 49% of women in business we interviewed whilst writing Your Loss: How to Win Back your Female Talent agreed that women tend to build a more collaborative or networked style, allow a more creative, multidisciplinary approach. This partnership-oriented approach stands in stark contrast to the stereotypical male leader; self-confident, decisive and independent.
Offer real-time flexibility in the boardroom, too:
Make sure systems are in place for her and her line manager and limit the amount of time she has to spend in meetings. Make sure senior executives are also seen to be flexible: role models are powerful persuaders. A more flexible working life will allow her to stabilise her home commitments, giving her a positive working experience.
Don’t make maternity leave a taboo subject
Embrace life changes:
Don’t make maternity leave a taboo subject; invest in her as a long-term employee and reap the rewards of your loyalty. Give her the support structure to manage her own leave and return to work, always communicate, evaluate and reward.
Christina Ioannidis is an international speaker, consultant and seasoned entrepreneur. Christina is the author of the recently published “Your Loss: How to Win Back Your Female Talent”. She is a thought leader in the subjects of gender-savvy leadership and talent management, employee and customer engagement, effective product development and marketing, as well as innovation and intrapreneurship.
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International Speaker, Consultant and Author of:
Your Loss – How to Win Back your Female Talent: A Gender Savvy Business Plan for Competitive Advantage (www.yourlossbook.com)
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