BUSINESS INSIGHTS | SUMMER 2011 EFFECTDevelop Your Generation Y Women to Improve Profits
by Alice HardinIf your company is earnestly searching for innovations that increase profits, you may want to look at the makeup of your executive team. A growing body of research shows that organizations with higher percentages of women executives outperform their more male-dominated counterparts. According to a study originally published by Bloomberg L.P., they surpass others by as much as 69 percent.
That’s a staggering figure, but when you look at the data it makes sense. Consider these findings from the 2007 report, Women as Consumers: Transforming the Marketplace (National Foundation for Women Business Owners):
- Far and away, the majority of new businesses (70–75 percent) are started by women.
- Women business owners want consulting and professional services from other women.
- More women are buyers and purchasers, both at home and on the job, and are more comfortable making those purchases from other women who can relate to their needs.
This explains, in part, how companies with stronger female representation more easily meet the growing base of customers and influencers’ needs. But the advantage goes beyond women’s natural affinity for each other; studies are also showing women’s inherent leadership traits round out the traditionally held male features of confidence and assertion. They add trust-engendering empathy, a comprehensive communication style, curious and attentive listening, and a collaborative approach to making decisions. According to a report by Catalyst, a membership organization that produces research to help advance women in business, when women and men come together at the top, leadership and corporate cultures genuinely improve—and profits right along with them.
The trouble is, that’s a rare scenario. And it just may be the scenario most hospitable to Generation Y employees entering the workforce, who are anything but traditional. Predominantly male-led companies run the risk of losing talented young workers to more diverse organizations and startups. If current conditions persist, more than half of all entry level hires will be women—but as they mature alongside their male peers, they’ll start to diminish in number, while the men keep rising through the ranks.
When women and men come together at the top, leadership and corporate cultures genuinely improve—and profits right along with them.
The
Statistical Overview of Women in the Workplace, published by Catalyst in March 2011, suggests that if your company roughly resembles the gender makeup of the Fortune 500 (whose trends tend to be ahead of the rest of corporate America), women will occupy 51 percent of your basic managerial positions, 17 percent of top management positions, and only 14 percent of your C-suite and board level posts. And while your female representation slides, so could your competitive advantage, as well as your appeal to the most desirable and gifted recruits.
So, how do you stop talented women leaders from leaving your organization? Take deliberate steps to develop and keep them by investing in programs that help them harness their power. Strong women’s leadership programs involve women and men, and the most effective of these work with the genders separately then bring them together in a collaborative environment.
Starting with women-only development programs is preferred because they provide a forum for women to discuss their unique challenges and help build the informal networks and mentor relationships that foster growth but have long been absent. Most important, these programs circumvent the differences between male and female communication patterns (men tend to dominate mixed-gender discussions, while women typically yield, agree, and praise), allowing women to speak openly and candidly and find their voices before the two genders come together.
Many executive coaching firms facilitate women’s leadership programs. Look for those that start with intensive workshops and sustain learning with ongoing follow-up sessions. Until corporate cultures become more collaborative and diverse, these programs will be essential to retaining and building talent, creating a positive and attractive work atmosphere, and pushing profit columns up to whole new levels.