Kelly Ann Doherty* says understanding the challenges, stereotypes and stigmas women face is the first step towards creating a more equal workplace.
In the past 100 years, women have made great strides, but this is the generation that has the best shot at equality.
As a female leader, I am proud to be a part of that effort by continuing to take active steps toward helping women advance in the corporate world.
But real progress is a collective effort.
The state of female leadership
To move forward, we must know our starting point.
Women fall substantially behind men in terms of their representation in leadership positions, yet research shows that organisations in the top quartile for executive-team gender diversity were 21 per cent “more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile”.
You have to wonder: Why are we not seeing more progress?
Women face challenges, stubborn stereotypes and stigmas that are roadblocks to their advancement.
Understanding those dynamics is the first step toward a more equal and productive workplace.
Below are a few things to keep in mind as you work to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce and ways you can support our collective effort.
Create a pipeline
Leaders should pay close attention to how many women are in leadership positions and focus on how those women are being developed for future roles.
To support the creation of this pipeline in your organisation, ensure you are building and supporting a workplace that offers more diverse development opportunities, executive visibility and sponsorship.
Celebrate successes
Generally speaking, women tend to be less comfortable with self-promotion.
With that in mind, there’s an opportunity for co-workers, both men and women, to help make the environment more welcoming by calling out the good work done by the women around them.
This includes recognising female colleagues during team meetings, highlighting their impact to leadership, and recognising them on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.
Pull women into more projects
One way to celebrate women’s successes (and give them an opportunity to accomplish more) is to have more of them on larger projects.
Studies show that women are less likely to be assigned to bigger projects with larger budgets, which are the ones that regularly lead to promotions and recognition from management.
It’s not just being included in “hot” projects that matters — think about the specific roles women are assigned to.
Women often end up with administrative tasks.
Leaders should actively work to put women in diverse roles.
Not utilising women’s entire skill sets not only impairs their professional development, but could also be an inefficient use of an organisation’s resources.
Women must help themselves in this area, too.
It’s up to women to stand up and ask for more opportunities.
Be a sponsor and advocate
Being a sponsor or advocate can have just as much impact as mentorship.
Mentorship is a relationship based on advice and guidance — a wonderful thing to have — but not necessarily associated with direct advancement.
As a sponsor or advocate, you can actively work to promote women and recommend them for specific projects, development opportunities or leadership roles.
It also never hurts for people to have a sponsor in different departments or areas of the organisation.
That exposure to other people and jobs can open up opportunities that make women more well-rounded leadership candidates.
The role of HR
Progress in diversity and inclusion is not dependent on HR teams, but their active leadership can be transformative.
Here are a couple of suggestions to champion change.
Know the data
HR departments should know how teams are structured from all perspectives.
This data should go deeper than a headcount.
Consider looking at recruiting, promotions, identified successors, performance ratings and compensation.
After you run the numbers, you then have to communicate where your organisation is at with leadership.
Identify the opportunities (and there are always opportunities) and suggest specific actions to drive change.
People can find these conversations uncomfortable, but I’ve found a lack of change starts with a lack of awareness.
Take action
If the data shows there is room for growth, you should take intentional steps to improve the situation.
Are there changes you can make to your management development programs that will lift more people up?
Can you do more to actively ensure the talent pipeline is diverse?
Are you creating a welcome and inclusive environment for your team?
Be intentional in how you lead your function to support diversity.
Allies of women in the workplace play a key role in driving us forward, but ultimately the best champions for women are themselves.
I want every woman to advocate for herself, seek out new opportunities to grow and take a chance in her career.
Together, we can continue the progress of the women who came before us and set the stage for an equal and inclusive future.
* Kelly Ann Doherty serves as EVP and Chief People & Communications Officer for Mr. Cooper Group.
This article first appeared at www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil.
