PARITY PROFESSIONALS
Inspiring Female Talent: It’s a Leadership Thing “Organisations are shadows of their leaders” Industry is innovating faster than ever to meet the increased demands of clients and customers. Organisations are constantly being challenged to continuously adapt to ensure that they are capable of achieving sustainable business results. Given that female talent is underrepresented in senior positions across many Scottish businesses, there is a significant opportunity for inspired Scottish leaders to unleash the full
Vivien Weldon Head of Client Solutions You can’t look too far these days without coming across something in the news about “Gender Diversity” or “Women in Leadership”. There is pressure in the market, and expectation from the government, that British Business – specifically the FTSE 100 – will lead the way in creating “Balanced Boardrooms” with at least 25% female representation by the end of 2015. Since his initial report “Women on Boards”, published in 2011, Lord Davies has recently reported that the FTSE 100 is making significant progress towards that goal with women now occupying 23.5% of all FTSE 100 board seats. However, he is not resting on his laurels. The pressure is intensifying and he is “naming and shaming” those companies who are failing to make progress, claiming that those companies that “do not get the mood of society on this issue, actually deserve to go out of business.”
Business Scotland
52
capability and capacity of their female talent pipeline to optimise collaboration, innovation and productivity. With more and more businesses in Scotland signing up to the Scottish Business Pledge and the Partnership for Change, Scotland’s business leaders have a unique opportunity to make a real step-change in the way in which their organisations, and indeed our country, is known for inspiring female talent.
So, whilst there has been an 11% increase of women occupying FTSE 100 board seats over the last 36 months, what are these statistics not telling us? Of the FTSE 100, there are still 59 companies that have yet to achieve 25% female representation at board level. Of the FTSE 250, there are 23 companies with all male boards. So what is really going on here? What is the root-cause of the Gender Diversity issue and why is it taking some companies such a long time to shift the balance of their workforce? Let’s take a closer look by examining the business case that sits behind Gender Diversity. Diversity and Inclusion is a hot topic in the world of business, particularly Gender Diversity. What is all the fuss about? Why can’t we just get on with running our companies and wait for this whole thing to “run its course?” Newsflash – This “thing” is not going away – it is here for the long run, with targets looming round the corner, you need to be thinking tactically and strategically about it now! First thing is first; let’s get the debate out of the way. Balanced workforces outperform those that are not – yielding a 42% increase in return on sales, a 66% increase in return on invested capital and a 53% increase in return on equity. Gender Diversity is no longer considered an ethical issue; it is
a strategic imperative for any company looking to improve performance. So why are so many (59% of the FTSE 100) organisations struggling to hit the 25% goal? In order to answer that question we need to understand what is happening to the Female Talent Pipeline within many organisations. On average, 60% of graduates in the UK are female and many of the FTSE 100 organisations ensure that at least 50% of their graduate in-take is female. Following a significant investment in Attraction, Recruitment and On-boarding, many of these graduates embark upon a 12-24 month graduate programme which delivers on the “Employer Brand Promise,” laying a foundation for their career path within the organisation. The critical break in the Female Talent Pipeline occurs during the transition from the graduate programme to the start of their “live” career in the workplace. This is where the rubber meets the road and the gap (the Cultural Delta) between the “aspirational culture” and the “actual culture” is experienced. The graduate programme simulates a desired or “aspirational culture,” and to a certain extent, insulates the graduate from the realities of the real or “actual culture.” The moment of truth is when the graduate