#BeBoldForChange
What Purposeful Actions Should be Taken by Individuals and Organisations to Accelerate Gender Parity?
“I will take more risks when males brief me with female coaching assignments which major on lack of confidence by making them aware that what might look unconfident to them could simply be a more collaborative style.”
Geraldine Gallacher – Managing Director of ECC
“For me flexibility is a huge thing. Organisations that look seriously at organisation attitudes towards both flexible working and flexibility of career path will reap the biggest rewards.” Phanella Mayall Fine – Executive Coach at ECC
“A culture of allowing autonomy over how and when work gets done (for men and women obviously); validating women who want a less turbo charged career in their middle phase by finding ways they can still maintain status and influence; and helping women let go/prioritise more ruthlessly are the three big ones for me.” Karen Falcocchio – Executive Coach at ECC
#BeBoldForChange
“I would add discussing and educating both men and women about difference in organisations and appreciating the value of diverse styles, approaches to career and development is key to organisations achieving success and nurturing their talent. Allowing career paths to be adaptable and promotion to be based on diverse competencies is key.”
Emma Spitz – Director at ECC
“My first one is for women, it would be great if more of us could ‘lift’ as we climb and do as much as we can to bring the women following us with us- challenging conscious and unconscious bias as we go. My second would be that organisations re-look at their succession and promotion criteria to ensure they are flexibility managing their pipeline not ‘unconsciously’ screening women out- as many key promotion points occur when women are in the mid-career phase. By challenging current processes that for e.g. require so much internal profiling and policing and external networking that many women simply just de-select themselves because of time and preferences. It would be helpful to really challenge thinking on what they need from future leaders and to avoid a ‘one size fits all approach. Linked to this is also thinking how they more flexibly manage the timing of promotion processes so that women transitioning to and from Maternity Leave to not ‘fall between’ the cracks whether this is due to changes in line management or simple timing issues. In summary, many organisations talent and succession planning processes seem to be still unconsciously biased against women. So, I want us all to call out more unconscious bias when we see it!” Jo Partington – Executive Coach at ECC
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“Building on Jo’s point about leadership, one answer for me is about companies redefining what great leadership looks like, to tackle the complex issues facing organisations now and in the future. I still hear that promotion panels are all male or predominantly males who have generated revenue but not much else. It is likely this people will be (subconsciously) more positive about people who look and sound like themselves, although there is a case to answer that new leaders should exhibit very different traits/skillsets/attitudes. A focus on results across a broad spectrum of leadership competencies would remove the tendency to reward presenteeism and would instead reward collaboration, innovation, and consistency. This in turn would identify both men and women with potential to lead, creating more parity.” Jane Storer – Executive Coach at ECC
“The motto I was brought up with was ‘Strength from Diversity’ and I cannot emphasise how important this is to me and how much it made an impact growing up. Diversity breeds new ideas, innovation, and creativity. To be a successful individual and organisation, we need to champion diversity and oversee processes to ensure actions are put in place that address inequality. I will continue to champion diversity for all genders, and challenge unconscious bias when it rears its ugly head.” Nicole Dainton – Marketing Executive at ECC
“Adding o Jo and Jane’s point, I think men could ‘out’ their flexible working more visibly. Especially the admired high achieving ones. Making it much less about female and family. More about leading a healthy productive balanced life. And being a leader. Kate Buller – Director at ECC
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“Adding to the comments above, I think managers and leaders in organisations should work to create a more inclusive workplace culture that values women’s and men’s contribution equally they should have an active say in the maternity and paternity leave policies that help men and women advance equally, they should also have a say in hiring and training and in providing coaching and leadership education to help female recruits gain the skills and experience they need to advance. I think this is about everyone in the organisation playing an active role. Organisations need to ensure that all women get access to training coaching/mentoring, experience and opportunities that will help them to advance in every stage of their careers. Natalia Martinez – Executive Coach at ECC