Business Management ABCs

Why Don’t More Women Apply For Promotions – Multiple Realities

July 5th, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — Business Author

The Senior Executive Reality

Possible thoughts running through the heads of senior executives upon reading the results of a recent survey:

I am surprised and frustrated with the survey results I have just read about the lack of interest of women in the company in promotion to the next level. At the junior management levels over 50% of women do not even apply for more senior roles when they are posted. They cite their reasons as, “expecting an adverse impact on their work life balance, insufficient training for the new roles, and expectations they would not be supported if things go wrong and they would be allowed to fail.”

I am surprised by this because we have put so much effort into each of these factors. We have put programmes in place to encourage flexible working to suit individual circumstances. Our culture is one where results and outcomes matter and not hours sitting at a desk. We spend more than our competitors on training programmes to make sure people have the competence they need for their roles. We have women’s support groups to provide a learning network and role models of people who have progressed. Our 360 degree programme rewards managers who are supportive of their staff and gives easy opportunity for more junior staff to point out shortcomings of their leaders. I spend a good proportion of my time talking to all levels of the organisation about my commitment to diversity and inclusion.

I am frustrated because I see this as a pool of talent that can bring so much to the success of this organisation if we can engage them in the excitement of the future and see how much we genuinely want them to feel part of it.

The Junior Management Woman Reality

Possible thoughts running through the heads of junior management women upon reading the results of the same recent survey:

We have just been given another of those annoying surveys asking us why we don’t apply for promotion to the next level. There are so many surveys now that expect simplistic answers to complex questions. The summary of the survey suggests work life balance, lack of training and poor managerial support as the reasons for lack of interest in promotion.

There will now probably be some new initiatives to tell us that work life balance can be ok, we are trained well and there are systems in place to ensure managers improve the support they give to their staff. They will show us examples from a small sample of women that demonstrate what is possible. Then another survey in three or five years’ time will yield similar results.

Personally I would love to feel comfortable applying for a more senior position. I don’t because the more senior environment is designed by and for men. I want the option to have a family and want to work in an environment that it is normal for a woman to do that and progress her career. I can’t do that here. There are very few women at more senior levels and it seems to me those that are there have to behave like men if they want to succeed. The predominantly male dominated environment has a poor understanding of the support needed by women, and the distinctive contribution offered by women. It does frustrate me but I will do my current job well as long as it suits me and will probably move to a more appropriate environment when the time comes.

Discussion

Multiple Realities:

This company, along with many other global organisations is faced with the problem of attracting women to the senior levels. Given the various perspectives, or multiple realities at play, it is not surprising that this situation persists, and is likely to continue to do so until there is genuine exploration of the underlying issues that fuel this common dilemma.

Structures and processes that support women’s advancement are essential, but they are not sufficient to shift perceptions. Without a shift in perception, there can be no behavioural change. In order to make that shift, it is important to understand the complex factors that comprise perceptions and the subsequent behaviour at both the executive and management levels.

The possible realities expressed above are illustrative of how the same situation can be seen through different perspectives. The challenge for organisations is how to reconcile or, better yet, create a new shared perspective from which creative solutions can arise. The result is not a compromise. It is an outcome that is fully satisfactory to all parties because of the new way that everyone involved now views the original situation.

Action based solutions cannot fully address perception based problems:

It is easy to understand the frustration on all sides when policies, procedures, and even values and vision statements are developed and re-developed to address issues such as this. Although it is essential that organisations walk their talk via structural and organisational changes, those concrete implementations alone will not lead to sustainable behaviour change.

Further, when organisations do implement such changes without addressing the perceptions and experiences underlying the issue, the problem may actually be exacerbated. This miscommunication across the players gives rise to surprise, frustration and misunderstanding on both sides.

Resolving this dilemma is complex. A commitment from all parties to delve into the messy world of assumptions, perception and emotion is necessary to make real progress. The work requires an exploration of the assumptions and stories underlying the various perspectives at play. What are these assumptions? What are they based on? How do they serve the people involved?

From this position it is possible to develop a shared perception, based on the facts of the situation that can lead to solutions for progress.

Below, we suggest what this approach might mean for the issue this company faces regarding the advancement of women managers. We begin with a consideration about where senior executives and junior management women might be coming from.

An authentic beginning:

The pressures on senior executives involve much more than are expressed in the possible reality outlined at the beginning of this document.

It is possible that, for senior executives, the issue of the advancement of women managers beyond junior management is well down the pecking order of priorities. For a senior executive, the first and foremost priority is the strategic direction of the firm. The environment is changing aggressively for this company and the industry in general. With resources commoditising, the highest priority is likely cost efficiency versus that of the competition.

There is a need continually to review every position in the company and get the right balance of leadership and people to do work. Survival depends upon it. Clear strategic direction needs to be worked through and a road map created that everyone can believe in and will lead to the company existing and growing into the future. It is possible that cost, strategy, and the assumed factors that comprise the two

are the priorities of senior executives at this time.

If senior executives do not honestly view the advancement of women as a component of cost and strategy, if the issue of women’s advancement is seen as a “nice to have”, it makes perfect sense that the issue is simply not a priority at this time. Alternatively if the advancement of junior management women is truly seen as integral to the future success of the company, if the issue is seen as relevant to reducing costs and implementing strategy, then the importance of the issue rises.

Addressing the question of how senior executives honestly view this issue in relation to the goals and performance of the company is the starting point of the discussion.

For junior management women, the issue of their career advancement is likely mixed in with many other themes being played out in their lives.

It is possible that the issue of career advancement is well down the pecking order of for them as well. Moreover, if women “know” (or perceive) that the issue of their advancement is not a priority in the eyes of senior executives, regardless of the programmes that have been put in place, there is little motivation to address the issue themselves.

There is no debate about the competing pressures women face as they embark on the business of giving birth and raising a family, but family concerns are not the only pressures that work against women’s decision to not apply for senior positions. Understanding, in detail, junior management women’s understanding of their personal and professional priorities as they relate to organisational priorities is the second step towards a solution that satisfies the needs of the organisation.

A model for creating a shared perspective:

One model we have found useful in helping leaders and organisations get to the root of these issues is the Successful Action Model. This model explores the underlying causes of perceptions such as history, assumptions and values with a view to developing creative and sustainable alternatives and action plans always geared towards organisational as well as individual results.

Sometimes executives are hesitant to embark on a process such as this because it seems to be centred on “soft” issues, removed from the “realities” and “hard objectives” of the organisation. They are surprised to discover that not only is such an exploration relevant to the strategic direction of the firm, but that time spent developing a shared perspective saves costs and time in the near future.

Concluding Remarks

The world is complex and there are as many realities as there are people. It is human tendency to segment our piece of the picture and present it as “the reality”. However, in doing so, we deprive ourselves of a broader context that includes a reality different from our own. Understanding others’ perspectives goes beyond “getting their input”. It involves a willingness to understand the context from which each party’s perception has developed and thus to enrich our decision making and goal setting with more complete data.

If you are interested in further discussion about this issue within your company, or in further details or background about any of the ideas we have expressed, please contact the authors whose details are below.

Tracy Fenton/Len Williamson

June, 2009

Len Williamson is a leadership and team development coach at The Owl Partnership Ltd, an international coaching firm based in the UK. Tracy Fenton is a leadership and team development coach at Totem Hill, an international management consultant firm based in Ottawa, Canada.

Len and Tracy studied together at the Cleveland Gestalt Institute Global programme. They have worked together in the UK, Singapore, South Africa, Holland and Portugal. They have developed a Successful Action Model as a framework to help people understand the components of successful action. They are also collaborating on a number of projects and have an interest in applying their combined skills to the challenging arena of human perception, decision making and behaviour change.

Len Williamson invites you to visit his web site at http://www.theowlpartnership.com for more information on how he coaches individuals and teams. If you have a major challenge and see obstacles to progress then Len can help.