Break that glass ceiling! Reap better business outcomes by growing women leaders

Editor’s note: Donald Thompson, a serial entrepreneur and investor, writes an exclusive column about leadership, equality, entrepreneurship and management. His posts are published on Wednesdays.

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Whether you call it a glass ceiling or a leaky pipeline, the end result is the same. The higher you go up the corporate ladder, the fewer women you’ll find. Most people know that. What we usually overlook are the specific actions we can take as organization leaders to start solving the problem.

Here’s the problem. Last year in the United States, women made up 47% of the labor force but held only 40.9% of management roles and just 31% of senior leadership positions. Also, it’s important to note how race and ethnicity show up here. According to Catalyst.org and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while White women hold one third of all management positions, Latina women and Black women hold drastically smaller shares at 4.3% each, and women of Asian heritage hold just 2.7%. Put bluntly, women’s representation – especially when we’re talking about women of color – is not in good shape.

Donald Thompson

And here’s the takeaway. These numbers simply do not align with what we know to be true about women leaders and business outcomes. We know that “companies with women in leadership positions are more profitable than those without,” as the Peterson Institute for International Economics explains. We know they are more socially responsible, according to data from the journal Corporate Governance. Research from the journal Manufacturing and Services Operation Management reinforces that organizations with more women in leadership provide safer, higher-quality customer experiences.

McKinsey and Company’s 2021 “Women in the Workplace” report shows that they also create higher employee retention, increased engagement and productivity. And, according to the journal Innovation: Management, Policy, and Practice, organizations with women leaders in the C-suite are “more likely to introduce radical new innovations to the market over a two-year period.”

As Corinne Post, Boris Lokshin and Christophe Boone explain in Harvard Business Review, “when women are appointed to the C-suite, they catalyze fundamental shifts” in the way a company thinks, leading to higher knowledge-building capacity, better business outcomes, and a stronger bottom line.

From my perspective, most CEOs and corporate directors truly want everyone in their organization to have equal chances of advancement. They know the data about women and diverse people in leadership. They’re good people with good intentions who want to see their teams do well. But often, they do not know the granular details of how to create equity and inclusion so women – and all people – can grow into strong senior leaders and executives.

I’ve helped develop a number of excellent women in my two decades of leadership, and I’ve learned some big lessons along the way. Early in my career, I didn’t understand why I needed to personalize my leadership style to drive every person forward from wherever they were starting. And I didn’t understand how to communicate the employee’s responsibility in our mentor-mentee relationship. By slowing down and listening, I learned how to do better.

Another way of saying that is I let myself be coached. The women I led taught me how to lead them by coaching me along the way. One great case study is Abha Bowers, who recently earned the CEO’s seat at Walk West. Abha came to work with me two and a half years ago, moving her family from New York City to Raleigh to take a director-level position at our fast-growing marketing firm.

Here’s what Abha did well. First of all, she did excellent work. She excelled in her role, actively sought feedback for improvement, and accepted additional responsibilities with enthusiasm and resilience. She stayed ready and kept chasing improvement. She told me she was ambitious to grow, and that her aspiration was to run the organization with mentorship. That last piece is so important.

When you know what your employees want from their careers, you as their leader can do a better job identifying the gaps between where they are right now and where they want to be in the future. Then, your job is to offer and create opportunities for them to stretch outside their comfort zones and grow.

Action recommendations

Here are the top three actions I recommend for building women leaders in the workplace:

Identify high-potential candidates early. Tell them what you see in them. Ask them what they want from their careers, and look for ways you can align their personal goals with the goals of your organization. It’s that synergy that will motivate and retain your most engaged, purposeful and high-performing employees.
Give clear, direct and frequent feedback. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. The highest compliment you can give someone is a high expectation for their success, because it shows you believe in their capacity for excellence. I too often see male leaders hold back helpful information from women employees, because they’re uncomfortable communicating what could be seen as negative feedback. Keeping quiet about your standards for excellence hurts everyone involved – you, the employee, their team, and the organization. For specific tips on how to give inclusive feedback to employees, see my 8 tips for how to deliver positive impact immediately.
Make professional development a part of every week. By working as an executive sponsor to your high-potential employees, you not only increase their chances of success but also their feelings of belonging and inclusion, leading to greater productivity and engagement. My previous column on professional development conversations is a good starting point for learning how to do this, and I also recommend you read my colleague Jackie Ferguson’s piece in Forbes on using sponsorship and mentorship to improve connection.

The critical piece to remember is that building up women executives in your workforce will not only help you achieve better outcomes but also make you a better leader in the process. By personalizing professional development and investing in your employees’ career trajectory, you grow into a more capable leader.

If you’re an executive with a powerful mentorship story, I’d love to hear your perspective. And as always, if there are ways I can be helpful, reach out to me on Linkedin. I’m always open to coaching people who are chasing big dreams.

About the Author

Donald Thompson is co-founder and CEO of The Diversity Movement which offers an employee-experience product suite that personalizes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) through data, technology, and expert-curated content. Their microlearning platform, Microvideos by The Diversity Movement, was recently named one of Fast Company’s “2022 World Changing Ideas.” With two decades of experience growing and leading firms, Donald is a thought leader on goal achievement, influencing company culture and driving exponential growth. An entrepreneur, public speaker, author, podcaster, Certified Diversity Executive (CDE) and executive coach, Donald also serves as a board member for several organizations in marketing, healthcare, banking, technology and sports. His autobiography, Underestimated: A CEO’s Unlikely Path to Success, is available for pre-order now. Connect with or follow him on Linkedin to learn more.