In a world of work occupied mostly by men, women are believed to bring the skills, perspective, and cultural differences needed to save the company from collapsing, observed Tony Schwartz. Women also bring leadership style to a more complete range of qualities that modern leaders need, including self-awareness, emotional attunement, and authenticity. In the modern workforce, Schwartz added, employees want more constant feedback, actual relationship with upper management, and better work-life balance. These desires are most likely going to be met by female managers with all their authenticity and emotional attunement.
Another study published at Business Insider stated that men tend to quickly gain the upper hand in the younger years of their leadership while women continue to mature over time and are perceived as equally capable, which can increase more positivity in work culture. This trend is all due to the practice of asking and receiving feedback done by women. Women leaders want more feedback to help them excel in their career, as a result, they score high in 12 leadership competencies than men.
See also: Pros and Cons of Female Leaders at Work
In a fine term, workforce needs more female leaders in order to create a harmonious environment. However, as women have greater emotional, it can be hard for them to cope with sensitive issues, thus, it is advisable for employers to train and develop their female leader candidates before putting them in a decision-making role.
Here are tips from well-known employers on how to train and develop female leaders.
E&Y intentionally engage men in women’s advancement by opening up more dialogue between men and women on the local business unit, encouraging candid discussion about critical issues and experiences, and establishing mentoring and sponsorship initiatives, and networks. E&Y is progressing in its effort to advance women in the organisation. As a result of those efforts, the number of women in top executive management position increases significantly.
KPMG develops its female leaders by doing an open discussion in KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit. They invite every woman leader around the world to participate in the discussions. As a result, KPMG has been fostered women’s networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunity in nearly half of KPMG’s offices.
Sanofi’s ELEVATE initiative a six-month development program to prepare high potential women in their organisation for leadership roles. Participants are nominated based on the existing talent review process, with a target cohort size of 20 – 25 women. The program provides a stretch experience for participants to develop senior-level leadership skill sets while identifying new growth opportunities and building new capabilities for Sanofi company. The result of the program was that 60 percent of 85 women who have gone through the program have been promoted or have made developmental moves that expand their knowledge.
Same with Sanofi, Allstate established its own talent program to support the development and advancement of its internal employee pipeline. The program reduces the costs associated with hiring and onboarding an external candidate. When a position opens in any department across the company, the vacancy is openly posted and any employee in good standing can apply. Those who are selected to serve in the new role for six to nine months, providing an immersion experience that fast tracks new skills development. In the first two years of the program, internal placement rates doubled and more women leaders position in the leadership roles.
Finally, it can be concluded that in order to bring the best women talents while cutting organisation cost, you can train internal women leader. When selecting female leaders, make sure your candidates have these traits: assertiveness, leadership mindset, and stress/priority management. After that, providing a leadership program within or joining external leadership program such as what Sanofi and Allstate did will be helpful to develop the mind of female leadership in your organisation.
Read also: Boost Engagement and Accelerate Female Employees into Leadership Roles
