Blog: Get more diversity into management
Get more diversity into management—here’s how
Reality check: Per Institutional Shareholder Services, women comprise only 27% of S&P 500 board seats and 19% of mid- and small-cap company board seats, while BIPOC hold only 10% of directorships among Russell 300 companies. Women hold only 7% and ethnically diverse executives only 9% of CEO positions among Fortune 500 companies. Despite many companies explicitly stating an interest in recruiting new directors from these groups, gains have been modest for females and almost nonexistent for racially diverse candidates.[i]
These are staggering statistics considering almost every Fortune 100 and 500 company has diversity mandates, demonstrates effort, and has woven DEI language into their value statements.
Sadly, despite corporate desire and their evident efforts, there has still not been tangible progress made in growing the prevalence of diverse executives in corporate leadership positions.
How can that be?
Isn’t the saying: where there’s a will, there’s a way? If corporations support DEI and make efforts, how are we not seeing a significant shift in these numbers?
There appears to be an incongruence between intention and action. Many companies intend to hire or promote women and BIPOC into management, the C-suite, and the board—however, they aren’t effectively supporting, preparing, mentoring, or training them to ascend into those positions.
Research shows that profit and loss (P&L) and CFO experience directly impact the C-Suite and board ascension track.
Stanford reports that women (and, to a lesser extent, racially diverse executives) who directly report to the CEO are underrepresented in positions that directly feed into future CEO and board roles (such as CFO and P&L leaders) and have greater representation in positions that are less likely to lead to these appointments (such as general counsel or human resources). That is, diversity statistics in the C-suite—even though low—still overstate the likelihood of increased diversity among corporate leadership in coming years.[ii]
Diverse executives are much less likely to be CEO candidates (and have lower potential to be a board candidate) if they serve in non-profit and loss positions, even if they directly report to the CEO.
Stanford research finds that many diverse executives serve in terminal functional roles that are not typically on a path to becoming CEO, and also not on a path (as it stands today compared with what boards look for in new directors) to corporate board service. Unless changes are made, the current composition of the C-suite of Fortune 100 does not portend well for increased diversity of corporate leadership in coming years.[iii]
There’s a surefire way to fix the crack in the management pipeline
Research shows there is a definite leak in the corporate ascension pipeline.
The higher you climb up the ladder, the smaller percentage of women you’ll find:
- Executives: 23%
- Senior managers: 29%
- Managers: 37%
- Professionals: 42%
- Support staff: 47%[iv]
To be feasible management, CEO, or board candidates, employees must first have the functional and managerial skillset needed to perform those jobs. P&L and CFO experience are significant factors contributing to future promotion to the CEO role and board seats. Therefore, businesses must do more to prepare diverse executives for these roles.
So how do you turn intention into action?
You train your employees.
It’s that simple. You offer training opportunities, educational funding, and mentoring that supports diverse candidates ascending into management—and beyond—and educate them on how to advance in your company. You equip them with the skill set and experience they will need in leadership roles and help them chart a path to success within your organization. A great place to start is by encouraging employees who identify as women to attend our inaugural WOMANagement Conference 2022 on Thursday, October 20.The virtual conference is free to attend and will include roundtable networking, inspirational keynotes, WITx talks from industry leaders, and power panels.
Some of the topics covered will include:
- Getting to gender parity in management
- Top 10 attributes required to get your first management role
- Breaking the testosterone management barrier
- So, you want to be a manager
- Steppingstones to your first manager role
- Build and manage your business
- Build and manage your team
- Build and manage yourself as a new manager
WOMANagement, by The WIT Network, is a new movement to foster equal and more diverse representation in our front-line manager teams in companies of all sizes. Through the conference and upcoming programming, we aim to help companies turn intention into action, repair and reinforce a DEI managerial pipeline, and balance the statistics.
Follow this link to learn more about The WIT Network WOMANagement programming and conference.
[1] Stanford University, Corporate Governance Research Initiative, Diversity in the C-Suite.
[11] Stanford University, Corporate Governance Research Initiative, Diversity in the C-Suite.
[111] Stanford University, Corporate Governance Research Initiative, Diversity in the C-Suite.
[1V] Catalyst, Women in Management (Quick Take). https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-management/
