Women in Leadership Pipeline Hindered by Lack of Stretch Assignments
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The document summarizes research on barriers that women face in advancing to leadership roles. It finds that women are less likely than men to receive stretch assignments that develop leadership skills, more likely to be placed in "glass cliff" roles with high risk of failure, and more likely to end up in staff rather than line roles. This limits their access to the most influential assignments and positions. The document also discusses how women receive less sponsorship from senior leaders, are excluded from influential networks, and face biases in talent reviews and day-to-day interactions that undermine their perceived competence. It provides strategies for women to overcome these barriers by cultivating relationships across groups and seeking sponsors and mentors.
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Women in Leadership Pipeline Hindered by Lack of Stretch Assignments
- 1. Understand the system, make a strategy Women in Leadership January 2016 Janice Fraser Director, People Pivotal
- 3. I’ve been in business for a long time.
- 4. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl We’ve come a long way since the day my business partners tried to deny my maternity leave retroactively because in their view parenthood was a “lifestyle choice”.
- 5. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Even so, women don’t advance into leadership proportionately. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% IC Manager Director VP SVP C-Suite Source: Women in the Workplace 2016, McKinsey22 This study comprised 132 companies that employ collectively 4.6 million people. % Men % Women
- 6. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl But why? It doesn’t make sense.
- 7. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl What’s true in the world? Literature review. Synthesize findings & map out a system model Make explicit strategies to support the advancement of women. My plan.
- 8. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl 1. Stanford Study: Climbing the Technical Ladder: Obstacles and Solutions for Mid-Level women in Technology, Clayman Institute for Gender Research 2009 2. McKinsey Study: Unlocking the full potential of women at work, 2012 3. Catalyst Study: Good Intentions, Imperfect Execution? Women get fewer Game Changing Leadership Roles, 2011 4. Anita Borg Institute: Barriers to the advancement of technical women. A review of the literature, 2007 5. HBR: To Close the Gender Gap, Focus on Assignments, 2012 6. HBR: Why Men Still Get More Promotions than Women, 2010 7. HBR: Women in Management, Delusions of Progress, 2010 8. Bersin: What Exactly Are Talent Calibration Sessions Versus Talent Reviews?, 2008 9. Fortune: The abrasiveness trap: High-achieving men and women are described differently in reviews, 2015 10. HBR Press: Through the Labyrinth, 2007 11. Catalyst Study: The Double-Bind DIlemma, 2007 12. HBR Study: Women Get Fewer Game-Changing Leadership Roles, 2012 13. Clayman Institute: Senior Leadership Summit for Women (WT2 Conference), Feb 2016 14. Forbes: The 'Glass Cliff' Phenomenon That Senior Female Leaders Face Today And How To Avoid It, 2015 15. PWC/Strategy& Study: The 2013 Chief Executive Study, 2013 16. Google, Search result definition. March 2015 17. Journal of Advances in Gender Research: Gendered Networks: Professional Connections of Science and Engineering Faculty 18. UC Hastings: Double Jeopardy? Gender Bias Against Women of Color in Science 19. HBR: Prove Yourself ... Again: Why Women Get Overlooked for Management Positions 20. Slate Study: How to Get Ahead as a Woman in Tech: Interrupt Men 21. Catalyst Study: The Double Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership: Damned if You Do Doomed if You Don’t 22. McKinsey Study: Women in the Workplace, 2016 (Just published this week) The studies.
- 9. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl • Senior women get fewer key opportunities than men.12, 14 • Self-reinforcing factors bias leadership pipelines against women.1, 2 • Research from leading institutions has identified a small number of causal patterns.2, 13 • This situation can be reversed over time through sustained effort rooted in belief about the problem.1, 2 What I found.
- 10. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Stanford researchers have identified 3 causal factors that significantly hinder women’s ascent to top leadership roles.13 Good news. Sourcing & Screening Interviewing & Selecting Power & Team Dynamics Performance Reviews Talent Reviews & Calibration Assignments & Promotions Compensation
- 11. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Women’s Leadership Pipeline Inputs and Outcomes Sponsorship Networks & Social Capital Talent Reviews Stretch Assignments Senior Leadership OPT OUT Staff Role Laterals Sidelines 70% Mentorship Glass Cliff 20% Performance Evals
- 12. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Women’s Leadership Pipeline Inputs and Outcomes Sponsorship Networks & Social Capital Talent Reviews Stretch Assignments Senior Leadership OPT OUT Staff Role Laterals Sidelines 70% Mentorship Glass Cliff 20% Performance Evals WE’RE GOING TO START HERE, with the outcomes AND WORK LEFT, toward the inputs
- 13. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Stretch Assignments Senior Leadership 70% Stretch Assignments • 70% of leadership development comes from “stretch assignments.” 5 • A “Stretch Assignment” is a project that is beyond a person’s current knowledge or skill in order to “stretch” them developmentally, often in preparation for greater leadership opportunity. 5, 16 • Women are less likely to get access to stretch assignments.12
- 14. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Stretch Assignments Senior Leadership 70% Glass Cliff Glass Cliff • The Glass Cliff is the phenomenon whereby female executives are likelier than males to be put in leadership roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the chance of failure is highest. (e.g., Marissa Mayer) 16 • Women are mentioned more frequently than men with regard to Glass Cliff situations. 16 • When stretch assignments are given to women, they are often “Glass Cliff” assignments, which have a greater chance of failure. 14
- 15. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Stretch Assignments Senior Leadership 70% Glass Cliff Staff Roles • A “staff role” supports the organization with specialized advisory and support functions. A "line role" directly advances an organization in its core work.16 • As women advance, they migrate to “staff” roles, whereas men retain their “line” roles. 2 • People in staff roles are not considered for the most influential assignments and positions. 2 Staff Role
- 16. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl OPT OUT Sidelines Stretch Assignments Senior Leadership 70% Sidelines and Laterals • Women are forced out of their leadership roles 35% more often than men.15 • Women are promoted only after having demonstrated their capabilities (“prove it again”), while men are often promoted on their potential for future performance (“Prove it again bias”). 18, 21 As a result, “stretch assignments” are less available to women, and lateral moves are inevitable. Ultimately, women leave the leadership workforce in greater numbers than men. Glass Cliff Staff Role Laterals
- 17. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl In summary, there are 5 outcomes for women that preclude senior leadership. Senior Leadership OPT OUT Staff Role Laterals Sidelines Glass Cliff
- 18. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Talent Reviews Talent reviews are the formal or informal situations in which senior leaders discuss the leadership potential of team members, often in a context of assignments and succession planning.16 • Women are scrutinized more often than men in talent reviews, particularly about whether they are “strategic”.13 • Women get judged more precisely against predetermined criteria, while men receive more leniency. 19 • Women’s mistakes tend to be remembered for longer than men’s. 19 • Women’s successes are attributed to circumstance or luck, whereas men’s are attributed to skill. 19 Talent Reviews Stretch Assignmen OPT O Staff Role Laterals Sidelines 70% Glass Clif
- 19. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Sponsorship Networks & Social Capital Talent Reviews S Assi Staff Late Side Mentorship Gla 20% Performance Evals What happens at the talent review depends on the INPUTS
- 20. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Sponsorship Sponsors are senior managers with influence. They prepare their proteges for advancement, protect them from negative situations, decode the company system, and advocate for them in circles of power. 6 • Sponsorship accounts for 20% of all professional development and advancement. 5 • Having senior mentors who are in a position to provide sponsorship leads to advancement. 12 • More-senior sponsors yield faster advancement. 6 • Women are sponsored less frequently and by more-junior sponsors than their male peers. 6 Talent ReviewsSponsorship 20%
- 21. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Networks & Social Capital Senior managers with more social capital (in the form of network ties that bridge different groups) are more likely to get promoted. 2 People are most comfortable networking with others who are most like themselves [men network with men, women with women].1, 17 Senior women are therefore largely excluded from the networks of power where decisions about assignments are made.2 Sponsorship Networks & Social Capital Tal Rev 20%
- 22. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Power & Team Dynamics: An overlay that hinders women’s promotion potential at all levels “Prove It Again” names a category of bias behaviors in which women have to provide more evidence of competence than men in order to be seen as equally competent. For example: • Women are more likely to have their ideas overlooked in meetings. When a man states the same idea later, he receives acknowledgement and praise. 19 • Women are likely to be the target of interruption more often than men, at a rate of 3:1. 18, 20 “The Double Bind” names an interconnected set of biases that create a very narrow band of acceptable personality and comportment norms for women. • “Taking-charge” skills and stereotypically masculine behaviors, such as assertiveness and competition, are often seen as prerequisites for top-level positions. 21 • When women act in ways that are stereotypically masculine, they’re considered “too tough” or “unlikeable”. 21 • When women act in ways that are consistent with female gender stereotypes, they are viewed as less competent leaders.21 • Women are perceived as “likeable” or “competent”, but not both. 21
- 23. Janice Fraser, 2016 @clevergirl Explicit Strategies For Managing Career Advancement Sponsorship Networks & Social Capital Stretch Assignments Staff Role Laterals Sidelines Glass Cliff CULTIVATE relationships across “type” BE ONE FIND ONE Remember this is a quid pro quo relationship CAUTION CAUTION SEEK
- 24. Thank you!