McKinsey and Company, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) have released a joint report: Women in Leadership: 10 actions that really drive change which distills the practices of companies making the most progress towards achieving gender diversity, into ten evidence based actions known to be effective in increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles. WGEA Director Libby Lyons commented that the 'research presents clear, evidence-based information for employers about what really works [to promote gender diversity]. I urge executive teams and boards to consider how these drivers of change can be adapted and implemented in their organisations.'

Ten actions to increase the number of women in senior roles

The ten actions identified in the report, which 'make up a "recipe" for success when it comes to getting higher numbers of women into senior roles' are below. Importantly, McKinsey and Company Partner Jenny Cermack comments that in order to be effective, all ten actions must be adopted: 'This is a complex issue, but the report makes clear that a piecemeal approach doesn’t work. It’s essential for companies to follow the 10 practices in their entirety and really double down on them.'

1. Build a strong business case for change: The report found that when employees think gender diversity leads to business results they are more likely to be personally committed to it. On this basis, the report recommends leaders articulate why gender balance is important for their own business and that they link diversity directly to the company's mission/purpose.
2. Role-model a commitment to diversity, including with business partners: Building a supportive 'ecosystem' that values gender balance was identified as an important factor in promoting diversity. Leaders in high performing companies were found to actively 'walk the talk' to role-model support for diversity and inclusion eg through filling their own team with diverse talent, personally using flexible work arrangements, vocalising their own caring responsibilities and having 'courageous conversations' with clients to uphold inclusive work practices.
3. Redesign roles and work to enable flexible work and normalise uptake across levels and genders: Normalising flexible work practices across the workforce at all levels, for all employees, and working to reorient existing management views towards trusting that people can be fully effective when working remotely was identified in the report as important factor in achieving a more diverse workplace.
4. Actively sponsor rising women: Active sponsorship by the CEO and the C Suite of rising women over the longer term eg through proactively approaching women about potential opportunities and continuing to sponsor and assist them to overcome barriers as they progress, was identified as a critical practice in bringing women into senior roles.
5. Set a clear diversity aspiration, backed up by accountability: The report identifies setting and reporting progress towards time-bound targets and making people accountable for achieving them as an effective means of driving change. The report notes that some companies have linked achievement of targets to executive remuneration.
6. Support talent through life transitions: The report found that high performing companies actively seek to retain talent through life transitions such as parenthood by encouraging and adopting measures to facilitate return to work after periods of leave. On this basis, the report recommends companies focus on actively retaining staff throughout life transitions.
7. Ensure the infrastructure is in place to support a more inclusive and flexible workplace: Ensuring the technological and physical infrastructure is supportive of/enables flexible work practices was identified as critical to promoting diversity.
8. Challenge traditional views of merit in recruitment and evaluation: The report notes that meritocracies tend to advance the existing dominant group, and take the focus away from abilities needed within their ranks in the future. To promote gender diversity, high performing companies were found to actively monitor for unconscious bias and intervene to address it, particularly at key decision moments eg recruitment, evaluation.
9. Invest in frontline leader capabilities to drive cultural change: Upskilling frontline leaders to be able to address underlying fears among employees eg fear among male employees that they will have fewer promotion opportunities as a result of diversity initiatives, was identified as important in successfully addressing cultural barriers to change.
10. Develop rising women and ensure experience in key roles: Developing formal, targeted development programs aimed at providing a progression path for women from line-role to senior management positions was also identified as an important measure.

In addition, the report states that the factor most correlated to higher ratios of women in senior roles is the percentage of managers who work part-time, which was found to be an effective means of normalising flexible work practices. Also, the ability of leaders to tailor the execution of diversity actions to their own organisation and to address barriers to diversity within their own organisations were highlighted as important in the achievement of positive outcomes.

Methodology

The research was based on three years of annual WGEA gender diversity data from Australian companies with more than 100 full time employees for the years 2014-2016 and on structured interviews with 40 executives from eight high-performing companies.

The glass ceiling is 'firming in place' in Australia

The AFR writes that an analysis of 2017 data provided to the WGEA by 52 ASX 100 companies has shown that 'the glass ceiling remains firmly in place'. According to the data, women make up 38% of all managers in 2017 as compared with 36% in 2014. Men continue to occupy more than 90% of CEO positions. Lack of women in the pipeline of talent on track for promotion to the C suite, lack of accountability for achieving targets (and more particularly how few companies tie the achievement of diversity measures to remuneration) and lack of acceptance of the business case for change despite reports indicating the contrary are identified in the article as barriers to change.