How can we build women’s confidence at work? A new guide shows businesses how to implement programmes to help women reach top leadership roles
Mentoring is the most important thing Women in Leadership programmes can offer women, suggests a guide from the CIPD and 02.
Almost half (47%) of the women interviewed for the study, Breaking the Boardroom: A Guide for British Businesses, would value highly a mentor from such a programme. The overwhelming majority of the women surveyed expressed the importance of individual and personalised support, from a mentor, coach or official sponsor, over and above their line manager.
The research identified three obstacles holding women back in
their careers: lack of confidence, of networking and difficulties in being comfortable with being themselves.
Core components
Assigning mentors, setting clear goals, and holding regular peer-to-peer sessions were identified as core components in such programmes.
Goal-setting is seen as vital, with 38 per cent of women saying they would value an individual development plan. But goal-setting should be much more than this, says the study, suggesting it’s about getting women to identify where they want to be in one, five and even
10 years’ time – and helping them get there. Once goals have been identified, it’s essential that those facilitating the discussion, their mentor or line manager, should help the individual create a plan to achieve these goals.
The report finds that more than a third of women lack the confidence to put themselves forward for promotion, push for a pay rise or ask for more development opportunities.
“The magnitude of this is compounded by the fact that even when women feel their career has exceeded their expectations, more than a third attribute it to luck rather than any other factor,” says the report.
Christine O’Brien, partner at Baker & McKenzie, says in the report: “We’re dealing with a proportion of the population with a genuine disability – an acute lack of confidence. This is the single biggest obstacle women face.”
Confidence becomes a greater challenge for women as they gain seniority, says the report. A quarter of all the women surveyed (26%) said that not knowing how to network with influential people or how to promote themselves with internal stakeholders (23%) was a key factor holding them back in their career.
As well as extending individual influence and forging meaningful relationships, networking is an important way to raise awareness of issues. For example, women who have strong networks are more informed about internal politics and can navigate the challenges they present.
Many women, though, are still conforming to stereotypes of what it means to be a successful woman in business, says the study. Some 41 per cent believe senior women in their place of work conform to the ‘alpha female’ stereotype, while a quarter feel that failing to become ‘one of the boys’ is holding them back.
While the responsibility is on senior management to create a culture in which women are empowered to be themselves, it’s also important that organisations provide support to help women identify their strengths and become positive role models.
Jo Cox, chief commercial officer at Sure, says: “I think I get more out of my team by being a woman. I understand people better, I read my audience well and I have a good gut instinct.”
The CIPD is calling on all UK political parties to commit to a new voluntary target of at least 20 per cent of executive director positions in FTSE 100 firms to be filled by women by 2020.
Download the report here: bit.ly/CIPDBtB