This week, Sue Hewitt takes a closer look at the subject of women in senior roles following publication of a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Dr Hewitt is founder and proprietor of the specialist training and development company, Milecastle Consultancy (www.milecastle.co.uk), which concentrates on workplace personal development for women and older workers.
We already know that women are increasingly breaking through the glass ceiling and reaching boardroom positions. The number of female FTSE 100 directors has doubled in the past five years and there are more women than ever before in management positions. However, once we get there, it seems that we are not always satisfied with the prize since more women than men leave management positions. The roles that we do achieve can be restrictive, involve less authority and deliver fewer tangible rewards. These factors combine to leave women feeling disaffected with these sub-optimal career opportunities.
We have a very different experience of management roles from our male colleagues. Women more often occupy posts that are not concerned with core business, such as human resources. These can take a high emotional toll and are less valued than those concerned with producing the goods. We are more likely to describe our barriers negatively, as obstacles, with men viewing challenges as a self-development opportunity. At board level, women are more likely than men to find themselves in high risk business-critical leadership positions, a phenomenon that has become known as the ‘Glass Cliff’.
Archival data shows that company financial performance leading up to the time of a director's appointment differs, depending on the gender of the appointee. The appointment of female directors seems more likely if the company is performing poorly. Is there actually a preferential selection of women for leadership positions in times of crisis? Understanding the decision making that places women in these roles can give an insight into how they end up standing close to the edge of that glass cliff.
Experimental scenario studies were carried our where groups of students or senior managers were asked to make appointment decisions. Women were selected preferentially, to equally or less qualified men, by both groups when company performance was said to be declining. This was also the case when the position was described as difficult or involving a high risk of failure. This pattern appeared to be repeated across a range of positions from finance director to political candidates.
The perception of the opportunity offered by risky roles also varied with gender. These roles were judged by experimental groups to be a poor career opportunity for men but a particularly good opportunity for women. There was also a disparity in the perceived level of risk, which correlated with gender. When appointing a man there was a clear sensitivity amongst the experimental groups to the differential between risky and non-risky posts. However when women were appointed that sensitivity was absent.
Is the perception that women are particularly good crisis managers responsible for this phenomenon? Or is it the fact that women, having fewer senior roles open to them, are more willing to take a chance with a seemingly risky position? Indeed some women view these positions as real opportunities. If you have the ability, drive and determination to turn around a failing concern or deliver high-risk projects within established parameters then this type of career path can offer significant opportunity for advancement. As a trouble-shooter and fire fighter the stakes can be high, but these can be matched by similarly high rewards.
It is unfortunate that some women feel this is the only path open to them to both make an impact and gain a toehold higher on the career ladder. Some people are well suited to playing these types of high-risk games, thriving on the challenge and the adrenalin and engaging in brinkmanship. But if you are not cut out for this then it can be an extremely stressful route to the top, one that could compromise both health and family life.
Having once succeeded in glass cliff positions though we can become trapped in this type of role. There are many anecdotes of women seeking mainstream positions after time in more high profile roles only to be told that they are unsuitable, having no experience of a stable management environment. This brings us straight back to the chicken and egg problem. How do we get that experience when the roles we are most likely to be offered are those out of the mainstream?
It can be a lonely and exposed position on the glass cliff. There is often no obvious peer support network due to the lack of other women in senior roles. Women are often making the first route map as no ‘how to’ guide yet exists for these roles. We have found in our personal development work with senior women that they express great relief at being able to share their very real concerns with other women in similar roles. Bringing these women together in an environment where they know that their voices are heard builds their confidence and self-awareness. Taking a strategic approach to their own development underpins better stress management, appropriate work-life balance decisions and realistic goal setting.
The glass cliff can be a golden opportunity or a poison chalice. As a woman your interpretation of this will depend on many factors, not least of which will be your attitude to risk as well as your hunger for the more senior role. You need to make yourself aware of the level of risk as you perceive it and guard against being set up to fail. Whatever other people's perception of the risk, you must make you own realistic appraisal. You should then make them aware of the inherent dangers so that your performance can be evaluated realistically. Establish strong support networks. Trying to turn around a juggernaut single-handedly is a big task. The situation can be made less precarious with effective and appropriate mentoring and coaching.
When I am out rock climbing and standing on top of real cliffs I know that a lot of equipment, team work, skill, experience, determination and encouragement has got me there. At the top of your glass cliff remember that those things are all still available to you when you need them (Sue Hewitt).
Is IT pointing the way to recovery?
Half year figures from engineering and enterprise IT applications market research and analysis firm, Cambashi (www.cambashi.com), show that growth in expenditure on software for technical applications is on track for positive recovery by the second half of 2010. Spending on technical applications software includes AEC (architecture, engineering and construction), geospatial (GIS) and manufacturing (CAD/CAM/CAE and PDM/PLM) applications.
The ‘V-shaped’ recovery predicted at the beginning of the year is borne out by latest economic data, with the strongest expectations in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The Cambashi Country Observatory model shows the growth in technical applications software spending in most individual countries of APAC, notably India and China, remaining positive and returning to double digits next year. Only Japan, with its unique economic structure, is experiencing a similar decline to the major western countries.
The overall picture from the Americas is strongly influenced by the situation in the United States itself, which has both the steepest decline and the steepest recovery. In 2011, driven by expected double-digit growth in investment, Cambashi expects around 8 per cent growth in technical applications. By contrast the countries of Central and South America are riding the credit crunch more evenly, largely due to economies focused towards production sectors. In Europe the picture is more balanced with each of the major economies of Western Europe following the same pattern of decline and recovery.
Cambashi consultant, Aslihan Yener, says that apart from Japan, the Asia Pacific nations are proving most resilient to the economic crisis due to a lower intensity of financial services and a higher proportion of value added from production, coupled with a relatively low cost workforce. This continued expansion in the APAC region supports sales of technical application software, she believes.
These results are available in the latest version of the Cambashi Country Observatory, which uses Cambashi’s market models to estimate market size and growth for over 50 countries worldwide.
Les Hunt
Editor