Study: E.D.G.E. Women in Leadership Study (Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association [HBA] and Booz, Allen, Hamilton, 2007)
Finding: There are six best practices that companies need to adopt to create the environment that will help women make it into leadership, and stay there.
Note about The Woman Effect Research Index: This study was performed by researchers not affiliated with InPower Women. Our Research Index includes all relevant research to the subject of women, business and power. We do not influence how the research was conducted or reported by the researchers. In our abstracts, we focus on pulling out the most actionable advice for individual women. To suggest additional research we should index, or discuss our choice of abstract focus, please contact us
InPower Insight: Women in leadership isn’t just a “social” issue, it’s an industry competitiveness issue that can impact not only a company, but an entire sector’s performance. The issues are similar across industries, but industry-specific efforts can draw much needed attention to important opportunities to improve.
Summary:
The E.D.G.E. (Empowerment, Diversity, Growth, Excellence) in Leadership Study is the first of its kind in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Women in leadership is as important to the healthcare and life-sciences industry as it is to the business sector as a whole because in the war for talent, the best and brightest will go where they feel most welcome and supported. To evaluate how women are doing in leadership, and what attracts them to stay, this study interviewed over 300 individuals and analyzed data from 12 companies in the life sciences industry.
Specifically the study found that women hold 17% of senior management positions and 34% of middle management positions in life sciences companies. Strikingly, these numbers have not changed in the past five years. This is on par (or slightly lower) than general industry statistics show.
The study identified six specific areas where life sciences companies can improve to attract and retain women in their leadership pipeline:
- Unambiguous senior leadership support for advancing women;
- Merit-based culture to ensure advancement regardless of gender;
- Program metrics to track progress and evaluate success;
- Recruiting techniques that include a diverse team and diversity targets;
- Leadership development programs customized to individual needs; and,
- Career and work flexibility models to retain top talent.
One could argue that these steps would be helpful in any company, no matter what industry they are in.
Career Coaching: If you’re active in a women’s business group, take the lead in helping your company look critically at the areas above and improve their practices to create an environment that helps women excel. Where can you make the difference in helping your organization adopt the best practices above?
Original Research: Source Link
Guide to Women in Leadership
Organizations with women in their executive suites regularly out-perform others. Yet rising female executives (and their mentors) are frustrated at how hard it is to break through the glass ceiling. In this extensive guide, Executive Coach Dana Theus shares her tried and true strategies to help women excel into higher levels of leadership and achieve their executive potential.
