Gender equality

The figure stands at just 32% of the proportion of women in senior management roles globally.

In the UK, latest figures show that we sit at 33% of women in director level roles, and in a recent survey listed second internationally for our inclusivity across FTSE100 companies.

It’s a proven fact that having female leaders in positions of influence, serving as role models is not only critical to the career advancement of women, but stances on driving broader societal impacts on pay equity, changing workplace policies in behaviours that benefit both men and women, as well as attracting a more diverse workforce.

The need to work towards gender equality AND inclusivity across commercial operations is one that we all need to contribute to, to drive meaningful change for women across the globe.

Recently, there’s been some significant leaps in diversity at the top from the likes of M&S appointing Cheryl Potter as their non-executive director, making its boardroom a female majority, Helen Miles is Severn Trent’s new CFO and was the first FTSE100 firm to create an all-women board, Susie Wolff has been appointed the director of the F1 Academy in an unprecedented example and openly states she ‘hopes to inspire more women into sport’. While in contrast the press has reported that FIFA has been heavily criticised for the appointment of a female supermodel Adriana Lima in an ambassador role.

Germany has announced last week the introduction of the ‘feminist foreign policy’ with the aim to have more women in senior roles.

Culture and support

Ways in which you can develop diversity in your culture and support women’s growth:

• Prioritise sponsoring and mentoring for female employees.
• Listen and measure. Companies need a data-driven approach to real inclusivity
• Deliver unconscious bias training and development
• Improve policies, such as flexible working and take lessons from the pandemic
• Reduce the gender pay gap and make payment schemes fair and equal
• Be an advocate for inclusivity across the organisation

Brighter Directions are champions of women in business, and women in senior roles with many of our clients being female-run-operations, and having the honour to work on global life-changing campaigns over the past year such as new technology advances for Breast Cancer, innovative diversity campaigns for non-traditional industry clients, and currently also a challenging and emotive FGM campaign awareness across Africa. But we are also committed to our continued advocacy of women, including our unwavering support to the likes of the Women In awards globally, through to driving our own culture and inclusive operations.

So, as a final thought, let us take this opportunity to celebrate the incredible, talented women we have in our own business, who juggle everyday and still pull out all the stops to thrive… we are proud of the business we have, because of you….

The post Celebrate Women: International Women’s Day appeared first on Brighter Directions.

There’s little doubt that we need to create cultural and social norms that give women the connections and context they need to succeed in all commercial environments. There are still not enough women in leadership roles (nowhere near enough) however, by networking and conversing with likeminded and driven women, to gain/share advice and learn to avoid the mistakes they made. Networking is a beneficial skill. It improves your ability to not only learn from others experiences but to also discover new passion and spark from fellow professionals.

It’s proven that women are some of the most motivational and positive communicators and influencers. A fact we have appreciated first-hand through the many campaigns we’ve been a part of, such as Women In Sales Awards, Enterprising Women and Women In Business celebrations and the tremendous talent showed year on year emerging from businesses, yet, these are still a minority.

Influence is power and power can be gained through asking questions and participation in senior situations. Research shows that men are the loudest in the business meetings, men ask the most questions and men are confident with their communication. In comparison, findings show that women, regardless if more qualified, knowledgeable or experienced across a subject matter, are the ones that take a back seat, and this needs to change.

Women are born communicators. Some insights state that women are more emotional, but instead of this being a negative statement, we need to realise that’s logically the reason why we find it easier to converse at multiple levels, and the ‘emotional’ part of our communication style is used to gain authority and influence, such as inviting others for contribution, using empathy to solidify relationships with colleagues, clients and stakeholders, and bridging the gap between commercial strategy and the people that drive those agendas forward. All of which are significant senior skills.

I’m often asked why we promote ‘women’ so much as an organisation – we are founded by a woman, we are a female-dominated team, we are passionate about the development of women in senior roles, not only across our own organisation but as a wider goal – why?

The answer is simple, because we believe that women (and men) are capable of amazing work, we just don’t shout about it enough, or have the confidence to elevate each other, and quite frankly, we don’t have enough peer support through c-suite to drive this strategy.

One of my many mantras is ‘building others up doesn’t dampen your own success” and this statement is incredibly ardent for women in business.

I was incredibly lucky, that throughout my corporate career, in a very male-dominated environment, I had tremendous backing from incredible female (and male) leaders, manages and colleagues who worked together to achieve common goals and support one another, both in the commercial role and to drive my career progression. A methodology I hope that I have carried through to my business and one that I’m passionate about continuing to push across my industry.

International Women’s Day shouldn’t be about bashing men, (although I admit, sometimes they deserve it!), or putting stoke on the fire to the ‘poor women’ topic – it should be about celebrating diversity and understanding that women do have different challenges and experiences across their careers, but the key is being aware of those and inspiring the females in your organisation to excel and rise, which is as simple as recognising this fact and putting equality at the heart of a business, in reality, it should be an easy fix… but the figures still speak for themselves.

So, instead of the traditional ‘women are great’ posts that will no doubt flood our timelines this week, let’s celebrate by recognising and appreciating the superb women we have across our businesses – shout about how and why they are great, what their achievements have been, what its meant to the business and bottom line – and why we, as business owners are better businesses culturally and financially as a result of being a diverse organisation.

Claire Curzon

MD – Brighter Directions

The post International Women’s Day – Creating your own work culture appeared first on Brighter Directions.