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Encouraging Women into Senior Management Positions
How Coaching Can Help

Broughton A, Miller L
Research Report 462, Institute for Employment Studies, March 2009

a study on behalf of The Foundation of Coaching

Despite long-standing anti-discrimination legislation in the US, UK and across Europe, women still remain under-represented in many occupations, most noticeably in high-level posts. This phenomenon is seen at its most extreme when the composition of company boards is considered. In the USA, women constitute on average 14.7 per cent of board members on Fortune 500 companies; in the UK, women hold 11 per cent of FTSE 100 directorships, according to the 2008 Sex and Power report published by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Encouraging women who hold senior management positions to move into board-level positions is viewed as a crucial part of the global drive to improve equality between men and women. There is likely to be a range of reasons why women in senior jobs fail to progress up to board level and issues connected with discrimination and the ‘glass ceiling’ have been well characterised. However, in some cases there may be an element of choice: some women may simply decide not to progress to board level despite being coached for and offered such positions.

An understanding of the full range of factors that underlie women’s decisions to accept promotion to board level or not, as well as of the factors already known to hold some aspiring women back, may provide valuable insights into the dynamics at play within the workplace. This issue is not just of academic interest: ensuring that a greater number of women ascend to the level of board member is a key current issue in terms of executive coaching. If a greater understanding can be gained of the reasons why eligible female senior management members do, or do not, attempt the move up to board level, then this will inform the development of better – or different – coaching strategies to help support women managers’ career progression.

For this reason, the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) requested grant funding from the Foundation of Coaching in New York to examine the factors underlying women’s progress through organisational structures and the reasons why women in senior management positions in the USA and in Europe decide to accept or decline board-level jobs. The research would explore these issues by interviewing women about the factors that encouraged and/or slowed their career progression, along with the reasons for their decisions regarding whether or not to take up board-level positions. The aim of the work was to inform the debate in the US and worldwide and to support the development of further coaching topics and strategies to help greater numbers of women progress into senior and board-level positions, and thereby improve female representation on company boards.

This study found that although the legislative and socio-cultural background differs between countries, and some issues are more prominent in some countries than in others, there was nonetheless a large degree of consensus among and between interviewees in the different countries regarding the factors that impinge upon women’s career progression.

It must be recognised that some national structural factors and legislative decisions are supra-ordinate to organisational functioning and coaching – such as decisions on whether to introduce quotas for women on boards – and these are less amenable to resolution through coaching. Although such issues fall outside the specified research focus – on factors with which coaches can engage to improve the position of women – they are nonetheless important components of the employment landscape as a whole, and are therefore included.

Management style

There are repeated reports in the literature of differences between the management style of women and men, although some believe this reflects perceptions and interpretations of behaviour more than reality. The majority of women felt that there were some differences in style, and that this could lead to women being better, rather than worse, managers. However, men were allowed more behavioural latitude than were women, while women can find themselves in a double-bind situation: there is pressure to adopt a more masculine management style at board level, but women who do so can find that this is judged as inappropriate for a woman and counts against them.

Organisational culture

Policies and practices in many organisations have been developed on the assumption that senior, male, officers will have a wife at home to support their lifestyle and this can play against women. Executive roles are gendered masculine roles, which can lead some companies to develop ‘boorish’ cultures and some interviewees had taken a conscious decision to avoid organisations or sectors in which this was more likely to be the case. In different organisations, macho posturing could increase or decrease in the higher echelons; dependent upon this change, women could find that their position was made easier or more difficult as they rose through the ranks. Some women had found that assertive behaviour from women was viewed increasingly unfavourably at the higher organisational levels, which places them in something of a ‘double bind’: if they are unassertive they do not gain development or progression, but if they are assertive then they are perceived negatively (and less likely to progress).

Recruitment

There is a tendency for senior managers to recruit ‘in their own image’, that is, to recruit individuals who are as similar as possible to the present job incumbents. This serves to make organisations resistant to change and to make it difficult for women to be seen as appropriate potential employees. Selection criteria that include overly-rigid requirements (such as specific experience) can make it difficult for women to be seen as appropriate candidates. Evidence shows that women recruited to boards are typically far more highly qualified than male board members.

Discrimination

Although women in all of the countries except Greece reported having experienced discrimination, it was not this so much as the assumptions made by senior colleagues that damaged women’s career progression opportunities. Where there was discrimination it was more likely to be covert rather than overt. In particular, the discriminatory attitudes of males who currently hold board posts can often mean they overlook highly qualified and competent women when posts become vacant.

Development opportunities

Women were less likely to be given the types of development opportunity that were viewed as necessary to support progression into higher levels of management and ultimately into board positions. Those women who had received the necessary development often reported having sought out and/or created the opportunities themselves.

Occupational segregation

The fact that many occupations are strongly segregated along gender lines is well known. What is less recognised is the fact that moving into a gender-segregated area can have a lasting and profound effect on career progression opportunities. Interviewees believed there is a tendency for board members to be drawn predominantly from male-dominated backgrounds such as finance and engineering. Senior managers from areas such as human resources are viewed as lacking the appropriate experience and knowledge to fit them for service at board level. Given that more females than males move into areas such as HR, this view can severely curtail the opportunities for women to be selected for board membership.

Pioneers or tokens?

The women interviewed were, to some extent, pioneers. In many cases, however, they also felt that they were tokens, used by their companies to present a more positive public image than might in reality be justified. In some cases employers were ‘insultingly blatant’ about choosing specific individuals to be a token ‘presence’. Whatever the rights or wrongs of such tokenism, women did concede that such appointments did allow them to gain experience that might otherwise not have been offered. Whether women arrive at senior positions through their own pioneering spirit or by being a token appointee, it is typically a lonely experience and the fact that such women are very much in the spotlight means that the position can be particularly stressful.

Appearance

The interviewees believed that women were judged far more on their appearance than were men. The pressure to adopt an ‘appropriate’ appearance that would not prompt stereotypical judgements from colleagues had led some women to take a strategic decision to radically alter their appearance. Although such actions made women feel as if they were wearing a ‘costume’, they can be effective. However, again, it can be difficult for women to attain the correct balance – although business suits may increase credibility, they may also make a woman appear unfeminine and unapproachable and lead to less, rather than more, approval.

Quotas

Influenced by developments in Norway, policy makers in Sweden had formally considered the potential to introduce a specified national quota for the proportion of boardroom positions that should be held by women, although they had subsequently decided against doing so. Nonetheless, the possibility of introducing a quota remains a topic for debate in the USA and UK as well as in Sweden, and was therefore explored as part of this work. While many interviewees believed that quotas were a good idea in theory, they have the disadvantage of effectively being a positive discrimination policy, with the potential for appointments to be seen as being made solely or primarily on grounds of gender rather than merit. Women believed that they themselves would feel insulted if they had been appointed as a ‘quota woman’ rather than on grounds of ability.

Networks

Formal and informal networks can help men gain influence and access to high-ranking positions. Women find it difficult to break into male networks and there are few women’s networks. Furthermore, the scarcity of women in senior positions means that any networks which are formed are unlikely to be as effective as those of men. Interviewees questioned whether it was worth trying to build up networks of women given that the majority of decision-makers are male. It was suggested that it would be more useful to help women develop the skills that would allow them to break into male networks.

Childcare

Childcare remains a major barrier to women’s ability to participate in full at work. Although availability of childcare is an issue in many countries, attitudes can constitute a barrier too: in Sweden, although there are more progressive childcare policies and provision than that available in the other study countries, social attitudes lag behind the legislative environment and opinions about women who return to work soon after having a child are often negative. In the other countries, the social attitudes and cultural norms regarding childcare were even more deeply ingrained. Women in the five countries spoke of the sacrifices they had been forced to make, either in terms of their career or their family life. Many women with children were faced with the option of returning to work on a part-time basis only or not at all, and those who move to part-time working may find they are subsequently overlooked for promotion.

International experience

International experience was considered essential by many of the women interviewees to aid career progression. While the increasing numbers of dual-career couples makes it difficult for both women and men to move to take up international placements, nonetheless the view amongst interviewees was that international moves were significantly more difficult for women than for men. Whatever the practical difficulties, women were far less likely than men to be awarded such plum development opportunities.

Self-confidence

More women suffer from a lack of self-confidence than do men. Low self-confidence can hamper women’s career progression in several ways. Women are less likely than men to make speculative job applications for posts for which they do not consider themselves fully qualified; self-confidence is also a factor in the significantly lower salaries negotiated, on average, by women compared to men. Women are more likely than men to be averse to self-promotion, which also impacts negatively on progression and rewards.

The decision to seek board-level positions

It was clear that not all the women who were interviewed as part of this work were interested in attaining board membership. It is reasonable to assume that this is as true for men as for women. However, while for some women the decision not to seek board-level positions was linked to their own personal goals in life, for others, this decision was more to do with perceptions of the likely impact that taking up such a role would have.

Conclusions and recommendations

The research suggested there are several areas upon which coaching for executive women could usefully be focused. The areas in which coaches could help women to progress included:

• confidence building
• providing a sounding board for ideas
• dealing with organisational cultures
• networking
• identifying values and goals
• identifying and obtaining access to development opportunity
• making the right impression
• coping with a new role
• achieving specific goals
• achieving work-life balance
• focusing on what is personally important.

In addition, it was recommended that coaching be offered as early as possible as well as at key career transition points, and that coaching for men – as key gatekeepers to board-level positions – should focus on what they can do to help move more women into senior positions.

Encouraging Women into Senior Management Positions: How Coaching Can Help, Broughton A, Miller L. Research Report 462, Institute for Employment Studies, 2009.
ISBN: 978-1-85184-408-1. £35.00. [PDF price: £10.00]

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