Is Your Workplace Kicking Own Goals When it Comes to Women in Leadership?

When your business team runs onto the field, and there is not enough diversity at the top tables, you have the equivalent of a football team with 18 full forwards and not a defender in sight. I've used my background in sport and business to create this sporting metaphor for business.

Picture this. Your favourite AFL team runs onto the field. Eighteen players run on and take their designated positions. Their role in the team is set. Some players are in the forward line. They must attack and kick goals. There are players in the back line. They are defenders and prevent the opposition from scoring. Then there's the midfield, who are the glue between backs and forwards and run the ball out of defence into attack. Combining specific, diverse skill sets makes these teams work and win.

Now picture this. When your favourite team runs out, you see 18 players. They are all goal-kickers. They are all forwards. There is no defence. There is no midfield. Just goal kickers. A team of 18 full forwards. A terrible concept because a team with abundant forwards would likely struggle defensively and be vulnerable to the opposing team's attacks, ultimately resulting in a potential loss.

Yes – flawed, but not unusual. Because this scenario plays out every day in business, and I have been observing it since 2016 as an advisor to Boards, CEOs and executives across the business sector. Having served on Australian Rules Football boards, I am also well-versed in sports administrators' challenges when creating fair and equitable environments on and off the field.

When your business team runs onto the equivalent of a sporting field, and they do not have the diversity of skill, lived experience, gender and culture at the top tables, then you have the same as a football team with 18 full forwards and not a defender in sight. When it comes to creating and sustaining positive outcomes for people, customers, and shareholders, this is an 'own goal' and must stop.

The Scoreboard Doesn't Lie

Please don't take my word for it. Too many organisations still send out a non-diverse team to 'play the game'. There needs to be a better scoreboard for diversity at the top tables in business. For example, globally:

• 84% of CEOs are men
• 87% of Executives are men
• 71% of Senior Managers are women

Australia's gender equality scorecard shows a fractional improvement of the global scorecard. But there are still a lot of 'full-forwards' being sent out to play:

• 78% of Australian CEOs are men
• 65% of Executives are men
• 61% of Senior Managers are men

I am incredibly frustrated that the people (let's face it, predominantly men) who run the business world cannot see the significant risk they have introduced to their organisations by failing to diversify their top teams. There are increasing expectations on the custodians of organisations to lead, not just comply with ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) frameworks and to remove risk and cost to the business. They are also rightly held to account for growing their organisation and winning in their marketplace.

Stop Fixing Women

Unfortunately, I still see the same old approach to closing the leadership gender gap.

The 'same-old' approach is one that over-relies on fixing women. It looks like this:

• Invest all the DEI dollars in women's mentoring and leadership programs.
• Have a one-and-done unconscious bias training program for executives.
• Having a once-a-year celebration of International Women's Day.

CEOs serious about closing their leadership gender gap do things differently.

• They make a visible, verbal, ongoing commitment to creating and sustaining a gender-balanced organisation.
• They pay attention to your mindsets and the biases of other decision-makers about women and leadership.
• They confront the brutal truths about their organisation's current gender equality performance.
• They invest resources (Time, People, Money) into closing gender gaps.
• They do not abdicate the responsibility to women to solve on their own.
• They hold organisational leaders accountable.
• They create opportunities for women to develop and demonstrate their leadership skills.
• They do not assume they know what women want.

I remain bewildered that shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders are not holding CEOs to greater account for their underperformance when it comes to closing the leadership gender gap.

Let's face it; if the Head Coach of your favourite AFL team sent 18 full forwards running onto the MCG, you would be calling for his head.

Take Action

Listen to Women

Stop Being Baffled About the Leadership Gender Gap

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