Why Listening to Women is Key to Success in Business

I've reflected on my observations of many leaders at all levels and also drawn from my personal experiences in corporate Australia to conclude that too many leaders still lack awareness of the challenges faced by women within their organisations. This lack of understanding is primarily due to their detachment from their accountability to create and implement the firm's DEI or Workplace Gender Equality strategy. Put simply, I have found that leaders are not adequately tuned in to the lived experience of women in their teams.  Put even more simply, leaders are not intentionally and deliberately taking time to consult with and listen to women in their workplace.

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Peter Drucker's timeless statement, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," still holds in the 2023 business landscape. However, this notion of culture's influence extends beyond strategy to the experiences and opportunities afforded to employees, particularly women.

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What Organisation Are You Really Leading?

In the book, "Stop Fixing Women," by Catherine Fox AM Martin Parkinson, the former head of the Australian Treasury was interviewed. Parkinson commissioned an external review of the Treasury to investigate the lack of progress for women. The review's findings were disheartening, leading Parkinson to express, "We are not leading the organisation we thought we were." This scenario is not isolated; it mirrors a common occurrence I observe throughout the corporate world.

I recall a similar situation when I presented a visual representation of gender diversity statistics across different levels in my organisation to a predominantly male group of colleagues. The statistics revealed an increasingly imbalanced representation of women as the hierarchy ascended, with the most senior level comprising a mere 11% female, including myself. My colleagues' reactions, characterised by surprise and ignorance, shed light on their fundamental disconnect from their accountability as custodians of the organisation's culture and strategy, including goals for closing the leadership gender gap.

Even more recently, I had to brief a group of directors and executives about the current state of their organisation from the perspective of the lived experience of women in the organisation. They expressed surprise, disbelief and, remarkably from one leader, outright denial about the facts I presented. They needed to be tuned in to the lived experience of women at work!

Despite various DEI measures, such as mandatory reporting, employee surveys, and DEI training, these leaders needed to tune in to women's experiences in their teams regularly. They needed to have developed an operating cadence to check on the metrics and behaviours that genuinely mattered for the advancement of women's experiences in their workplaces.

What Inclusive Leaders Do

Good business leaders exhibit accountability and decisive action when faced with financial losses, declining market shares, or soaring costs.

Similarly, inclusive leaders with well-developed 21st-century DEI skills recognise the importance of fostering an inclusive culture that enables women (and the organisation!) to reach their full potential.

Leaders must regularly review DEI performance and confront their brutal facts. They do this by asking:

1. Am I truly leading the organisation I believe I am? How do things genuinely operate here?
2. Where do women stand within my organisation's structure? Are they adequately represented at all levels, including junior, senior, HR, shared services, and customer-facing roles?
3. Does my workplace genuinely work for women? If not, what factors hinder their progress?
4. What human and financial resources have I allocated to gender diversity initiatives? And are these resources distributed beyond HR?
5. Who am I holding accountable to ensure equal advancement opportunities for women? Do I establish gender targets or quotas at every management level?

Mere statistics should not be the sole basis for action, but they provide alarming insights. Global gender parity will take 131 years to achieve at the current pace. Failing to address workplace gender equality within organisations means forfeiting opportunities for sustainable high performance.

Diagnose before You Design

As a DEI strategist and advisor, I assist business leaders and organisations in embarking on or accelerating their workplace gender equality journey. This journey must start with a diagnosis. Because, leaders need to deeply understand the core issues before designing solutions.

By diagnosing the current state of affairs, I enable inclusive leaders to confront the brutal facts about their organisation, including gaining first-hand insights into the actual experiences of women in their workplace.

The data we gather is then used to co-design and implement a workplace DEI strategy that will:

• Be ambitious and aspirational.
• Be enduring and sustainable.
• Build 21st Century DEI skills, capability and capacity in organisational leaders.
• Have a positive impact on the lived experience of women and people from other marginalised and underrepresented groups in the organisation.

Unfortunately, many leaders still fail to regularly tune in to the challenges faced by women within their organisations. When they start tuning in, they will create and sustain workplaces where the culture enables the strategy and of course, where effective strategy implementation means business success.   They'll also develop and maintain workplaces that work for all humans and positively impact the lived experience of women and other marginalised and underrepresented groups. Culture eats strategy for breakfast every day of the week. So please take this seriously,  particularly in terms of its impact on the experiences and opportunities afforded to women.

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