Figures published by BoardWatch in July 2012 disappointingly revealed that not one woman was appointed to any executive role to a FTSE 100 board this year. No wonder then that there are some politicians calling for quotas to guarantee the number of women in boardrooms.
We are all now aware of why businesses need women in the boardroom. If an organisation's senior management is homogeneous - male, stale and pale, as some people like to call it then their expertise, opinions and skillsets will be similar. A more diverse senior management team can bring fresh thinking, a broader range of skills and a more representative perspective, especially important when research shows that women make the majority of consumer purchasing decisions. A senior management team that reflects and understands its customer base is key so how can business, and specifically HR, help women shatter the glass ceiling?
What makes Olympians and Paralympians such as Ellie Simmonds, Katherine Grainger and Sarah Storey perform exceptionally well apart from talent? The answer is: tailored training and support. The same applies to women in the corporate world. Research published in July 2012 from People 1st, found that many women were hampered from achieving their career aspirations, due to a lack of support in the form of management and leadership training and mentoring. The findings also indicated that women lacked confidence and needed to enhance their communication and networking skills. Does training women in all these skills actually help them in the workplace?
Indeed it does. Companies such as Women 1st have supported over 800 women since 2010. Addressing areas such as assertiveness, confidence and networking skills has made an invaluable difference. Mentoring can also help ambitious women take their careers to the next level as it provides them with guidance, expertise and insight from senior leaders who are generous in sharing their time, contacts and experience. We found that once women were given the training and support they needed, career progression often followed. Surely this is a better approach than resorting to enforced quotas?
Lord Davies' target of 25% of women in the boardroom is set for 2015 - a year before the Olympics in Rio. London 2012 showed us that given a level playing field, opportunity, training and relevant support, women excel at the very highest levels of international competition. The question now is: has GB Plc got the intelligence and drive to provide the conditions in which female staff can achieve their optimum potential, shatter their personal best and deliver Gold?
Sharon Glancy (pictured) is champion and founder of Women 1st
