What Organisations Get Wrong About Developing Women Leaders
Most corporate leadership development programmes for women focus on the presenting symptoms rather than the root causes. Trainers emphasise assertiveness training, communication coaching, negotiation skills, networking strategies and financial literacy. These are not without value but they are built on an implicit premise that the problem with women in leadership is a skills deficit.
The research does not support this premise. The gap in women's executive leadership advancement is not primarily a skills gap. It is a structural gap, a culture gap, and an identity gap.
Many leadership programmes teach women to lead within the parameters of the organisation so they do not rock the patriarchal boat too much. I build programmes that do the opposite.
There is a specific cost that organisations are paying without naming it: the cost of identity suppression among their women executives. When talented women leaders consistently minimise their authority to avoid being perceived as too much the organisation is losing the full value of its investment in those leaders.
This is a performance argument which is entirely addressable through the right kind of leadership development.
The organisations that invest in kind of transformation see measurable results: higher retention among women executives, stronger succession pipelines, and demonstrable ROI in leadership performance. Because when a woman is developed to lead from her full authority with the identity foundations, the strategic capability, and the executive presence that reflects who she actually is, she does not just perform better. She transforms the culture around her.
That is the kind of leadership development worth investing in. Not programmes that help women navigate an unchanged system. Programmes that develop women who will change it.
PearlAccess Intl. Ltd designs and delivers leadership development programs for organisations committed to investing in women executives. Enquire at www.pearlaccessintl.com