Looking To Improve The Gender Balance Within Your Organization?

Focus on early career women

“It is only a matter of time.” More women at the bottom will eventually equal more at the top.

This common but incorrect assumption implies that if there are improvements in representation at entry levels, there will inevitably be comparable improvements at the most senior levels of organizations. It will just take time.

Unfortunately, our historical track record shows us that the ‘Pipeline Theory’ doesn’t hold weight in practice and would be better termed the ‘Pipeline Myth’. In the 1990s, women were well represented at entry level in many organizations across a wide range of industries and locations. Yet this trend has not resulted in comparable representation in the upper echelons of management. The state of progress has been glacial at best.

Where is the Disconnect?

My fifteen years of work and research in the gender space have shown that to date, the majority of organizational efforts to advance women are focussed on female employees at the middle management, senior executive, and board levels, but this is too late. In reality, the talent pipeline in most organizations has many fissures where women leak out along their career journeys and this starts early. Focusing on more senior women is analogous to only plugging the final hole in a leaky pipeline that has many cracks before the end.

Research shows that women go into the workplace equally as ambitious and confident as their male counterparts. However, early career women:
 

• lag behind men in aspiration and confidence by the second year of their careers.
• report lower levels of job satisfaction.
• are promoted less often than men.
• lag behind men in both job level and compensation when they enter the workforce—and never catch up.

According to Lean In and McKinsey’s “Women in the Workplace 2019” report, “Women are left behind from the get-go.” Their subsequent studies reconfirmed the early career crisis for women, noting that too many women are getting stuck in entry-level jobs. The pandemic has exacerbated the gender divide and created more fissures in the earlier stages of the pipeline, with one in four women reporting that they are contemplating leaving or downshifting their careers.

Despite women facing unique challenges from day one on the job, the lion’s share of strategies, programs, and resources still focus on women at more senior levels in their careers. This is too little, too late. Researchers from Catalyst, a global nonprofit that works with over eight hundred companies around the world to accelerate women into leadership, have said: “When you start from behind, it’s hard enough to keep pace, never mind catch up—regardless of what tactics you use.”

What is the Solution?

The solution is to focus on early career women. Recent research shows that by concentrating on hiring, promoting and developing more junior women, we could get close to parity in managerial roles over the next ten years, ultimately altering the shape and makeup of the talent pipeline up to senior levels of organizations. The key takeaway is: We must invest in women before they reach management levels if we are going to move the needle on gender parity.

How Can Your Organization Take Action?

1. Include a focus on early career women in broader talent strategies and inclusion programs. Start early!

2. Design inclusive rather than exclusive early career programs. In other words, don’t limit your programs to your star women who have been identified as high performers or high potential employees. Cast a wide net. Virtual programming and offerings are an impactful way to reach many women at your company. Inevitably, some attrition will happen in your organization; the broader the base of early career talent you are reaching, the more likely you will be to change the gender balance at later stages of the pipeline. Target significant mass and provide a chance for all early career women to rise to the opportunity.

3. Focus on both skill sets and mindsets. While technical skill sets are important, mindsets are the critical differentiators and career catalysts for women. In Begin Boldly: How Women Can Reimagine Risk, Embrace Uncertainty, and Launch a Brilliant Career, I tap the wisdom, advice, and hindsight of women leaders. Their key piece of advice: Look inward. These women’s career successes were largely a result of their mindsets and their inner game. Their inner game directly influences their outer game— their ability to take risks and build brilliant careers. Cultivating courage, overcoming self-limiting beliefs, and redefining risk and failure are just a few of the topical focus areas that can make a difference in accelerating women’s careers. Comprehensive programming for early career women should incorporate a focus on both skill sets and mindsets.

4. Offer targeted support at critical transition points. My work and research have highlighted that early career women need extra support through key transitions in their careers – including when they make the leap from university to their first job, when they change roles, and when they return from parental leave.

All of these transitions often occur within the first ten to fifteen years of one’s career and companies should start early and pursue targeted interventions at these critical career and life junctions. For example, one of my clients has developed a coaching program targeted at the critical transition point of parenthood. They are offering a series of one-on-one career coaching sessions to anyone returning from parental leave. The sessions can start while the employee is out on leave to help her prepare for reintegration and can continue as she ramps back into her role. Critical transition points require critical support.

5. Equip the organization, not just the individual. While there still is an important place for efforts designed to support individual women, these must exist alongside broader strategic organizational efforts to address systemic barriers to gender parity. The most successful organizations address both the individual and the organization, ensuring that organizational cultural norms, policies, procedures, and day-to-day practices are evaluated and enhanced to create an environment where women can rise and thrive. For example, my work and research have shown that transparency in the promotion process, increasing the visibility of female and diverse leadership, men as gender champions, agile working, measuring progress on key people metrics, and implementing strategies to interrupt bias in the performance management process are a few organizational practices that can make the difference in accelerating the careers of women earlier on in the pipeline.

Plug the Holes at the Beginning of Your Pipeline

Despite overwhelming research highlighting the unique challenges that early-career women face, the majority of existing programs designed to advance women focus almost exclusively on women in more senior roles. I have worked with over a thousand early career women; women who are calling for organizations to broaden their focus to include earlier stages of the talent pipeline. If we are truly committed to achieving greater levels of gender parity in key decision-making and executive positions, we must start early. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

It’s not a matter of time until women rise to the top. It’s a matter of early support. 

Christie Hunter Arscott is an award-winning advisor, speaker, and author of the book Begin Boldly: How Women Can Reimagine Risk, Embrace Uncertainty, and Launch A Brilliant Career. She is a leading expert on how we can harness the power of intentional risk-taking to create more dynamic and vibrant careers and organizations. A Rhodes Scholar, Christie has been named by Thinkers50 as one of the top management thinkers likely to shape the future of business.  Visit ChristieHunterArscott.com Connect Christie Hunter Arscott