Reevaluating women’s leadership development

“Break the glass ceiling” is a metaphor used to describe the invisible barrier women face when ascending into leadership positions. This phrase is also used to describe women being the first to do something or exceeding a limit — personal or otherwise.

McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace report reveals two additional challenges women face: 

This research revealed that we’re amid a “Great Breakup.” Women are demanding more from work, and they’re leaving their companies in unprecedented numbers to get it. Women leaders are switching jobs at the highest rates we’ve ever seen — and at higher rates than men in leadership.

That could have serious implications for companies. Women are already significantly underrepresented in leadership. For years, fewer women have risen through the ranks because of the “broken rung” at the first step up to management. Now, companies are struggling to hold onto the relatively few women leaders they have. And all of these dynamics are even more pronounced for women of color.

Women have been managed. Historically. Consistently. Oppressively. They have been told what to do, what to think, what they can be and what it’s worth. And while there has been some progress where women have more agency over themselves and have shattered the proverbial glass ceilings in many areas, the effects of “management” still exist.

Study after study shows women are underpaid, undervalued and not in places where decisions are made. Women remain underrepresented in leadership roles that can not only change the trajectory of their lives, but their destiny.

We know this, yet we keep studying and reporting it.

It’s the same old song, but let’s give it a different meaning. 

The solution to the future of women’s leadership lives in the past, but not in the way we have historically reported it. Rather, more in the way women (and companies) have historically not addressed it. 

What if it’s not about glass ceilings, but rather glass confinements?  Is it the things around women – labels, titles and expectations of each, rather than what’s above them? 

Based on our work with thousands of women on personal and professional development, we have seen that no matter where a woman sits in an organization or what title she possesses, every woman can be a leader.

Leadership is a relationship with self and how that relationship is translated to others. Because of this, true leadership is steeped in self-awareness, self-governance and self-mastery. 

Traditional leadership programs taut words like:

“Live up to your full potential”
“Build confidence.”
“Executive presence.”

There is a gap between where a woman sits with herself and where she desires to be — effectively leadership programs have to train to that gap. Traditional programs teach a skills-based curriculum rather than experience-based. These programs fall flat because the programs teach within the confinement rather than to the individuality, complexities and depth of who women are — authentically. 

To address the “broken rung,” there are three prongs to an effective, successful and sustainable leadership program, with each having a distinct and separate role.

The role of the organization

Companies have a responsibility to cultivate the conditions and remove barriers to recruiting and retaining women in leadership — which include examining the culture and investing in long-term growth. 

When we look at the management of women, work environments are often steeped in misogynistic and patriarchal systems. Are men’s voices valued over women? Do men make the majority of decisions in the organization? Is the marketing overtly (or inadvertently) giving the message women don’t belong? Are job descriptions written through the male lens with language suggesting women are not welcome? Are women performing the “office housekeeping?” Has the workplace evolved to include nonbinary people? 

The “broken rung” is a breach that could not exist in a culture which supports leadership parity. 

Investing in long-term growth of women sets the stage for reciprocity. When companies prioritize women and invest in their personal development it creates a sense of goodwill which builds loyalty and deepens one’s commitment to work specifically — for the company. This sends the message of value and thus begins a relationship of true ambassadorship. 

Women who are encouraged to work at the top of their expertise and developed into thought leaders expand the company’s profile which has tremendous benefits from public relations to saving money from the revolving door cost of turnover. 

The role of women

The results of many studies from research institutions such as McKinsey and Company are the same, and while it’s good to know where we stand, when women continuously repeat the findings it becomes ingrained and oppressive. The findings are regarded as facts to everyone versus something to be noted, considered and ultimately overcome. 

While ownership of work is important, ownership of internal narratives that drive external behaviors are even more so. What women believe about themselves affect how they show up in the world particularly at work. 

In the effort to be more solutions based, we have encountered three narratives women hold that play into their own management: 

• Brand story — Every woman has a personal brand. Has she branded herself as someone who gets things done or does she feel like she needs to prove herself? In either case, her personal brand could work against her goals.
• Love story — How women feel about themselves is a direct correlation to leadership – including how she supports other women in the workplace. Positive images of herself and her expertise show up from any seat at the table. Productivity and speaking up for herself are by products positively and negatively. 
• Money story — What is a woman’s relationship with money? What messages have women received about money and how’s it playing out in her career? Salary negotiations and putting a proper value on her skills are directly associated with this story.

Women aren’t just leaving jobs, they are relocating to where they feel valued, but these narratives follow them if not clearly addressed.

Ultimately, women are responsible for their own careers and livelihood and must advocate for themselves — consistently and thrive in places where their individual values and organizational values align. 

The role of learning and development

Learning and development professionals are critical to women’s leadership as this role serves both the company and women.

When choosing personal and professional development training, we challenge L&D professionals to think outside the norm and look for ways to engage women from all angles of their person with programs that do not remove individual differences and training that affirms women’s strengths and the totality of her skills, beyond a degree or certification. 

Some things for L&D to consider when selecting training is ensuring the programs are not more of the same. What are the outcomes to be achieved and how can we look at differently even if it seems unlikely? For instance, building confidence is a training on healing, living up to full potential — what about a training on neurodiversity and executive presence and communications, perhaps, is a training on improvisation.

Reevaluating women’s leadership is to look at everyone’s role and the boxes we are in and then coming together collectively to shatter those boxes, which ultimately shatters the ceilings and provides an opportunity for us to quantum leap forward over a “broken rung” — which is the greatest breakup of all. 

These barriers are not invisible. We see them, we choose to ignore them.