Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY), a single source of leadership and talent consulting services, is highlighting research that finds while women rate higher in overall competencies for senior leadership positions, they lack key career experiences that tend to give men an edge up on promotions at the most senior levels of organizations.
The Korn Ferry research found that with the exception of confidence, women generally score higher than men in all dimensions of leadership style such as comfort with ambiguity and being socially attuned. They also score higher in most of the skills and competencies deemed necessary for senior leadership success, such as employee engagement, customer satisfaction and building talent.
“What women are missing are the experiences that their male counterparts seek out during mid-level and business unit level roles,” said J. Evelyn Orr, senior director of the Korn Ferry Institute and editor of Korn Ferry’s research on women in leadership. “Women need to seek out and say ‘yes’ to experiences that stretch their skills and organizations need to provide women with opportunities to accept those challenges earlier in their careers.”
These critical experiences include challenging/difficult situations, business growth, financials, strategy, and high-risk, high-visibility assignments such as helping turn around a low-performing unit. The study shows women are either not being offered or are saying “no” to critical opportunities more often— leaving them a full leadership level behind in experiences when they are considered for senior positions.
As of June 2014, only 24 Fortune 500 companies had female CEOs and women occupied just 16.9 percent of Fortune 500 board seats.
This isn’t just about helping women break the glass ceiling. Having a critical mass of female leaders across the organization and at the top is proven to have a direct correlation with better financial return. McKinsey’s 2012 Women Matter study measured a 41 percent higher return on equity and a 56 percent higher earnings before interest and taxes margin for companies that have the largest share of women on their executive committees.
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