The world is witnessing a gigantic shift towards how we perceive women power. Many studies and researches have proved that women can drive any organization towards better success and can help boost organization’s revenue. This is the reason why many companies want to hire women in equal numbers as men. Companies worldwide, from Accenture to General Motors have recognized the power of women intellect and thus work in creating a much gender-balanced workforce in the near future. Tech giant Accenture hopes to increase women participation in their business process by 2025 and more interestingly foresees women to hold 25% of its top level executives post, globally, by 2020.
However, if we look towards the whole scenario, we can clearly see that women participation in the top think tank is still very negligible. It is true that there are more female CEOs in the blue-chip organizations than ever before but their numbers are still very abysmal. As of May 2018, there are only 24 female CEOs in the leading fortune 500 companies which comprise only 5% of the total list of fortune 500 CEOs.
Women are considered as better communicator, collaborator, and a source of strength that can do anything if given equal opportunities. It is thus the right time, to embrace the change and tackle the under-representation of women in leadership positions, since women provide many competitive advantages to an organization towards attaining success that too better than men.
Leverage Benefits by Having Women on Board
More diverse Problem-solving
Problems do come into any business process and the way you approach solving a problem reflects the true potential of you as a ‘leader’. Solving a problem with an out-of-box approach is very necessary. It is often considered; you look and approach a problem as par your worldview- what do you value, what is your behavioural pattern etc. When the workforce represented by employees who shares common worldview, chances of them to face a confrontational situation diminishes but when the real problem comes then severe issue arises. If the business fails to impress clients, and stuck on their path to innovation, loss happens consequently. However, by including people who possess different worldview can help in such crises, since it encourage a dialogue of different worldview and approaches at one common platform. In-fact, many studies have proven than a diverse workforce comprises of different genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and race result in increased productivity. Such a greater diversity in leadership pool leads to improved problem solving and greater business benefits. By recruiting women from different backgrounds into your company thus gives an outstanding base to flourish.
Increased Organisational Collaboration
Collaboration with colleagues is important for getting things done in quickest possible time. Teamwork and keeping all together are necessary things which are required for swifter decision making. Moreover, believing in co-worker’s capability and providing them enough opportunities to grow is what makes a good leader. In a study, it is found that women are more inclined to collaborate with others than men. It was found that on asking about the incentives plan, men opted for individual-based incentives while women were lean towards team based payment since they believed in the abilities of their teammates more than men. Interestingly, by strengthening this idea, The New York Times reported that- women co-sponsored more bills (6.29 v/s 4.07) on an average than men in the American Senate which indicates how women are more inclined to collaborate with peers to reach an agreement or decision. This famous study shows that what a company can achieve by including more women to its board i.e. increased collaboration.
Higher EQ:
Emotional intelligence is a very vital aspect for leadership as it leads into better communication, motivation, self-confidence, empathy and decision making ability. Having technical skills are important but a person cannot derive expected results without having adept emotional intelligence skills. Further, many researches have proved that emotional intelligence (EQ) has connection with creativity. More your EQ levels, more would be your creative thought process. Women who excel in soft skills and emotional intelligence can prove to be much more effective than men. In one study it is revealed that women have sharper emotional intelligence levels which can assist them to handle conflict in a better way, which is one of the important traits required in a good leader.
Boost Employee Engagement
Employees are the most critical resources for any company. Their engagement with the company depends upon many vital aspects with respect to their immediate manager like mutual respect, transparency, and trust factor among more. If the manager is open to communication and listen to the grievances of all in the best possible manner then it boosts employee engagement. In one study done by MIT, it is revealed that a whopping 34% of the co-workers feel that women leaders are more honest and ethical and perceived that they can be a better mentor than male counterpart. Such a staggering percentage shows what most of the co-workers feel about women in leadership roles and how much they are comfortable to work with a female boss as compared to a male supervisor.
These are just the signs of what a company can achieve with increased women representation. If we hire more women then certainly it will help an organization to achieve its business objectives more swiftly and smoothly. Excitingly, the McKinsey Global Institute stated that, through the increased participation of women in the workplace, $12 trillion could be added to the world’s GDP by 2025.