Stop ‘fixing’ women and start fixing managers

We are finally reaching a tipping point when it comes to the analysis of gender imbalances in companies. After decades of pointing the finger at women and what they do or don’t do, a chorus of voices is putting the responsibility for gender balance where it belongs: with business leaders.

“The lack of women in an organization is a management failure,” says a recent report published by King’s College London and sponsored by KPMG. I’ve seen the same in my work with large multinationals: There is only one stakeholder that can create lasting gender balance in an organization: its leadership. And it isn’t just the CEO who needs to commit to change; the entire C-suite must recognize that it has to train and personally lead thousands of employees to produce the management skills they need to work effectively across genders.

So what are the report’s recommendations for balance? The same as for most other strategic priorities—the CEO must lead convincingly and all managers must own the process and communicate why it’s important. This is hardly revolutionary. And yet, relatively few companies have applied this sensible change-management approach to the issue of gender.

After a few decades of asking women to adapt to organizations, companies are starting to adapt their organizations to women. They’re asking managers to learn new skills, to manage a new more gender-balanced work force and customer base.

The lesson that’s emerging as companies fail to create true gender balance is that we’ve relied on the wrong analysis of the problem. We’ve spent decades thinking that the lack of balance in business was caused by women doing the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing or even wearing the wrong thing. This led to far too many “empowerment” programs that tried to “fix” women.

But now that women represent 60 percent of the educated talent on the planet, and half the incoming recruits of many companies, this argument is wearing thin. After all, half the population can’t be “wrong.”

Finally, this collective wake-up call is hitting the mainstream. CEOs know it, yet they still need to learn how to share their newfound understanding across cultures and management levels. Doing so will take courage, conviction and clout.

So may the best CEOs balance their businesses—and may their companies’ enhanced performance convince the rest. –Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Businessmirror