Ways to Empower Women Into Leadership

Women are continuing to manage leadership roles in the business world. In fact, for the first time ever, women lead over 10% of Fortune 500 companies. This is likely a result of targeted development, career-boosting roles and opportunities for women in the workforce.

According to the World Economic Forum, encouraging more women to become entrepreneurs could increase global economic development in general. To build a more inclusive work culture, you must understand how to support women in your organization and build diversity within your leadership teams. Here's what to consider.

The power of diverse leadership

According to the American Psychological Association, research shows that women leaders improve business. Studies have also shown that women in leadership can help improve team collaboration and productivity. So how do you build a more inclusive work culture for your growing business?

Several research studies also show that diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones, and companies with greater diversity outperform their competitors. Businesses that champion diversity and inclusion at the leadership level can better solution crises and changes due to the broad and disparate options presented. Employees with diverse backgrounds likely have experience handling different challenges and therefore may contribute a variety of efficient solutions.

Retention of high-performing female team members tends to be greater at businesses with women in leadership. These leaders serve as role models and evidence that growth and promotion opportunities are possible for women seeking career advancement opportunities. For example, when reskilling employees, women mentoring women may be a great retention opportunity because it shows that your business offers internal growth and career advancement.

To achieve these superior business outcomes, a sense of belonging is vital. If companies invite women to the table but ignore, block or otherwise marginalize their contributions, the benefits will be minimal. Full participation and integration drive positive impact.

Embrace team diversity

Assess the diversity of your leadership team by reviewing everyone's contributions and backgrounds. How many of your executive or management team members are women or come from a minority background? Depending on the size of your business, if the answer is one or less, there's room for improvement.

Other types of diversity, such as sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin may not be readily apparent. Although it's generally not appropriate to directly ask employees about these matters, they may feel more comfortable sharing as you work toward building a more inclusive work culture.

Consider your team's typical decision-making and your current strategy. If you're doing what you've done for years or mirroring your competitors, you likely need to bring more diverse perspectives into your decision-making ranks.

Your growing business could also benefit from encouraging participation so employees can contribute more efficient strategies or ideas. A wider talent pool of diverse ages and backgrounds not only enhances your business, but it also stimulates innovative thinking.

Offer creative opportunities

Think broadly when empowering women into leadership roles. Promoting from within builds loyalty, but you may need to bring on external hires to fill new positions or help reskill employees. Remember, your leadership group includes your board and team of advisors.

Expand your advisors

You could expand the number of women on your board or increase the diversity of your advisory team. Specifically, if you're underserved by your CPA, attorney, banker or fractional CFO, use your existing network or contact professional women's organizations to choose a woman or female-led firm for these roles.

Adapt existing roles

Because many women begin their careers in support roles, advancement options can be limited within traditional pathways. Instead of focusing solely on standard promotions, consider broadening the experiential base for high-performing women in support roles by moving them into lateral positions.

Using a CFO as an example, you could move a prospective female senior accountant for an eventual CFO role into a purchasing, operational management role with profit and loss responsibilities.

Ensure you're supporting employees with a healthy work-life balance by checking in on their changing workloads and responsibilities. A new role entails an adjustment period, so set clear expectations and provide an open door for feedback to help your employees succeed.

Promote personal growth

Another way to foster female leadership is to ask women employees to participate in special projects that arise, such as helping to open a new location or develop a new product or service line. If they take the lead and achieve high-quality deliverables, it can boost their confidence and show that they're ready for growth.

You can also encourage board or committee participation in professional organizations and nonprofits. By offering women strategic or operational endeavors, you can help them develop a new set of skills and observe their growth in varied scenarios.

The bottom line

You can support the women in your organization in many ways as you help them develop their leadership experience and grow their skillset. If you're truly committed to reaping the benefits of a diverse leadership team, these actions may lead to a pronounced increase in women at all management levels at your company.