Apr. 19, 2019 "How male-dominated industries can attract more female talent": Today I found this article by Rosario Astuvilca and Rob Quinn in the Globe and Mail:
Rosario Astuvilca is a partner, head of the mining practice and a regional diversity leader at Odgers Berndtson. Rob Quinn is a partner and head of the firm’s industrial practice.
McKinsey’s latest study on diversity confirms what many of us already know – that having more women in executive roles is directly correlated with better profitability and value creation. So it’s not surprising that California is about to become the first U.S. state to bar male-only corporate boards. Given the under-representation of female leadership in Silicon Valley, it’s a much-needed move. But technology seems positively progressive when you consider the lack of female leaders within other male-dominant industries.
Take mining, for example. Only 17 per cent of the industry’s work force is female – compared to 48 per cent of the total labour force – with women holding only 7.9 per cent of board seats in top companies.
The energy industry is no better, with females representing 5 per cent of boards in leading power and utility companies. And while the numbers are better in manufacturing – 28 per cent of the labour force is female – that figure has barely budged in 30 years.
The energy industry is no better, with females representing 5 per cent of boards in leading power and utility companies. And while the numbers are better in manufacturing – 28 per cent of the labour force is female – that figure has barely budged in 30 years.
The good news is that these stats are not the whole story. There is a shift happening around the world. Many of the companies we work with in these industries are taking very meaningful steps toward achieving a more diverse work force.
Global mining company BHP is a great example of this. In 2016, the company set an aspirational goal: to achieve gender balance by 2025, which became a key driver of the company’s business strategy. With clear key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to measure their progress in attracting and retaining more women, the result has been a 40 per cent increase in female staff, and more than 100 new women in leadership roles.
Global mining company BHP is a great example of this. In 2016, the company set an aspirational goal: to achieve gender balance by 2025, which became a key driver of the company’s business strategy. With clear key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to measure their progress in attracting and retaining more women, the result has been a 40 per cent increase in female staff, and more than 100 new women in leadership roles.
So, what can we learn from companies like BHP? Here are five factors we believe are key to attracting and retaining more female talent:
Stop saying ‘there aren’t enough qualified women’
Yes, it’s true that there still are not enough women graduating from postsecondary STEM programs in Canada (although it’s getting better each year). It’s also true that there are far fewer women than men with experience working on mine sites or in manufacturing plants.
But from our experience as executive recruiters, there are still plenty of qualified female candidates working in these industries who are simply not being considered. We also frequently meet with women from other industries who clearly have the business skills needed to be successful in just about any environment.
But from our experience as executive recruiters, there are still plenty of qualified female candidates working in these industries who are simply not being considered. We also frequently meet with women from other industries who clearly have the business skills needed to be successful in just about any environment.
Just look at Noreen Doyle, chair of Newmont’s board of directors, who comes from the banking world, or Cynthia Hansen, executive vice-president, utilities and power operations at Enbridge, who moved from finance to line-operations roles, and then gained P&L responsibilities.
These women honed their business acumen to become respected leaders in male-dominant industries. To find more women with the same potential, boards and leadership teams must be willing to cast a much wider net, recruiting from across all industries and functions including finance, supply chain or human resources.
These women honed their business acumen to become respected leaders in male-dominant industries. To find more women with the same potential, boards and leadership teams must be willing to cast a much wider net, recruiting from across all industries and functions including finance, supply chain or human resources.
Tell a better story
While technology and its applications are igniting interest in more young women, industries like mining and manufacturing are still often seen as dark and dirty work – and male-dominant. That’s why businesses must highlight the innovations their companies bring to market and the exciting career opportunities they offer. In other words, you need to work at getting women excited about working for you.
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) is doing just that. CME board director Rhonda Barnet says that to achieve its goal of bringing 100,000 new women into manufacturing within five years, it is investing in positive PR. Using female role models within the industry, it is promoting the high levels of career satisfaction among women in manufacturing, as well as lower gender wage gaps.
Bring balance to external hiring
A Harvard Business Review study found that if you have one woman in a hiring pool of four final candidates, she has zero chance of getting hired. Raise that number to two women and the likelihood of a female hire jumps to 50 per cent – the woman now has an equal shot at getting the job. Clearly, to improve gender diversity, companies need to rethink hiring practices.
We have found that the language used in job postings is key to drawing more female applicants. A study in Forbes found that words such as “collaborative” and “committed” speak to more female applicants, while “competitive” and “dominate” attract more men.
Separating critical skills from nice-to-haves is also helpful, as research shows many women will not apply for jobs unless they believe they are 100-per-cent qualified.
Separating critical skills from nice-to-haves is also helpful, as research shows many women will not apply for jobs unless they believe they are 100-per-cent qualified.
Dawn Nigro, an engineering-industry executive, says if the recruitment process fails to surface enough female candidates, companies must go back to the candidate pool and dig deeper to identify qualified female talent and bring them to the table.
Make it easier for women to stay and advance
Of course, getting women into these industries is only half the battle. Keeping them is equally important, as turnover rates are high. That’s why companies need to take intentional steps to ensure retention and promotion, with programs and leadership training that addresses women’s unique challenges.
A great example of this is Goldcorp Inc.’s Creating Choices, an internal training and mentorship program that teaches goal-setting, networking, leadership skills and work-life balance. Since Goldcorp’s Anna Tudela, vice-president of diversity and regulatory affairs and corporate secretary, developed the program in 2010, more than 2,000 women have graduated.
Ms. Tudela says 80 per cent of those graduates are speaking up more, report having stronger professional networks and are getting more promotions. The company’s first female general mine manager was a graduate of the program.
Ms. Tudela says 80 per cent of those graduates are speaking up more, report having stronger professional networks and are getting more promotions. The company’s first female general mine manager was a graduate of the program.
Recruit your future female leaders today
We know that women want to work for companies where female leaders are valued, so it goes without saying that companies need more women at the top. That’s why it’s important to be building relationships with high-potential women in other companies and adjacent industries today, so that when board and leadership openings arise, organizations can recruit women into these roles quickly.
Bottom line: Women attract other women. And as Marie Inkster, president, CEO and director at Lundin Mining Corporation, says, “The more companies that can hold up female successes, the more they are showing prospective candidates that the barriers that may exist elsewhere won’t stand in their way.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/leadership/article-five-ways-male-dominated-industries-can-attract-more-female-talent/
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Nov. 14, 2019 "Women on boards: they lead in public education, but private sector lags": Today I found this article by Rosa Saba in the Star Metro. It seems like women are getting more gender parity on boards:
CALGARY—In April 2019, the Calgary International Film Festival board of directors had more women than men for the first time in its 20-year history.
This didn’t happen by accident. Board vice-president Lisha Hassanali said the board has made an effort to open up its process for selecting board members, reaching out to organizations to broadcast the opportunity and also introducing term limits to ensure turnover in the organization. The result? A more diverse board, which will hopefully serve as a beacon for people who aren’t used to seeing themselves reflected in leadership.
“If I don’t see someone who looks like me — that’s a woman, a person of colour — in a position of influence … it becomes almost systemic that I can’t do that,” said Hassanali, who has served on a variety of boards since 2001.
The Star examined the number of women on boards in cities across Canada including Halifax, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. In Calgary and Edmonton, the boards that were surveyed had an average of 44 per cent women.
The Star surveyed the boards of 50 institutions in Calgary and Edmonton, including school boards, housing authorities, transit authorities, sports teams, chambers of commerce... by no means an exhaustive list.
In both cities results varied significantly depending on the sector. For example, there is a much higher ratio of women on education and provincial boards in Alberta than on boards for sports teams, businesses and housing.
In Alberta, female board members dominate in the public education realm — the four major school boards in Calgary and Edmonton have between 67 and 100 per cent female board members. Both the Calgary and Edmonton library boards are made up of 70 per cent women.
In post-secondary education, the numbers drop closer to parity. The University of Calgary’s board is 66.7 per cent female, and the University of Alberta sits at 42.9 per cent.
The major sports teams in Calgary and Edmonton, the Flames and the Oilers are owned by private companies that have two women each at the executive level, making 13.3 per cent and 15.4 per cent, respectively.
The Alberta Energy Regulator and Alberta Health Services, two important provincial authorities, are at 60 per cent and 40 per cent respectively when it comes to women on their boards. However, the AER’s board is a province-appointed interim board.
Neither city’s transit system is governed by a board, unlike transit authorities in some other Canadian cities. Though each city has a transit committee, the ultimate financial authority is the entire city council. Calgary’s city council is 20 per cent women, and Edmonton’s is 15.4 per cent.
Hassanali said during her time on a municipal board she was impressed with the city’s efforts to diversify its committees and open up opportunities to the public. She said many of those efforts inspired her work with the film festival later on.
The Edmonton Police Commission has 62.3 per cent women on its board of directors, while until Oct. 31, 2019, the Calgary Police Commission had 54.6 per cent (the CPC is currently undergoing several changes that won’t be announced until later in 2019).
Some organizations have taken it upon themselves to ensure a balanced board, such as the National Music Centre. Its board is chosen based on a variety of factors with diversity in mind, according to a spokesperson. The NMC’s board is 46.2 per cent female.
Jennifer Koury and three other Calgary women founded Women on Boards a year and a half ago as a network and training resource for women on boards and women who want to join boards. Koury, who currently serves on five boards, said more organizations are creating diversity policies as well as looking outside their inner circles when recruiting new members.
“More and more women are on boards,” she said, adding that the public sector is in the lead, while the private sector is still lagging behind. “Not as fast as I think we would like it, but certainly it is increasing.”
Susan Veres is a current member of the Calgary Arts Development board. She’s been serving on public sector boards for 20 years, but the CAD board is the closest to a gender-balanced board she’s ever been on — the 11 person board currently has seven women — or 63.6 per cent.
Veres agreed with Koury that the public sector is leading the way when it comes to more diverse boards, attributing the trend to the people those boards serve — the population of the city itself.
“What I’ve noticed, certainly in the last six, seven years, has been a movement to have more female leaders,” she said.
She said private boards are also more likely to require specific training or experience for their board members, making it harder to recruit widely.
Veres said more public boards are using executive search firms to fill open spots, which gives them a wider reach and more diverse candidates. That, plus the introduction of term limits on board member positions, means boards are more likely to have a diverse set of members.
“I think more and more and more boards are ... choosing to be really open and transparent about how they’re recruiting,” she said.
The Star reached out to 50 organizations to confirm the list of board members on their websites were up-to-date and to confirm the gender of the board members. The following organizations did not confirm: Alberta Conservation Association, United Way Alberta Capital Region, TEC Edmonton, Edmonton Film Festival, and Alberta Ecotrust Foundation. Parks Foundation confirmed its board members, but not gender data. The data for Calgary Economic Development is only accurate up to Oct. 28, 2019, as the board is currently undergoing a change.
Hassanali said the process of making leadership more diverse is a slow one, but it comes about when organizations take a good look at themselves and their processes. It’s not just about women, she said, but also visible minorities, Indigenous people, LGBTQ people, and other people from traditionally marginalized communities.
“Wherever you are, look around at the people who are making decisions,” she said and ask yourself, “does it look like the group the decisions are being made for?”
With files from Nadine Yousif
https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/11/14/women-on-boards-in-alberta-women-lead-in-some-sectors-lag-in-others.html
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