Women-Led Businesses Have a Competitive Advantage
Women-Led Businesses Have a Competitive Advantage
Each year on International Women’s Day, we pause to celebrate diversity in the workplace, and the tangible and direct benefits that occur when women rise to senior leadership positions.
Women at work are a force to be reckoned with, but while an increasing number of companies are making progress on gender diversity – more needs to be done.
Though women represent half of Canada’s population, they continue to be underrepresented in senior leadership positions.
According to recent research from Catalyst:
Men continue to hold 90% of C-Level Executive roles in Canada
Women accounted for slightly more than a third (35.1%) of all managers, and 32.6% of senior managers, in 2018
16 Women made up just 53 (10%) of the 532 C-level executives among Canada’s 100 largest publicly traded corporations in 2018
In the C-suite, the most common position for women among executive officers is CFO (13) or 2.4%
Diversity helps make companies more profitable, innovative and respected. A recent report from Peakon, which analyzed anonymized data spanning almost 60,000 employees, fewer than 3,000 managers and across 43 countries, found that there are four areas in which women-led companies are thriving when compared to their male counterparts.
Women in leadership shine in the following areas:
Strategy – Women-led businesses are better perceived in all aspects of strategy.
Mission – Employees at women-led companies demonstrate a greater devotion to the company’s mission.
Belief – Women cultivate belief in their company’s product or service and employees demonstrate greater belief in strategy.
Communication – Employees at women-led companies believe the organization does a good job of communicating the goals and strategies set by senior leadership.
Gender diversity is not only good for organizational culture. It’s also good for your bottom line.
A 2019 global report titled Women in Business and Management surveyed almost 13,000 enterprises in 70 countries and found that gender diversity at the top improves organizational performance.
57% of respondents agreed that gender diversity initiatives improved business outcomes
Almost 75% of companies that tracked gender diversity in their management reported profit increases of between 5 and 20
Almost 57% said it was easier to attract and retain talent
More than 54% said they saw improvements in creativity, innovation and openness and enhanced their company’s reputation
37% felt it enabled them to gauge customer sentiment more effectively
Equality is a business imperative. Now’s the time for great workplaces and great employers to narrow the leadership gap and improve women’s representation at the top.
Ongoing coaching support for your up and coming leaders can help advance diversity, providing women in your organization with the opportunities to grow and develop into positions of power. Cenera’s Leadership Coaches are committed to providing personal, one-on-one coaching in Calgary, delivering scalable leadership development to all levels of your company.
P: 403.290.0466
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