Five ways to develop female leadership in your organisations
There is still a long way to go in pushing diversity and inclusion for women in the workplace, but as a business owner, manager or leader, there are several ways you can develop, empower, and support your female workers to become excellent leaders.
Leila Rezaiguia is based in Dubai and leads both Kompass Consultancy & AoEC UAE.
Celebrated each year on March 8, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on the progress we’ve made to support women’s rights, and to help advance the movement. With this year’s theme being #ChooseToChallenge, I encourage business leaders to explore the various ways that they can challenge current systems to ensure that women become better represented at all levels within organisations.
There is still a long way to go in pushing diversity and inclusion for women in the workplace, but as a business owner, manager or leader, there are several ways you can develop, empower, and support your female workers to become excellent leaders.
Implement leadership and mentoring programmes
Creating and implementing mentorship and leadership training programmes are the most tangible and noticeable ways you can support women leaders. As such, this is the best first step to take in your organisation. All emerging leaders, regardless of gender, need help discovering their potential and honing their essential leadership skills. The right mentoring and leadership training programmes can help your female employees develop their skills, so it’s important to invest in training programmes that are specifically created for female executives. Customised courses, workshops, lectures and one-on-one coaching are most effective when outsourced to professional and qualified trainers so you can be confident that they are in safe hands.
Aside from these leadership and mentoring programmess, encourage employees to take advantage of the learning opportunities they are interested in. An important consideration is providing the resources they need, which include allowing them to take a day off to attend a seminar or conference and even covering the cost where possible.
Promote a gender-inclusive workplace
Quite simply, you won’t be able to develop women leaders if you haven’t employed many in the first place. So, an important initial step to take is creating a more inclusive workplace, to ensure there is a healthy balance of all genders. Once you have a balanced workplace, create policies that promote gender equality in your company. Start by offering all of your employees a chance to be promoted to a position they are qualified for. In addition to this, offer compensation packages based on the current market rate instead of the candidates’ employment histories – and do the same for all the benefits you provide.
Allow women to manage important projects or assignments
Even when female executives are qualified and highly-skilled, the majority of them will never receive the same type of assignments that men receive. Most of the time, these assignments are valuable opportunities that are important for future career progression.
Women are also far less likely to be given leadership tasks or positions, such as managing a project or presenting to a client. To give female employees the same opportunity, it’s imperative that business leaders encourage managers to provide women with these assignments. Start by asking your management teams to identify the women who have the skills necessary to handle upcoming projects. Then, have them create a list of all future projects and instruct them to divide the jobs equally among the male and female executives. By doing so, you ensure that you are creating more equitable development opportunities for your most talented employees.
Encourage female leaders to speak up
A lack of confidence and a fear of being honest are the two biggest obstacles that prevent women from taking on leadership roles and succeeding in such positions. Leaders can help women overcome these hurdles by encouraging them to speak up whenever their input would be valuable, and by fostering a psychologically safe environment.
People may think of psychological safety as nothing but another buzz word, but in the workplace it means that constructive conversations can take place.
It is about creating an environment that allows team members to be creative, take risks, and propose new ideas without fear of being dismissed or laughed at. Growth and progress begin when team members feel safe enough to bring their whole selves to work, without fear of being shamed or censored.
If your female executives seem to be lacking in confidence, consider investing in training programs that will help them build their self-esteem. Helping them improve their communication skills will also enable them to express themselves effectively.
Invest in further formal education
As valuable as conferences, seminars, and workshops are for providing potential leaders additional skills and expertise, formal education should not be dismissed. One way of doing this is awarding scholarships to employees moving up the career ladder. If you have the resources, offer to pay for their MBA or any master’s degree they want to complete. If your budget can’t cover the course fees, consider offering loans to employees interested in furthering their education.
Remember, male and female executives do not become perfect leaders overnight. Business leaders must give them time to learn and adjust to their new roles and accept that they will make some mistakes along the way.
More importantly, revenues will not immediately increase and business operations will not immediately improve the moment you promote a woman. Give the entire process some time and always provide support when your new leaders need it.
Leila Rezaiguia is based in Dubai and leads both Kompass Consultancy & AoEC UAE.
Follow us on
For all the latest business news from the UAE and Gulf countries, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.
by Staff Writer
More of this topic
Five ways to develop female leadership in your organisations
There is still a long way to go in pushing diversity and inclusion for women in the workplace, but as a business owner, manager or leader, there are several ways you can develop, empower, and support your female workers to become excellent leaders.
Leila Rezaiguia is based in Dubai and leads both Kompass Consultancy & AoEC UAE.
Celebrated each year on March 8, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on the progress we’ve made to support women’s rights, and to help advance the movement. With this year’s theme being #ChooseToChallenge, I encourage business leaders to explore the various ways that they can challenge current systems to ensure that women become better represented at all levels within organisations.
There is still a long way to go in pushing diversity and inclusion for women in the workplace, but as a business owner, manager or leader, there are several ways you can develop, empower, and support your female workers to become excellent leaders.
Implement leadership and mentoring programmes
Creating and implementing mentorship and leadership training programmes are the most tangible and noticeable ways you can support women leaders. As such, this is the best first step to take in your organisation. All emerging leaders, regardless of gender, need help discovering their potential and honing their essential leadership skills. The right mentoring and leadership training programmes can help your female employees develop their skills, so it’s important to invest in training programmes that are specifically created for female executives. Customised courses, workshops, lectures and one-on-one coaching are most effective when outsourced to professional and qualified trainers so you can be confident that they are in safe hands.
Aside from these leadership and mentoring programmess, encourage employees to take advantage of the learning opportunities they are interested in. An important consideration is providing the resources they need, which include allowing them to take a day off to attend a seminar or conference and even covering the cost where possible.
Promote a gender-inclusive workplace
Quite simply, you won’t be able to develop women leaders if you haven’t employed many in the first place. So, an important initial step to take is creating a more inclusive workplace, to ensure there is a healthy balance of all genders. Once you have a balanced workplace, create policies that promote gender equality in your company. Start by offering all of your employees a chance to be promoted to a position they are qualified for. In addition to this, offer compensation packages based on the current market rate instead of the candidates’ employment histories – and do the same for all the benefits you provide.
Allow women to manage important projects or assignments
Even when female executives are qualified and highly-skilled, the majority of them will never receive the same type of assignments that men receive. Most of the time, these assignments are valuable opportunities that are important for future career progression.
Women are also far less likely to be given leadership tasks or positions, such as managing a project or presenting to a client. To give female employees the same opportunity, it’s imperative that business leaders encourage managers to provide women with these assignments. Start by asking your management teams to identify the women who have the skills necessary to handle upcoming projects. Then, have them create a list of all future projects and instruct them to divide the jobs equally among the male and female executives. By doing so, you ensure that you are creating more equitable development opportunities for your most talented employees.
Encourage female leaders to speak up
A lack of confidence and a fear of being honest are the two biggest obstacles that prevent women from taking on leadership roles and succeeding in such positions. Leaders can help women overcome these hurdles by encouraging them to speak up whenever their input would be valuable, and by fostering a psychologically safe environment.
People may think of psychological safety as nothing but another buzz word, but in the workplace it means that constructive conversations can take place.
It is about creating an environment that allows team members to be creative, take risks, and propose new ideas without fear of being dismissed or laughed at. Growth and progress begin when team members feel safe enough to bring their whole selves to work, without fear of being shamed or censored.
If your female executives seem to be lacking in confidence, consider investing in training programs that will help them build their self-esteem. Helping them improve their communication skills will also enable them to express themselves effectively.
Invest in further formal education
As valuable as conferences, seminars, and workshops are for providing potential leaders additional skills and expertise, formal education should not be dismissed. One way of doing this is awarding scholarships to employees moving up the career ladder. If you have the resources, offer to pay for their MBA or any master’s degree they want to complete. If your budget can’t cover the course fees, consider offering loans to employees interested in furthering their education.
Remember, male and female executives do not become perfect leaders overnight. Business leaders must give them time to learn and adjust to their new roles and accept that they will make some mistakes along the way.
More importantly, revenues will not immediately increase and business operations will not immediately improve the moment you promote a woman. Give the entire process some time and always provide support when your new leaders need it.
Leila Rezaiguia is based in Dubai and leads both Kompass Consultancy & AoEC UAE.
Follow us on
Latest News