In her book “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, Sylvia Ann Hewitt wrote that current research has documented what many of us have known for a long time: women are not “men in skirts.” As a general rule, women have different values and motivations in their professional world than male colleagues.

Women typically place value on:

• Flexibility in their careers and schedules
• Reasonable demands on their time in the office and in travel
• Respect for themselves, their co-workers, colleagues and supervisors
• The ability to focus on child and elder-care issues when they arise
• A good amount of control over their work, their time and their responsibilities
• The sense of contributing to the greater good – to others and to society in a meaningful way

While men place value on:

• Power
• Responsibility
• Competition
• Recognition

The May 2007 Catalyst research report “Leaders in a Global Economy: Finding the Fit for Top Talent,” found that while both men and women most want a supportive work environment, challenging work, and a good fit between life on and off the job, the degree to which these components are valued is more significant in women.

White Male Competitive Model

Hewitt believes that the “white male competitive model” that permeates so many American companies today places a great deal of stock on continuous full time employment; being ambitious; being present in terms of “face” time (i.e. networking, extensive travel for face-to-face meetings), and money being the primary motivators for executives.

These assumptions fly in the face of what many executive women want and need. While these women have the ambition and talent to perform exceptionally well in the workplace, many are not willing to fulfill these requirements over the long haul. Why not? Because these demands mean too great a compromise in other areas of their life that hold value and meaning to women.

The Catalyst report also found that men are employed in jobs and workplaces that are more closely aligned with their values, and women are much less likely to have the work-life fit they desire. Further, the Catalyst report found that women leaders are more likely to plan on leaving their employers than men because of this lack of alignment.

Jumping Ship

Could this lack of alignment have anything to do with why so many executive women are leaving the corporate world to become, among other things, entrepreneurs? Despite the challenges that come with being a business owner, the ability to incorporate these highly valued components in order to create more balance in their work and life arenas makes the risk worth taking.

To keep women executives from leaving corporations in large numbers because they’re unable or unwilling to compromise on what they feel are highly prized life dimensions, we need to look at viable ways to stem the resignation tide. That doesn’t mean implementing hiring quotas which only creates a nasty backlash and makes for a toxic work environment.

Increasing the Number of Women Leaders

Hewitt and others who have written extensively on this subject recommend the following strategies to increase the number of women leaders in senior positions:

• Developing formal mentoring programs
• Ensuring women employees receive high-visibility assignments so they can gain credibility with their peers and direct reports
• Creating accessible informal networking opportunities while keeping in mind the off work responsibilities of many women (i.e. child or elder care)
• Allowing women executives with primary parental responsibilities more time to prove themselves worthy of a promotion.
• Taking a close look at talent management systems for signs of gender stereotyping (such as leadership characteristics, language, and the candidate selection process itself)
• Encouraging male participation in family-friendly benefits in order to alleviate further barriers to women being able to access senior positions
• Creating “on-ramps” through alumni programs for recruiting highly desirable women leaders

Tagged as: Business, C-suite, Leadership, Women Executives