{"id":4645,"date":"2019-03-07T05:06:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T05:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=4645"},"modified":"2019-03-07T05:06:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T05:06:20","slug":"ibm-study-reveals-advancing-women-still-not-a-priority-for-79-of-global-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/ibm-study-reveals-advancing-women-still-not-a-priority-for-79-of-global-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"IBM study reveals advancing women still not a priority for 79% of global organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A new study by IBM, \u201c<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ibm.co\/womenleaders\"><strong>Women, Leadership, and the Priority Paradox<\/strong><\/a><strong>,\u201d polled 2,300 executives and professionals and revealed that the leadership gender gap in the global workplace continues to persist because organizations have yet to make advancing women a formal business priority. The study also provides guidance on how to drive change.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The global study,\nconducted by IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) in cooperation with Oxford\nEconomics, surveyed an equal number of women and men from organizations\nworldwide across multiple industries to better understand why a large gender disparity\nin the leadership ranks persists and what can be done to drive progress toward\ngender equality. In addition to the qualitative survey, IBV conducted a series\nof one on one interviews with executives and professionals across six global\nregions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study revealed that within those organizations surveyed,\nonly 18 percent of senior leadership positions are held by women. This is due\nto three key factors: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Organizations are not sold on the business\nvalue.<\/strong> 79 percent of respondents indicated that they have not formally prioritized\nfostering gender equality in leadership within their organizations, even though\nample evidence correlates gender equity with improved financial success and\ncompetitive advantage.<\/li><li><strong>Men underestimate the magnitude of gender bias in\ntheir workplaces.<\/strong> 65 percent\nof male executives reported it is just as likely they would have been promoted\nto a top leadership role even if they had been women, despite the low numbers\nof women that currently hold those roles. <\/li><li><strong>Few\norganizations display a sense of urgency or ownership about this issue. <\/strong>Organizations\nare over-relying on \u201cgood intentions\u201d and applying a laissez-faire approach to\ndiversity, rather than applying the disciplined focus on operational execution\nthey apply to other aspects of organizational performance.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The past year has heightened the world\u2019s focus on diversity,\nand the business benefits of inclusive teams are now well-documented,\u201d said\nMichelle Peluso, Senior Vice President of Digital Sales and Chief Marketing\nOfficer. \u201cThe opportunity now is to move from inclusion being interesting to\nbeing imperative \u2013 just like we treat other top business priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite these hurdles, there was a set of organizations \u2014\ndubbed \u201cFirst Movers\u201d in the report &nbsp;\u2014 that\nstood out as being dedicated to achieving gender equality within their leadership\nranks. Comprising 12 percent of the total sample, these organizations share\ncharacteristics and values that foster a more inclusive environment and provide\na roadmap of how to create progress for other organizations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>They are serious about\n     gender inclusion<\/strong> \u2013 All (100 percent) have made advancing women into\n     leadership roles a formal business priority. By comparison, only nine\n     percent of other organizations have the same focus. <\/li><li><strong>They are motivated by the promise of financial improvement<\/strong> &#8211;\n     All (100 percent) are sold on the idea that gender-inclusive organizations\n     are more successful financially, whereas only 38 percent of other\n     organizations agree.<\/li><li><strong>They acknowledge and embrace their responsibility to take action<\/strong>\n     &#8211; All (100 percent) agree that businesses need to continue making changes\n     to achieve gender equality in the workplace. While the majority of other\n     organizations in our survey also agree, 29 percent more First Movers are\n     passionate about taking action than other organizations.&nbsp; <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat we have learned from First Movers is the importance of\nsetting measurable goals and defining a systematic approach to inclusion across\nthe organization. This means everything from recruiting to rewarding,\ndeveloping, retaining and promoting women. And, then, we must ourselves\naccountable to meet these goals,&#8221; said Peluso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study also provides guidance on key steps to creating a\nculture that fosters gender equality in the workplace. Organizations looking to\ndrive change need to implement concrete initiatives that directly impact\nperformance goals and incentives at every level of the organization. The study\nlays out a roadmap for change that includes the following imperatives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Make gender equality in leadership a business priority.<\/strong>Just as you would for any other formal business priority, legitimize your commitment by including the advancement of women in your organization\u2019s formal business plan with key performance indicators (KPIs), budget, and assigned resources. Select one or more senior executives to lead the charge. <\/li><li><strong>Create a culture of inclusion.<\/strong>Include gender equality in your organization\u2019s strategic mission statement, as the vast majority of First Movers do. Create programs that support more flexible work arrangements and formal sponsorship initiatives.<\/li><li><strong>Make leadership accountable for gender equality results.<\/strong>It is the senior executives who truly have the power to make elevating women to leadership positions a key strategic business priority. Further, this is where the board of directors can play a role as part of their fiduciary responsibilities to grow the business. <\/li><li><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leadership gender gap in the global workplace continues to persist because organizations have yet to make advancing women a formal business priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-4645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4646,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions\/4646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}