New book: The roadmap to the board - Building Gender Balanced Business

A Woman’s Place is the Boardroom – The Roadmap by Peninah Thomson and Jacey Graham with Tom Lloyd (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

Drawing on the experience of the three year old FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, the authors have some real insights to offer on how women can progress more quickly to the boardroom. Peninah Thomson is a partner of Praesta Partners LLP, an executive coaching company and sponsor of the aforementioned mentoring programme. Jacey Graham is a partner of Brook Graham LLP, which “specializes in the strategic management of diversity and inclusion in global companies”.

The authors covered the issue of gender balance in business and why it matters so much in their first book,“A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom”. They believe that their readers have accepted the argument and are now in need of more information on how to put it into effect. Hence, the need for this second book. It is aimed at the managers as well as the women trying to climb the greasy pole.

In the authors’ view, there is no great conspiracy against women, at least not now. Companies know they need more women directors and there are plenty of women out there who want the chance. There is, however, a “market inefficiency” at the moment in connecting the two, say the authors.

Some women need to learn how to play the game more effectively. For example, the authors suggest, many women don’t think it is fair or appropriate to use their social skills (deemed to be, in many cases, superior to men at this level). Therefore, they rely too much on their “positional power”, relating to the excellence of their work.

But, as the authors insist, women have to accept the nature of the game at the moment. It is highly political, it is dominated by men (so, many of the informal networking takes place in the evenings, for instance, when many women need to get home to their families) and impressions count for a great deal. At the same time, it is not all about presentation and networking. The authors talk about the need for a good understanding of the responsibilities and rules underpinning the role as well as the need for gravitas and good judgement. Much of this advice would be just as useful to male managers hoping to rise to the top. However, the implication is that women often fail to get up to speed on these sorts of issues (such as the latest legal changes in corporate law or the details of finance). So, the book provides a good, comprehensive guide to the areas that need to be studied.

“Companies in all industries are engaged now on the new gender front in the war for talent, and are trying hard to attract and keep able women. It will take a while for the pipelines to fill, but if senior female executives and companies heed the prescriptions and advice we set out in this book, we believe that the number of women on the boards of UK companies should rapidly start to increase.”

The other side of the equation is, of course, the employer. Here the authors provide less information on how managers can ensure they encourage more women to the board level. But they do provide important pointers to the prejudices that can be so hard to eradicate at the top level. They provide some useful case studies too. At JP Morgan, for example, the managers’ ability to retain women was assessed as part of their annual appraisal. The Co-CEO of the bank, Bill Winters also decided to invite every MD in Europe to attend awareness sessions and share best practice.

Such managers do seem rare. However, the authors are hopeful that progress will be made reasonably quickly. “Companies in all industries are engaged now on the new gender front in the war for talent, and are trying hard to attract and keep able women. It will take a while for the pipelines to fill, but if senior female executives and companies heed the prescriptions and advice we set out in this book, we believe that the number of women on the boards of UK companies should rapidly start to increase.”

The authors don’t support the idea of a quota to force companies to employ a certain number of women at the board level, an idea that took off in Norway and is gaining support in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. But they do believe in targets. “Targets are different from quotas. They are used throughout organizations as a mechanism for conveying priorities and improving performance in all sorts of areas. A target gives businesses something to aim for and helps to measure year-on-year improvement, but does not replace competition on merit for roles.”

They suggest that managers might set targets for the proportion of women in the levels immediately below the board in order to reach the overall aim of women accounting for a quarter of executive directors in a decade. For example, they say, women would have to account for 30% of the executives at two levels below the board within four years and for 20% of executives at one level below the board within six years.

“The authors don’t support the idea of a quota to force companies to employ a certain number of women at the board level, an idea that took off in Norway and is gaining support in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. But they do believe in targets.”

The problem, of course, is that this has to happen now and in many companies to stand a chance of making a big difference in the next decade. As commentators in a recent BBC Radio 4 debate suggested this could take much longer than that. During this discussion on the In Business programme with Peter Day, one of the authors, Peninah Thomson argued robustly against the notion of a Norway-style quota. But she did concede that if things had not moved a great deal in two years, she would join the pro-quota side.

In October, seventeen heads of industry in the UK, all of whom belong to the Cross-Company Mentoring Scheme, wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph newspaper reaffirming their support for gender diversity on corporate boards. They said that the current 12 percent figure of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies was inadequate. In the three year history of the Cross-Comnpany Mentoring Programme, which involves 32 companies, eight women have made it to the boards of FTSE 100 companies with another five gaining non-executive positions.

This book is an excellent guide to the women who want to make it to the top and provides good advice to those companies that intend to act now. The letter to the Daily Telegraph throws the gauntlet to the many managers out there who have not put gender balance at the top of their priorities as yet, and may be thinking the present economic slowdown makes it even less relevant. This is a chance for businesses to get their own houses in order, for their own benefit. Failing to do so will only give greater momentum to the supporters of a Norway-style quota. Before they make their decision they should give this book a good read.

For a short video clip of the authors dicussing the book click here.