Success factors of female leadership
Mon 21 December 2009
, Maurice Eykman, Leap
There are many answers to the question why women don’t make it to the top. They’re not ambitious, top management is no part time job, and what have you. Nobody denies there is a problem. So far, hardly any quantitative scientific research had been done on the matter. So recently &Samhoud Women in collaboration with Blauw Research and LEAP! did the study and has some answers.
&Samhoud Women asked 1500 successful and ordinary Dutch women and men about their drive and the criteria of their success. Defining ‘success’ as ‘responsibility regarding leadership and returns, combined with a high income’, the study provides welcome insights in the success factors of female leadership.
One of the most noticeable outcomes of the study is that work doesn’t necessarily have to be fun. Contrary to ordinary women and men, successful women say it’s not important whether or not they enjoy their work. This doesn’t mean they don’t take pleasure in working. What’s striking is that the job doesn’t have to be fun. This goes against the general assumption that women only do work they take pleasure in. According to Carolien Bijen, director and founder of &Samhoud Women, the successful women of today have adapted to the predominantly male corporate culture. “As a result the unwritten rules regarding good managers remain unchanged. Carefully put, this makes it difficult for women who deviate from the rules.”
Role models matter
Another striking outcome is that both successful and other women find having a role model an important success factor. Men think otherwise, though. And that comes as no surprise as they have plenty to choose from. Having the best possible role models helps other women gain the confidence they need to pursue a successful career. But, according to the study, the majority of the female role models have the same masculine qualities as successful men. “That in fact doesn’t make them good role models. So making good role models visible is all the more important,” adds Erica van Ooyen, founder and director of LEAP!.
Part time is no option
Both men and women, in the study, say you can’t reach the corporate top with a part time job. And needless to say, most women work part time. So the successful women work full time, even if they would like to work less. And when they have a part time contract, in reality their overtime amounts to the same hours as their full time male colleagues. “This situation will only change if both men and women decide to turn their 60 hours working weeks into something more easy to handle. We won’t get anywhere so long as combining work and private life leads to women making compromises in their carer,” Carolien exclaims.
‘Very ambitious’
Whoever says women aren’t ambitious is proved wrong by the survey! Of the successful women 37 percent say they are ‘very ambitious’, while 24 percent of the men see themselves that way. And 4 percent of the women say they’re ‘not particularly ambitious’, as opposed to 14 percent of the men. The study though, quickly tempers pre-mature happiness: it turns out women aren’t nearly as demanding as they should. Their goals are often not that ambitious. Perhaps this is partly caused by the fact that men are more confident.
Ambitious partner
Successful women run the same household as their ordinary counterparts. About 75 per cent of the successful women work full time, and over half of then have kids. The difference is that, according to the study, women with ambitious partner have a bigger chance to become successful than women with partners who aren’t ambitious.
Connectedness is key
We now know what makes successful women thrive. Why aren’t other women also flourishing? The magic word is connectedness! Feeling connected to the organisation is key to many companies. But women, the study shows, don’t feel connected with their organisations and more often than not don’t relate to their leadership. “Successful women blame the lack of connectedness on the organisation culture. They speak from experience as most of the successful women work in organisations with few women at the top that don’t allow one to make a career in a part time position,” Carolien concludes.
We wonder how much women in an actively diverse company and those in companies without diversity programs would differ from each other.
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