4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES THURSDAY OCTOBER 18 2012

Women and the WorkplaceA SPECIAL FOCUS www.ft.com/recruit | twitter.com/FTCareerMgmt

The benefitsof genderdiversity putto the test

Sweeping generalisations areamong the great dangers to beavoided when discussing theappointment of more women at

senior levels in business.Broad statements – no matter how

intuitive – about “what women bring”are potentially damaging both to thecause itself and to its desired effect,which is better leadership.

But the value of existing statistics isalso open to question, and as thedebate continues, those who contrib-ute to it are becoming braver in thequestions they ask in their researchand are getting clearer answers.

A recent survey* by RSA, the execu-tive search firm, looked at the UK lifesciences industry and found that“women bring empathy and intuitionto leadership” with nearly two-thirdsof respondents (62 per cent) thinkingthat women contribute differently inthe boardroom, compared to theirmale colleagues.

The gender difference was viewedby most respondents in “an over-whelmingly positive light”. The RSAreport says: “Three quarters ratedwomen higher than men for intuitionand possessing greater awareness ofthe motivations and concerns of otherpeople.

“A similar proportion saw womenas more empathetic, with a betterinsight into how decisions play out inthe wider organisation.” When it

came to communications and effectivecollaboration, “over half felt thatwomen were better”.

When it came to other skills, “therewas little difference between thesexes” says the survey.

But not everyone agrees that simplybeing a woman means possessingcharacteristics that are a positive fac-tor in business leadership. LyndaGratton, professor of managementpractice and director of the Centre forWomen in Business at London Busi-ness School, says: “There is no sub-stantive difference between men andwomen at work. Some people arehighly caring and intuitive and othersare not. I am very cautious aboutclaims on gender differences.”

However, she cites interestingresearch recently carried out on gen-der differences in areas such as trad-ing in the financial services industry,which features in The hour betweendog and wolf: risk-taking, gut feelingsand the biology of boom and bust byJohn Coates. The book is currently onthe shortlist for the FT/GoldmanSachs Business Book of The Yearaward. “If you look at (gender differ-ences) from a testosterone perspec-tive, this clearly influences trading –and as the book demonstrates, femaletraders don’t go to extremes,” says DrGratton.

Other research by Herminia Ibarra,professor of leadership and learningat Insead business school, suggestsmen and women network differently –men are more likely to networkupwards, whereas women try to net-work with other women. However, asthere are fewer senior women, itbecomes a self-fulfilling prophecy tostay within one’s own “place”.

Ines Wichert, a chartered psycholo-

gist and the author of Where have allthe senior women gone? published lastyear by Palgrave Macmillan, has sincejoined Kenexa’s High PerformanceInstitute, where she continuesresearching the advancement ofwomen leaders worldwide.

She says there is still a “lack ofcausality” in the research on whetherhaving women in itself makes for bet-ter teams: “Women bring an edge in

periods of turbulence or in periods ofbad governance,” is as far as she iswilling to go on the evidence on offer.

There is much stronger evidence onfunctional diversity and diversity ofexperience playing a positive role inbuilding better leadership teams, sheadds.

Dr Wichert stresses, however, thatthe “values” women often bring withthem can be “particularly important”.At London Business School, Dr Grat-

ton echoes this sentiment, saying that“it is different life experiences wewant and a woman brings a differentperspective”.

In a personal dimension, she adds:“For me, it isn’t about being awoman, it’s more about being amother – that role has made a differ-ence to my thinking.”

Recent research by Dr Wichert sur-veying 2,500 professional women andmen from the UK, US, Japan, Chinaand Brazil found that being a parenthad a positive impact on career pro-gression. For mothers, “women whoget help with housework and child-care outside of work hours report ahigher number of promotions thanwomen who report having to shoulderthe majority of this additional burdenoutside of work”.

Looking at country differencesamong women, the study also foundthat women in Brazil and China“actively look for more critical jobassignments and as a result receiveand expect more promotions thanwomen in the UK, US and Japan”.

As well as benefiting from “a moresupportive workplace culture”, thesewomen in Brazil and China “alsorated themselves more highly on theirown job performance, reputation andvisibility”, says the KHPI research.

In its UK survey, RSA found thatthe biggest hurdle among the barriersto delivering more “balanced” boardswas “different life choices for women”(71 per cent) followed by dominantmale boardroom culture (54 per cent).But when the question was changed,asking respondents to rate which bar-rier was most important, the “domi-nant male boardroom culture” over-took different life choices as firstchoice.

It seems clear that looking for “cau-sality” between “what women bring”and better leadership teams might bea perilous approach, as it involvesjumping into existing vicious circlesof behaviour influenced by issues asfar-ranging as self-esteem, opportuni-ties, and society’s expectations.

Answers, of course, also depend onthe questions asked. Jack Zenger andJoseph Folkman carried out a globalsurvey of 7,280 leaders last year acrossa range of organisations. Writing inHarvard Business Review in Marchthey found the majority of leaders (64per cent) are still men, and the higheryou go the more men you find.

According to Mr Zenger and MrFolkman: “Most stereotypes wouldhave us believe that female leadersexcel at “nurturing” competenciessuch as developing others and build-

ing relationships, and many might putexhibiting integrity and engaging inself-development in that category aswell. And in all four cases our dataconcurred – women did score higherthan men.

“But the women’s advantages werenot at all confined to what are tradi-tionally seen as women’s strengths. Infact, at every level, more women wererated by their peers, their bosses,their direct reports, and their otherassociates as better overall leadersthan their male counterparts – andthe higher the level, the wider thatgap grows.”

They go on to say: “Specifically, atall levels, women are rated higher infully 12 of the 16 competencies that gointo outstanding leadership. And twoof the traits where women out-scoredmen to the highest degree – takinginitiative and driving for results –have long been thought of as particu-larly male strengths.”

Or to put it another way, thewomen who “make it” perhaps do sobecause they are far better than themen. It might mean the focus shouldbe less on “what women bring” andmore on getting them into leadershiproles in the first place.

* www.thersagroup.com/women/

Dina Medland looksbeyond generalisations toassess the real differencesa greater female presencecan make in business

Life choices: looking for causality between ‘what women bring’ and better leadership teams might be a perilous approach Alamy

Two of the traits wherewomen out­scored men tothe highest degree havelong been thought of asmale strengths

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FINANCIAL TIMES THURSDAY OCTOBER 18 2012 ★ 5

Partnerships learn to expect the unexpected

Company chairmen are underpressure to increase thenumber of women on theirboards and some have taken

action by agreeing to help successfulsenior women to reach the highestposts.

The FTSE 100 Cross-Company Men-toring Programme is one importantforum that facilitates this process. Itbegan as a round table of chairmenfrom the UK’s largest companiespromising to commit time to mentorsenior women to improve diversity atthe highest levels of business.

There are now 56 chairmen – as wellas other business leaders – involvedin the programme, from companiesincluding Rolls-Royce, Shell, Centricaand Barclays and so far, 94 womenhave benefited from their experienceand advice.

Every partnership is hand-picked bythe scheme’s founder, Peninah Thom-son, who is now setting up a newscheme to help women at an earlierstage in their career, which will belaunched at the Bank of England onNovember 20.

The FT spoke to four participants ofthe programme – two pairs of mentorsand mentees – to go behind closeddoors and find out what the conversa-tions between them are really like.

Sir Stuart Rose, former chairman andchief executive of Marks and Spen­cer, acted as a mentor to Emma Fit­zgerald in 2009.

Leadership is a lonely thing. So Isay to people now that it’s importantto build up an infrastructure aroundyou that’s not just your family andfriends. You need people to tell youthat the emperor has no clothes on, orto slap you on the back and say: “Iknow how you feel.” I saw the FTSEcross-company mentoring programmeas a logical extension of that.

I had some mentoring in the pastinternally, but the problem is that nomatter how independent it is meant tobe, you are always slightly fearfulabout how open to be. I have to say Iwas always a little bit reserved andthat’s what is great about this scheme– it works across different companies.

The first time Emma and I met we

sat down and I said: “This is how itwill work: you look at me and I’ll lookat you and if you want to continueyou can tell me and I’ll do the same –and if not then I won’t be offended.”

It’s Chatham House rules. Sheshould be able to talk to me aboutanything and I should be able to giveexamples from my own history.

Emma is a self-starter and shewould have got on a board withoutme, let’s be clear about that. All I didwas smooth the edges and give her aboost on the way

I’m one of the few people of mygeneration who had a woman bosstwice in my life and I thoroughlyenjoyed it. When I left M&S the boardwas 40 per cent women. It’s sad tohave to set targets but the fact of thematter is that it needs to be done toaccelerate and get us to where weneed to be.

Dr Emma FitzGerald, vice president,Shell Global Retail Network (mentee)

My involvement with the FTSE 100mentoring programme was entirelyserendipitous. I was invited to a din-ner hosted by Manchester BusinessSchool in 2009 where Peninah was theafter-dinner speaker and I approachedher and asked what I would have todo to be a part of it.

She said that I would need mychairman to nominate me. As itturned out, the Shell chairman wasalready a mentor in the programme sothat proved to be easy. I went on thewaiting list and after four months Iwas told that I had been paired withsomeone and that it was Stuart.

It was a bit intimidating going tomeet this very visible business personand not be sure if we would be able tomake a connection, but the first timewe met we shared a bit about ourexperiences and what was importantto us.

I worked with Stuart from 2009 to2011, and we continue to meet infor-mally now. What I like about him isthat I always come away from meet-ing him feeling energised. I wasimpressed with how open he was, too.That was unexpected.

Our meetings were typically quar-terly or every two months and theywould last an hour. All he asked isthat I drop him an email before wemet to give him a sense of what Iwanted to talk about, but no topic wasoff limits

Soon after I started working withhim I was making the transition inmy executive role and I was also talk-ing to companies about non-executiveroles. He was genuinely open in help-

ing me to think about what I wouldbring to a company.

[Ms FitzGerald is now a non-execu-tive director at engineering groupCookson].

Kevin Sneader, managing director ofMcKinsey & Co UK and Ireland, men­tors Sarah Breeden

I am keen to see business lead whenit comes to giving women the opportu-nity to break the glass ceiling. I thinkit persists here more than in the US

where I used to live and I was struckby the lack of women executiveswhen I came back here two years ago.

It so happened that I then cameacross Peninah, who explained theprogramme and I decided it was aneffective way to do something posi-tive.

My expectation was that it would beall about what I could do for the men-tee but it has turned out to be more ofa two-way programme. It’s very inter-esting – when you sit down and offer

advice to someone else it makes youthink about yourself.

It’s also put me in touch with adifferent part of the business worldand what it’s like to work in an insti-tution like the Bank of England.

In my first meeting with Sarah wethought we would talk about seriousprofessional things but we ended uptalking about our families and whatwe get out of business and life. It wasa very social chat, which was unex-pected. I was impressed by Sarah –

she has high ambitions but she isn’tnaïve and she’s thoughtful.

I ask her questions that force her tothink of the answers. I don’t pretendto understand the Bank but I can talkabout the experiences I had along theway and we can see if things are dif-ferent or similar.

Sarah and I have met every fewmonths for the past two years and Ihope that we will keep meeting; I geta lot out of it. I would also carry onwith the mentoring scheme in a heart-beat. I have 11-year-old and 13-year-olddaughters and I think there is a short-age of role models at the moment, butit’s changing slowly.

Sarah Breeden, head of the Pruden­tial Regulation Authority transitionteam, Bank of England (mentee)

I wanted to take part in the mentor-ing programme because I was terriblyaware that you can get to a seniormanagement level by being good atyour job and having some energy andself-confidence, but at executive levelyou have to do a bit more.

The first conversation I had withKevin was mainly about what Iwanted to get out of the mentoringrelationship. I had absolutely no ideawhat to expect, but found that Kevinwas a thoroughly down to earth Scotwith a sense of humour and weclicked really well. Peninah is verythoughtful in how she matches peo-ple.

The great value of the cross-com-pany scheme is that it is a safe envi-ronment. If you put up a charade andsay that everything is brilliant thenyou won’t get back the feedback andcounsel you need. What Kevin does isgive me the confidence and steelinessto push for what I want in my careerpath, and act as a mirror to remindme of what I said.

One of the first things we talkedabout was how to operate at a seniorlevel and, as he put it, understand therules of the game. He advised me togo ask some people at the Bank whatwas different about operating at thatlevel and I thought that was such abrilliant, simple idea.

In fact, one of the things that Kevinhas helped me to do is to utilise thehelp that exists in the Bank.

We now meet every couple ofmonths for an hour or so, and I usu-ally go to his offices in Mayfair. Thementoring lasts for two or so yearsbut my sense is that people keep intouch with their mentors. The formalrelationship may end but I hope thatwe will still email and meet in thefuture.

Sir Stuart Rose and Emma Fitzgerald (top): no topic off­limits; Kevin Sneader and Sarah Breeden: confidence and steeliness

Women and the Workplace

MentoringElaine Moore asks twopairs of mentors andmentees what they gainfrom working together

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