Client Stories
Global Insurance Services with over 5000 employees in India
Internal data showed that women sales professionals were very successful in this industry. To have an edge over the competition & attract limited talent available it was important to have women in decision-making positions which would inspire fresh talent to join.
Challenges
– Large % of women professionals dropping out in the early years.
– Reluctance of parents to permit their wards to join sales due to odd hours of work.
– Reluctance of recruitment managers to select women professionals due to fear of safety/bias etc.
– Reluctance of women professionals to choose sales as a career option.
Suggested way ahead
Develop a strong leadership pipeline to showcase successful stories of women leadership. Ensure appropriate visibility of the initiative internally & externally.
Process
– The communication process: messages from the CEO posted on the website, standees in the corridors of the organisation emphasising the intention to have women leaders and why.
– Intense selection process to identify twenty spirited women professionals who would be trained & groomed to be the face of the initiative.
– Assessments / individual sessions to create a personal vision.
– Eight-month intervention with six modules, high profile projects, visibility in town halls & top management, opportunity to attend external meetings, personal coaching and group mentoring.
– Managers visited homes of women employees to build trust with families and educate them on the safety processes.
Impact
– As the projects chosen had a market focus, they were approved and operationalised in the organisation. This created a big buzz of excitement amongst women employees.
– The India office was awarded “Best women leadership initiative” at the annual conference in Paris.The India office was awarded “Best women leadership initiative” at the annual conference in Paris.
– About fifty percent of the participants were promoted & five were chosen to be sent to the next level of leadership training.
Reason for Success
– As there was a clear business case for the initiative, there was complete involvement of the management team & managers.
– The Business projects – brought tangibility & opportunity to implement learnings immediately.
Global Information Technology Company with over 25,000 employees
The IT Sector is entrenched in the gender balance agenda and have systematic development initiatives to harness the women professional’s potential. It was important to create a level playing field on the principals of meritocracy.
Challenges
– Ensuring that the initiative is not seen as a discretionary action.
– Bringing the women employees on board, who felt that singling them out for this initiative would create animosity & bias towards them instead of opportunities.
– Managing the male employees who were feeling secluded & threatened that the company is only promoting women and that is unfair.
– Managing the schedules of the top leaders.
Suggested way ahead
Train & develop the senior leaders to understand the roll out plan, their role, challenges they could face. Simultaneously prepare the women employees to learn “how to leverage the opportunity”.
Process
– Reaching out to top management across the globe to partner & volunteer as sponsors.
– Selection of protégées.
– Pre work on expectations, deliverables, responsibilities, common guidelines.
– Sessions with sponsors & protégées on Sponsorship versus Mentorship, Leveraging the sponsorship opportunity for developing women leaders, critical elements of a sponsorship relationship, best practices & success stories.
– Sessions with reporting managers to explain the context & their role.
Impact
– A string message of creating level playing field.
– Enhanced attraction & retention of talent.
– Creation of women role models in the organisation.
Reason for Success
– High commitment & enthusiasm to the initiative from the Sponsors.
– A sense of pride and ownership amongst the protégées to be the chosen one to get benefitted from this initiative.
– Transparency in selection & process.