3 ways to fix the ‘broken rung’ on the career ladder

I was disappointed, but not surprised when I opened this year’s Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org. Why? Well, just read this: For every 100 men promoted to manager in 2018, 79 women were promoted. And this year, just 81 women were. As a result of this “broken rung,” men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, which makes it nearly impossible for companies to support sustained progress at more senior levels. What’s stopping us from fixing the broken rung? I often think about this question since my company focuses on high-performing women leaders. Based on our experiences, here are some recommendations for companies to get more women moving up over the broken rung on the leadership ladder. Rethink what a leader looks like In organizations that have always had predominantly male leaders, a bias against women (whether conscious or subconscious) can emerge. It’s easy to see how this might happen: We base our ideas about what a leader should be based on the leaders we know. So, we may be predisposed to identify men as high performers who should receive leadership development.You might think that the solution here is redefining what high performance is at your organization. But I’m advocating an even bigger shift: What if we dropped the whole idea that leadership development is reserved only for “stars?” That approach simply wasn’t feasible in the past due to budgetary concerns. However, the tech revolution in learning and development has created scalable solutions that open opportunities up to more potential leaders. Choose development options that fit packed schedules Do you know a woman who isn’t busy? On average, women in the U.S. actually spend a few hours less per week on their jobs than men do. However, they spend more time than men do on household tasks, parenting, and caregiving for older family members.Fitting leadership development into the middle of all of this isn’t easy. That’s why I believe that micro-learning opportunities are especially important for women. At my company, we’ve seen women embrace the quick lessons (think two to seven minutes) that our learning platform provides. Give more (and more useful) feedback Researchers have found that women receive less actionable feedback than men do. Additionally, feedback given to men encourages them to focus on big-picture, strategic issues while women get more guidance to focus on details and delivery. It’s not hard to see how the feedback that men get does more to shape them into future leaders. This is an issue to address both collectively and individually.As an organization, what is your feedback culture like? Do you need to change policies to ensure that all employees get feedback that prepares them to lead? If you deliver feedback yourself, pay attention to whether you treat men and women differently. You have an opportunity to really help women own their abilities as leaders and demonstrate them to others. For example, after a meeting, give your report positive feedback for voicing her ideas, plus some strategies on what to do the next time she gets interrupted. I want to leave you with another sobering fact from the Women in the Workplace report: At the current pace of progress, it will take 22 years to reach parity for white women—and more than twice as long for women of color. Put another way, it will take 48 years for the representation of white women and women of color in senior leadership to reflect their share of the U.S. population. That’s hard to read, but it also motivates me to do even more to help women reach parity faster. I hope you’ll join me, both by taking action yourself and by pushing for discussions about leadership parity at your organization. Let’s make sure next year’s Women in the Workplace report has better news to share.

I was disappointed, but not surprised when I opened this year’s Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org. Why? Well, just read this: For every 100 men promoted to manager in 2018, 79 women were promoted.

And this year, just 81 women were. As a result of this “broken rung,” men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, which makes it nearly impossible for companies to support sustained progress at more senior levels. What’s stopping us from fixing the broken rung? I often think about this question since my company focuses on high-performing women leaders.

Based on our experiences, here are some recommendations for companies to get more women moving up over the broken rung on the leadership ladder. Rethink what a leader looks like In organizations that have always had predominantly male leaders, a bias against women (whether conscious or subconscious) can emerge. It’s easy to see how this might happen: We base our ideas about what a leader should be based on the leaders we know.

So, we may be predisposed to identify men as high performers who should receive leadership development. | You might think that the solution here is redefining what high performance is at your organization. But I’m advocating an even bigger shift: What if we dropped the whole idea that leadership development is reserved only for “stars?” That approach simply wasn’t feasible in the past due to budgetary concerns.

However, the tech revolution in learning and development has created scalable solutions that open opportunities up to more potential leaders. Choose development options that fit packed schedules Do you know a woman who isn’t busy? On average, women in the U.S.

actually spend a few hours less per week on their jobs than men do. However, they spend more time than men do on household tasks , parenting , and caregiving for older family members. Fitting leadership development into the middle of all of this isn’t easy.

That’s why I believe that micro-learning opportunities are especially important for women. At my company, we’ve seen women embrace the quick lessons (think two to seven minutes) that our learning platform provides. Give more (and more useful) feedback Researchers have found that women receive less actionable feedback than men do.

Additionally, feedback given to men encourages them to focus on big-picture, strategic issues while women get more guidance to focus on details and delivery. It’s not hard to see how the feedback that men get does more to shape them into future leaders. This is an issue to address both collectively and individually.

As an organization, what is your feedback culture like? Do you need to change policies to ensure that all employees get feedback that prepares them to lead? If you deliver feedback yourself, pay attention to whether you treat men and women differently. You have an opportunity to really help women own their abilities as leaders and demonstrate them to others. For example, after a meeting, give your report positive feedback for voicing her ideas, plus some strategies on what to do the next time she gets interrupted.

I want to leave you with another sobering fact from the Women in the Workplace report: At the current pace of progress, it will take 22 years to reach parity for white women—and more than twice as long for women of color. Put another way, it will take 48 years for the representation of white women and women of color in senior leadership to reflect their share of the U.S.

population. That’s hard to read, but it also motivates me to do even more to help women reach parity faster. I hope you’ll join me, both by taking action yourself and by pushing for discussions about leadership parity at your organization.

Let’s make sure next year’s Women in the Workplace report has better news to share. The application deadline for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards is Friday, December 6, at 11:59 p.m.

PT. Apply today..