Ten Things Companies - and Women - Can Do To Get Ahead

Lack of Gender Diversity in Executive Positions and Board Seats to the
Detriment of Companies and Professional Women

DETROIT, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In these challenging economic times,
companies and individuals recognize the importance of differentiating
themselves in the marketplace and taking steps to secure their future.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women are on the verge of
becoming the majority of the paid workforce. Yet women are still
underrepresented in the executive rosters and boards of the majority of U.S.
companies.

"Research shows there is a strong correlation between how well top
corporations develop and promote women leaders and how successful those
corporations are in the marketplace," said Terry Barclay, CEO of Inforum and
Inforum Center for Leadership. "If companies lag behind when it comes to
utilizing talented women, they could be at a big disadvantage compared to
their peers and competitors."

Below are 10 things companies should do to tap into a currently underutilized
resource, women. There are also 10 tips for women looking to take their career
to the next level.

10 Things Companies Should Do Now

1. Work Towards "Functional Diversity": Professor Scott Page of the
University of Michigan uses this term to capture the idea that we need
people with diverse ways of perceiving problems, rather than
groupthink,
in order to devise better solutions. As a recent Ernst & Young report
points out, a group of intelligent problem solvers chosen at random
will
outperform a homogenous group of even the best problem solvers, under
the
right conditions.
2. Send a Message From the Top: A report from McKinsey & Co. found that
almost all companies that achieved significant change in gender
diversity
"benefited from the personal commitment of the CEO."
3. Put More Women on Your Board: According to a recent report from
InterOrganization Network (ION), an alliance of women's business
organizations, board-ready women are not difficult to find. A
significant number of qualified women serve in executive capacities in
Fortune 1000 companies. Others run large hospitals and non-profit
organizations, are active members of industry associations and
professional organizations and regularly attend educational and
corporate
governance programs offered by business.
4. Rethink Human Resources: As research shows and Inforum's members can
attest, corporate HR policies often, inadvertently, hold back
professional women at the very stage - in their late 20s and early 30s
-
when their careers should be taking off. Simple changes could address
that. For example, evaluation processes that penalize women for taking
maternity leave could be changed so that a woman's tenure with the
company includes that time.
5. Recruit Smarter: Some simple changes in the way companies recruit new
employees could make a big difference. According to McKinsey,
companies
that simply train recruiters and operational managers on the importance
of diversity can make meaningful progress in recruiting women. One
European company raised the application rate of women for technical,
sales-oriented jobs by 40 percent simply by changing the text on the ad
and replacing a stock photo of a man with a photo of that company's
senior women.
6. Make Mentoring a Priority: Research shows that mentoring programs can
be
powerful tools for advancing the careers of professional women. Every
young professional can benefit from having a mentor. But for women in
male-dominated corporate environments, the need is even greater. Women
with mentors, research finds, are more likely to apply for promotions.
That changes when managers are given the task of encouraging talented
women to move up.
7. Retain Your Best Women: What does it take to keep talented women in
your
organization? Asking them directly is a good place to start in getting
an
answer. However, research finds that flexible work hours, generous
maternity leave benefits and coaching for women returning to the
workforce can make a difference.
8. Measure Your Results: When companies put goals in writing and track
their results, things gets done. Companies need to know where they
stand
and make managers accountable for the level of gender diversity in
their
organizations. Benchmarks to track include the proportion of women in
a
company's business units at each level, pay levels of women vs. men at
comparable levels, attrition rates by gender and the ratio of women
actually promoted to women eligible for promotion.
9. Plan for Diversity: Succession planning is the best way to assure the
optimal mix of backgrounds, experience, skills and perspectives on
boards
and among top executives. Companies can use opportunities created by
turnover to generate the kind of collective strategic thinking needed
to
compete successfully in a constantly changing economy.

10. Move Beyond Tokenism: According to McKinsey, companies with three or
more women in senior management scored higher on measures of
organizational excellence than companies with no women at the top. It
is
not enough to add a woman here or there. The best performers build a
critical mass that gives women the power to have their views heard.

10 Ways Michigan Women Can Rev Up Their Careers

1. Have an Elevator Speech: What do you do and how do you contribute to
the
success of your company? When you get that question, you should be
prepared to answer it in a brief, compelling and confident manner.
Even
if you never literally find yourself in the elevator with the CEO, your
elevator speech can be the best tool you have when it comes to building
your personal brand.
2. Get Connected at Your Company: If your company has an internal
networking or mentoring program, get involved. You enhance your chances
of moving up when you increase your exposure to and interaction with
the
company's decision makers.
3. Dare to Apply: McKinsey, citing internal research from HP, found that
"women apply for open jobs only if they think they meet 100 percent of
the criteria listed, whereas men respond to the posting if they feel
they
meet 60 percent of the requirements." That by itself, if it holds true
across the corporate world, could be holding back a lot of talented
women.
4. Network Like Your Career Depends on It (Because it Does): How many
women
do you know from your profession besides those who work at the same
company as you? If the answer is none, that could be a problem if
layoffs
hit. Now is the time to start making strategic connections.
Professional
organizations, alumni groups and networks like Inforum can help you
build
valuable contacts outside your current sphere.
5. Have an Online Presence: Online networks like LinkedIn and Facebook
can
not only make your networking more efficient, they can help you build
and
maintain your personal brand. For that reason, how you use them is as
important as whether you use them. A good rule of thumb is never to
post
anything you would not want to hear attributed to you in the media.
6. Get Trained: Are your skills up to date? Do you even know? If your
company offers training opportunities or tuition reimbursement
programs,
use them. If those things are not offered, find other ways to keep your
skills sharp and gain new ones. In this economy, knowledge is power.
7. Boost Your Leadership Skills: Keeping up with the latest technology and
industry trends is not enough to get you to the top. Leadership and
organizational skills are learned behavior. Find time to hone the
crucial
"soft skills" that will help you climb the ladder.
8. Know What You are Good At: Instead of just focusing on what you are
lacking, take time to inventory what you have to offer. Evaluate your
potential based on your skills and competencies, not merely the jobs
you
have held in the past. Many of your skills could be applicable in jobs
-
or in fields - you have not considered.
9. Know What Success Means to You and Move Toward It: If you want to get
somewhere, it helps to know where you are going. In the book "Stepping
Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way...In Life, In
Love,
and At Work," author Nell Merlino says: "You have to see it before you
can devise a plan to get there. Imagine how other people feel or how
they
might approach the challenge." One good way to start, she says, is by
writing down a "strategic outline" describing where you want to go.

10. Be Flexible: While it is important to know what you want, be ready to
alter your plans as your situation - and the world - changes.
Opportunities can pop up from nowhere and sometimes evaporate just as
quickly. Changes in your personal life also can have a big effect on
your priorities. How you adapt to and account for the things life
throws
at you will have a big impact on your success.

"It is time for these companies implement greater gender diversity at the very
top," said Barclay. "It's also time for professional women to re-think and
reinvent their careers, raise their sights and expect more from themselves and
their organizations."

These tips are based on the recent findings of the 2009 Women's Leadership
Index, a study commissioned by Inforum Center for Leadership, the non-profit
education and research arm of Inforum, Michigan's largest network for
professional women. The research for the 2009 WLI was conducted by the
Eastern Michigan University College of Business.

About Inforum and the Inforum Center for Leadership
Inforum (formerly the Women's Economic Club) is one of the largest and most
prestigious business forums in the nation, with over 2,000 members from a
broad cross-section of Michigan's business community. Providing opportunities
for businesswomen to connect, forge alliances, discuss vital civic and
business issues, and advance as leaders is at the heart of Inforum's mission.
Inforum's programming includes networking events featuring prominent local,
national, and international speakers; interactive skill-building seminars; and
a variety of after-hours interest groups.

Inforum Center for Leadership accelerates careers through unique leadership
development programs that allow women to challenge themselves, take risks, and
reach the next level. Current programs include: Executive Leadership, an
intense, highly personalized and interactive six-month leadership development
program; Leadership at the Maxx!, which allows participants to experience
real-world business challenges without the real-world consequences for
failure; and the Senior Executives Forum, a confidential, peer-to-peer
business roundtable for top women executives.

Inforum Center for Leadership also conducts and publishes research on women's
leadership influence in Michigan. More about Inforum and Inforum Center for
Leadership may be found on the worldwide web: www.inforummichigan.org.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional media information visit http://media.gm.com

CONTACT: James Melton, Inforum Communications Manager, +1-313-578-3244, Cell:
+1-313-580-8423, Jmelton@Inforummichigan.org

SOURCE General Motors