Where are the Women?
...Calgary's Execs Lag Behind the Catalyst Target

Lynn Harris encourages women to do their due diligence before accepting a new job and research the company's status of women in executive and board roles in an effort to get a handle on how the company supports women. In her recent book: "Unwritten Rules - What Women Need to Know About Leading in Today's Organizations" (2010) she suggests that the company's executive should have at least three women in the mix, and/or at least three women serving on the board concurrently. What's so magical about the number three? I spoke to Lynn Harris, who practices leadership coaching in Montreal and she set me straight. Catalyst has set the benchmark at three (or 30% of the total group) so that the company sends the message that women in these roles are not simply treated as "tokens", but in fact do have a real voice on the executive or the board. With at least three in the mix, women then can have a stronger influence. In Calgary then, it may appear that we are lagging behind.

I did a quick analysis of some of the major companies in Calgary that are progressive, to see how we compared with Harris's advice through an internet search of the company and specifically looked to see how many women were on the board of directors of the company and how many women were members of the executive committee or management committee. EnCana is the only organization that meets Harris's benchmark for board involvement and both Cenovus & EnCana have the most number of women in executive roles. Results are presented below:

1.Management Committee Only - total management =41, of which 3 are women, representing 7%

2.Suncor has 2 management committees, one led by the CEO and one lead by the COO and I've combined these two groups.

NOTE: I just took a quick look at organizations that are public that I've worked with in the past or am familiar with senior executives who work there. If your organization meets the benchmark and I haven't included it here, please let me know at leibham.and.company@shaw.ca.

In addition, I often keep track of who's who and who's where through the media. Women can join non-profit boards as a way to develop their leadership and typically, we see more women on non-profit boards than on corporate boards. Recently, however, I noticed in the Calgary Herald in May 2010, two organizations which still reflect the men's hut. Both of these organizations are representing the direction and development of our city, and should have a good representation of women - in fact, the number of women on these boards should be higher than Harris's target of three! The first is the Calgary Parking Authority, which out of 11 board members had no women represented at all. The second board, the Calgary Economic Development CED has a total of 15 board members, of which two are women, representing 13%.

According to Catalyst's recent census (Press Release, December 2009) of Fortune 500 companies, 90% of the participating companies had at least one female board of director, however there were less than 20% who had three serving on the board together. Women made up 13.5% of the executive officer positions (clout titles such as EVP, COO, etc.)

What this means is that in Calgary we need to adjust Harris's target, if we are only to look at the numbers. I would suggest when considering a move that you look at whether the organization has 1 to 2 women on the board and at least women at the executive level. The research that I conducted in 2006 with Calgary's Leading Women suggests another important criteria - 30 % of the women reported that work environment and culture of the organization are very important in terms of attraction and retention factors. Environments that are attractive include communicating the company values, being part of a learning culture, and a culture that is respectful, innovative and entrepreneurial. In addition, what was equally important was the nature of the role - is there authority with the position? Is the work challenging? Does the position involve driving the organization forward? These are mining questions that can be asked even before you go for an interview as you research the organization.

Organizational factors that contribute to success for women is the other part of due diligence. Work processes were identified by women 33% of the time as being important and includes flexibility of the processes for advancement within the company, communication of the succession plan, modified work arrangements, and recognition of family needs (Leibham 2006). Having access to resources was another important attraction and retention factor for women. Does the organization support the development of women as leaders through the use of executive coaching? Job shadowing? Does the company support involvement in outside professional associations? Offer challenging assignments to learn the business? I can recall one executive telling me that she moved into her senior role and did not feel that she had the right network to tap into so she discussed this with her boss, who then shared her contacts with her and paved the way for her to connect with them. That's an example of an environment that supports women's advancement.

So while it is important to continue to track women's representation in leadership positions, I would suggest that there are other factors to look for when considering whether the organization is a fit because Calgary just isn't there yet in terms of representation at the board and executive level. In fact, the U.S. is not really that much farther ahead. That's the bad news. The good news is that Calgary has certainly seen a tremendous increase in the number of women moving into the VP level and management ranks and from the women I've met in these roles, the caliber of talent is quite outstanding.

Are you interested in moving your career forward? If so, leadership coaching may be of benefit to you. To find out more, contact me at leibham.and.company@shaw.ca.