Leibham & Company Corporate & Management Consulting

The following corporate sponsors support the research conducted by Leibham & Company and in doing so have demonstrated their continued commitment to being a workplace of choice for Calgary's talented Leading Women. Thank You!

The purpose of this research is to further explore the issues around the advancement of women, related to the Calgary business community. National statistics with regard to the advancement of women in Canada are provided in the 2004 national Catalyst report: “2004 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners of Canada”. The data provides a Canadian perspective on the status of women in corporate business environments and provides excellent data in identifying benchmarks. However, Calgary presents some unique challenges given the oil & gas influence on business, and more detailed inquiry is required to examine factors that can influence women’s advancement. A further look at specific trends in Calgary would be beneficial.

From a more practical organizational and corporate perspective, the purpose of the inquiry is to identify the learning needs of women that will provide organizations with insight into:

The requirements for attracting and retaining Calgary’s top leadership talent;
The key components for developing leadership programs that are inclusive and responsive to women’s learning needs and leadership issues;
The creation of strategic succession planning programs for women who have potential to contribute to the organization at a senior level.

From an individual perspective, data on trends specific to the Calgary business environment can bring more opportunity for Calgary’s female leadership talent to plan career advancement strategies.

Catalyst has been conducting census data gathering since 1999 nation-wide in an effort to track trends in the representation of women moving into executive roles in both Canada and the U.S. The data provides concrete information about trends related to compensation and based on industry, position title and function and type of company across Canada. Organizations can utilize this benchmark information in corporate program development such as succession planning and leadership programs.
Of particular interest to organizations are the inferences that can be drawn regarding attraction and retention policies and programs for women in the workforce. While the general Canadian perspective is valid, it only provides a starting point, as communities across Canada such as Calgary may have unique business cultures that contribute to some of the trends identified by Catalyst that exist in Alberta.

There are two factors which could impact the data provided by Catalyst and which provide further points of inquiry:

Today, the oil and gas business community dominates Calgary. Historically, Calgary has been primarily an agricultural & farming focus. Both of these have their roots in traditional, hierarchical organizational structures predominantly based on male models of leadership and management that today’s organizations are built from.
Catalyst provided a nation wide census based on survey information and public data. A change in methodology with a smaller scope would provide an opportunity to use individual interviews to probe for further information pertinent and specific to the Calgary community. For example, Catalyst identified a number of positions considered to be part of the “Executive Pipeline”. A key role in the oil & gas sector is that of engineer, which was not named as part of the executive pipeline. This is an example of where the Calgary corporate environment has a unique culture and where further examination may prove beneficial.

Previous Research by Leibham & Co
In 1998, Donna Leibham examined the learning needs of women in managerial roles as part of a graduate degree project. One of the components of the graduate project was a Leadership Development program designed to capture the leadership and learning needs of women. The outcome was a model for core competencies that has been refined over several years of engagement with women in a Leadership Workshop and Executive Coaching Program. This model has been successfully applied in the Executive Development – “Leading From Within” leadership development programs and further inquiry is being sought to expand on the leadership core competencies for women.

Focus Of Query
The study will have a dual focus. The first is an extension and further exploration of the Catalyst data presented in the most recent census report to determine if there are trends unique to Calgary. The second focus is the continued identification and clarification of core competencies for Calgary’s Leading Women, and related is the continued development of the model of leadership for women presented by Leibham & Company in 1998.

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