Women Leaders Show the Journey to the Top is Worth It
A successful women’s career path can often be described as ‘taking the scenic route’, not necessarily following the straight, more direct line, or climbing the corporate ladder one step at the time. Women take more steps, more jobs – sideways and upward – to get to top leadership roles.[1]
Very capable women often get stuck in place, waiting longer than men to be promoted to the next level. By taking side steps within the organization, they can increase their knowledge and visibility and their chances of being recognized and finally getting that promotion. Researchers Alice Eagly and Linda Carli say that women must navigate through the labyrinth, overcoming barriers and dead ends along the way to leadership roles.[2]
In my research with executive men and women[3] I found that while men often rely on the system to take care of them, women are proactive about managing their progression: watching out for “path pavers”; the positions that are stepping stones to their goal and the people who will help them achieve it, and “advancement derailers”; the positions and people that might sound good but lead nowhere. Instead of complaining or being angry and bitter about organizational barriers, successful executive women use self-development savvy to understand which routes to follow that will pave their way to the top, and step confidently onto those routes.
The CEO of a life sciences organization told me, “I realized if I was ever going to run a business for the company, I’d better get some sales experience, so I asked to be transferred to that department.” Once she had that experience as a sales manager, she took a job as planning manager for pharmaceuticals where she interfaced between the VP of the division and the plants, making sure operations had the resources and budget needed to implement the division’s strategic plan. “I got exposure to the management committee and got to see things at a more strategic level.” She then moved on to a plant manager role to give her experience in running a business.
Sometimes the route to the top isn’t completely planned and cannot be plotted in advance. When opportunities to learn a new aspect of the business present themselves, women have to use their self-development savvy to see them and seize them. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, built broad experience on her 30-year path to the corner office by taking advantage of opportunities. After starting her career as a senior engineer at a Pontiac plant, she got her MBA and took the job of Manager of Manufacturing Planning. She went on to the take the executive assistant role to GM’s CEO and the Vice Chairman, a position that would gain her broad exposure to the business globally. Three years later, Ms. Barra moved into the position of General Director of Communications, then was an executive director of Competitive Operations Engineering before taking a plant manager job at an assembly plant. Her next job was as Vice President of Global Manufacturing Engineering, followed by Executive Director of Vehicle Manufacturing Engineering. Next, Ms. Barra served as Vice President of Global Human Resources; and two years later took the role of Senior Vice President of Global Product Development for two and a half years. She served as Executive Vice President of Global Product Development & Global Purchasing and Supply Chain for five months; and THEN Ms. Barra was named Chief Executive Officer.
Women are often excluded from certain roles deemed critical for business success and tend to instead pursue opportunities that slow their careers.5 But the executive women that I have interviewed who made it to the c-suite were careful not to take a position that would not advance their capability, knowledge and visibility. Findings show that being “promoted” to special assignments that were outside the typical management path often blocked women’s career advancement.[4] So if women do not personally manage their career progression, they can let others derail them.
Mary Barra showed this savvy to recognize how her roles would increase visibility, by taking the Director of Communications job to “fix a troubled internal communications department” and later the role of VP of Human Resources to “bring efficiency to a messy human resources department.” Outsiders wondered if this move was going to sideline her, as staff roles often do. But she and her executive peers knew that HR was going to be a strategic and critical function for the company at that point in time, and it was in desperate need of a “turn around.” And a rigorous and defining proving ground for up and coming executives is taking an area of the company that is in trouble and “fixing it.”
Taking a line role with operations responsibility is seen as more valuable to career progression than taking a staff role. In fact, in a 2012 WSJ report, about 94% of S&P CEOs held key operations positions immediately before getting to the top job. But of the women in executive committee roles, that is, roles one level away from CEO, only one third of them were in operational positions. Two thirds of executive women in that group were in staff roles such as HR, Communications or Legal.[5]
. Line jobs carry greater pressure and are less flexible than staff jobs, potentially making staff jobs more appealing to those with family responsibilities. Also leaders may be reluctant to ask those with family responsibilities to take on those line roles, assuming they wouldn’t be able to shoulder a tough assignment. And let’s not ignore the obvious stereotyping of support positions being “feminine” roles. Staff roles can be a big detour, or worse. But not all staff roles are dead ends, as evidenced by Mary Barra’s career path.
Having self-development savvy also means recognizing the importance of effective mentors. Successful executive women know that in order to develop and advance, they need mentors to help pave their way. And their perspective on the people who help them advance is quite different from men. While men trust the system, assuming “some anonymous benefactor” in senior management will sponsor their advancement, women are quite aware of their “path paver,” and know that that person will take risks for them. Women never assume that the system will take care of them.[6]
Successful executive women that I’ve interviewed all had mentors who helped their career development even though these women demonstrated the self-development savvy to plan their own route toward their career goal. So the roles of their mentors were not necessarily to model how to act in the environment, teach the ropes, and coach on performance. They provided visibility, developmental job opportunities and promotional advocacy. Their mentors were actually sponsors.
The CFO of a large chemical company illustrated how critical it is to have a sponsor. She said, “When I was made treasurer, there was a lot of resistance by the old boy’s network. When my name was put forward, they were saying, ‘oh, you’ll upset all the other men who are working in the area’ and ‘how can she be the treasurer?’ “. Her executive sponsor ignored their objections and used his clout to put her in the role. She said, “That kind of backbone and support is priceless. And once I made it past treasurer, there were no more naysayers.”
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Self- development savvy is a way for women to compensate for a system that doesn’t do a good job of supporting their advancement. It is how successful women drive their progression to the c-suite, by having a goal, figuring out what positions and experiences will lead to that goal and what positions are a ticket to nowhere. It is also the savvy to build relationships with those who have influence and will market their capabilities and potential. Finding that sponsor gives women the benefit that has so often advantaged their male colleagues; it hooks them into the well-established network of executive connections, traditionally referred to as the “old boys club,” that will pull them to the top.
Carol Vallone Mitchell, Ph. D. is author of Breaking through “Bitch”: How Women Can Shatter Stereotypes and Lead Fearlessly. She is a founding principal of Talent Strategy Partners, a consultancy devoted to helping clients improve their talent management practices and cultivate winning organization cultures.