What difference Do Women Leaders Make?
written by Sheila Wristberg
Jan 12, 2024
Read part 1 of this article here
What difference Do Women Leaders Make?
According to a 2020 Harvard study, women outperform males on 17 of the 19 leadership qualities identified as necessary for future leadership. Relationship building, cooperation and teamwork, quick leadership, innovation, and effective communication were all part of this.
A higher return on financial indicators of organizations, such as assets and equity, has been linked to diverse boards. A board with a higher proportion of women took fewer risks, which had a better impact on the company's finance. For every woman appointed to the C-suite in a firm, three more women advance to senior level positions, demonstrating the multiplier effect of women in leadership positions. Companies must appoint more women to the C-suite to speed up the rate of gender equity in the sector.
The Way Forward
Acknowledging the Glass Ceiling Women in West Africa must be actively supporting gender equality and advancement programs. They should be fully aware of the issues with gender inequality and gender-based discrimination in both social and professional contexts.
Breaking down these barriers calls for a coordinated effort and a shift in society as a whole, not just certain individuals or organizations.
To effectively overcome the barriers to female leadership, businesses, regulatory agencies, the government, and a larger segment of society will need to work together.
Institutional obstacles are the most difficult to eliminate because they are often covert and concealed rather than conscious and explicit. Because of this, businesses need to contribute significantly to achieving gender parity. The following are a few ways insurance businesses may help put more women in positions of leadership.
Developing Structured Female Leadership Programmes and Initiatives
In order to provide women with secure and encouraging communities in which to network and advance their careers, there should be organized processes in place within businesses and the insurance sector to scale their career to the next level. While there are networks that support and advance women in leadership across West Africa such as Executive Women's Network (EWN) in Ghana, Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) in Nigeria, and Women on Boards (Africa), there is no regional organization devoted to the advancement of the next generation of female insurance leaders on the continent and in the West African region.
At its 50th Anniversary celebration in June 2022, the African Insurance Organization recognized 50 women working in the insurance industry from around the continent. This was a commendable initiative that other organizations should follow. Beyond recognizing individuals who have succeeded in shattering the glass ceiling, the industry should make a concerted effort to encourage and advance young female talent so they may take on leadership roles. Through these leadership networks, women may be able to connect with individuals who are familiar with the unique problems they encounter as women and can provide suggestions and solutions. They can also be matched with female mentors and role models to help them along their career journey.
Mentorship and sponsorship opportunities
Insurance businesses should make an intentional effort to help their female talent catch up on their leadership tracks in addition to investing in leadership networks. They should also create intentional mentorship and sponsorship programs for female talent who want to advance their careers. While sponsors push executives onto the next stages of their careers, mentors assist executives in performing effectively at their current level and both are necessary in career advancement. A management-track program may be established by insurance companies for their female talent, comparable to the graduate entry level programmes many companies have. Female talent may be assigned to sponsors and mentors as part of these programs to promote their professional development.
To help improve their mentees’ visibility and sphere of influence, the sponsors can provide the talent they are supporting meaningful tasks and purposefully create opportunities and pathways to advance them both inside the organizations they represent and the larger insurance sector. The mentees can learn both technical and soft skills via the structured mentoring programs, such as effective communication techniques, leadership philosophies, and other strategic and soft skills. The sponsorship and mentoring initiatives will support female talent and instill in them the confidence they need to go to more senior roles and boards.
Deliberate Career Planning
Unfortunately, many African organizations lack defined methods for promotion and advancement, with the exception of international businesses that have such systems. Employees find it challenging to chart a clear career path toward senior management because promotion is frequently not based on merit but rather on favoritism and nepotism. Women could feel intimidated and unable to perform at their best in such situations if they are hesitant to speak up and ask for a promotion.
All insurance entities should commit to implementing and enforcing a structured and transparent appraisal systems within ranks in the organization, with clear promotion parameters which should be effectively communicated to all staff at all levels within the organization. The appraisal system should be such that women are encouraged to clearly present their career objectives to supervisors and seek feedback on their performance and areas of strength and weakness. Accomplishments should be discussed with guidance on the next for promotion and advancement. Clear communication and feedback encourage more engagement at work and fosters a positive mindset and increased drive. Discussing their career growth empowers women to direct their own paths and plan for leadership roles within the organization.
In order to recruit, retain, support, and advance women in the sector, insurance entities must also take deliberate, strategic actions supported by adequate funds.
For women who desire to return to the workforce, companies should offer suitable return-to-work policies. This can be further encouraged by hybrid work models that allow for remote and flexible employment, which will assist women succeed in their careers rather than hinder them from doing so. Women currently hold 9% fewer senior leadership positions than males do in the C-suite. Financial services companies will need to take deliberate, strategic initiatives in areas including hiring, keeping employees, succession planning, and return-to-office work schedules. By 2030, this disparity might increase to as much as 14% if efforts are not stepped up.
Allyship and Internal Advocacy for Inclusion
Professional women must forge alliances with people at work who share their understanding of the need to close the gender leadership gap and support an inclusive workplace culture. Mentors, role models, sponsors, and qualified coaches of both genders can all be considered allies. There are allies who by default believe in advancing the interests of women and are eager to promote such causes within any company and organization. The human resource department is naturally one of the most powerful supporters in closing the gender leadership gap. Women in the workforce can collaborate with the HR department to develop programs that discuss the issues surrounding gender inequality and offer suggestions for improving the workplace. On occasions like Women's Day and Mother's Day, these topics can be brought up, and staff members can be urged to come up with ideas for making workplaces for women more collaborative. In the long run, businesses might implement year-long or multi-year programs on gender education and female employee empowerment.
Self-Education and Skill Upscaling
The internet is an effective tool, and a variety of learning platforms, like YouTube, Coursera, Udemy, and Ed-X, offer a wealth of free resources. Beyond the conventional professional training, women working in the insurance industry should be curious about the world, emerging trends, and preparing for the industry's future.
Building up on-demand abilities, which are essential for surviving in the rapidly evolving digital economy, is one way for professionals to advance. Understanding emerging fields like digital transformation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cyber security and cyber hazards, climate change risks, clean energy, electric vehicles, societal resilience, ecosystems, and platforming can help women stay ahead of the curve. Future leaders in the insurance sector should be able to discuss issues such blockchain technology, web3, the metaverse, internet of things, and their effects on the industry as well as the future use of insurance.
Women must also be interested in the larger geopolitical and global economic situation because insurance does not function in a vacuum.
Brand or Be Branded
In the digital age, creating your online identity and presence is crucial. People relate to a company's persona more than they do to the brand itself. One of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk, has a larger personal Twitter following than his businesses, Tesla and SpaceX. Similar to this, his personal tweets show a higher level of engagement than those from the business he represents. And that's how things are now in the digital age. Women in business can establish a social media executive presence that extends beyond the organizations they work for in order to share their ideas, vision, strategy, and values. Additional chances arise from this, including head-hunting, membership on boards and committees, and speaking engagements in the industry and beyond.
Anyone may construct the online persona they want to be viewed as, which will enable them to develop in leadership positions outside of the companies they represent. This is the beauty of the digital age.
Final thoughts: What can be done
According to the study's findings, businesses with more women on their boards are less risky, perform better financially, and are more successful. The research findings also point to a link between less responsible decision-making and a larger appetite for risk in organizations with few or no women on their boards. Given these realities, it is crucial that African governments and corporate executives give women's leadership in the corporate sector top priority.
Implementing young professional programs with a leaning toward women (gender quotas) and including gender inclusion in succession planning are two ways to achieve gender balance across management teams.
Many African nations, fintech and insurtech firms, as well as traditional financial service providers and insurance companies, have been vocal about the importance of financial inclusion. With the assistance of regulatory bodies and insurance companies, who are attempting to provide solutions for those who were previously excluded from the financial dialogue, governments are supporting inclusion initiatives within the financial services sectors. However, if we are not inclusive inside, we will not be able to establish an inclusive financial sector or inclusive products for the outside market. For many years, our businesses have ignored a sizable chunk of the very demographic for which we are creating new products.
The presence of women in leadership is likely to present a significant inclusivity strategy that emanates from the boardroom to the frontlines, increasing the inclusion of women in the purchase of insurance and supporting the principles of SDG 5 in the inclusion of women in social and economic development.
Credits
Women_in_insurance_2018.pdf
Women in Insurance: Leading to Action- © 2018 STEMconnector (women_in_insurance_2018.pdf)
Women in Insurance: Leading to Action- © 2018 STEMconnector https://www.naturalhr.com/2021/03/23/10-reasons-why-the-world-needs-more-women-inleadership-roles/
https://www.shapetalent.com/the-9-barriers-blocking-womensprogression-in-your-organisation/gx-risk-wob-africa-180222.pdf
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