Читать книгу Winning the Talent Shift - Berta Aldrich - Страница 11

Off-Balance Teams	Right-Balanced Teams
Token female voice, if any	Balances an equal number of female and male perspectives as well as their skills
Mutes and mitigates female perspectives	Values male and female perspectives equally
Leads with old-world assumptions: Only the strong survive	Works toward high performance: Only the team survives
Struggles to balance execution and strategy	Implements more diverse and far-reaching skillsets that improve execution and strategy
Creates less revenue when only one gender is present	Creates more revenue with gender balance
Unsustainable and difficult to predict outcomes	Results are sustainable and more likely to match goals

Right-balanced teams also have the data on their side. As opposed to teams comprised of all women or all men, an MIT study found that one right-balanced team could create 41% more revenue than all-male or all-female teams.³ Michel Landel of Sodexo reports that an effort to build more gender-balanced teams regularly achieved better outcomes. “We analyzed data from 50,000 managers across 90 entities around the world and the results are compelling. They clearly show that teams with a male–female ratio between 40 and 60 percent produce results that are more sustained and predictable than those of unbalanced teams.”⁴ When it comes to impacting the bottom line at the executive level, a series of studies conducted by McKinsey & Company found:

 “Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability.”

 “Executive teams that were high-performing had more women in revenue-generating roles.”

 “Companies with low representation of women and other diverse groups were 29% more likely to underperform on profitability.”⁵

In addition, a study conducted over long spans of time found that women are essential for incorporating more innovation and higher profit margins. A 2012 study of 1,500 companies conducted over 15 years found that “the presence of a woman in top management amounts to creating extra market value for each firm of approximately US $44 million.”⁶ The conclusion is beyond dispute: Organizations that courageously commit to creating high-performance cultures led by right-balanced teams with great leaders will outpace, outmaneuver, and outperform their competition.

If making the shift to right-balanced, high-performing teams with great leaders is good for the long-term growth of employees, keeps companies on the cutting edge of innovation, and ensures higher profits, then we would expect companies that are already committed to diversity in hiring and training to be excelling in creating balanced teams with empowered women. We would expect more women to be involved in right-balanced teams, C-suites, and leadership teams and boards. We would expect more accountability for leaders to ensure that they are inspiring and empowering their teams. Just a few conversations with women, and most men, who are experienced in the corporate world will tell you that this is rarely the case.

Most organizations have women and talent identification programs in place but do not realize that they are simply adding high performers and women to their talent pipeline and are not identifying key factors that are undermining their ability to thrive. Today's organizations are out of balance and although most companies generally want to hire more women and to allow high performers to thrive, they lack the guidance, sense of urgency, and leadership infrastructure to make necessary changes to their systems, structures, and cultures. The organizations that can shift to high-performing, right-balanced teams with great leadership will be rewarded with increased revenues, a more inspired culture, and sustainable growth. It's time to find out what we've been missing in the corporate world for so long so that we can take a meaningful step forward. Once we recognize the dynamics that are holding women and high performers back, we'll be prepared to make the shift toward fulfilling our potential and delivering superior results.