Advance – Gender Equality in Business’ Post

📣 Only 13% of power positions are held by women, an alarming number revealed in the Gender Intelligence Report 2024. Serious action is needed: How do we accelerate the number of female talent in roles with real power – those with personnel or profit and loss responsibility – especially in light of the baby boomer retirement wave heading our way? 💡This was the topic of our last Best Practice Exchange this year, and it was a good one!! The accelerator we need for real change is Career Sponsorship. Currently, men are sponsored 3x more often than women – often due to the “mini-me” bias, where leaders unconsciously select a person who is very much like themselves for an important role. 🌟Malvika Singh delivered an "espresso shot" on career sponsorship, clarifying how it differs from mentorship and what it takes to make it work for women. Sponsorship means publicly advocating for talent when they are not in the room, and it is a two-way street. Our panelists shared their successful initiatives: Elena Parker from SAP shared personal advice on how to strategically build, nurture and cultivate a network of sponsors so that, at a decisive point in time, your sponsor can advocate on your behalf at decision-making tables. Ewa Hajda shared Syngenta Group’s IT Digital program, which intentionally matches talents to leaders in a different team, raising their visibility – so far, already in this cohort, 50% of sponsees have made a career move! Gabriele Baumgartner from IBM shared how, within existing talent programs, there is an expectation of leader sponsors to bring their sponsee names forward for open roles in their regular leadership meetings where succession planning and staffing decisions for key positions are made. Career sponsorship for diverse talent does require intentionality, yet it is simple to execute. 📌 Recommend talent for high-visibility projects or leadership roles 📌Speak up for them in promotion or talent review meetings 📌Highlight their achievements and potential to other senior executives By publicly endorsing their sponsees, leaders leverage their influence to open doors to power roles and increase gender equality in business. A big thank you to Malvika Singh, our panelists, and our engaged participants from many member companies. Let’s keep the focus and exchange on the successes you are having as a result of sponsorship. Together, we #advance faster! #careersponsorship #genderequality

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