Gender Equality is a Non-Issue when Leadership Deliverables are the Main Criteria as Leaders Climb the Ranks

Reading time: 3 minutes 

With Leadership Deliverables gender equality becomes a non-issue

Plenty of research tells us that gender equal leadership teams make better decisions, which in turn leads to better financial performance. As a consequence, organisations all over the world have adopted gender equality policies.

Nonetheless women’s representation still diminishes as power increases. In fact recent research shows: 

1. That women only occupy 20-25%[1] of the C-suite positions of this world (usually 1 in every otherwise male group)
2. How the influence of just one woman in a group of men isn’t enough to harvest the benefits of a gender balanced team 

 “We found that women in gender unbalanced environments are more likely to have their judgment questioned … , to be mistaken for someone more junior …, and to be subjected to unprofessional and demeaning remarks ….”

Source: McKinsey Shortlist, February 2019  

But the problem can be taken care of by measuring performance according to Leadership Deliverables and making the results an essential criterion when C-suite positions are filled.

What is Leadership Deliverables?

Leadership deliverables is a set of responsibilities and behaviours, which anyone in a direct leadership relationship with 3 or more people must produce.

 The Direct Leadership® model says that a leader should:

• Monitor 7 roles (areas of responsibility)
• Master 4 contemporary styles (ways to interact)
• Embrace the reality that leadership opportunities must be tackled on the fly… 

With the Direct Leadership® assessment tools, these deliverables can be measured and leadership performance may be traced by an objective standard.

Make Leadership Deliverables the essential criteria for promotions

With leadership deliverables as the essential criteria for promoting leaders to more senior positions, you will have:

• a tool to counter the human tendency to replicate ourselves
• an objective starting point and a language to use with each person about their growth areas in view of their new roles
• Several options to move forward: online training, blended-learning, real-time training at work, 1:1 coaching, etc.
• Thus, the selection becomes gender neutral and the common bias of choosing based on personality or charisma is eliminated. The result is that the organisation will always promote the leader, who can deliver the highest quality and gender will no longer be an issue.

If your organisation has moved beyond discussing WHY you want gender equality, it is time to become operational. 

3 easy steps are all you have to take

1. First you announce that you have chosen Leadership Deliverables as the standard for future promotions. 
2. Then you offer your leaders the 3-hour online program which teaches the core of the Direct Leadership® model. 
3. Finally, I would give every up-and-coming senior leaders (men and women) opportunity to measure themselves by the Direct Leadership® Mastery Test that will reveal: Which leadership deliverables should be cultivated more in each individual 

This is what you get when using Leadership Deliverables

With LEADERSHIP DELIVERABLES as a prominent part of the criteria for promoting leaders to more senior positions, you will have:

• a tool to counter the human tendency to replicate ourselves
• an objective starting point and a language to use with each person about their growth areas in view of their new roles
• several options to move forward: real-time training at work, 1:1 coaching, specific training programs

When each candidate’s leadership is measured by the same set of leadership deliverables, gender becomes a non-issue. The organisation will simply pick the candidate with the best.

Learn more about our online program Direct Leadership® - The Essential Leadership Deliverables here or contact one of our Certified Direct Leadership® trainers worldwide.

[1] 20% according to ”McKinsey Shortlist” , February 2019 and 25 % according Danish Television featuring Sarah Steinitz . Author of ”Magteliten 2018”, which maps the post powerful people and networks in Denmark