Women in Leadership

Report
Executive Summary
In many countries in the world, women still do not have In July 2020 SHL, together with a council of women in
an equal chance compared to men to participate in the leadership, conducted a study about the strengths and
workforce. According to the Global Gender Gap Index areas of opportunity for women in leadership roles. The
2020, the top quartile of the index is dominated by group was measured on three competencies based
countries in Western Europe, while the bottom quar- on SHL’s Enterprise Leadership Model: Transactional
tile is dominated by developing countries. Being at the Leadership, Transformational Leadership, and Network
bottom quartile means that those countries still have Leadership. The study found that:
not managed to close most of the leadership gap be-
tween men and women. Our study found that women • Women excel in Transformational Leadership
possess strengths and skills that would complement the and Network Leadership, especially in building
strengths of men, and the inadequate representation of and leveraging their network and creating and
women in leadership means that 50% of our conceptualizing strategy.
potential is missing from the workforce and leadership • Women could seek out strengths in their male
bench. counterparts in Transactional Leadership area,

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 especially in organization and execution tasks and also helps organizations to better respond to business
adapting and coping to change. opportunities. Specifically, organizations may want
to place female executives in positions that facilitate
• Overall, focusing on Network Leadership behaviors them to perform tasks that revolve around building
allows leaders to impact their own and other business relationships, leverage the network, and creating and
unit revenue growth. Furthermore, focusing on their conceptualizing strategy. On the other hand, in terms
own business outcomes helps leaders to meet their of analyzing and interpreting tasks, organizations can
performance objectives. consider placing male executives here
instead. Finally, for the top and bottom countries in the
Placing high potential employees in the right spot within Global Gender Gap Index 2020, this report provides a
the organization, regardless of their gender, is not only foundation and direction for the diversity and inclusion
important to create a diverse and inclusive workplace, it initiatives and the talent mobility strategy.

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Outline
Summary
According to the Global Gender Gap Index 2020, the • In terms of identifying strengths, the members can
top quartile of the index is dominated by Western continue to take advantage of strengths in developing
European countries, while the bottom quartile is networks and supporting colleagues. On the other
dominated by developing countries. This means hand, they need to consider the organization and
that in many countries in some regions of the world, execution of opportunities so that they do not hinder
gender parity in business is still not reached. The progress toward group goals and initiatives.
unequal distribution of women’s participation in the
labor force means that organizations are missing • In terms of benchmark to other executives, since
opportunities because women demonstrate many we learnt which areas the members scored above
leadership qualities that would complement the and below the other executives, they can use this to
strengths of men. determine the purposeful action or reactions that the
council and the individuals need to better adapt to
In July 2020, SHL and a council of women in leadership change and lead the respective teams through change.
conducted a leadership study. The key objectives
of this study are to identify the council member’s • In terms of data-driven approach to member
strengths and potential development areas, development, they need to consider programming that
benchmark the members against other executives, helps build routines around topics within transactional
and to take a data-driven approach to member leadership. Finally, this report can help organizations
development: around the world in the talent mobility planning and
the diversity and inclusion efforts, that is to enable both
men and women to move to the positions where they
can thrive and eventually bring positive outcome to the
whole organization.

Introduction
In many industries and regions in the world, women’s
participation in the labor force is still not distributed
equally. According to the Global Gender Gap Index
2020, the top quartile of the index is dominated
by countries in Western Europe, while the bottom
quartile is dominated by developing countries. Being
at the top quartile means that those countries have
managed to close most of the gap between men and
women and have created gender parity in leadership
positions. The opposite goes to the countries in
the bottom quartile. Despite men dominating most
leadership positions, women demonstrate many
leadership qualities that would complement the
strengths of men. The inadequate representation of
women in leadership means that 50% of our potential
is missing from the workforce and leadership bench.
Therefore, ensuring gender equality, equity, and

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diversity will only benefit the organization. In July 2020, 2. L
 eader Network Performance – whether the
SHL and a council of women in leadership conducted leader is effective at improving others’ performance
a study about leadership. The objective was to: and using other’s contribution to
improve their own performance.
• Learn the key strength of the group and to understand 3. T
 eam Task Performance – whether the leader
where development opportunities exist is effective at leading their teams to achieve their
collective tasks and assignments.
• Benchmark the group against other executives to 4. T
 eam Network Performance – whether the leader
understand the talent landscape and where strengths is effective at leading their teams to be network
and gaps exist related to leadership potential. performers outside of the immediate team.

• Take a data driven approach to member development The study used Enterprise Leadership assessment
(e.g., OPQ) to assess the leaders’ strength and
The leadership quality was measured on three development priorities against the three
competencies based on SHL’s Enterprise Leadership competencies. Based on the assessment results,
Model (see Appendix I for the action competencies): individual reports and group results were created.
1. Transactional Leadership The next section will describe the findings in detail.
2. Transformational Leadership
3. Network Leadership Key findings
And based on the above competencies, the On general level, the study found that:
performance outcome is categorized into four criteria:
1. Leader Task Performance – whether the leader is • 82% of leaders meet performance objectives by
effective at achieving their own individual tasks and focusing on their own business outcomes, leading to a
assignments. maximum impact of 4% revenue growth and 3% profit
growth.

• Focusing on Network Leadership behaviors allows

leaders to impact their own business unit revenue
growth up to 12% and impact other business unit net
profit grow up to 5%.

On individual level, an Enterprise Leadership Report

was provided to each individual. The report contains
competency details and summary, development
plan overview, and interpretation considerations
which help them reflect on how the competencies
relate to their roles, how they can build their strengths
into a development plan, and how to prioritize
development areas.

On group level, 69 council members participated in

the study. They represent female executive leaders
from mostly small (less than 49 employees) or large
(greater than 250 employees) companies. 71% of
them are also from the private sector. The results

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were benchmarked against 774 female executives Compared to the benchmarks, the council members
and 2,258 male executives in the US, and some are a group of leaders who have strengths in building
competency strengths and areas of development relationships, have learned to effectively leverage
are identified: their network, and likely take a creative and strategic
approach when making decisions. They may also be
• Building and Energizing the Network and Creating and less likely to plan and execute smaller and tactical
Conceptualizing are found to be competency strengths. objectives and may experience more personal stress
• Organizing and Executing and Adapting and Coping when facing change. Lastly, compared to male
are found to be competency areas of potential executives, members may have a lesser preference for
development. analyzing and interpreting.

Moreover, it was found that on the group level the In terms of company size, members from extra
members scored above average in all the action smallsized companies have likely strengths compared to
competencies of Transformational Leadership other members in areas of Interacting and Presenting,
and Network Leadership. For Transactional Supporting and Cooperating, Building the Networks,
Leadership, they scored above average in Analyzing as well as Creating Interdependence. Meanwhile,
and Interpreting and Supporting and Cooperating, members from medium-sized companies have likely
while the other two actions mentioned in the above strengths compared to other members in Analyzing
potential development point are below average. and Interpreting.
Interestingly, the top council members quartile is likely
to have strengths in all Transformational, Network, Finally, in terms of company status, council members
and Transactional Leadership competencies, with working for private organizations have a stronger
Organizing and Executing being the area with the preference for Analyzing and Interpreting as well
most potential for development. as competencies within Network Leadership, while
members working for non-profit organizations have a
stronger preference for most of the Transformational
Leadership competencies.

Key learnings
The competency strengths that are found on the
group level are Building and Energizing the Network
and Creating and Conceptualizing. This means that the
participants are likely to build connections inside and
outside their organizations, and they generate
creative ideas.

Meanwhile, the competency areas of development

found on the group level are Organizing and Executing
and Adapting and Coping. This means that they may
meet possible challenges with planning and organizing
initiatives and adapting to change.

The members scored above average inTransformation

Leadership and Network Leadership. This means
that they are more likely lead in an energizing and

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motivating manner and are effective at building and analyzing and interpreting, organizations can consider
using their networks. On the other hand, since they placing male executives in this area.
generally scored below average in Transactional Placing high potential employees and leaders based
Leadership, they may be less likely to place emphasis on their capabilities and aspiration in the right
on creating processes to achieve personal and spot within the organization is also important for
collective tasks and assignments. Furthermore, based organization’s diversity and inclusion. This means
on the average score of the action competencies, it that organizations need to focus on the employee
can be concluded that: potential, not their gender. Historically, women
participation in the workforce has always been lower
• The members are more likely to lead and initiate action than men. This is where gender equality and equity
by encouraging creative ideas and strategic thinking must play a role. While it is important that both men
and using effective communication and influencing and women need to receive fair treatment regardless
skills. of their gender, organizations must also ensure they
have the necessary resources, opportunities, and tools
• The members are more likely to foster a climate to achieve their respective needs.
that encourages collaboration and innovative idea
generation excelling at building connections. Finally, for countries which are in the top and bottom
quartile of the Global Gender Gap Index 2020, this
• The members may be less likely to place emphasis on report provides directions for the diversity and
creating processes to achieve personal and collective inclusion initiatives and the talent mobility strategy.
tasks and assignments. While the top countries may celebrate the low gender
gap, it is still important to maintain the inclusive
• The members may be less likely to focus on delivery culture and keep up the efforts. For the bottom
and work in and organized factor as well as less likely to countries, this report can be a learning point that
adapt and respond to change. helps organizations to understand the strengths of
women in business and use these to propel a change
Final thoughts within the organizational culture.
To better respond to opportunities in the dynamic
business landscape, it is imperative to lead and
perform in an agile manner. Therefore, finding high
potential employees within the organization who
have matching ability, aspiration, and engagement
and align them with the strategy is crucial. Based
on the study, we learn that the council members, as
representatives of women in leadership positions,
have strengths in Transformational and Network
Leadership. This means that organizations that
lead talent mobility programs may want to place
female executives in positions that facilitate them to
perform the tasks in the area of those two leadership
competencies. Specifically, the tasks revolve around
building relationships, leverage the network, and
creating and conceptualizing strategy. On the other
hand, since they tend to have lower preference in

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Appendix I: Appendix II:
Action Competencies Occupational Personality
Transactional Leadership Questionnaire (OPQ)
• Analyzing and Interpreting Key Facts
• Adapting and Coping Occupational Personality
• Supporting and Cooperating Questionnaire (OPQ) key facts:
• Organizing and Executing • Measures work styles or attributes –how people prefer
to work and behave in the workplace
Transformational Leadership • Provides insight on difference between what people
• Creating and Conceptualizing can do and what they will do
• Interacting and Presenting • Over 90 independent validation studies, over 25 years,
• Leading and Deciding across 20 countries, 30 languages and 40 industries
• Enterprising and Performing • National and international norm groups (“benchmarks”)

Network Leadership
• Building the Network
• Energizing the Network
• Creating Interdependence
• Enabling the Network

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9 Report: Women in Leadership
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