If we want to see more women boldly enter the workplace, think big, and reach new career heights, we need to understand how to support women in the workplace.
There is good news. According to a McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace Report, women are more ambitious than ever.
In this article, we explore how corporations and startups can meaningfully support women by exploring the challenges female entrepreneurs and businesswomen face. More importantly, we will explore how to empower women in the workplace.
By the end, you will have the knowledge and strategies to create a thriving organization that is fuelled by diverse skills, mindsets, and attributes.
Table of Contents
The Top 5 Challenges for Female Entrepreneurs and Businesswomen
Before we dive into how to support women in the workplace, let’s understand what challenges women face today.
- Women tend to take on more work and delegate Less
- Women still have fewer female role models
- Women entrepreneurs are typically less confident than men
- Women are more likely to experience microaggressions at work
- The work-life balance problem is ongoing
Recommended Reading: 5 Challenges for Female Entrepreneurs and How to Overcome Them
How to Support Women in the Workplace
Diverse workplaces have a heap of benefits like attracting and retaining talent, increasing employee engagement, and promoting better problem-solving skills. Women still face challenges at work but we can overcome them by understanding them, challenging them, and constantly improving and refining our strategies.
Here is how to support women in the workplace.
1. Examine the Top
Decisions, attitudes, and behaviors are modeled from the top, so make sure your top-level leadership is setting a good example. Are they advocating for women, condemning microaggressions, and creating a diverse workplace?
Make sure your leadership team understands the benefits of a diverse environment and that they set realistic goals, and create the behaviors to achieve them.
2. Let Go of Expectations
If we want women to thrive, companies and leaders need to let go of any expectations and actually ask women what they want.
Relook at your workplace policies, challenge biases in language or in the hiring process, and promote work-life balance for everyone.
3. Work on the Broken Rung
Women no longer talk about the glass ceiling, they talk about the broken rung. The broken rung is where women miss out on the first step to a managerial position which significantly impacts the rest of their career.
We need to make sure every step is possible for women, so make sure all promotions are treated fairly early on, review the portfolio of previous candidates, and actively survey who is applying. Think about how you can change the current trends. Maybe you could teach women leadership skills, offer training, or have a one-on-one with talented women to gauge what is holding them back from applying for a higher role within the company. If you can understand your current trends, you can change them.
McKinsey & Company’s Senior Partner, Alexis Krivkovich, says there is a lot we can do to make sure that women don’t miss that first crucial step.
4. Create Flexible Work Environments
If you have ever wondered how to support women in the workplace, especially working moms, this is an essential step. Women are more ambitious than ever and it is fuelled by flexible work environments.
Men also want more flexible work environments, and the best way to achieve this is to introduce a work-from-home policy that supports and promotes work-life balance for women.
5. Provide Female Mentors and Networking Opportunities
A good mentor can be instrumental in anyone’s career or entrepreneurial journey. They can help you address blind spots, improve your skills, and give you direction in your career. Female mentors can help women overcome shared challenges, and be a great source of inspiration. They can push women to take the next step in their career which could be a vital one.
Assign new employees to a female mentor or a colleague you believe could help them, and always try to give women a seat at the table.
6. Celebrate Women’s Success
Celebrating success may seem trivial or unimportant. But celebrating an accomplishment is more than just acknowledging a moment. It is an empowering tool that can catalyze success and confidence. So take a moment to appreciate women’s success, and use it as a confidence-building tool.
Here are some ideas for you:
- Set up a communication channel to celebrate success
- Have a one-on-one coffee catch-up at a cafe
- Ask a female team member to present their findings
- Create a gratitude wall
- Give a development opportunity
We Have 20 More Ideas on How to Celebrate Success
7. Help Women Develop a Growth Mindset
There are a lot of benefits to having a growth mindset in business. Here are some of the benefits:
- Increased resilience
- Increased confidence
- Exponential growth and learning
- Better problem-solving skills
- Greater jobs satisfaction
- Stronger relationships and collaboration
A growth mindset is particularly important for women as it can help women to let go of the perfectionist trap and focus on learning and feedback instead, which will skyrocket their careers. It can also help women focus on progress, not perfection, and help them overcome imposter syndrome.
Recommended Reading: How Can You Develop a Growth Mindset as a Woman in Business?
Time to Thrive
We have seen women thrive in male-dominated industries and witnessed the rise of inspiring mompreneurs. But our work is not finished yet. Here is how to support women in the workplace based on recent research. These powerful strategies can help organizations start from the top and strategically ensure that every woman never misses a step – from building confidence to getting powerful guidance and transformative opportunities. It starts with acknowledging the challenges for female entrepreneurs, building good leadership, and actively learning how to empower women at work.
Did you enjoy this article? Read About The Top Characteristics of Ambitious Women Revealed
