Large, established organizations are finally starting to accept that gender imbalances are a business problem. Yes, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella recently lit up the blogosphere with his unfortunate suggestion that women should not ask for pay raises. (He quickly apologised.) But gaffes like his are increasingly out of step with the mainstream. This summer, Google publicized the gender balance of its workforce, and vowed to improve. This led other large tech companies to do the same. Leaders at Harvard Business School have admitted the school has not been hospitable to women, and publicized their efforts to improve in a front-page New York Times story. These and other changes are evidence of a steady and growing recognition that today’s gender imbalance are a business and leadership issue.

We are literally – and collectively — changing our minds. Slowly but surely, the shift from the 20th century view that “gender imbalance is a women’s problem” to the more 21st century “gender imbalance is a leadership challenge” is beginning to take root.

It is now important to design the right response. To maximise this moment, leaders need to proceed strategically:

First, lead the charge. The number one driver of better gender balance in large corporations is leadership. If leaders don’t get it, buy it, and sell it, no one else can make it happen. Leaders must be the change they want to see (not just call for change). This requires a thorough understanding of the issues and how to address them.

The best CEOs publicly commit to high-performance meritocracies that recognise and serve a more gender balanced economy and customer base. Acknowledge publicly that you are not yet there (many of your managers probably assume that you are). A bit of mea culpa is not out of place here – vulnerability is increasingly becoming a leadership competence. After 20 years of companies focusing most of their well-meaning but ineffective efforts on fixing women (think assertiveness training and women’s networking events) it is helpful to acknowledge that you’ll be making a shift in approach. And not just by throwing training at mid-level managers. Many managers are bored or skeptical about gender initiatives, so leaders need to prove that they themselves are convinced. Commit to creating a balanced business. Sell this vision. Enthusiastically. Repeatedly. Repeatedly.

Second, explain why it matters. Many people think the business case for gender balance is now so obvious that it doesn’t require repetition. In my experience, this is the crux of the challenge. Most managers simply don’t understand the complexity of the issue, and even those who do are not usually ready to preach it to others. Each company needs its own, fact-based explanation of how this relates to the bottom line. Leaders need to make the link to their own businesses, in a convinced and convincing way. You need to make the case and explain why gender balance is an urgent global business imperative – just as explaining “why” is important for any key business initiative. Then get all your leaders to repeat the same, aligned message with their teams.

Finally, build skills. Working across genders, like working across cultures, is a management skill. It requires education, awareness, and the ability to differentiate between real differences and unconscious biases. Help managers understand the current situation in their organizations. What’s the current gender balance among customers? Among employees? At different levels and across different functions?

Most companies also need to spend time educating managers to understand the different behaviours, preferences and concerns of men and women – as customers and as employees. They need to see both the impact of those differences – and how to leverage them to create value. Make a distinction between actual differences and stereotypes. Managers need to understand why both genders get judged negatively for behaving outside of traditional gender roles – and why both genders unconsciously associate leadership with masculine traits. We need to stop fixing the women, but we should also avoid starting to fix the men.

This article was originally published on 20-first.com – to read the article in its entirety, click here.

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