A sponsor could help British Women defeat the "Old Boy's Network"
15th June 2012

A sponsor could help British Women defeat the "Old Boy's Network" according to new research by the Center for Talent Innovation, a not-for-profit organisation that has become a thought leader in diversity and talent management. While the lack of women on UK corporate boards continues to make headlines, little attention has been paid to a much larger problem: highly qualified British women are not breaking through to leadership positions in numbers commensurate with their presence in the talent pool. The solution? Get yourself a sponsor. This is the bottom line finding from a report from the Center for Talent Innovation entitled “Sponsor Effect: UK” that was released last night at the House of Commons at an event keynoted by Theresa May, the British Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, and attended by 200 corporate leaders.

“I am delighted to see the Sponsor Effect: UK study highlight just how ambitious British women are and how the support of business leaders can help them realise their full potential.” she said, "Women are at the heart of our economic future and making the most of their skills is essential. We are working to give talented females the support they need to reach the top, but more still needs to be done and everyone has a part to play.”

Women enter the white-collar workforce in the UK in far greater numbers than men: 57 females for every 43 males. Yet as employees in large corporations move from entry-level to middle management, and from mid- to senior-level positions, men advance disproportionately. Across sector and occupation, women are simply not breaking through to leadership positions in numbers commensurate with their weight in the talent pool.

Why? According to the new CTI study the reason is straightforward and has nothing to do with a lack of accomplishment or ambition or a paucity of childcare or flextime. Rather, British women tend not to have sponsors - powerful champions willing to take a bet on a young talent, go out on a limb for him/her and advocate for the next promotion. Sponsors are the people that propel and protect high performing employees through the treacherous shoals of upper management.

The study found that UK men with sponsors (as opposed to those without) are 40 percent more likely to move up the ladder at a satisfactory clip, while this “sponsor effect” for UK women is even higher—52 percent. It turns out that sponsorship in the UK is largely a male phenomenon—senior British men are 50 percent more likely than senior British women to have a sponsor. The Old Boys Club is alive and well in the executive suite. When it comes to choosing who to tap on the shoulder and groom for leadership, C-suite executives (overwhelming white males) reach automatically for a “mini-me.”

Other surprising findings from the study include three key differences between sponsorship in the UK and the U.S:

1. Sponsorship has a particularly powerful effect on the retention of women in the UK. British women with sponsors stay on track and are 58% less likely than those without sponsors to be a flight risk (plan on leaving their jobs within a year).

2. Women are more ambitious in the UK than in the US. Upper middle management women in the UK are very ambitious: 79% of them aspire to hold a top job compared to a mere 59% of upper middle management women in the US. Even more surprising, they also have higher aspirations than their male peers (79% versus 74%). These high rates of ambition are related to two factors: a sharp increase in the number of British women outearning their spouses and a rise in the number of women choosing not to have children (nearly 40% of UK women over 40 aren’t parents.)

3. Interestingly, sexual politics are less of a barrier to sponsorship in the UK. While 64 percent of senior men in the US are hesitant to have one-on-one contact with junior women for fear of gossip or lawsuits—only 38 percent of senior men in the UK feel the same way.

So what to do? A centerpiece of the CTI study is a ten step Road Map for women seeking to earn sponsorship. These practical actions range from coming through on the three most essential fronts (performance, loyalty and delivering a distinctive personal brand) to learning how to exude “executive presence.” Sylvia Ann Hewlett, co-author of the study and CEO and President of CTI says that the Road Map is “enormously empowering because it allows individuals to own and drive the ascent to leadership.”

The study includes case studies from eleven global companies that have created initiatives that provide pathways to sponsorship and encourage high potential women and senior leaders to cultivate critical sponsor-sponsee relationships and cascade them through the organization. For example, Fiona Cannon, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Lloyds Banking Group, the study's research sponsor, says Lloyds Banking Group has “a high profile and robust gender programme in place to ensure that [they] are able to build a diverse talent pipeline. Sponsorship and mentoring are crucial to this, so we are delighted to support and benefit from this insightful research.”

Speakers at the launch event:

• Rt. Hon. Theresa May, Keynote, Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities
• Lord Eatwell, President, Queens' College, University of Cambridge
• John Heaps, Chairman, Eversheds LLP
• Helen Rose, Chief Operating Officer, Verde, Lloyds Banking Group
• Sylvia Ann Hewlett, President and CEO, Center for Talent Innovation
  

Methodology:

The study, sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group, comprised a cross-industry national survey of 1,386 college educated professionals working in white collar occupations within large corporations in the UK, followed by targeted focus groups and numerous one-on-one interviews.

The Center for Talent Innovation

The Center for Talent Innovation (formerly the Center for Work-Life Policy), a non-profit “think tank” based in New York City, has emerged as a thought leader in diversity and talent management, driving ground breaking research and seeding programs and practices that attract, retain and accelerate the new streams of talent around the world. The Center for Talent Innovation’s flagship project is the Task Force for Talent Innovation (formerly the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force)—a private-sector task force focused on helping organizations leverage their talent across the divides of gender, generation, geography and culture. The 70-plus global corporations and organizations that constitute the Task Force—representing 4 million employees and operating in 190 countries around the world—are united by an understanding that the full utilization of the talent poll is at the heart of competitive advantage and economic success.

For further information visit www.talentinnovation.org

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