Many organizations are now accepting the importance of implementing a Women’s Leadership Strategy Plan. Three critical reasons come to mind:
- Enhance Corporate Reputation
- Grow Revenue
- Improve Operating Profit
Why Corporations Should Consider Women a Business Imperative
Deloitte conducted a study on how the two genders differ when making big-ticket procurement for their organizations.
For example, the study uncovered that:
- Women are opportunists-a first meeting is an opportunity to explore options
- Men see the event as a pre-final stage of choosing a vendor
How are these findings helpful? They serve as a reminder that your Business to Business sales force should include women—if not, your organization may be losing out on incredible opportunities as well as missing out on big contracts. With so many women in middle and upper management, consider balancing your male-dominated sales force by adding more skilled, talented women.
- How Women Grow Revenue: From groceries to new car purchases, women typically impact how money will be spent. Women now have over $7 trillion in purchasing power.
- How Women Improve Operating Profits: According to recent studies, women tend to be more engaged employees than men. The same studies also indicate that employees reporting to female managers have a tendency to be more productive.
- Women Enhance Company Reputation: As more companies go global, your company competes for its clientele, building and maintaining trust, transparency, and reputation. 85% of consumable product purchases is driven by women-your reputation is at stake. The 80/80/80 Plan lets you frame your Women’s Leadership Strategy Plan keeping in mind the talent, engagement, and revenue that women bring into your company
Where to Start
Start by leveraging Marketing and Sales, Field Operations, HR, and Senior Management, then by setting up an Integrated Communications Plan to keep key stakeholders informed.
Another important component is to engage men as advocates, men who recognize the importance of female leadership, men who are leaders, and who will advocate on the behalf of a Women’s Leadership Strategy Plan.
Corporations need an understanding of how imperative it is for corporate diversity. The organization needs to develop and implement a long term, deliberate Women’s Leadership Strategy Plan—one that will attract, retain and advance more women in its ranks.
The 80/80/80 Plan
The 80/80/80 Plan helps companies understand WHY they are implementing a Women’s Leadership Strategy. It is a great way to visualize the impact women have in the workplace and in the broader economy.
- 80%+ Revenue
- Women drive revenue in both the Business to Business and Business to Consumer world
- 80%+ Talent
- New entries into the workforce, sales force and marketing that are women
- 80%+ Engagement
- Companies that offer the best female and family friendly benefits, such as extended maternity-paternity leave, flextime, on-site daycare, telecommuting, etc., tend to have the highest engagement level AND provides the company the best results from all their talent, with no gender bias.