This year Miramar Global introduced a Women’s Group to give female employees the opportunity to come together, share their experiences and ensure they are integrated into their working environment.
By doing this we understand that we are not only creating a comfortable environment for women thus inspiring productivity, but encouraging a more diverse workforce which we know opens our organisation up to the benefits of diversity: a wider range of influence and, subsequently, increased innovation. But don’t just take our word for it…
Diversity and Innovation
During a study by BCG in 2016, 170 companies in Europe were asked how diverse they were in terms of the ethnic background, age range and gender of their workforce. Those same companies were then asked how many new ideas they had which resulted in new products or services with positive revenue.
The outcome was clear, organisations who were more diverse were more innovative.
This study has since gone on to reach over 1,600 organisations worldwide and, as there is yet to be a change in outcome, the relationship between innovation and diversity seems even more undoubtable. But now the study has gone further in identifying something with even more impact than organisational diversity in general; gender diversity in leadership.
Gender Diversity
It revealed that leadership teams with a higher female share are in fact more innovative than ones who have less. However, to make an impact it is simply not enough to have some women on the board, the female share of leadership in general must be 20% or more.
It is not clear whether companies which are more innovative evolved to have leadership teams with over 20% women or whether companies which are more innovative are so because they had 20% more women in leadership to begin with, nonetheless the correlation is evident; gender diversity in leadership and innovation go hand in hand.
With that in mind it is then unfortunate to note the global lack of females in leadership roles. In 2016 it was revealed that of the top 100 companies in Germany only 30 had female board members, furthermore, not one of those companies had a female CEO and, on a global scale, they are not alone. However, things are progressing.
With the likes of Alibaba and JP Morgan pioneering enthusiasm for increased female leadership share and widely demonstrating its effectiveness, more and more organisations are taking note of the mounting evidence that better gender diversity will help them achieve their wider aspirations.
Organisational Progression
It is clear that most organisations are aware that they must now tackle gender diversity in leadership and diversity in general, taking a step back from considering it as a matter of compliance and moving it to a matter of importance with regards to their long-term success and sustainability.
When discussing gender diversity within our own organisation, Claire Harrison Cox, Operations Director at Miramar Global stated,
“Female representation, not just in the boardroom but at all levels, is really important to Miramar. We recognise the power of a diverse workforce and are working hard to support and promote it both internally and externally.
We understand what we need to do which subsequently allows us to genuinely advise our clients on how to achieve their own diversity goals. Together we can drive our own and our client’s industries forward, regardless of sector, to finally reflect our times.”
Does Your Leadership Need to Diversify?
If your organisation has identified a lack of diversity and would like to start, or is in the process of addressing, then talk to us.
At Miramar Global we reach globally to find the executives that our clients require. Our specialist assessment tools allow us to help organisations to diversify at the same time as appointing the best candidate for the role.
We have teams of executive search consultants and researchers in the UK and the US available to work with your organisation now.
