ActionPapers

LEADERSHIP & POLITICAL PARTICIATION:
CREATE A TALENT/RESOURCE POOL

WHY: Women bring a distinct and necessary perspective to good governance, in the public, non-profit and private sectors.

• Increasing the number and quality of women leaders greatly improves an organization or institution’s level of innovation, collaboration and performance.
• Research conclusively demonstrates that when women are at decision-making tables in sufficient numbers and as full participants, different perspectives and information emerge on longstanding issues, the process becomes more open and inclusive, and the agenda changes.¹
• Business Week magazine reports that women managers outranked men in 42 of 52 skills measured, including motivation, fostering communication, high quality work, strategic planning and issues analysis. Another study of 58,000 managers found that women excelled in 20 of 23 areas, including working in a results-focused and strategic way. ²
• After examining 353 companies that stayed on the Fortune 500 list for four of 5 years between 1996 and 2000, Catalyst reports that the group of companies with the highest representation of women on their senior management teams had a 35% higher return on equity and a 34% higher Total Return to Shareholders than companies with the lowest women’s representation.³
• Another study tracked 215 Fortune 500 companies’ financial performances, and found that “companies with the highest percentage of female executives delivered earnings far in excess of the median of other large firms in their industry.”⁴

WHAT: create a culture of opportunity by recognizing and fostering talent in women, and matching it with opportunity to increase the numbers of women in leadership roles.

• Plan an organized effort and a “woman-by-woman guerrilla campaign” to successfully change the culture within organizations, says founder of the non-partisan White House Project, Marie Wilson.⁵ Match a strong candidate to opportunity, mentor her through the necessary learning process, and use her success story to embolden the next woman.
• Women leaders in organizations or institutions must not accommodate discrimination but catalyze change, and be available as role models and mentors.
• Male leaders in organizations or institutions must be partners and catalyst for change.
• Increase visibility and availability of appointments and promotions through women’s networks within the workplace and in the community.
• Ensure inclusion for all women by making diversity of race, ethnicity and age a priority in networks. “When she wins, we win!”

HOW:

• The Wisconsin Women’s Council (WWC) creates a leadership opportunity database.
• Regional Solution Networks (RSNs) research all area opportunities for appointments to boards and commissions, and submit information to Wisconsin Women’s Council for inclusion on website.
• RSNs create a talent pool: foster women in local leadership roles, collect and submit resumes of women building leadership skills to be matched with WWC’s “opportunity” database.
• Work within your RSN to identify, assess and promote all area leadership training opportunities available to women through Chamber of Commerce, United Way, AAUW, League of Women Voters and other civic organizations.
• Enlist educational outreach institutions _ UW Extension, Wisconsin Technical College System, University of Wisconsin and private colleges— to develop brief, high-impact training and leadership programs for women. Solicit private sector sponsors and partners to extend reach to more women.
• RSNs and the WWC consult with civic, community and political boards and commissions to establish the mentoring of new women leaders in their succession planning.
• Contact organizations such as the League of Women Voters, Women’s Choice of Milwaukee to bring candidate trainings for women to your area.
• Learn how to initiate a women’s network in your workplace. Check out models and how they work within business settings in Catalyst award winning companies such as Wisconsin’s Harley-Davidson, GE Medical Systems.

RESOURCES:

Wisconsin Women’s Council: http://womenscouncil.wi.gov
For specific inquiries, e-mail .
Wisconsin League of Women Voters: http://lwvwi.org
Catalyst: http://catalystwomen.org
The White House Project: http://thewhitehouseproject.org/

¹ Political scientist Georgia Duerst-Lahti in “Ideas for Leadership and Participation,” 2004.
² Business Week. “As Leaders, Women Rule.” November 20, 2000.
³ Catalyst study, January 2004: http://www.catalystwomen.org
⁴ Alder, Roy and Robin Lee Escott. The Glass Ceiling Journey. (forthcoming)
⁵ Wilson, Marie. Closing the Leadership Gap. Viking Penguin, 2004.