What Companies Need to Develop Women Leaders

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Often these are line jobs with profit and loss responsibility, and they may even be "must haves" for candidates being considered for leadership positions.

Provide external development programs. Sometimes managers learn valuable lessons about leadership from roles they assume outside the workplace. External "stretch" assignments enable leaders to gain experiences not available within the organization. Loaned executives may work with volunteers to manage employee campaigns in businesses, government, and professional companies. These experiences expand women's networks and give them valuable feedback about their performance. Stretch experiences also include roles requiring public speaking and serving on boards.

Create international developmentprograms. At one time, you could "get your ticket punched," literally and figuratively, by doing a stint at a company's overseas office. Rather than spend the time and money associated with selecting candidates, relocation, training, and repatriation, assignments may be structured for three- to six-month periods with visits home. Both men and women find this less disruptive to their personal lives.

Allow greater work flexibility. Technology now erases the time barriers around the globe and allows speeds of human communication never before experienced by previous generations. While this has had both advantages and disadvantages for individuals, it also permits us to restructure and reevaluate how we work. The measurement of tangible results and the overall value of an employee's contributions may now trump "face time" at work as a criterion for performance. Since the 1980s many companies have had flexible work arrangement policies: flextime, telecommuting, reduced/compressed hours, and job sharing.

For CEOs and their organizations to remain resilient in the face of both technological and social change, they may consider taking a more holistic, systemic strategy by redesigning how careers are built. There are specific ways in which organizations can encourage their managers, both men and women, to play a greater role in developing talented women in their organizations. Having a better understanding of how to create organizations that flourish in these difficult times benefits management, male and female employees, and all stakeholders.

Anna Marie Valerio is the author of Developing Women Leaders: A Guide for Men and Women in Organizations (Wiley-Blackwell; October 2009) and the CEO of Executive Leadership Strategies .

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