Why Mentoring Women at Work is Important?

Why Mentoring Women at Work is Important? 3 Year Ago · 5 min read

Talyaa Vardar

Talyaa Vardar, MA, FCPC, MCC
Executive Coach, Psychologist & Art Therapist

Women make up almost 47% of the current workforce yet they get less access to the mentoring, career opportunities and resources to progress in their careers. This results in fewer women as you go up in the company hierarchy. This further discourages other women to make important career moves. Since now more women are entering the workforce, mentoring and coaching are important than ever.

Not only this but the lack of gender diversity can have negative effects on organizations as their talent management and succession planning may suffer. The best way to break the glass ceiling is to encouraging gender diversity and mentoring women at workplace.  

Organizations that don’t pay attention to engaging women and mentoring them for leadership can face increased employee dissatisfaction and can be at the risk of losing them. If this becomes a habit, organizations can face discrepancies in the workforce as women employees might look for other opportunities outside the organization. By mentoring and coaching women for higher roles and career progressions companies can bring diverse views which can create an environment of creativity and innovation.  

In some stages women often have to make tough decisions whether to choose and pay attention to the personal or professional life. They frequently find difficult to manage the work and life balance. However, if women employees feel supported in their career and are mentored from time to time this way, they can make more smart decisions and become more ambitious about their jobs. This may also help organizations to make effective employee retention plans as women who enter the organization at early stages of their careers may see themselves growing side-by-side with the organization.

LeanIn.org founder and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says, “women already weren’t getting the same mentorship men were, particularly women of color.” And according to her, she says, “no one has ever gotten a promotion without getting a one-on-one meeting.”

Why Women Employees and Mentoring Are the Perfect Mix?

Until now many researches have shown women linked with better ability to read nonverbal cues, having higher empathy and emotional intelligence. These traits do end up promoting higher collaboration and better communication within teams.

A woman mentored today is a woman mentor tomorrow. If women are provided mentoring opportunities in early stages of their careers and they move up, they are more likely to believe they can mentor others. It is believed that 65 percent of women who have been mentored will go on to become mentors themselves, thus perpetuating the positive mentorship cycle for women.

Research says the most successful teams are the ones with more women on them. Gender diverse groups provide varied inputs for better problem solving and decision making therefore, are more effective.

How Different Genders Think Differently?

Studies show how different genders look at career advancement. For women career development is related to work relationships and connections whereas for men it has to do more with higher autonomy. This is the reason mentoring is perfect for women as it nurtures conversations and relationships.

A study by LeanIn suggests, 60% of male managers are uncomfortable participating in a common work activity with a woman, such as mentoring, working alone, or socializing together. That’s a 32% increase from last year. 

A high percentage of women consider mentorship as a very important factor in their career however almost a similar number of women claim to have never asked for a mentor. Women are more found to be more hesitant when it comes to soliciting mentorship as they are often unsure who to reach out to. The best way to deal with this is to place formal mentoring programs or sponsored coaching certification programs as this will help break walls in between the employers and women employees.  This approach will be helpful in recognizing women employees career development as important to organizations success.

How to Reduce Gender Differences at Work?

Organizations can easily reduce the gender gap by making networking, coaching, training and mentoring prospects available for women employees. Gone are the days of one-on-one mentoring, with technological advancement a variety of tools and processes are available in order to adapt to modern mentoring. One of these is giving the power to the women and getting them enrolled for an online coaching certification. This way not only can they manage their work-life balance but can also drive their own development on their terms. An online coaching certification saves time, effort and resources required for mentoring at work. Modern mentoring approaches make employees specifically women feel engaged and empowered.

Creating a gender diverse environment within the organization fosters innovation, collaboration and helps the company to cash the success with profits and revenue. Women are now creating their place in the workforce and this is the right time to start thinking ahead and aid women in advancing their careers to help ambitious new starters. Mentoring and placing coaching programs whether online certification programs or one-on-one sessions is the key to this strategy.

 

If you want to introduce coaching and mentoring programs in your company or want to become a coach yourself email us at info@flowcoachinginstitute.com and let us help you.