Glass Cliff Solutions for Women Leaders and Companies
How can women leaders prevent themselves from being pushed off of a glass cliff? In my previous post, I explained that a glass cliff refers to the troubling finding that women in leadership roles tend to be placed in more senior levels—including CEO—during times of negative markets, crisis, or troubling times for the company, thus increasing their chance of failure. I shared a list of women leaders, including former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and former UK prime minister Theresa May, who have become victims of the glass cliff phenomenon.
Yet all hope is not lost, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that women CEOs will suffer this fate. Just this week, The Broadsheet reported on the “staying power” of Williams Sonoma CEO Laura Alber, who has 13 years as CEO of the company and is the longest-serving CEO in the Fortune 500. Alber has managed to achieve this despite leading through the pandemic and the current housing slowdown, plus the “retail apocalypse” that’s hurting the company’s competitors.
As Emma Hinchliffe explains in her Fortune article about Alber:
“She advises other rising execs to stick it out through challenges like a bad boss, if they’re at the right company. ‘Oftentimes, you see people pop out the minute something goes wrong,’ she says. ‘Especially if you’re in a company where the product is fantastic and the opportunity is there, it might be worth staying through some of those tribulations.’”
Now let’s learn more about why the glass cliff exists, and what to do about it.
What Factors Create the Glass Cliff?
Women—even more so minority women—who take on higher risk/more challenging roles have a greater chance of finding their actions scrutinized and criticized by shareholders and the public. These women leaders are held to higher performance standards with greater expectations than their male/nonminority counterparts. This may be a factor in why women and minorities placed in executive roles often face stronger headwinds and don’t get the support they need to succeed. This makes it more difficult to perform at the top of their game and turn around a company in troubled water.
Studies have revealed that women are chosen for C-level roles, including glass cliff roles, based on their assumed unique leadership style that includes strength in areas such as emotional intelligence, communications, and collaboration. Some companies select women for these jobs to showcase their diversity stats and support for women’s leadership, but in many cases, they have not sustained their position.
One major factor that holds women back from achieving success in glass cliff roles stems from subtle or unconscious gender stereotypes, regardless of a women’s capabilities. For decades, male leaders have been the norm, and men hold the majority of executive positions. Their leadership style has been accepted for years based on a traditional model that is more directive, authoritative, and decisive, which also reflects a gender stereotype about men. But the reality is that an effective executive embodies a fuller spectrum of leadership talents, which also include being collaborative and emphatic — qualities that women leaders often naturally possess along with being strategic and able to be as directive and decisive as men can be.
The promising news is that the number of women in CEO roles for the 500 largest US companies in 2021 represented an all-time high at 41 women, up from 37 women executives the previous year. Yet the fact that only 7.4% of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies have a woman in charge proves that we have a way to go before companies reach gender parity.
How can companies help women avoid falling off the glass cliff? There are no silver bullets, but here are a few pointers on how organizations can help women leaders:
Make Diversity, Gender Bias, and Inclusion a Priority
A first step is for organizations to prioritize and incorporate the topics of diversity, gender bias, and inclusion into the mainstream of doing good business. Companies should also strive to more systematically integrate these topics into general leadership training and development versus a one-off program to help managers and leaders be more accountable for their actions. Organizations should be intentional in identifying and then mitigating the gender stereotypes and bias that curtail the chance to leverage the full range of leadership strengths and perspectives that are instrumental in driving a successful company.
Build a Balanced Pipeline of Prepared Women and Men
To establish a clear and transparent career path for both women’s and men’s advancement, organizations need a full pipeline of qualified leaders of both genders who are positioned to replace others as needed in executive leadership roles. This readiness will ensure women and minorities are equally as qualified and ready to step into executive roles as men are, no matter what the corporate conditions may be. Be proactive by creating the right types of experiences, assignments, and competency development that today’s successful leaders need. These competencies include strategic and critical thinking, decision making, adeptness with cultural change, and emotional intelligence.
Provide the Right Mentorship and Sponsorship
It’s a basic point but one that shouldn’t be forgotten. Companies should provide mentorship and sponsorship to support women who aspire to transition into CEO/senior roles. These relationships have been proven to give women a better chance of succeeding in their leadership roles while increasing their visibility and helping them build their confidence to tackle the types of challenges they’ll face if they find themselves in a glass cliff role.
Offer Evidence of What Works
Leadership teams and HR should also be vigilant in proving work-life/flex-time practices that limit the tension and fatigue for women who are trying to keep up with unrealistic expectations for family and work obligations. Keep in mind this finding from PEW Research: 50% of mothers believe that being a parent is a hindrance to their career advancement while only 39% of men feel the same.
What Women Can Do
While companies need to be on the front lines from a policy perspective, women can also take steps to become self-advocates, particularly by embracing a growth mindset. When SHAMBAUGH Leadership coaches women who aspire to advance to senior and executive leadership, we emphasize the importance of being proactive in looking for and making a pitch to take on more strategic business opportunities and challenging roles that will enhance your portfolio of skills, visibility, and value.
Don’t assume people will know what you can offer as a leader—instead, provide a healthy and relevant perspective. By being your own champion and sharing your accomplishments and how you tackled a strategic business challenge, you have the ability to influence others’ perspective of you as a competent executive.
If you or your team have advice for women in leadership that you’d like to share or questions you’d like to ask about this topic, please reach out to me at info@shambaughleadership.com.
Link to SHAMBAUGH’s offerings on Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Coaching and Development Programs for Women, Keynotes and Fireside Chats.
Listen to the latest Women Rise podcast episodes:
Rebecca Shambaugh discusses Resetting Your Playbook for Leadership
A Conversation with Robert Reiss, CEO of The CEO Forum Group, on leadership in a collaborative world and three things that need to happen to achieve gender balance.
Make sure to follow the Women Rise podcast to stay up to date on Rebecca Shambaugh’s latest exclusive interviews and conversations with some of the world’s most inspiring business leaders and be notified when new episodes are released!
Rebecca Shambaugh is a recognized author and speaker on leadership best practices. She is president of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, founder of Women in Leadership and Learning, and author of the bestselling books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor. Read Rebecca’s best-selling Harvard Business Review article “To Sound Like a Leader About What You Say and How and When You Say It.
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