Issue 37 Autumn 2014

Faculty Focus: ELISABETH KELAN Professor of Leadership What are you working on at the moment? I recently published a report with KPMG on how CEOs can support gender equality. The study drew on a sample of CEOs who have signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), an initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The research highlighted the practices that CEOs who support gender equality use. I am now working on a number of academic articles based on this study. What is the current situation with increasing gender diversity on boards? There has been a lot of focus on women on boards in the last few years. The ground- breaking work of the Cranfield International Centre for Women Leaders has provided a regular measure of the number of women executive directors on the corporate boards of the UK’s top 100 companies since 1999. There has been much progress, particularly with women in non-executive directorships, but we need a continued focus on this issue to ensure sustainable progress. What are the biggest challenges women leaders face today? Over the last decade much of the public dialogue and academic research has focused on what women can do to advance in business. Increasingly it is being recognised that it is the organisational contexts that need to change to facilitate gender parity in leadership roles.

What changes would you like to see to improve the situation for women? There are unconscious biases and stereotypes that exist about women in the workplace. These deep-seated and subliminal biases shape how people interact. We have a lot of research indicating that they have a big impact on women’s careers. Many organisations have introduced forms of unconscious bias awareness training to help eliminate those biases; I would like to see more organisations taking this approach. Do you have any words of advice for women looking to move into a leadership role? In my book Rising Stars - Developing Millennial Women as

CRANF I ELD D I RECTORS PROGRAMME Strategic leadership in depth and breadth

Leaders , I explore the relationship that junior women have with more senior women. Junior women can often not identify with senior women as role models. Having multiple role models and integrating them into how one wants to be is a better leadership strategy than emulating a single role model.

CRANF I ELD ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Preparation for director level leadership

CRANF I ELD GENERAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME Acquiring a business level perspective

What would you like to research in the future? My next research project is a follow-on study from the CEO research I conducted. In this new project I will observe mid-level managers to see how practices from mid-level managers can support gender parity. I was able to secure a prestigious British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship to conduct the research over the next year.

CRANF I ELD TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Accelerating the managerial careers of high potential professionals

+44 (0)1234 754569 Sara Shakespeare

26 Management Focus