Give women wings

BCFW offers members a number of career development courses to build the skills of the women in its workforces. Today, lack of women at senior levels in companies and on Boards is recognised as an impediment to a business achieving its full potential.

The global evidence is clear. McKinsey & Company have been tracking company performance against measures such as gender diversity and other inclusive workforce practices since 2014. Their 2017 data showed that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity at executive level were 21% more likely to outperform those in the lowest quartile in terms of profitability, and 27% more likely to outperform those in the lowest quartile in terms of long-term value creation. (Those figures are an increase from 15% in the 2014 data). These high performing companies also had more women in revenue-generating roles than the lowest performers.

Research by the Boston Consulting Group highlighted that companies in different parts of the world with diverse workforces were the most innovative, and the most innovative companies were the most profitable.

“Building a gender diverse team by hiring women is not just about creating equity and equality in the workplace… it is a key ingredient for creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment which can lead to increased performance, innovation, better products, and profits.”

• Dr Tamara Monosoff, bestselling business author, marketing expert

“Successful businesses know that attracting more women and cultivating them as leaders is a key to maintaining superior performance. Not only are women key sources of creative ideas, more importantly, they tend to emphasize collaboration over competition leading to healthier team dynamics and superior project outcomes.”

• Associate Professor Kate Karniouchina, Dean of the Lorry I. Lokey School of Business and Public Policy, Mills College, USA

To help women gain the skills to take on senior executive positions in PNG companies, BCFW runs a Senior Executive Women Program in partnership with the Asian Development Bank. It also offers a PNG Directors Course with Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), to strengthen business governance in PNG. BCFW also offers networking opportunities and promotes mentoring through their training programs as key elements for leadership progression.

But how do women who are motivated, smart, keen to learn and build their skills and experience, get to the point where they’re able to do an executive level course and apply for an executive position in a company?

They need to work in a place where they feel safe, respected and valued, where managers and CEOs support them to take opportunities to get that work experience. And getting some formal learning and development really matters. This is the talent pool for future company leaders. It is also the pool of committed, competent staff that are the engine driving your business on a day-to-day basis.

BCFW’s Certificate IV Leadership and Management Course is designed to give women the building blocks to become great team leaders, supervisors and managers. The course has been formally accredited by the Australian education system, meaning it meets the Certificate IV requirements of the Australian Qualifications Framework. It is the preparatory level for a Diploma, and the course content must meet criteria for functional competencies, knowledge and skills. BCFW’s Leadership and Management course is delivered in partnership with WINGS Education PNG.

Over 35 women from BCFW member Bank of South Pacific, have completed this course and according to Head of Support Services, Ms Alicia Sahib, changes are more visible in staff who are in the non-managerial roles with relation to applying learning’s and newly acquired skills within the workplace.

“Women in team leader roles within my Business Unit have all attended this training, and they have become more self-aware and confident. They have shown leadership within their teams, are better at making decisions and most importantly have become assertive,” Sahib said. “Before a new cohort start training, the women who have already attended the BCFW Leadership training, have informally formed an alumni and help prepare the new participants prior to the training. This has created camaraderie which is beyond their own teams but across other business units and this is also creating a culture of collaboration and cooperation.” She further added that a number of the participants have had the success of promotions and career progression following the leadership training.

Ms Kulu Velena Tuhava, Property Development Manager, from construction company Rhodes PNG also completed the Certificate IV course, saying she found it very useful and a mind-opener. She subsequently was given the challenging responsibility of managing a new arm of the company business. Having some leadership and management skills has helped on this steep learning curve.

In any business, you need to invest in order to get returns. If we now have hard evidence that increasing the gender diversity of your workforce reaps real business rewards, then it also makes sense that investing in your women employees through leadership and management training will deliver even bigger impacts on company productivity and culture. So, give women WINGS, watch them fly and measure the difference in company performance!

Written by Fareeha Ibrahim