I find that there are three schools of thought around the setting of goals for representation of women at key leadership levels. On one end of the spectrum there’s ‘all in,’ where leadership names and publicizes goals (e.g., “We will reach 30%+ women at the director level and above by…”) On the other end there is a conscious decision to not set targets. This approach doesn’t mean there aren’t supported activities/initiatives, but that there are no concrete results named and/or publicized. Finally there is an ‘in between,’ where there are concrete desired outcomes but targets and measured progress are “quiet” or even secret outside the executive suite.

I want to spend some time focused on this middle-ground approach. Private goals don’t necessarily signal anything nefarious—we’ve seen organizations have success with this approach. The real key to moving women forward is translating the intention of senior leaders into the behaviors of middle managers, and when the C-suite has a goal—even if secret—we find that their words and actions propagate the right behaviors on their teams. In one of our client cases, the mere fact that the CEO and his direct reports started routinely speaking about moving women forward caused mid-level managers to begin requiring diverse candidate slates from HR—even before significant investment was made in development programs or initiatives. What is important is that the goals be on the C-suite agenda. So, whether public or not, if there’s accountability, there is conversation, and that conversation will have enormous influence throughout your reporting structure.

As Peter Drucker told us, “What gets measured gets managed,” and this holds true for shifting the demographics of your leadership. But at the end of the day, each organization has to take an approach in this area that works with its culture and that aligns with (what may be) competing goals. We have had clients across all schools of thought, but experience shows that it’s tough to make any real progress if you’re in the ‘no targets’ camp. And, I will add, studies clearly show that tying C-suite comp to achieving goals significantly increases the success rate. As a senior leader you know best what it takes to drive change in your organization. So, what will you do?

Three thoughts for CEOs:

• First, ensure that your C-suite leaders have seen the data on the potential business impact of moving women forward, so that you’re all on the same page with the ‘why’ for taking action.
• Then, discuss your appetite for naming and publicizing your goals, and pick an approach!
• Work with the communications team to build a simple set of talking points that all members of the team can speak from. With this, you will be able to challenge your direct reports around what they’re doing to focus on moving women forward, (e.g., elevating women as candidates for key roles, investing in women’s development, and creating opportunities for exposure.)

Words matter. I’ve witnessed with my own team that my employees respond to the things they believe are important to me. So, make it clear that moving women forward matters to you.

So, think about it—what approach to goal-setting will get your C-suite leaders talking about moving women forward?

Helene