How women can flourish at work: Five leaders discuss

To mark International Women’s Day, Inside FMCG asked female leaders and male allies in the industry about what needs to be done to help women flourish in the workplace. Here are their responses:What does the next generation of female leaders need to flourish in the future?   Alexia Horley, senior sales director, PepsiCo ANZ:“I think the biggest ‘need’ is for females to actually see other females in senior roles – it demonstrates accessibility and attainability. And it’s certainly happening but the more females in leadership roles absolutely helps to show that possibilities for future female leaders exist regardless of gender.I also believe that an organisation with a culture that enables female leaders to flourish is equally as important. I believe that PepsiCo has a genuine commitment to diversity enabled through a number of practices e.g. authentic leadership, flexibility, pay equity and building and maintaining a pipeline of female talent across all levels. This supports the ability to unlock the potential of female leaders for the future.”Esme Borgelt, MD, Kellogg ANZ:“At Kellogg’s, we firmly believe in equality and that everyone should have the opportunity to thrive, instilling a sense of entrepreneurship across our teams. The next generation of female leaders face some unique challenges in their development, and it’s important they feel and believe that they can make a real impact and be valued for their contributions in businesses. Research says that men will apply for a job if they have 60 per cent of the attributes required – and women will not until they are confident that they have a 100 per cent covered.  Feeling inadequate and seeking external validation is largely a female trait that has been ingrained in us as women, so we need to work hard at managing this and overcome the challenges of inherent, unconscious bias in the workplace. I find myself still having to manage those feelings from time to time.In our business, we still have women under-index significantly in certain business functions such as Sales and Supply Chain, and I am incredibly passionate about addressing this gender imbalance by accelerating the development of female leaders from within our own organisation. One of the initiatives we have recently launched is a bespoke leadership training course for women in sales and supply chain to facilitate just that and build up the confidence of our young talent to increasingly step into more senior roles in the future.The next generation of women should not undersell themselves and be clear on what they want in order to flourish in the future. If we stand up for ourselves, lift each other up, chase every opportunity we have, to grow and change things from within, we will start to see systemic change, reset culture, and thrive in future leadership. Let all of us, men and women at all levels of business,  commit to make a difference to transform our businesses and our teams to be a more diverse and inclusive workplace, where we can all be ourselves and bring our best to work every day.”What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received from another female in business? Esme Borgelt, MD, Kellogg ANZ:“At Kellogg we talk a lot about leadership courage and embracing nimble learning. A few years ago, we had a regional conference and networking event for our Women of Kellogg’s (WOK) resource group, where a Japanese colleague asked me to be her mentor as she was inspired by my story of how I built my early career in a male dominated environment. The journey and our relationship continue to this day and I learn as much from her as she does from me. Coming from a very hierarchical and male dominated environment in Japan where 70 per cent of the workforce are men, she is someone who has helped teach me how to allow myself to be more vulnerable in the workplace. I have also come to recognise that some of the things which made me great early on in my career, can be the very things holding me back from being a better leader today.  For example, early in my career when I was a freshly minted sales manager I fretted at every little failure until my manager said to me, “If the worst thing in the world happened today, the sun would still come up tomorrow”. So, the best advice I ever received is to always keep things in perspective, and to hang on to your sense of humour when things get tough. I have grown to be a huge believer in progress over perfection!Lean forward in your mentoring relationships as somewhere at some point someone will say something that sparks something inside you which will light a fire for your development, and on a lifelong journey of learning, these moments are pure gold but YOU have to chase them down.”How do you think men in leadership can help their female colleagues flourish in the workplace?Danny Celoni, CEO, PepsiCo ANZ:“Make diversity a priority and actively and deliberately plan for it – don’t leave it up to chance. Understand where there’s a need to support diversity across all functions and roles in the organisation.Take accountability, look at targets versus gaps, understand blockages and be conscious of suffering one-dimensional thinking.Most importantly take action. It sounds simple but practice what you preach – promote and back female talent. Proactively take risks on great talent and stretch them beyond what they think they are capable of rather than waiting on the process of time in a role to progress. In my experience most people will flourish when stretched especially when they are supported in their ability to succeed.And finally invest in people’s capability to allow them to take on growth and leadership moves. Also ensure that the focus isn’t only on individuals who are ready to step into executive level roles, it’s also about equipping the future pipeline with the appropriate skills and critical experiences.” What can be done to create a more equal playing field for men and women in the workplace?Michael Schneider, MD, Bunnings Group:“At Bunnings, we’re really proud that half of our team are women and many have chosen to grow and further their careers here. We always want to reflect the communities we serve and diversity in all forms is incredibly important to us.Our leaders play a big part in making sure that everyone feels included and it’s a shared responsibility.  All of our leaders go through our inclusive leadership training to learn about diversity, inclusion and why it’s crucial to consider the diversity and gender profile of their team when recruiting. Senior leaders also receive gender and recruitment tools to track and report their team’s gender balance and progress. There are also a number of initiatives that we have in place to support our female team members, such as ensuring a gender balance for leadership programs, planning processes to grow our internal female talent pipeline and a career program designed for female leaders to build their professional capabilities.While we’ve seen some good progress around gender equality, there’s still more work to be done.  We’re focused on building an inclusive workplace that recognises everyone’s contribution and strengths, regardless of age, ability, gender or background.”Danny Celoni, CEO, PepsiCo ANZ:“Having an ongoing commitment to workplace gender equality is important – at PepsiCo this means encouraging work life quality and flexibility, building and maintaining a pipeline of female talent at all levels and ensuring pay equity.I’m really proud that our executive leadership team is majority female – in fact our representation across all departments sits high including 75 per cent female on our Sales Leadership Team, a traditionally male dominated function.Our commitment to gender equality and diversity in the workplace ensures we have the best people doing their best work every day.”Natalie Davis, MD, Woolworths Supermarkets: “As Australia’s largest private employer we are focused on achieving gender equality and have made public commitments to ensure we can meet these goals.Approximately 55 per cent of our workforce are women and we’re aiming to achieve a 40:40:20 gender balance amongst our leadership teams to ensure our leadership reflects the balance and diversity that is important to us. We aim to create an inclusive culture that truly values diverse experiences and perspectives. There is always more to do and this week we are encouraging all our team to reflect on what they can do, to make a difference.”