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War for Talent: Obtaining and Retaining Women

By Alice Lusk, LuskMoore and Associates

People first, strategy second, according to Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric. In his book ‘Straight from the Gut’ getting the right people in the right job is a lot more important than developing strategy. This is supported by a 1997 McKinsey study involving 6000 executives and managers in 77 companies. Their findings were that the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years would be talent: smart, sophisticated business people that are technologically literate, globally astute and operationally agile.

In a follow up 2000 study using the same population they determined that companies scoring in the top quintile of talent management practices outperform their industries mean return to shareholders by a remarkable 22 percentage points. In addition, of those surveyed 89 percent thought it is more difficult to attract talented people now than 3 years ago and 90 percent thought it is now more difficult to retain them. There are three significant trends that will make the War for Talent even more intense.
They are:

Fact 1: Demographics

In 15 years there will be 15% fewer Americans in the 35 to 45 year old range. If the economy grows 3% to 4% per year the demand for talent will increase by 25% and the supply will grow by 15%.

Fact 2: Workforce

Attracting and retaining top talent is becoming increasingly difficult because: one, the movement of the work force from company to company has increased dramatically.
No longer are employees content to stay with the same company for 40 years. Second, over 46 % of the workforce is female. Managerial and professional specialty positions are 50% female, yet senior leadership is only 11% female.
Women leave the corporation to start their own business or leave the workforce entirely in substantial numbers.

Fact 3: Shrinking Talent Pool

Demographics indicate that there will be a much smaller pool to choose from. If the current trend continues; half of the existing talent pool, women, are subject to leave for any number of reasons. The shrinking pool therefore becomes a significant business issue.

Business Reality

The business reality is that winning firms will have successfully addressed these facts. A competitive advantage will be derived from being able to more effectively identify talent and what it will take to retain them.

Lusk-Moore Research

In 1995, shortly before leaving EDS, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Robert Hartman. His Hartman Value Profile was based on science. Finally, there was an objective, rather than subjective way to learn more about myself and my team. Hartman found that there were consistent, measurable patterns in our complex thought processes. The Hartman Value Profile (HVP) was created as a way to map the patterns of how a person thinks and habitually makes decisions. I learned that I had an unusual set of thinking patterns.

Thus, began my work to research and create a way to apply this work to business. Dr. Mark Moore, who was Dr. Hartman’s PHD student and I formed LuskMoore and Associates. Our purpose was to develop a quantitative and comparative technology using the HVP.

The science of thinking patterns was developed by Dr. Robert Hartman who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his identification of thinking patterns and their application to self and the world. It is the measurement of these patterns that gives critical insight into how individuals make decisions. Making the right decisions is the key to being a successful leader.

Dr. Hartman discovered there are three basic thinking patterns:

People Thinking – Intuitive
Decisions related to people and self-value

Results Thinking – Practical
Decisions related to obtaining results and self role awareness

Structured Thinking – Analytical
Decisions related to rules, processes and self governance

The LuskMoore technology quantifies and compares individual thinking patterns to a database of both male and female executives. The three types of thinking are applied to both self leadership and business leadership. This technology gives insight into which thinking patterns are the most developed and which ones require more development.

The primary database used for the analysis is a Business Executive Database. This database is comprised of 1500 executives, representing all industries. The findings are statistically significant in comparison to the total population of business executives.

Findings

The research has identified two important findings, the actual thinking patterns of business executives and the dominant thinking patterns of the by gender.

Executive Thinking patterns

The thinking patterns as indicated in the above charts reflect the mean scores of executives in each pattern. Clearly, the strongest patterns are in an executive ability to make decisions related to people and to self. Business executives report the most significant determinate for successful leadership is self leadership. Self leadership most notably includes the ability to value one’s self and to recognize the value of others. It also involves the ability to visualize one’s role in the context of their environment and to develop role awareness in others.

The second finding shows the stark difference in the thinking patterns of women versus men in both business and self leadership. Female leadership demonstrated strong business thought processes; however, these same women scored lower than their male counterparts in self thought processes.

Men-Women comparison graph

Early in one’s business career one is valued on what you can do and not who you are. Females excel in this environment. As they move up the ladder other factors come into play. The competitive landscape can become very political. Competing at this level is very difficult when one does not value self.

So What?

This finding provides insight into the potential reasons why exceptional female leaders leave the corporation and are not moving faster into leadership roles. It provides a framework from which to determine one, how exceptional these women are and two, a unique insight in how gender differences can come into play in retention. The result of this finding was the creation of the ‘Exception'al Women Comparison.

The business culture in existence today has been developed over many generations. The bottom-line however, is that it was developed by men. Men wrote the rules because no women were around. Women then, are an ‘Exception’ in this culture. Innumerable books have been written about how women should adjust to the rules of business. The ‘Exception’al Woman is a credible alternative to this viewpoint.
The ‘Exception’al Woman provides a science-based methodology that compares the ‘Exception’ to the dominant business culture. ‘Exception’al Woman challenges women to first understand and value their own uniqueness and make a conscious decision on whether to adjust to the dominate culture.
If these women chose to adapt, the ‘Exception’al Woman provides the fundamental knowledge for a successful transformation.

Gender differences do exist. Where they differ and how this differences impact woman in business is the key question. The methodology applies the well established science surrounding thinking patterns. The research explored the thinking patterns of both male and female business executives and created a database that reflects the mean thinking patterns of business executives.
When the female ‘Exceptions” are revealed and a positive, framework is applied to them, the ‘Exceptions’ transform to ‘Exception’al’.
As exceptional women begin to understand their differences, they have the ability to determine whether they want to adapt, how to adapt, remain unique or change their environment.
Case studies show how these women are able to attain a higher level of success and fulfillment, both professional and personally, than they would otherwise achieve. They have accepted the challenge and each has transformed themselves into their own ‘Exception’al Woman

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		Tuesday, 07 September 2010
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Credits Home		Featured articles on topics of interest to women in business >>
Women Political Leader Takes The House! For Women In Business Who Want More! How Business Women Who Are Positive Thinkers Win War for Talent: Obtaining and Retaining Women Do women have power? Negotiate a better salary Five Ways for Women to Accelerate Their Career Why Women Business Leaders Are Needed Let the world know you exist and advertise your business for women only! Contact us now	War for Talent: Obtaining and Retaining Women By Alice Lusk, LuskMoore and Associates People first, strategy second, according to Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric. In his book ‘Straight from the Gut’ getting the right people in the right job is a lot more important than developing strategy. This is supported by a 1997 McKinsey study involving 6000 executives and managers in 77 companies. Their findings were that the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years would be talent: smart, sophisticated business people that are technologically literate, globally astute and operationally agile. In a follow up 2000 study using the same population they determined that companies scoring in the top quintile of talent management practices outperform their industries mean return to shareholders by a remarkable 22 percentage points. In addition, of those surveyed 89 percent thought it is more difficult to attract talented people now than 3 years ago and 90 percent thought it is now more difficult to retain them. There are three significant trends that will make the War for Talent even more intense. They are: Fact 1: Demographics In 15 years there will be 15% fewer Americans in the 35 to 45 year old range. If the economy grows 3% to 4% per year the demand for talent will increase by 25% and the supply will grow by 15%. Fact 2: Workforce Attracting and retaining top talent is becoming increasingly difficult because: one, the movement of the work force from company to company has increased dramatically. No longer are employees content to stay with the same company for 40 years. Second, over 46 % of the workforce is female. Managerial and professional specialty positions are 50% female, yet senior leadership is only 11% female. Women leave the corporation to start their own business or leave the workforce entirely in substantial numbers. Fact 3: Shrinking Talent Pool Demographics indicate that there will be a much smaller pool to choose from. If the current trend continues; half of the existing talent pool, women, are subject to leave for any number of reasons. The shrinking pool therefore becomes a significant business issue. Business Reality The business reality is that winning firms will have successfully addressed these facts. A competitive advantage will be derived from being able to more effectively identify talent and what it will take to retain them. Lusk-Moore Research In 1995, shortly before leaving EDS, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Robert Hartman. His Hartman Value Profile was based on science. Finally, there was an objective, rather than subjective way to learn more about myself and my team. Hartman found that there were consistent, measurable patterns in our complex thought processes. The Hartman Value Profile (HVP) was created as a way to map the patterns of how a person thinks and habitually makes decisions. I learned that I had an unusual set of thinking patterns. Thus, began my work to research and create a way to apply this work to business. Dr. Mark Moore, who was Dr. Hartman’s PHD student and I formed LuskMoore and Associates. Our purpose was to develop a quantitative and comparative technology using the HVP. The science of thinking patterns was developed by Dr. Robert Hartman who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his identification of thinking patterns and their application to self and the world. It is the measurement of these patterns that gives critical insight into how individuals make decisions. Making the right decisions is the key to being a successful leader. Dr. Hartman discovered there are three basic thinking patterns: People Thinking – Intuitive Decisions related to people and self-value Results Thinking – Practical Decisions related to obtaining results and self role awareness Structured Thinking – Analytical Decisions related to rules, processes and self governance The LuskMoore technology quantifies and compares individual thinking patterns to a database of both male and female executives. The three types of thinking are applied to both self leadership and business leadership. This technology gives insight into which thinking patterns are the most developed and which ones require more development. The primary database used for the analysis is a Business Executive Database. This database is comprised of 1500 executives, representing all industries. The findings are statistically significant in comparison to the total population of business executives. Findings The research has identified two important findings, the actual thinking patterns of business executives and the dominant thinking patterns of the by gender. The thinking patterns as indicated in the above charts reflect the mean scores of executives in each pattern. Clearly, the strongest patterns are in an executive ability to make decisions related to people and to self. Business executives report the most significant determinate for successful leadership is self leadership. Self leadership most notably includes the ability to value one’s self and to recognize the value of others. It also involves the ability to visualize one’s role in the context of their environment and to develop role awareness in others. The second finding shows the stark difference in the thinking patterns of women versus men in both business and self leadership. Female leadership demonstrated strong business thought processes; however, these same women scored lower than their male counterparts in self thought processes. Early in one’s business career one is valued on what you can do and not who you are. Females excel in this environment. As they move up the ladder other factors come into play. The competitive landscape can become very political. Competing at this level is very difficult when one does not value self. So What? This finding provides insight into the potential reasons why exceptional female leaders leave the corporation and are not moving faster into leadership roles. It provides a framework from which to determine one, how exceptional these women are and two, a unique insight in how gender differences can come into play in retention. The result of this finding was the creation of the ‘Exception'al Women Comparison. The business culture in existence today has been developed over many generations. The bottom-line however, is that it was developed by men. Men wrote the rules because no women were around. Women then, are an ‘Exception’ in this culture. Innumerable books have been written about how women should adjust to the rules of business. The ‘Exception’al Woman is a credible alternative to this viewpoint. The ‘Exception’al Woman provides a science-based methodology that compares the ‘Exception’ to the dominant business culture. ‘Exception’al Woman challenges women to first understand and value their own uniqueness and make a conscious decision on whether to adjust to the dominate culture. If these women chose to adapt, the ‘Exception’al Woman provides the fundamental knowledge for a successful transformation. Gender differences do exist. Where they differ and how this differences impact woman in business is the key question. The methodology applies the well established science surrounding thinking patterns. The research explored the thinking patterns of both male and female business executives and created a database that reflects the mean thinking patterns of business executives. When the female ‘Exceptions” are revealed and a positive, framework is applied to them, the ‘Exceptions’ transform to ‘Exception’al’. As exceptional women begin to understand their differences, they have the ability to determine whether they want to adapt, how to adapt, remain unique or change their environment. Case studies show how these women are able to attain a higher level of success and fulfillment, both professional and personally, than they would otherwise achieve. They have accepted the challenge and each has transformed themselves into their own ‘Exception’al Woman Top \| Home WomenCorp is an organization of Women Success Network Sales 75 LLC Design created and sponsored by: Raboo Design, © 2005, All rights reserved