You hear the question all the time:

Why don’t we have more women in leadership positions?

What’s happening?

A quick look inside organizations struggling with the issue of developing women leaders can be instructive.

Why?

In the case of the client with the world-class diversity program, the organization missed two important connections.

the traditional career progression pathways that had worked well for a male-dominated workforce did not appeal to women.
the relatively young female talent they were bringing in the door could not progress quickly; a bulge of late-career employees holding middle management positions was delaying timely advancement. Since the company did not have a rotation program, talented women felt they were stagnating and left.

May be, women within the organization are being sent a message:

you cannot attain your full potential here…