Get on board! 10 tips for boardroom success for women

It’s tough out there with only three female chief executives in the FTSE 100, so what do working women have to do to get a seat at the top table? Read Rosamund Urwin’s indispensable guide to boardroom success...
12 September 2013

The perks of being a female FTSE board member: power, a generous salary — and no queue for the ladies’ after meetings. For despite a crusade to bring more women to the table, the boardroom in Britain’s biggest businesses remains a largely male domain.

Fresh figures released this week by the Professional Boards Forum, which campaigns to increase female representation at the top of British business, show that 18.7 per cent of FTSE 100 company directors are female. That’s up from 12.5 per cent in February 2011, when Lord Davies published his report on women in the boardroom.

However, progress has inevitably been much faster for non-executive positions (currently 23.6 per cent female) than executive roles (six per cent), where the churn is lower and candidates can be picked from a smaller pool.

There are currently only three female chief executives — Burberry’s Angela Ahrendts, Imperial Tobacco’s Alison Cooper and easyJet’s Carolyn McCall — while six of the UK’s 100 biggest listed companies still have no women on the board at all.

And now, ministers are worried that the target of one in four board members being a woman by 2015 could be missed. Jo Swinson, the equalities minister, warned last week that “progress has slowed to a worrying pace in the last few months by some of our top companies”.

Of course, this is a problem for company bosses to address. But if you’re a woman vying for a seat at the table — whether now, in five years or even 20 — here are 10 tips you can follow to boost your chances.

CLAIM THE SPOTLIGHT

“Boards like well-known names or a prestigious career background to enhance their profile,” says Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management and the founder of the 30 Percent Club, a group of chairman committed to increasing the number of women on boards. “If you are below the radar, find ways to rise above it — seek opportunities to become more high-profile.” She suggests joining industry groups and speaking at events and conferences. “Make sure you are more than just a technical expert.”

CATCH THE CHAIRMAN’S EYE

If you want a seat on a board, you need to be known. Chairmen — and, yes, they’re almost all men, that’s rather the problem — have influence and it pays to have their names on speed dial if you’re chasing a non-executive directorship.

So how do you meet these busy business leaders? “That’s where we come in,” says Jane Scott, UK director of the Professional Boards Forum. The PBF runs events twice a year to introduce 50 aspiring female non-executive directors to between 20 and 30 FTSE chairmen. To get an invitation, you need to be recommended by another attendee, your own chief executive or you can contact the forum yourself.

DEVELOP THE NECESSARY SKILLS

Pretty self-explanatory (and obvious), this one. Headhunters and career advisers often talk about “transferable skills”. That may be irritating management jargon but you need to show you have them. Board members need the ability to manage risk, a flair for governance, an understanding of strategy and a strong grasp of finance, as well as sector-specific skills. It also helps if you can show you’ve been accountable for profits in a unit of the business, so have perhaps spent time as a divisional director.

“What we’re looking for is a really good set of business skills and about 20 years of experience,” says Scott. But don’t assume you need to tick every box. As Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg told me when I interviewed her earlier this year about Lean In, her manifesto for the ambitious female: “Men apply for jobs when they meet 60 per cent of the criteria, women apply for jobs when they make 100 per cent.”

GET GOVERNANCE EXPERIENCE

To get a non-executive position on the board, it pays to have governance roles on the CV. Charities and the public sector need talented folk to sit on their boards, so if there’s a cause you care about or you want to be involved in your local community, sign up — it can be a mutually beneficial relationship. However, Scott has a couple of caveats. “Be selective about which organisations you spend time with. Is there a good opportunity to learn from people connected elsewhere? Make sure it doesn’t take over all your time, too.”

SWOT UP

“Candidates need to have a clear idea how boards work,” reckons Scott. “And they need to know what they can offer and how to perform the bread-and-butter tasks of the board.” Those include remuneration, nominations and audit. Non-executive directorships demand certain behaviour and language which needs to be learned. That’s why it can pay to take on other governance roles early. Also try to identify exactly what skills are needed for a specific position.

BE A JET-SETTER

International experience reaps rewards. FTSE 100 companies are global businesses — an estimated 70 per cent of their profits is now derived from overseas. So if you have spent considerable time in foreign climes running companies, you will be more attractive to those businesses.

PUT IN THE HOURS

Persistence is your ticket to the boardroom. “One woman who came to one of our events spent every other Saturday morning on working towards it, and told everyone she met,” says Scott. “You have to make a serious effort.” And don’t assume you should wait until you’ve had your P45 to chase non-executive roles. “It is easier to become a non-executive director while still an executive or in full-time employment,” explains Morrissey. “The harder route seems to be to retire or stand down and then try to become a non-executive director via headhunters.”

NETWORK WITH A PURPOSE

It pays to understand how networks operate and who sits on boards. You should also share your long-term ambitions: don’t assume people know you’re dreaming about a seat at the table.

Morrissey adds that you should focus on contacts you have already worked with. “People who know you from direct working experience are more likely to feel comfortable recommending you. Make sure you develop good relationships in your ‘executive’ roles, and that broader networking is more an additive than a substitute for those relationships.”

Clearly, it helps to be known by headhunters too but the most effective way to grab their attention may not be to approach them yourself — they may feel swamped by emails from wannabe candidates. Instead, if you know a friendly chairman or someone else of influence, ask them to tell the headhunters that they should meet you.

NETWORKING STARTS AT HOME

Or rather, in your own office. Take every opportunity you can to get to know senior staff in your own company. “Your internal network is just as important as your external one,” says Gay Collins, executive chairman of MHP Communications and a member of the steering Committee of the 30 Percent Club. “But networking internally isn’t something women are necessarily good at.”

Work out how to develop relationships with colleagues you may not work with often. And if you dream of one day aping Angela Ahrendts et al, find a sponsor to map out your career. That’s not the same as a mentor — Sandberg notes that women bosses feel bombarded with requests to mentor people they’ve only just met — it means someone in your organisation who helps develop your career. “Not many companies have a sponsor system,” adds Collins. “So you either need to encourage the concept or just find a sponsor for yourself.”

BE YOUR OWN CHEERLEADER

“You can do a good job, and it won’t necessarily be recognised by anyone but your boss,” says Collins. “You need to do your own PR in your organisation. Not in a pushy way: it’s about making yourself visible to people across the company who you may not come into day-to-day contact with.”

She suggests setting up a network or a sub-committee — anything that makes other colleagues aware of what you contribute to the company. And don’t be embarrassed about highlighting your talents

and efforts. After all, male colleagues may be rather vocal about theirs. As Sandberg puts it: “Men raise their hands faster and attribute their own success to themselves far faster.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT