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Target Area: Board of Directors

Catalyst Women on Board – Solving the Boardroom Diversity Challenge Through Sponsorship

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ATTRIBUTES
  • Career Development
  • Leadership

SOURCE
  • Catalyst

TYPE OF RESOURCE
  • PProgram

TARGET AREA
  • Board of Directors, Programs and Initiatives

TARGET UNIT
  • CEO, Human Resources, Senior Leadership

LINK TO RESOURCE

Catalyst Women on Board – Solving the Boardroom Diversity Challenge Through Sponsorship

Catalyst
This is an active sponsorship program for women board candidates to enable women’s advancement on to boards and to enable companies to find and appoint women board candidates. Catalyst Women on Board is an annual program in which Catalyst invites senior executive women, considered to be strong candidates for corporate board appointment, and pairs these women with experienced corporate board members who mentor and champion them for two years with the objective of attaining corporate board appointments. The women candidates, after a process of selection, require a company’s sponsorship to participate in the program, as it has a cost.

To learn more about this program, click here.

Gender Diversity on Boards in Canada – Recommendations for Accelerating Progress

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ATTRIBUTES
  • Leadership
  • Recruitment, Retention and Promotion

SOURCE
  • Catalyst

TYPE OF RESOURCE
  • RReport

TARGET AREA
  • Board of Directors, Strategy

TARGET UNIT
  • Board of Directors

LINK TO RESOURCE

Gender Diversity on Boards in Canada – Recommendations for Accelerating Progress

Catalyst
This report was created to help Canadian organizations make progress on achieving gender parity on boards by promoting the adoption of targets. It also presents an analysis of the benefits of gender parity for board of directors, examines disclosures related to board renewal mechanisms, and describes best practices from leading businesses.

Recommendations for accelerating progress for women on boards include:

  1. Set the following specific targets, and achieve them within three to five years:
    1. 30 percent women board directors, if you currently have at least one woman director.
    2. One woman board director, if you currently have zero women board directors.
  2. Use at least one mechanism to facilitate board renewal (e.g. term, age limit).
  3. Establish a written policy describing how the company specifically plans to increase representation of women on its board.
  4. Review board recruitment policies:
    1. Require that lists of potential board candidates consist of at least 50 percent women candidates with the skills and profile sought, and ensure diversity among women too.
    2. Require that women – including women from diverse communities – comprise at least 50 percent of the interview pool for every open board position.
    3. Implement board effectiveness assessments, including gap analysis using skills matrices.
    4. Leverage broad networks – not just the usual suspects.
  5. Champion senior executive women for board service by:
    1. Reassessing and removing restrictions on external board service.
    2. Implementing programs to match talent with board vacancies.
  6. Address gender equity at all levels of the organization by:
    1. Reviewing, on a continual basis, all human resources systems to ensure they are unbiased.
    2. Investing in inclusive leadership training.
    3. Monitoring and tracking promotion rates, aim for proportional rates at each level.
    4. Evaluating and addressing pay equity by:
      1. Conducting periodic pay equity studies.
      2. Implementing “no negotiations” policies and paying for work, not potential.
  7. Adopting pay transparency policies.

To learn more, click here.

Board of Directors Playbook

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ATTRIBUTES
  • Leadership
  • Recruitment, Retention and Promotion

SOURCE
  • Canadian Gender & Good Governance Alliance

TYPE OF RESOURCE
  • GGuide

TARGET AREA
  • Board of Directors, Development

TARGET UNIT
  • Board of Directors

LINK TO RESOURCE

Board Directors' Playbook

Canadian Gender & Good Governance Alliance
The Playbook provides information on common obstacles, the business case of gender diversity on boards, and tools for action in order to address this issue. The Playbook is a guideline for starting to address a Board of Director’s gender diversity.

The resource provides the following practical recommendations:

  1. Formal Board Evaluation Process: This process will help boards identify strengths and opportunities for improvement, as well as reveal current and future needs of the board.
  2. Term and Age Limits: Without vacancies, increasing the number of women on boards is difficult. Establishing a formal approach to board renewal will help find a balance between renewal of skills and perspectives and retaining long-term directors who still provide valuable contributions.
  3. Board Competency Matrix: Crafting the board competency matrix with skills and competencies that make directors effective could increase the pool of women candidates. Currently, markers are thought to be limited to résumé markers that are not reflective of boardroom effectiveness.
  4. Gender Diversity Policy: According to CGGA, adopting a Gender Diversity Policy improves the representation of women on boards regardless of company size.
  5. Board Member Recruitment: In order to avoid biased recruiting, broadening the search can help identify the best women candidates. Expand the scope by using board-ready lists, networking with industry peers and advisors, engaging a search firm, and maintaining an evergreen list of candidates.

To learn more, click here.