Because of the interconnectedness of obstacles women face, companies that want more women leaders need to apply a variety of tactics simultaneously:
• Evaluate and reward women's productivity by objective results, not by "number of hours at work."
• Make performance-evaluation criteria explicit, and design evaluation processes to limit the influence of evaluators' biases.
• Instead of relying on informal social networks and referrals to fill positions, use open-recruitment tools such as advertising and employment agencies.
• Avoid having a sole female member on any team. Outnumbered, women tend to be ignored by men.
• Encourage well-placed, widely esteemed individuals to mentor women.
• Ensure a critical mass of women in executive positions to head off problems that come with tokenism. Women's identities as women will become less salient to colleagues than their individual competencies.
• Give women demanding developmental job experiences to train them for leadership positions.
• Establish family-friendly HR practices (including flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting). You'll help women stay in their jobs while rearing children, allow them to build social capital, and enable them eventually to compete for higher positions. Encourage men to participate in family-friendly benefits, too (for example, by providing paternity leave). When only women participate, their careers suffer because companies expect them to be off the job while exercising those options.
• Give employees with significant parental responsibilities more time to show they're qualified for promotion. Parents may need a year or two more than childless professionals.
• Establish alumni programs for women who need to step away from the workforce. Then tap their expertise to show that returning is possible. Consulting giant Booz Allen, for example, sees its alumni as a source of subcontractors.
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