Women’s Leadership Initiative
Steering Committee Charter
Author: Mary L Bennett, mlbennettconsulting.com
The purpose of the Women’s Leadership Initiative Steering Committee is to provide ongoing strategic direction for the initiative. The role of the Committee is to:
Should be customized to each firm, below are examples of commonly used role descriptors. Add to these are is appropriate for your firm and its structure.
Facilitate vision & strategy setting
Monitor execution of strategy, results and return on investment
Communicate with firm leadership
Oversee communication to all relevant audiences
Create a dialogue between male and female committee members and beyond to generate and execute on solutions.
The goals and objectives of the Women’s Initiative Steering Committee are:
Should be customized to each firm, below are examples commonly used by firms in this section:
Increased awareness at all levels regarding the business case
Increased awareness at all levels of success stories and continued barriers
Increased retention and advancement of women leaders
Improved turnover and advancement metrics
Gender parity at all levels of the organization
Initial meetings will be utilized to:
Should be customized to each firm, below are some common meeting guidelines used in firms. These are dependent on the committee specific role as defined above:
Raise our awareness of the barriers and challenges to advancement within our Firm
Gather input and discuss the cause of these barriers and potential solutions based on known industry solutions
Create an ongoing two way dialogue between female leaders and firm leadership
Articulate diagnostic analysis results-document gaps between current state and desired future state
Articulate skills, behaviors we are working towards as an organization
Set strategies and action plans; Measure and report results
Expand on successful solutions, institutionalize
Execution:
Steering Committee will be responsible for analysis, strategy setting, measurement and ongoing communication
Steering Committee will work thru geographic execution of strategies and action plans
Steering Committee will be responsible for involving others in the geography as needed to support implementation
Structure of meetings:
The specific meetings, structure and timing of the activities of the committee will be identified by the committee chair.
Dependent on the specific of the firm
Below are examples of the type of statements that might be listed in this section:
Membership on the committee will be determined by the firm executive committee and managing partner.
The committee shall consist of at least 7 members, with membership balanced in terms of male and female participants
The committee shall report to the managing partner
The committee shall be lead by a committee chair who is appointed by the managing partner.
Each committee member will serve for a 2 year term which is renewable. In the second year, half the committee will be designated as serving 3 year terms to provide for staggered membership.
Committee members will exhibit the following attributes:
Strong business acumen
Ability to lead change through demonstration and teaching
Commitment to excellence
Boldness and willingness to gather input on difficult topics
High EQ – ability to understand employee experiences
Strong ability to communicate and articulate positions
Helpfulness – desires to develop and lead others in improvement opportunities
Creative – able to bring creative solutions to challenging issues
Knowledge of the barriers and solutions
Interest in the topic and its relevance to the business sustainability
Currently has impact and influence in the organization
The committee will measure the success of the initiative thru:
This
is customized to each firm, below are some examples of metrics used
by other firms:
Reduction of turnover among female leaders
Increases in the % of female managers, senior managers and partners
Increases in the numbers of visible leadership roles held by women leaders in the firm
Increases in the numbers of visible leadership roles held by women leaders in market facing roles
Increases in the numbers of women in leadership roles on strategic engagements
Author: Mary L Bennett; mlbennettconsulting.com
AICPA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee
Organizational Strategy Workshop
Author: mlbennettconsulting.com
2015 WITTENBERG WOMEN’S SOCCER ROSTER NO NAME POS CL
201516 LUTHER COLLEGE WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING ROSTER NAME
2016 ALFRED UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S SOCCER ROSTER NO NAME
Tags: initiative, leadership, steering, committee, charter, women’s, author