Equality means organisational development. That much is certain. However, what exactly has to happen to inspire and implement change in one's own organisation? An important realisation is that in addition to introducing necessary practical measures and tools, change will not happen without the active participation of leaders. If the measures are to take effect and be "lived", then the support and commitment of every single manager are needed. All too often, however, too little is known about what the mostly male managers in the company think about gender equality and, above all, how they act in this regard.
In order to find out more about the concrete commitment of male managers to gender equality in the company, we have developed a questionnaire specifically for this purpose, which can be used to survey the most important aspects of the managers' commitment to gender equality:
- Motivation: Why do leaders engage?
- Challenges: What do they also experience as difficult?
- Gender-inclusive leadership practices: What are leaders already doing, and what can they imagine doing in the future?
By answering the total of 26 questions on motivations and barriers, we can show you how best to address the male leaders in your company and which issues are important to work on. Without this information it is considerably more difficult to illicit leadership engagement and therefore positive outcomes. An analysis of the motivations and obstacles also provides essential information for the conception of leadership seminars, for example, in the form of our own developed "gender dialogues".
A second part of the questionnaire records the use of gender-inclusive leadership practices with a total of 23 questions. The responses illuminate the areas the male leaders in your company are performing well in and are already active in, and at the same time, areas your managers are not (yet) very active in but could imagine addressing in the future. These topics should be taken up and worked on in management workshops as this is how equality can be advanced in your company!
The overall evaluation gives a well-founded overview of what is already working satisfactorily in your company - and highlights what could be worked on if you want to take the next step towards realising equal opportunities. A comparison with our reference sample of Swiss companies allows you to see where your company stands across different organisations.
Would you also like to know how your organisation's commitment to gender equality stands? We would be happy to advise you individually on the advantages of a possible organisational diagnosis. Contact us at leaders4equality@unisg.ch.