Preparing India's next-gen women tech leaders, one step at a time

The tech and consulting industry is not new to women at the top and, over the past decade, there have been several companies—in India, globally and, especially, multinational companies in India—that have had women in CEO and other C-suite positions. Women who have made a difference in the highly competitive global environment, and have stood out as visible role models. Even though it is widely acknowledged that organisations with higher levels of diversity and with women on their Boards demonstrate superior performance, women still fill only a small percentage of leadership positions; partly because of organisational dynamics and partly because there are just not enough women rising fast enough through the ranks. The net result is that there is a real shortage of women at the top, and a lot more needs to be done to rectify the situation.

There is one point that stands out in this industry and defines the expectations of any leader here: the global nature of the work. For most tech companies in India, the work is across multiple continents and, consequently, creates a 24/7, incessant, ‘always on’ and demanding work schedule. There are projects to manage, clients to communicate with, colleagues to collaborate with… and all that across multiple time zones and cultures. Anyone who has risen up through the ranks with hands-on technology or consulting experience knows the work is often travel intensive at all levels and roles. While all the companies focus on work-life balance, the conscientious leader does encounter the difficulty in finding that balance without it affecting either her work or personal life. And at some point, she may even have to make the difficult choice of taking a pause from work or not take on too much of a challenge.

On the other hand, this is an absolute equal opportunity environment, provided one can deal with the expectations of the role. Ours is a knowledge-based industry that rewards analytical thought, intellect, emotional intelligence, and a thirst for learning—as technology evolves constantly. Women thrive in this environment, and those who can cope with the initial challenges find a very quick route to rewarding senior positions. And India, thanks to our middle-class emphasis on education, is one of the leaders in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education for women. While other countries lament the limited number of women in STEM, we do not have the same problem. Recent Nasscom statistics show that India is a global leader in women STEM graduates. So, the issue has less to do with ‘supply’ at the entry level, rather it is the nature of the industry combined with socio-cultural pressures that leads to mid-career dropouts and limits those who make it to senior positions.

While we cannot make this change in leadership overnight, we need to act now and with urgency to prepare the next generation of women leaders. We all seek rapid results, but the planning required for these changes needs to be at a three-to-five-year level at a minimum within an enterprise, and even a 10-year or longer horizon at a national, policy level. To put it simply, there is a dearth of women leaders everywhere, so besides poaching from one another, the only sustainable and viable strategy is to have a plan to ‘home grow’ these leaders. There are several prescribed recipes at play that have been discussed and debated for quite some time. These typically involve four broad areas: attract female talent and ensure that the percentage of women is at the right level; retain them and minimise mid-career exits; develop, coach, mentor and move them up the pyramid; and finally, pick the high potential candidates from amongst them and groom them for leadership roles. Every company follows a variation of this overall theme, but the devil is in the detail, the rigour of implementation, and the example set by the CEO and the management team. It boils down to whether they walk the talk, or pay lip service to increasing women in leadership positions.

The need of the hour is bold, visible action. For example, a few years ago, to fill the vacant positions of Chairperson of the Board of Governors at several engineering colleges in India, the Ministry of HRD took a decision to invite women CEOs/leaders from the corporate and IT sector to accept these positions alongside their regular jobs and succeeded in making it happen. A bold move indeed, not just to strengthen corporate-academic partnerships, but also to provide role models of women in leadership positions to students. Each of us in our positions of leadership needs to reflect and see what our one bold action could be to make an impact and create the next generation of leaders. It could be nominating a woman as a successor. It is also about making tough choices. For instance, it is much harder to fill a leadership position with a woman and, when facing business pressures, leaders need to put in that extra effort to ensure the nominations include strong female candidates.

The Boards and corporate governance systems are certainly helping. Diversity, equity and inclusion are topics on the agenda of most Boards and they are asking all the right questions about women in leadership roles, especially succession planning and identification of high-potential female candidates. They are also including targets related to women in leadership roles as part of the evaluation criteria of the CEO and the executive team. The Boards themselves have benefitted from an increase in the number of women in their ranks and they are actively demanding the same from the management teams.

And finally, to compound the issue further, where does the demand for tech leadership stop? It is not limited to the tech industry. It has been said that every company is a tech company or will soon need to be. And this tech-driven digital world is morphing, evolving, and changing shape so rapidly—especially with AI and robotics—that it is also transforming jobs and required skill sets. The ‘women in tech leadership’ challenge is now beyond the tech industry; it encompasses the entire universe of organisations. Are we prepared for that? 

The author is Managing Director for Latin America and Canada, and Group Executive Committee Member at Capgemini. Views are personal