Women Are Being Pushed Off the Edge of the Glass Cliff. Here's What That Means and What to Do About It.One of the primary reasons that hold women leaders back is the so-called "glass cliff." Here's how it's keeping women from leadership roles, how it's different from the glass ceiling and what you can do to prevent it.

You've probably heard of the glass ceiling when it comes to women in the workplace, but the "glass cliff" is just as harmful.

Whereas the glass ceiling is a metaphor for the barrier women face in the workplace, the "glass cliff" builds on that idea — it's the phenomenon in which female executives are only givenleadership rolesin seemingly impossible situations like crises, economic collapses or negative public relations incidents. Women are seen as the right choice to clean up a mess, but not to lead when times are good. Even today, there are recent examples of this includingMarissa Mayer's tenure at Yahoo,Jill Soltau's time overseeing the collapse of J.C. Penney,Peggy Johnsonat Magic Leap and海伍德Doniganat Rite Aid.

The glass cliff phenomenon is further backed by academic research:

• Researchers at the University of Exeter found that women are more likely to be appointed as CEOs in companies that haveperformed poorlyin the past, compared to men.
• Columbia Business School found that women are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions incompanies that are in crisis, compared to men. The study also found that women are less likely to be appointed to leadership positions in companies that are performing well.
• McKinsey & Company consistently finds thatwomen are underrepresented in leadership positionsacross industries, with only 38% of manager-level positions being held by women.

These statistics demonstrate the existence of the glass cliff phenomenon, which can set women up for failure in leadership positions due to the difficult circumstances they are often appointed under.

How do you spot a potential glass cliff situation and what do you do to prevent it from happening at your organization?

Related:6 Ways to Better Support Women in the Workplace

Pay attention to when and how women are promoted

More often, women are promoted in situations that areless attractiveto the majority group (often men). These could be situations where despite the best effort, chances of success are low.

If women are promoted in roles that feel more challenging than the roles that men are often promoted into, you might have a problem. This is especially important for leaders to pay attention to and address. Keep your radar up for potential glass cliff situations and ask if this were a man, would we approach this the same way?

Amplify the experiences of women in your network

Often, women are not given credit for their work equitably to men. Watch out for missed opportunities to give women leadersthe credit they deservefor their good work. Make sure that their performance is incrementally rewarded with pay and promotional opportunities similar to men's. You can measure promotion rates of genders and see how it compares to industry standards. Most commonly women are promoted at86% of the ratethat men are promoted based on equal merit. McKinsey & Company calls this the "broken rung。"

Set goals to increase the representation of women in leadership

Once you're paying attention and measuring promotion rates, it's important toset goals— not quotas. Quotas can create a zero-sum game mentality where men feel like women are only promoted based on their gender. Goals create a win-win opportunity. As women advance, so do profitability and opportunities for all genders.

Related:If You Want More Women in Leadership, You Have to Enact Concerted Change. Here's How.

Develop objective leadership selection criteria

Begin by clearly defining the role you are hiring for, including the responsibilities, expectations and qualifications needed to succeed in the position. This will help you identify the specific skills and traits you are looking for in a candidate. Then, identify the key competencies that are essential for success in the role as well as performance indicators.

Consider using validated assessments, such as personality tests or cognitive ability tests, tomeasure a candidate's abilities objectively。These assessments can provide insight into a candidate's strengths and weaknesses and help you make more informed hiring decisions. Be sure to review the criteria you have developed to ensure that they are fair, relevant and unbiased. Consider involving a diverse group of stakeholders in the review process to ensure that different perspectives are taken into account.

Ensure balanced interview and interviewee slates

对于任何开放的领导地位,it is critical to have a sourcing strategy that ensures you are reaching adiverse pool of candidates。这可能涉及到使用招聘网站,社交媒体,networking events, employee referrals and other channels to attract a wide range of applicants. Screen candidates objectively by using the objective selection criteria you have developed. This will help ensure that all candidates are evaluated based on the same set of standards rather than by outdated gender biases.

一些组织屏幕简历删除任何identifying information, such as names, addresses and schools, to reduce the potential for bias in the hiring and promotion processes. Be sure to Interview a diverse slate of candidates and mirror diverse representation with interviewers to attract a range of perspectives and experiences.

Remove systemic gender biases

The maternal wall is the largest area of gender bias against women where people assumewomen are caregiversand men are providers. This results and decreased opportunities for women and often the prime years of their careers.

Start by recognizing and addressing biases related to caregiving responsibilities, such as assuming that women are more likely to take time off for caregiving or that men are not interested in or capable of taking on caregiving responsibilities. While this gender stereotype may be true often, workplace dynamics and family roles are shifting.

Related:To See More Women in Leadership Roles, Here's What Needs to Happen

What to do as an ally

You might be thinking this is great, but I'm just an individual contributor or one person in a massive organization. What can I do to influence change?

Consider these ideas:

• Challenge your leadership team to be accountable for gender issues in the workplace
• Question promotional decisions that put women in more challenging circumstances where success is unlikely
• Mentor, sponsor andadvocate for women(especially women of color) that are more marginalized so that they are proactively equipped to lead when opportunities become available

With the percentage of female CEOsleading corporate Americaat just 10%, we can do better. The glass cliff prevents women from being effective leaders and can hurt future generations' chances of increasing representation. Learn how you can spot the glass cliff and how to prevent it from occurring in your organization. Collectively, our actions matter as allies.