Culture clash blamed for female leadership gaps

Poor culture in large financial services organisations could be holding women back from leadership roles, industry executives believe.  

Speaking at the Financial Executive Women Leadership Conference in Sydney yesterday, Metlife’s head of distribution Michael Goodall said organisations’ implicit values stood as a significant barrier for elevation and encouraged women who had experienced poor culture to seek a better fit.  

“Part of the problem here, if you, as the woman in that organisation are not getting that recognition, is maybe there’s something with the culture of that organisation,” he said.  

He said if someone is “doing the right things” but not receiving recognition, “they should think about changing the organisation they work for”.  

Commonwealth Private’s executive general manager, Adrian Hondros, added: “There has to be confidence in the culture of the organisation ... great organisations get that right”.  

Bullying culture and shortsightedness, among both women and men, were cited as other challenges for aspiring industry leaders.  

The Financial Planning Association’s Mark Rantall encouraged victims of bullying to be brave and confront difficult situations, before taking the whistleblowing route.  

“You’ve got to have the confidence and the courage to go to the person who is exerting this behaviour and have a discussion around that,” he said.  

“Certainly in larger organisations, the whistleblowing exercise is a great resource, but in my opinion is a second resource.” 

Rantall said the industry was suffering from a shortage of leaders and a focus on short-term objectives.  

He paid tribute to industry advocate, the late Gwen Fletcher, and said the financial planning industry is lacking similar “brave” leaders.  

“If we’re going to be measured by 12 monthly bonus cycles and thinking, we have to behave in a certain way to keep our jobs. I don’t think that’s going to make anybody happy,” he said. 

“People come to work for a purpose and the purpose is doing the right thing and helping people ¨ All that other stuff will come.”