Catalyst events provide our best opportunity to share our research with Canada’s business community, and for us to learn from their experiences in building diverse and inclusive workplaces. In her first year on the job, Catalyst Canada events manager Jessica Dolmer has brought a fresh eye and a new perspective to our organization and our events. We’ve asked her to share some early impressions and insights with CanCon.

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“A year already?” When the Catalyst team asked me to write a guest Cancon about my first year on the job, I couldn’t believe I had already been working for Catalyst for a year.

Events are a large part of the Catalyst culture, and we take pride in our reputation for excellent speakers and provocative topics. Participants in events like Catalyst Connects or last year’s Engaging Men as Champions have an opportunity to mingle with and listen to some of the most successful men and women business leaders.

Catalyst is more than an organization—the network of members, supporters, and advocates stretches across the country, and includes every sector of the Canadian economy. People attend Catalyst events because they know they’ll leave with something tangible to take back to their companies and their lives. They’ve heard what is actually happening and what others have actually done – the how, the why and the results of business initiatives to advance women.

One of the perks of my job is meeting interesting, successful business leaders. After a full year of working on Catalyst events, I am still amazed and impressed by the calibre of people who are willing to step up and lead discussions. Dynamic, genuine business leaders—people who have made a difference— share their experiences and stimulate discussion and debate. It is a testament to the importance of the Catalyst mission that people are not only happy to be part of our events, but often rearrange their schedules to sit on panels.

The highlight (as well as the biggest challenge) of my first year was probably The Catalyst Canada Honours. My colleagues told me it would be a very special evening, but I wasn’t prepared for the energy and passion of the 600 business leaders who gathered to support the advancement of women.

As I reflect over the past year, I can tell you one of the best things about Catalyst: the great people who provide amazing support and who are extremely skilled at their jobs. The level of trust and honesty at Catalyst give me the confidence to ask the “dumb” question, to speak up with suggestions, and to take risks.

As an employer, Catalyst follows its own advice. As an employee and member of the team, I look forward to the challenges to come.

As another year winds down, I’m still finding inspiration and encouragement in the words of The Catalyst Canada Honours champions who have filled this space over the past three weeks.

And then I get a cold splash of reality with the release last week of the Catalyst Census of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. In brief, there has been no progress in the representation of women at senior executive and board positions in the past six years. The Census indicates that:

• Women held 16.1% of board seats in 2011, compared to 15.7% in 2010.

• About one in ten companies had no women serving on their boards.

• Women of colour still held only 3% of corporate board seats.

• Women held 14.1% of Executive Officer positions in 2011, compared to 14.4% in 2010.

• Women held only 7.5% of Executive Officer top-earner positions in 2011, while men accounted for 92.5% of top earners.

• Less than one in five companies had 25% or more women Executive Officers and more than one-quarter had zero.

In February, we’ll learn how Canada’s FP500 companies are performing in the representation of women on their boards, but we have no reason to anticipate that corporate Canada is more dynamically diverse than their counterparts south of the border.

We know that the presence of women in the boardroom has a positive effect on the bottom line. We know that diverse boards are more agile in dealing with a rapidly changing business environment. We know that women will be an important part of the response to an aging population and a shrinking workforce—and we know that other nations are taking steps to promote women and achieve the diversity that will give a competitive edge in the coming years and decades.

Taking my cue from Catalyst Canada Human Resources/Diversity Leader Michael Bach, I’m asking myself how I’m going to move out of my comfort zone to promote the advancement of women in business in 2012. Maybe it will be speaking up at social gatherings, or taking the time to encourage a young woman to expect more from herself and her career. Maybe it will be challenging an individual friend or colleague to change his or her views on diversity, or to act on these principles to sponsor a talented woman.

Change won’t happen until we step out and speak up for diversity and inclusion. Let’s make 2012 the year we change corporate culture, and make our businesses as diverse as our country.

Among the highlights of The Catalyst Canada Honours are the remarks by the champions themselves. And, in the ensuing days and weeks, these words of inspiration, and the glimpses they provide of personal struggle and achievement, are what I remember and ponder.

The Human Resources/Diversity Leader Champion, Michael Bach, shared his personal passion and belief that privilege brings the responsibility to make a difference. His challenge to the audience was to take bold, possibly unpopular actions and positions to impact the status quo. Michael asked us to consider why change is taking so long, and then left each of us with a personal challenge.

Watch Michael Bach at The Catalyst Canada Honours:

Among the highlights of The Catalyst Canada Honours are the remarks by the champions themselves. And, in the ensuing days and weeks, these words of inspiration, and the glimpses they provide of personal struggle and achievement, are what I remember and ponder.

The 2011 Business Leader Champion, Jennifer Tory, has devoted much of her career to developing people, both directly and through her advocacy for sponsorship and the advancement of women. She has brought the same commitment to acting as a catalyst for change and diversity to her work with community organizations. Her remarks challenged the audience to find talent in their organizations by looking broadly, deeply, and often.

Watch Jennifer Tory at The Catalyst Canada Honours dinner:

The Catalyst Canada Honours Make News

We were delighted with the coverage of The Catalyst Canada Honours last month, especially since much of it focussed on the challenges facing women and their champions in the workplace. And it was great to see The Catalyst Canada Honours champions recognized and celebrated in the media! Here are some of our favourite pieces.

WATCH: “Scotiabank and Catalyst: Supporting Women”, Business News Network, October 18, 2011.

READ: “Félicitations aux Lauréats des Prix Honorifiques de Catalyst Canada”, Premières en Affaires, October 20, 2011.

READ: “Catalysts of Change” by Jacqueline Nelson, Canadian Business, October 20, 2011.

READ: “We Can Do Better Than 18 Per Cent” by Todd Humber, Canadian HR Reporter, October 24, 2011.

Sponsorship Works… But it Needs Work

Ernst & Young’s Fiona MacFarlane is proof that sponsorship is a vital ingredient in corporate success, just as Catalyst research indicates. The challenge now for companies is figuring out how to leverage sponsorship—which has largely occurred informally—to support their efforts to build a diverse pipeline of talent.

READ: “Beyond Mentoring Women at Work: Sponsoring” by Leah Eichler, The Globe and Mail, November 4, 2011.

All Over the World…The Gender Gap is Shifting…

The World Economic Forum has released the 2011 Global Gender Gap Report, noting that, while women are achieving greater equality in health and education, they continue to be underrepresented in economic and political participation. And Canada? We made a small step in the right direction with a move from #20 on the list in 2010 to #18 in 2011. Could we try to leap into the top 10 in 2012?

READ: “Canadian Women Politically Stifled, Report Suggests”, CBC News, November 2, 2011.

READ: “Progress for Women, but a Long Way to Go” by Luisita Lopez Torregrosa, The New York Times, November 1, 2011.

READ: “The Global Gender Gap Report, 2011”, World Economic Forum, November, 2011.

And These Shifts Can Have a Big Impact!

A recent study at Chicago’s DePaul University confirms what our intuition has told us all along—individual sexism correlates with gender inequality in society. Hence Catalyst’s vision: Changing workplaces. Changing lives.

READ: “Sexism and Gender Inequality”, Science Daily, October 30, 2011.

Revisiting Quotas

Senator Céline Herivieux-Payette deserves credit for persistence. She’s reintroducing legislation that would see a requirement for Canadian businesses to have 40% female representation on their boards. Whether you support quotas or some other means of achieving increased numbers of women at senior levels, the public conversation is an important one.

READ: “Senator to Renew Push for More Women on Boards” by Janet McFarland, The Globe and Mail, October 26, 2011.

Some Progress!

With her appointment as CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty joins Hewlett-Packard’s Meg Whitman at the top of the tech world. Ms. Rometty built her career at IBM—does that help women reach the top? And will these two talented and successful women be able to lead a shift to greater equality at high levels in high tech?

READ: “New IBM CEO Means Two Top Tech Chiefs are Women” by Patricia Sellers, CNN Money, October 25, 2011.

READ: “Ginni Rometty: Benefits of Staying Put” by Rachel Emma Silverman, Wall Street Journal Blogs, November 1, 2011

Women Take the Long View

Women are achieving financial success in greater numbers than ever, and they’re looking for different services from their financial advisors. They want a plan that addresses their long term individual and family goals, and an advisor who is familiar with wills, trusts, and estate planning in addition to other investments. Big investment firms are listening and adapting.

READ: “The Differing Female View of Financial Services” by Noreen Rasbach, The Globe and Mail, November 4, 2011.

The Catalyst Canada Honours dinner was in every way a celebration of champions. The stars of the evening, of course, were the three champions: Michael Bach, Jennifer Tory, and Monique Leroux.

But setting the tone for the evening was the challenge for each of us to be a champion of change in the workplace.

As I prepared my own remarks for the event, I recalled stories I had heard recently from two different women. Anne Drinkwater, President & CEO of BP Canada, told of an advocate who had spoken up for her when others were suggesting that a leadership role in Indonesia was just too tough for a woman. Her sponsor was successful in opening the door for her and changed the course of her career.

In India, I met Sasha Sanyal from Genpact. Like many women, she was the one questioning her readiness for a bigger role in the company, while her sponsor expressed his confidence in her ability and assured her of his support. Today, she has built a successful career with the help of this active, supportive advocate and sponsor.

Over and over, we hear from successful business people about a life-changing intervention by one person who believed in them and encouraged them to believe in themselves. Sponsorship is emerging as the critical factor in career advancement. The advocacy of a powerful member of the corporate leadership can determine who is taken seriously as a leader, who gets plum assignments, who gets promoted, and who gets better compensation.

Businesses have made great strides in establishing mentoring programs for women, but when it comes to sponsorship, with its power to change career trajectories, women still are not on the radar.

But that can change.

Last night, I challenged each of our dinner guests to change someone’s life by becoming a sponsor, speaking up on behalf of someone who has earned the opportunity to prove herself, and supporting her to success.

Today, I’m extending that challenge to Catalyst Canada friends and supporters across the country. Think about the people who changed your life with their confidence and advocacy, and honour them by finding someone who has earned your sponsorship.

On a closing note, if anyone has any doubt about the power of individuals to change society, October 18th was also Persons Day. In 1929, as the result of determined effort by five persistent women, Canadian women were finally deemed to be persons with the right to sit in the Canadian Senate. They changed the lives of every woman who followed.

You may not change the country, but your sponsorship will change someone’s personal story forever. And that’s a legacy to celebrate.

If it’s September in Canada, there must be a film festival somewhere! Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax—all have eager film lovers lined up outside theatres at every hour of the day and night. Here in Toronto, we’re atwitter about sightings of the likes of George Clooney, Madonna, Keira Knightley, and Glenn Close, all in town for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

One member of Catalyst’s LinkedIn Group decided to have some fun with the focus on films by posing the question: What are your favourite films about the successes and challenges of women in business?

She suggested the ‘80s classic Working Girl.

Others suggested Nine to Five as the “ultimate revenge fantasy” for every woman who has been harassed or oppressed; The Associate with Whoopi Goldberg as a lawyer who hits the glass ceiling and creates a hammer in the form of an imaginary partner, an older white man; and the little-noticed Morning Glory from two years ago, in which Rachel McAdams plays a business woman who is both smart and successful!

Others reached for the classics: His Girl Friday, with Rosalind Russell in a role that had originally been written for a man; Katherine Hepburn as smart, funny, and a great boss in Desk Set; and the immortal Lucille Ball in Miss Grant Takes Richmond from 1949. What incredibly talented and successful women those three actresses were!

What’s your favourite movie about women in business? Is it a classic that you watched with your mother, or maybe something from this year?

Join the conversation on the Catalyst LinkedIn Group, and let’s have our own celebration of films about women in business. Or follow this great example, and start your own conversation on a topic you care about or just want to have fun with!

As baby boomers retire over the next 15 years, the Canadian economy is relying on a steady stream of immigrants to replace them in the labour force. In fact, Statscan predicts that one out of every three Canadian workers in 2026 will have been born in another country.

That’s right. Fifteen years from now, one-third of the labour force will be immigrants, and many of them will be visible minorities. Businesses that have considered diversity as a “nice to do” for the HR department will be losing the battle to hang onto and attract talented employees to their competition, companies that are taking action today to integrate newcomers into their workforces.

A Catalyst survey team found that many visible minority respondents perceived that workplace barriers, such as lack of fairness in career advancement processes, an absence of role models, inequality in performance standards, and fewer high-visibility assignments, made advancement more difficult for them than for their white/Caucasian colleagues. In addition, visible minorities reported fewer developmental opportunities.

Given these perceptions, it’s no surprise that a smaller percentage of visible minority respondents believed senior management of their organization was committed to cultural diversity.

Employees report greater career satisfaction and organizational commitment—known to be related to greater productivity and profitability—when they feel their organizations’ career advancement processes are fair. And an important predictor of that sense of fairness was the perception that their senior leaders were committed to diversity.

The message? Canadian business leaders not only need to do a better job of encouraging the emergence of talented employees, they need to expand responsibility for diversity beyond the HR department, and link it to broad corporate objectives with a champion from the most senior ranks. TD Bank’s President and CEO Ed Clark demonstrates TD’s commitment to talent development by personally mentoring promising employees—which might explain why he was an inaugural Catalyst Canada Honours Champion, and Canadian CEO of the year for 2010!

Look around your workplace. Where does it fit on the diversity scale—and what can you do to nudge it higher?

Perhaps it’s because one million Canadians are of Indian descent, or because diversity is a defining characteristic of both India and Canada. But for some reason, the sounds, fragrances, and colours that I experienced during my recent visit to India felt strangely familiar.

Certainly, as I met with business leaders in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi, our conversations about the challenges women face at work could easily have taken place in any Canadian city—struggles with work-life effectiveness and the lack of role models, mentors, and sponsors were at the top of the list.  (And who would have thought that a story about Canadian ice hockey would resonate with a business audience in Mumbai?)

However, the Indian cultural context adds layers of complexity to the issues facing women and organizations. Women in India are fighting battles that Canadian women have largely already won, for personal safety,  reliable childcare options, and more egalitarian societal assumptions about women’s roles. As a result, organizations are adopting programs that go beyond the flexible work arrangements or talent management practices that are familiar to North American ears. They are providing transportation to and from work sites, implementing recruitment programs that target women who have been out of the workplace, and reaching out to the parents and families of current and prospective employees.

The good news is that a hungry economy is creating jobs for young, educated Indians at an amazing pace, and organizations understand that women represent an underutilized talent pool. (Going to India, I expected to hear about the rapid pace of growth, but I wasn’t quite prepared to hear business leaders casually talk about hiring tens of thousands of people!)

Every day, some newspaper—and there are many—carried an article on the important role played by women. One talked about the growing number of women pursuing higher education and urged businesses to be prepared to open their doors to a generation of bright, well-educated, and confident young women. Another talked about the fact that the oldest woman in a family had been declared the “head of the household” for the purposes of a new program that will distribute food to families living in poverty. And in a story that is close to the heart of Catalyst researchers, “the gender gap” was the theme of National Statistics Day!

Each of these stories describes a country that is coping with the social and cultural jolts that accompany rapid growth. I’m thrilled that women are recognized as a critical success factor in navigating the changes, and I look forward to forging closer connections with India as Catalyst grows and learns from this amazing country.