We have been trying for years to improve our female talent pipeline. Now we see that the hidden effects of the Authority Gap are what has been frustrating our progress.
Close Your Authority Gap
At The Authority Gap Consultancy, we help leaders spot and change this hidden dynamic that prevents organisations from getting the best from all their talent.
Despite good intent and years of effort, many organisations have not yet achieved the gender balance that they would like.
The Authority Gap is the reason why.
What we do
We are a specialist advisory firm solving a hidden performance problem.
Most organisations are unintentionally wasting expertise, leadership potential and expensive talent because invisible authority dynamics between men and women distort who gets heard and advanced. This is an unseen barrier to true meritocracy.
If half the talent pool is not achieving its full potential, what is the opportunity cost? And what is the potential performance improvement your business could achieve?
Organisations spend millions on initiatives that provide tiny incremental performance improvements. Here is a largely untapped performance-boosting opportunity that can be realised for a fraction of that investment.
This has been transformational for our business
Senior Partner, global professional services firmOrganisational benefits
Better decisions
Better culture
Better talent outcomes
Better performance
Performance
- Enhance leadership capability
- Unlock the full value of the people you already employ
- Improve overall performance
Culture
- Create a stronger working environment that benefits everyone
- Improve decision-making quality and innovation
Talent
- Strengthen the female talent pipeline
- Retain your best women and accelerate progress on gender gaps
- Become a magnet for top female talent
Risk
- Reduce risks of groupthink and overconfidence
- Reduce workplace issues and improve conduct risk management
Key Statistics
Evidence of impact from (mostly male) senior leaders
Traditional approaches have focused on women. We include men too, because research shows that in companies where men are actively involved in gender diversity, 96% report progress, compared with only 30% where men are not involved.
That is why we have designed our programme to be a shared experience for men and women working together to create a new dynamic that benefits all.
Notice Authority Gap moments they previously missed.
Feel motivated and better equipped to close Authority Gaps.
Change their behaviour as a result of the programme.
Believe that the programme will lead to more women in senior positions
Say the programme made them a better leader
Say they would recommend the programme to others.
You have helped us put in place a new foundation of trust and the tools and techniques to build on it
Senior Leader, scientific research instituteWhat is the Authority Gap?
Research shows women are (still) much more likely than men to be underestimated
The Authority Gap is the reason why. It’s a phrase coined by Mary Ann Sieghart to define how men and women are treated differently in everyday interactions, meeting culture, hiring, performance and promotion decisions, and formal and informal sponsorship.
This is what tends to make men’s and women’s career paths diverge.
Why does the Authority Gap cost employers money?
Women aren’t equally valued, leading to worse organisational performance, lower female engagement and higher turnover of women.
This hurts your business.
- Poorer decision-making because women’s views are listened to less
- Female employees feel dispirited, so they contribute less
- Decreased female employee engagement
- Women are valued less than men and promoted more slowly
- The poor culture forces women out
- Missed opportunities to maximise women's potential
- Worse performance because you are not making the most of your talent
Client testimonials
This approach is more powerful than everything we have tried before.
I've literally never thought about this before, but now I completely get it.
This has been a stand-out programme for me, I've really enjoyed it.
Very practical and, importantly, delivered in a manner that was comfortable and not confrontational.
You have given us the language, phraseology and confidence to have conversations that we were not having before.
We are clearly in the hands of people who know how to do change management!
I was surprised at how quickly Authority Gap learnings transferred into the workplace and became quite normal.
Too many women excel at their jobs but are ignored for top roles
The struggle to overcome gender bias and be taken seriously leads many to quit prematurely
Imagine a scenario where two executives makes the same point at a high-level: one receives nodes of agreement, but the other is met with scepticism, For many female managers, the latter reaction is all too real, This invisible barrier, dubbed the authority gap, remains pervasive in working life.
If organisations are committed to advancing women, they must go beyond simply increasing representation of women in senior roles. This requires a fundamental shift in how authority is recognised and respected. Until workplaces address this head-on, efforts to boost diversity will remain hollow, and some of their best talent may continue to walk out of the door.
News
The Authority Gap selected as Fortune’s Top CEO’s book of the year
Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said, "The Authority Gap is a very important book...a MUST read!" <a href="https://theauthoritygap.com/the-authority-gap-selected-as-fortunes-top-ceos-book-of-the-year/">Read more</a>
Speak Up radio programme
Women may be caricatured as babbling chatterboxes, but in public, women speak a lot less. Be it in conferences or committee meetings, television or parliamentary debates, women do not get a proportionate amount of air space as men. <a href="https://theauthoritygap.com/speak-up-documentary/">Read more</a>
The struggle to be taken seriously leads many women to quit
Imagine a scenario where two executives make the same point: one receives nods of agreement, but the other is met with scepticism. For many female managers, the latter reaction is all too real. <a href="https://theauthoritygap.com/too-many-women-excel-at-their-jobs-but-are-ignored-for-top-roles/">Read more</a>
Are Women Taken Less Seriously in the Workplace?
On this episode of Bloomberg’s In the City podcast, we discuss whether female leaders are taken less seriously than their male counterparts, and what businesses… <a href="https://theauthoritygap.com/are-women-taken-less-seriously-in-the-workplace/">Read more</a>
Why do some men behave badly? I think I have the answer
From an early age boys are treated as though they are smarter and more talented than girls. It can lead to a damaging overconfidence. <a href="https://theauthoritygap.com/why-do-some-men-behave-badly-i-think-i-have-the-answer/">Read more</a>
How women are taken less seriously than men, and what boards can do about it
Mary Ann Sieghart in conversation with Nurole CEO, Oliver Cummings... <a href="https://theauthoritygap.com/how-women-are-taken-less-seriously-than-men-and-what-boards-can-do-about-it/">Read more</a>
Leadership
Mary Ann Sieghart
Author of The Authority Gap, SID and NED on public company boards, TED speaker, Visiting Professor at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School, former Assistant Editor of The Times, Lex Columnist at the FT, and BBC Radio 4 presenter.
Steve Crook
Management consultant and former PwC partner. Has worked extensively on performance improvement, digital transformation and culture change with a range of organisations in the private and public sectors.
The combination of Mary Ann and Steve’s experience is unique and powerful
CPO, academic institution