Minority women use different networking strategies

According to a study by Catalyst, minority women use different informal networking strategies than mainstream employees. These strategies are linked to their promotion rates and their commitment to the companies for which they work.

Catalyst surveyed women board directors and women corporate officers and found that although women have made small advances to positions of leadership through the years, minority women are still very underrepresented at senior management levels. Of the corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies, African American women represent only 0.9 percent, while Asian American women represent just 0.4 percent, and Hispanic women represent a mere 0.3 percent.

Catlayst’s research suggests that one of the primary barriers to the advancement of all women and particularly women who are minorities is that most women lack access to networks of influential colleagues in the workplace. The barrier has become so imposing that Katherine Giscombe, Research Director at Catalyst, calls this the "concrete ceiling."

In order for women to over come this strong barrier to their success, they must change their networking strategies and begin to develop a variety of networks, rather than relying solely on a network of women and other individuals who share their same race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

According to the study, women primarily employ two different networking strategies: "blending in" and "sticking together." The blending in strategy encourages minority women to network and build relationships with the people who have the power in their companies (usually white males).

The sticking together strategy suggests that minority women should network and build relationships with individuals that share similar diversity traits. African American women tend to follow this strategy more often, while Asian American women are more likely to follow the blending in strategy. Hispanic women use a combination of both strategies in their networking activities.

For African American and Asian American women, the study found that their networking strategies predicted their promotion rates, while it found no link between the networking strategies used by Hispanic women and their promotion rates.

The results of this study confirm something that I have advocated for a very long time. In order for women of color to make the necessary advances to make it to the corporate boardroom, they must expand their networks beyond their traditional diversity networks.

Women of color need to do their best to expand their networks to include key decision makers and other influential leaders within their company so that they can develop good relationships. Company leaders and decision makers will learn about the capabilities and achievements of these women through informal networking, which will place these women on their radar when it comes time to make important promotion decisions.

The responsibility to expand their network does not rest on the shoulders of women of color alone. Corporate leaders should make the effort to help break down the barriers that deny women of color access to their informal networks to ensure that women can access these important networks and advance in the workplace.