Building an inclusive leadership pipeline before the boardroom
The development of future leaders begins long before an executive appointment. It takes shape when a student is encouraged to question an assumption, an employee is trusted to lead a project, or an entrepreneur has the opportunity to reflect on a difficult decision. These experiences help people develop the judgement and confidence they will later bring to positions of greater responsibility.
For me, advancing leadership forms part of a broader responsibility to recognise and develop talent fairly. Leadership capability is not determined by gender. Women and men bring individual strengths, experience and perspectives, and both benefit from access to mentoring, challenging work and professional networks.
My work within the Research Portfolio at Regent Business School (RBS) has reinforced the value of investing in leadership early. Research and community engagement provide practical ways to connect learning with the responsibilities people already carry in their workplaces and communities.
Research offers an important starting point. Learning to interpret evidence, question assumptions and explain a position gives students skills they can use in professional decisions. Introducing these practices during undergraduate study allows students to begin developing their intellectual confidence while they are still exploring their career options.
At a Women in Research event hosted by our Research Portfolio, undergraduate students had the opportunity to engage with accomplished women working in healthcare, higher education and the automotive sector. The intention was to make the relationship between scholarship and professional practice more visible, and to help younger scholars see how research could inform their own development.
Students need to understand how expertise is built and applied. Hearing from people who use knowledge in different settings can help them connect classroom learning with the decisions that shape organisations and communities. For youth the engagement with women working across these fields can also make possible career pathways easier to envisage.
Both women and men participated in the event showing that collective involvement reflected the value of learning together and recognising expertise across disciplines and backgrounds. An inclusive research culture should give every student the opportunity to contribute, engage critically with ideas and benefit from the knowledge of others.
The logical follow on is to connect that exposure with opportunities to participate. Mentorship, presenting research and contributing to a project can give emerging scholars practical experience of responsibility. Established academics and professionals, both men and women, have valuable roles in offering guidance and constructive feedback. That relationship can also bring fresh questions and perspectives to their own work.
Entrepreneurs face many of the same leadership demands in their working lives. They exercise leadership when they manage teams, assess financial risk and respond to changing business conditions. Development opportunities can help them examine these decisions and strengthen capabilities they are already using.
A collaboration between RBS’s Research and Community Engagement Portfolios brought this approach into practice through an engagement with members from South Africa's first global chamber built for women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs.. The programme combined the Everest Leadership Simulation with a Planetarium Experience, giving participants opportunities to explore leadership through practical activity and reflection.
In the simulation, participants assumed different roles within an expedition scenario and worked towards a shared objective. They had to interpret information, manage resources and assess risk while coordinating their decisions. The exercise created a setting in which they could explore the consequences of their choices without exposing their businesses to the risks of a real operational decision.
For the participating entrepreneurs, this offered a way to examine situations familiar from their working lives. How do we decide when information is incomplete? How well do we listen to colleagues whose priorities differ from our own? Reflection on these questions can help leaders understand their habits and identify where a different approach may be useful.
The Planetarium Experience added a wider perspective, encouraging participants to consider interconnected systems, future possibilities and the longer-term consequences of present decisions. Together, the activities created time to step back from daily operational demands and consider how immediate choices relate to broader goals.
The capabilities explored in this engagement are relevant to leaders across genders and sectors. Programmes focused on women entrepreneurs can contribute to that wider culture of professional development. Their value should be assessed through how participants apply their learning.
For institutions and employers, strengthening the leadership pipeline requires attention to the experiences that precede promotion. We should examine how people gain access to substantial projects, mentoring and professional networks, and whether promising contributors are being overlooked. Transparent criteria for allocating responsibility and recognising achievement can help ensure that development opportunities are offered fairly.
Recognition should also lead to further opportunities. An invitation to speak might be followed by involvement in a research project. A development programme might lead to an ongoing mentoring relationship. These connections give people a practical route to build on what they have learnt and demonstrate their growing capability.
Those of us in leadership positions have a responsibility to help create these opportunities. We can share knowledge, make professional introductions and trust emerging colleagues with meaningful responsibility, supported by clear expectations and feedback. Women and men can contribute equally to this work and learn from one another in the process.
The boardroom is one destination in a much longer process of development. Supporting progression within an inclusive leadership culture means recognising contributions while valuing the capabilities of all colleagues. The work begins in the everyday opportunities we create for people to participate, develop sound judgement and take responsibility. Investing in those opportunities can strengthen leadership across our institutions, businesses and communities.
By Dr Kriyanka Moodley - Head of Research Portfolio, Academic and Institutional Research at REGENT Business School
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