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Mentoring as a capability development tool to increase gender balance on leadership teams: an innovation study

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MENTORING AS A CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT TOOL TO INCREASE
GENDER BALANCE ON LEADERSHIP TEAMS: AN INNOVATION STUDY

by
Catherine E. Lang

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2020

Copyright 2020 Catherine Lang

ii
Acknowledgements
This work did not happen in isolation. I am forever grateful for the professors and
advisors I had the fortune to work with throughout this journey. It is rare to be given the
opportunity to spend time and learn from (and with) such a diverse and fascinating group of
people.
I would not have made it through this process without the guidance of Dr. Adrian Donato
and Dr. Susanne Foulk. Dr. Foulk, in particular, gave me the motivation to complete the final
mile of this journey in the final course of the final term. And I cannot thank Dr. Kenneth Yates
enough. He has unflagging energy and has forgotten more than I will ever know about learning
and organizational change. Dr. Yates was the coach I never knew I needed.
An unexpected benefit of this program was the chance to work with fellow cohort
members from around the world. Every milestone was one we needed each other for and
celebrated together. This is especially true for the women of the late-night reading group who,
individually and collectively, are a force to be reckoned with.
Finally, it takes courage and commitment to share personal experiences and challenges
during this time of research. Each woman I spoke with was passionate about her success and
about helping other women achieve their goals. Anyone would be lucky to know them and learn
from their lives.

iii
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ii
List of Tables v
List of Figures vi
Abstract vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Introduction to the Problem of Practice 1
Global Organizational Context and Mission 2
Global Organizational Performance Status/Need 3
Related Literature 3
Importance of the Innovation 6
Global Organizational Performance Goal 6
Description of Stakeholder Groups 8
Global Stakeholder Group for the Study 9
Global Stakeholder Group of Focus 9
Purpose of the Project and Questions 10
Methodological Framework 10
Definitions 11
Organization of the Study 11
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 13
Influence on the Problem of Practice 13
Benefits of Gender Balance 14
Gender in the Workplace 15
Leadership Traits Valued by Senior Executives 19
Relationships and Career Development 20
The Role of Mentoring 21
Theoretical Importance of Mentoring 22
Clark and Estes’ (2008) Knowledge, Motivation, and Organization Influences Framework 24
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences 25
Knowledge and Skills 27
Motivation 32
Organizational Influences 36
Cultural Models and Cultural Settings 37
The Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge, Motivation,
and the Organizational Context 43
The Importance of Mentoring in Gender-Balance Initiatives 44
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational (KMO) Influences on the
Problem of Practice 45
Conclusion 50
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS 52
Participating Stakeholders 53
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale 53
Data Collection and Instrumentation 54
Interviews 55
Documents and Artifacts 58
Data Analysis 58
Credibility and Trustworthiness 59

iv
Structure and Specificity 59
Identify Personal Bias 60
Rich Data and Transferability 61
Triangulation 61
Ethics 62
Limitations and Delimitations 65
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS 67
Participating Stakeholders 68
Determination of Assets and Needs 69
Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes 70
Factual Knowledge 71
Conceptual Knowledge 73
Procedural Knowledge 74
Results and Findings for Motivation Causes 77
Self-Efficacy 77
Goal Orientation 79
Results and Findings for Organization Causes 80
Cultural Models 80
Cultural Settings 83
Summary of Validated Influences 85
Closing Recommendations from Participants 86
CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS AND EVALUATION 88
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences 89
Knowledge Recommendations 89
Motivation Recommendations 95
Organization Recommendations 98
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan 103
Implementation and Evaluation Framework 103
Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations 104
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators 104
Level 3: Behavior 105
Level 2: Learning 109
Level 1: Reaction 113
Evaluation Tools 113
Data Analysis and Reporting 115
Summary 117
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach 117
Limitations and Delimitations 119
Future Research 121
Conclusion 122
References 123
Appendix A Interview Protocol 141
Appendix B Document Analysis Protocol 143
Appendix C Post-Workshop Evaluation 145
Appendix D Delayed Evaluation Interview Protocol 147

v
List of Tables
Table 1 Knowledge Influence, Knowledge Type, and Knowledge Influence Assessment ...........31
Table 2 Motivation Influence and Motivation Influence Assessment ...........................................36
Table 3 Organizational Influences and Assessment ......................................................................43
Table 4 Interview Participant Descriptions ....................................................................................69
Table 5 Knowledge Assets or Needs as Determined by the Data ..................................................85
Table 6 Motivation Assets or Needs as Determined by the Data ..................................................85
Table 7 Organization Assets or Needs as Determined by the Data ...............................................86
Table 8 Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ............................................90
Table 9 Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations .............................................96
Table 10 Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations .......................................99
Table 11 Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes ........................105
Table 12 Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation ..............................106
Table 13 Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors ...........................................................108
Table 14 Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program ........................................112
Table 15 Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ......................................................113

vi
List of Figures
Figure 1. Conceptual framework for a mentoring program design. ..............................................46
Figure 2. Women promoted to VP positions. ..............................................................................116
Figure 3. Year 1 to 2 drop out rate. ..............................................................................................116
Figure 4. Learning investment and participant count. .................................................................116

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Abstract
This study uses a gap analysis problem-solving framework to examine ways in which technology
companies in the United States can achieve gender balance on senior leadership teams through a
relationship-based leadership development program. The purpose of the study was to identify the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that affect an aspiring female leader’s
ability to use mentoring as a leadership development technique to achieve a senior leadership
position. Seven women who currently hold or have held a senior leadership position at a
technology company were interviewed in depth to discover how knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences related to leadership characteristics, the conceptual understanding of
mentoring, the procedural use of feedback and development plans, self-efficacy and mastery
orientation, and cultural models and settings aided or hindered their ability to achieve their
leadership aspirations. Findings show that influences related to knowledge of valued
characteristics, conceptual knowledge, motivational influences, and an organizational culture of
learning were assets in these women’s experience, but that aspiring female leaders likely lack
support in procedural knowledge of feedback and development planning, and organizations have
insufficient visible support for the development and promotion of women leaders. Based on these
findings, recommendations are drawn from the research literature are offered to address these
needs and reinforce these assets. This study helps to understand the complex interactions needed
to increase the number of women in senior leadership positions, ultimately providing technology
organizations with the financial and social benefits of a gender-balanced leadership team.

1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Problem of Practice
Women are underrepresented on leadership teams at technology companies in the United
States (Hartmans, 2017; Kosoff, 2015; Mercer, 2016; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, 2016). Despite recent interest in gender diversity throughout the industry and
significant media attention on this problem (King, 2015), little has improved in this area. The
number of women in senior leadership positions in the United States remained flat year-over-
year in 2016 and there is an apparent lack of systemic and supportive practices to build a female
leadership pipeline (Mercer, 2016). Leaders at technology companies often begin diversity and
inclusion programs to address this problem because of business imperatives, including
globalization, a change in employee demographics and expectations, talent and skill shortages, or
a desire to increase company competitiveness with increased innovation (Derven, 2014; Dipboye
& Jayne, 2004; Martin, 2014). When successful, these diversity and inclusion programs can
increase the leadership team’s gender balance, which, in turn, can contribute to better company
performance against key indicators (Perryman, Fernando, & Tripathy, 2016; Weschler, 2015).
This study focuses on how mentoring programs as part of a diversity and inclusion
strategy may contribute to a stronger candidate pool of women with valued leadership
capabilities for future senior leadership positions in technology companies. Effective mentoring
program design is relevant for technology companies that struggle to achieve their desired
gender balance on the leadership team and who may suffer from systems and standards that favor
men for leadership positions. The results of this study identify knowledge, motivation, and
organization influences that help or hinder a woman’s ability to use mentoring to develop valued
leadership traits which, in turn, creates a more sustainable candidate pool of women from which
to hire or promote into senior leadership roles.

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Global Organizational Context and Mission
This study focuses on technology companies headquartered in the United States that have
a stated goal of increasing gender balance and parity on the leadership team. Over the past five
years (2014–2019), a number of these organizations have started to publish data about the
current state and future goals regarding gender-based pay equity, percentage of the total
population that identifies with different genders, and the ratio of men to women on leadership
teams and boards (Weber Shandwick, 2016). Some technology companies, such as Salesforce,
made public investments being made to ensure pay equity (Robbins, 2018) and others, such as
SAP, report annually on progress on gender-balanced leadership goals (SAP, 2019). Some
companies are starting to publish a diversity report that includes company values and cultural
norms that support gender equity and balance and examples of how these values and norms are
enacted in the organization (Weber Shandwick, 2016).
Not all technology companies make these actions and data public, and some are likely not
taking significant action to achieve gender balance on the leadership team. While these
companies may benefit from the recommendations from this study, the suggested programs are
more likely to be successful as part of an organizational change effort if there is visible
sponsorship from senior leadership and defined and measurable goals. Likewise, companies that
have gender-equity goals overall but are not focusing on gender balance in leadership teams may
be able to use these mentoring program design and execution principles. Those organizations
would need to adapt the recommendations to better fit the roles and capabilities most relevant to
their employee populations.
The technology companies that are most likely to benefit from this study are those that
have stated gender balance goals for their leadership teams. These goals will likely be within a
minimum of five years, with incremental metrics associated with internal promotions, high-

3
potential programs, or leadership development activities specifically designed to focus on future
leaders. These companies will have executive-level sponsorship and include diversity and
inclusion values and expectations in the company mission, culture, or purpose statements. And,
finally, these technology companies will have career development programs that include
relationship-based initiatives such as mentoring.
Global Organizational Performance Status/Need
Gender imbalance on leadership teams in technology companies is particularly stark
considering that the overall employee population is fairly well balanced. In the United States,
approximately 47% of the labor force identifies as female (U.S. Department of Labor, 2016). At
non-technology companies, the general employee population follows a model of gender parity in
most roles up to senior leadership and women representing between 20% and 27% of executive
or senior leadership roles (Catalyst, 2019; Thomas et al., 2018). In technology companies,
however, 30% of employees are women (USEEOC, 2016) and only 28% are as likely to be
promoted to a senior leadership position as men (World Economic Forum, 2016), resulting in
senior leadership teams with less than 20% women (Thomas et al., 2018; USEEOC, 2016;
Weber Shandwick, 2016). These facts, coupled with the predominance of women earning
advanced degrees (Okahana & Zhou, 2018; WEF, 2016), who are presumably ready for
leadership positions, indicate that the selection, hiring, and promotion processes at technology
companies have systemic flaws that make it more difficult for women to be promoted to senior
leadership positions.
Related Literature
Companies with better gender diversity can attract top talent, improve customer and
employee satisfaction, and streamline decision making (Hunt, Prince, Dixon-Fyle, & Yee, 2018).
Additionally, increasing gender diversity and implementing gender-focused policies and

4
practices can reduce turnover, up to almost six percent for every five policies and practices
enacted (Ali, Metz, & Kulik, 2015). Companies that show support for underrepresented groups
in ways that help target new markets grow in those new markets faster (Mercer, 2011; Raeburn,
2004). Further, technology companies that can demonstrate concrete action in diversity and
inclusion efforts have increased customer loyalty and employee engagement and retention
(Githens, 2009; Pollitt, 2014).
These reasons alone justify investments in diversity initiatives, but the largest driver for
change at for-profit companies is often market competitiveness and revenue generation.
Companies wherein women make up more than 20% of leadership generate more revenue from
new products and services (Lorenzo et al., 2017). The benefits of gender diversity in relation to
revenue from innovation increase as an organization is more complex with multiple products or
multiple industries, or as an organization grows in revenue and reaches more than 10,000
employees (Lorenzo et al., 2017).
Companies that emphasize digital innovation reap the most benefits from gender
diversity (Lorenzo & Reeves, 2018). In one study, companies where women make up 40% of the
leadership team report 34% of revenues coming from innovative products and services. Higher
percentages of women in leadership are also positively correlated to the introduction of
disruptive innovations, where a new product or service displaces an existing version (Lorenzo et
al., 2017). In another study, companies in the top quartile on gender diversity were 21% more
likely to overachieve on profitability and 27% more likely to have superior profit margins. In
contrast, companies in the bottom quartile were 29% more likely to underperform in both these
categories (Hunt et al., 2018). And in a third study, revenue from innovative products was shown
to increase up to two-and-a-half percent based on gender diversity in leadership (Lorenzo &
Reeves, 2018).

5
A possible explanation for the lack of gender balance in leadership teams is systemic and
difficult to identify. In a foundational study, Acker (1990) first described a pattern in
organizations that relies on a “male ideal” to describe valued leadership traits. This pattern of
leadership selection uses the current leadership population as the model for these ideal traits and
stereotypes male and female behaviors and strengths. For example, the stereotype suggests that
men are more aggressive and women are more compliant and that being aggressive is more
valued as a leadership trait because the current leaders are seen to be aggressive. According to
Acker’s (1990) findings, therefore, all the language, preferences, and behaviors in leadership
selection should highlight the value of aggressiveness, which then equates to looking for a male
candidate.
The use of the “male ideal” can be pervasive in an organization, including in the language
it uses in job descriptions and promotion requirements (Garcia-Retamero & López-Zafra, 2006),
descriptions of leadership candidates in performance reviews (Hoyt & Burnett, 2013), current
leaders’ tendency to sponsor future leaders who most closely look and behave like the current
leadership team, and how men and women use that ideal to self-assess readiness for a more
senior position (Bierema, 2016; Buunk, Piero, & Griffoen, 2011; Örtenblad et al., 2016). Even in
organizations that strive to achieve gender balance, these well-worn practices continue to
perpetuate the stereotype of male as the ideal leader.
The “male ideal” has a critical flaw. Senior leaders in technology companies today value
leadership traits that are more aligned to servant and authentic leadership instead of the
stereotypical male leader (Gerhardt, Peluchette, & Beck, 2014). Technology companies that want
to achieve financial and performance goals are better served by focusing on leaders with
leadership capabilities such as communication and collaboration, integrity, and clarity of purpose
(Gerhardt et al., 2014; Giles, 2016). The opportunity is to create leadership development

6
programs that foster these characteristics and behaviors to increase the number of future
leadership candidates available within an organization (Castilla, 2015). These concepts will be
further explored using Clark and Estes’ (2008) knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences framework in Chapter Two.
Importance of the Innovation
It is important to introduce career development programs designed specifically to address
a lack of gender balance in leadership teams. Solving this problem encompasses a number of
functions, processes, and policies, and the data show that more needs to be done to prepare the
current and future female leadership ranks for inclusion in the creation, management, and
evolution of technology companies (National Center for Women & Information Technology,
2016). The reliance on programs and activities that reinforce gender bias and gender stereotypes
perpetuates the problem and blocks the creation of a female candidate pipeline for future
leadership roles (Bierema, 2016; Buunk et al., 2001; Dasgupta & Asgari, 2004; Rudman &
Phelan, 2010). The current emphasis on competing for existing female leaders without an effort
to change gendered career development programs to garner a sustainable gender-balanced
candidate pool will likely result in a continued imbalance on leadership teams for the foreseeable
future.
Global Organizational Performance Goal
Forward-looking, senior leaders at technology companies have either discovered the
performance benefits of a gender-balanced leadership team or are seeking gender balance
because of social, organizational, or personal impetuses (Weber Shandwick, 2016). These
leaders establish organizational goals for gender-balanced leadership teams specific to their
business practices and needs (Robbins, 2018; SAP, 2019). Generally, these goals can be
summarized by saying that technology companies strive to achieve a gender-balanced leadership

7
team in a time period reasonable to their business strategy. It is important to note that gender
balance is not necessarily an equal number of male and female leaders, but it is specific to the
organization’s beliefs about whether this balance should reflect the employee population, the
customer population, the regional population, or other factors related to their size, location,
performance goals, and values. To date, there are no women-in-leadership industry standards to
benchmark against or adhere to. Goals are often framed as incremental increases in gender
balance or employee satisfaction that indicates “doing better.”
As noted above, goals related to gender balance using career development are usually set
with a minimum of a 5-year time horizon, with incremental metrics established to show progress.
This is in direct contrast to goals that focus on hiring experienced women leaders to achieve
balance more quickly. This is because career development assumes there is a need for skills
development, additional experience, an increase in capability and acumen, all of which require a
programmatic and multi-year plan. If the intent is to achieve the right level of gender balance by
promoting from within the organization and then to sustain that balance, technology
organizations need to establish goals that take into account the time required to build and
continue that flow of qualified female leaders.
Because of the lack of standards and the wide variability across companies in how gender
balance fits into overall strategy, tangible organizational goals focus on the primary actors in
leadership development, the female employee, and the ways that these employees should be
developed, promoted, and supported. In the same way that diversity goals are specific to an
organization, the most effective methods of career development are unique to each organization.
The results of this study describe knowledge, motivation, and organization influences that
help or hinder a woman’s ability to use mentoring to develop valued leadership traits. This is
particularly relevant for technology companies that strive for gender balance on the leadership

8
team but are mired in organizational systems and processes that continue to favor men as leaders.
The recommendations from the primary stakeholders provide insight into the structure and
support of mentoring programs focused on increasing the number of women who exhibit valued
leadership capabilities. This, in turn, has the potential to create a more gender-balanced candidate
pool from within an organization to sustain a gender-balanced leadership team.
Description of Stakeholder Groups
Many stakeholders will contribute to the organizational goal of providing career
development activities for female directors that enable the development of skills and networks to
become viable candidates for senior leadership positions. Stakeholders include an organization’s
leadership development team, the executive staff, individuals who act as mentors and coaches,
and the female directors. The leadership development team is responsible for the creation,
support, and measurement of career development programs. The executive staff must actively
and regularly support and promote the program and participate in the review of leadership
candidates. Mentors and coaches must commit to providing the right level and amount of
influence, recommendations, introductions, and other activities based on the agreed-upon goals
and relationship. And the female directors need to take responsibility for establishing these
relationships and goals and executing on their individual career development programs.
The leadership development team relies on an additional stakeholder who provides input
recommendations about the elements of a mentoring program designed specifically to address an
increase in valued leadership traits in aspiring female leaders. Women who have achieved senior
leadership positions and who have worked with mentors to develop the traits that they and their
organizations value are a rich source of insight, experience, and data about the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that helped make the mentoring relationship effective.
This is the stakeholder group of focus for this study.

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Global Stakeholder Group for the Study
While there are many stakeholders involved in the gender-balance goals and leadership
development programs, this study focused on what can be learned from women who have used
mentoring in their careers and who have achieved a senior leadership position at a technology
company. This stakeholder group was selected because these women have personal experience
with the importance of valued leadership characteristics and how to establish, plan, and use a
mentoring relationship to become one of the few women in leadership in the technology
industry. This stakeholder group also has first-hand experience and knowledge about the
leadership traits they needed to develop and how their ability to manage a mentoring relationship
helped or hindered the benefits they expected. They can describe the challenges regarding
motivation during this part of their career journey, including their own self-efficacy and desire to
master these new capabilities. And they can reflect on and share insights about how their
organization was or was not structured to support the mentoring relationship and the
achievement of their leadership development goals.
Global Stakeholder Group of Focus
The study stakeholders were women across the United States who have achieved senior
leadership positions and incorporated mentoring in their career development activities to elicit
recommendations and best practices from their individual experiences. Each participant was able
to identify a mentor in her career who was perceived to have been instrumental in the
development of leadership capabilities. In addition, each participant currently held or previously
held a vice presidency or equivalent position in a for-profit technology company. For the
purposes of this study, few limitations were placed on the type of technology company since
valued leadership characteristics are generally universal (Zenger & Folkman, 2014). It is
important to note that, while men also benefit from mentoring programs, the stakeholder

10
participants were individuals who identified as female during their mentoring program and when
they achieved their leadership position.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to study how female leaders across multiple
organizations have used and benefited from mentoring relationships in their careers to achieve
senior leadership positions, which is related to a larger problem of practice. This analysis focused
on the assets in the areas of knowledge and skill, motivation, and organizational resources. While
a complete study would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes, the stakeholders of
focus in this is analysis were women who achieved senior leadership positions in technology
companies across the United States. Three questions guided this study:
1. What knowledge, motivation, and organization factors do women leaders in the
technology industry perceive to help or hinder a mentoring relationship that contributes to
their ability to achieve a senior leadership position?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and stakeholder knowledge and
motivation that affects a woman’s ability to identify valued leadership traits and develop
those traits through a mentoring relationship?
3. What recommendations in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organizational
resources can be made to inform the design of a mentoring program that is meant to
increase the number of women in senior leadership positions?
Methodological Framework
For this study, Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis was used to provide a systematic and
analytical method to perform a needs analysis. Related literature and personal knowledge were
used to generate assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs and a conceptual
framework for how these influences interact. These needs were validated by using interviews, a

11
literature review, and content analysis. Research-based solutions have been recommended and
evaluated in a comprehensive manner.
Definitions
High-tech industry: Companies that have a high number of occupations in the science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields and that produce goods or services that
promote the use of electronic and computer-based production methods (USEEOC, 2016).
Mentoring: An active development activity that involves bi-directional information flow
and collaboration between mentor and protégé to develop specific skills and capabilities as part
of a development plan (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000; Sanfey, Hollands, & Gantt, 2013).
Professional Development: Activities that lead to the acquisition of new knowledge and
skills that contribute to personal growth. Activities that include cognitive and interpersonal skill
development are most effective (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009).
STEM jobs: Occupations that include technical and professional support in the computer
science and mathematics, engineering, and life and physical sciences fields (Beede et al., 2011).
Organization of the Study
This study is organized in five chapters. This chapter details the key concepts and
terminology commonly found in a discussion about gender balance, leadership development, and
mentoring program design. An overview of the organizational needs and objectives and rationale
for why technology companies may be looking to address gender balance on the leadership team
were introduced. Chapter Two provides a review of the current literature on this topic, including
an exploration of the benefits of a gender-balanced leadership team, the effect of gendered roles
on gender-diversity initiatives, leadership traits most valued by senior leadership and the impact
of gender stereotyping, and the role that mentoring plays in the development of leadership skills
in women. Chapter Three includes the assumed needs for the study and the methodology used to

12
select participants and methods for data collection and analysis. The data are assessed and
analyzed and Chapter Four. Chapter Five provides recommendations, based on data and
literature, for addressing the needs and developing an implementation plan for the solutions.

13
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The path to creating a gender-balanced leadership team in technology companies is
largely uncharted. Despite an increasing body of evidence that shows the benefits of gender
balance, in practice, there has been little change in the composition of leadership teams at these
companies (Hartmans, 2017; Kosoff, 2015; Mercer, 2016) and minimal demonstration of
systemic action to develop a sustainable cadre of future female leaders (Mercer, 2016). This
literature review begins with a discussion of the organizational costs and benefits of achieving a
gender-balanced leadership team. Next, the review examines the effect of gendered roles and job
associations and how these associations have manifested themselves in career development
activities and the impact on gender-diversity initiatives. The review continues with an
examination of the leadership traits that are most valued when hiring or promoting an individual
to senior leadership positions and the effect of gender associations to those traits. The review
concludes with an exploration of the role that relationships in general and mentoring specifically
play in the development of leadership skills for women. Although the literature presented here
has been applied to a variety of contexts, this review focuses primarily on the literature’s
application to the problem of creating effective career development initiatives for women in the
technology industry to support sustainable business growth. Following the general literature
review, this chapter provides a definition and description of Clark and Estes’ (2008) knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences’ lens used in this study with detail on the assumptions
of their effect on the women who are looking to develop the core traits that provide a pathway to
leadership positions.
Influence on the Problem of Practice
A gender-balanced leadership team has a significant effect on the achievement of
organizational goals when innovation is a core business driver (Dezso & Ross, 2012). Research

14
reveals, however, that the solution is not in overt policies and widespread diversity programs but,
rather, in activities that focus on the individual. These include the support of relationship-
building with role models and mentors (Amon, 2017; Sanford, Ross, Blake, & Cambiano, 2015),
career planning that works to activate values, personal motivations, and feedback (Rudman &
Phelan, 2010), and actions that emphasize integration, not just inclusion, of individuals into the
organization (Bierema, 2016; Dasgupta & Asgari, 2004). Doing this requires abandonment of
gendered role definitions and career development programs (Birema, 2006; Dasgupta & Asgari,
2004; Rudman & Phelan, 2010) and a rejection of the use the “male ideal” in describing and
evaluating leadership candidates (Bierema, 2016; Buunk et al., 2011; Örtenblad et al., 2016). In
concert with these changes, an understanding of the leadership traits most valued by technology
companies and the gender-association bias that is introduced to the leadership selection process
may lead to a more gender-balanced pool of leadership candidates (Cann & Siegfried, 1990).
Benefits of Gender Balance
A woman in leadership encounters the rare phenomenon of being sought after for the
social and financial benefits she brings while being undervalued and often underpaid. A gender-
balanced leadership team equates to increased financial performance, better risk management,
and more successful decision making (Dawson, Kersley, & Natella, 2014; Dezso & Ross, 2012;
Wechsler, 2015). Dezso and Ross (2012) also show that leadership skills valued by companies
that favor innovation are more prevalent among women managers. To see these gains,
participatory strategies and inclusion are needed throughout all levels of the organization
(Bierema, 2016; Richard, Kirby, & Chadwick, 2013). However, organizations consistently have
higher concentrations of female employees in functional positions with less influence and
organizational power, such as in shared services functions such as human resources or external
relations, than their male counterparts (Dawson et al., 2014). This is somewhat counterintuitive.

15
Female leaders are a scarce resource, which generally translates to higher compensation, but
women are consistently paid less than men in similar positions (Bierema, 2016). At the same
time, women in leadership increase positive corporate outcomes (performance) but make up a
small percentage of the workforce (Catalyst, 2016; Perryman et al., 2016). The research shows
that organizations benefit from women in leadership positions, but few organizations are
achieving a gender-balanced leadership team.
Gender in the Workplace
Male-dominated leadership teams stem from the complex dynamics between social and
professional stereotypes and expectations (Kray & Howland, 2016), evolving perceptions and
values of men and women in the workplace (Haile, Emmanuel, & Dzathor, 2016), and women-
focused programs and books may reinforce gender imbalance instead of resolving it (Bierema,
2016; Diehl & Dzubinski, 2016; Williams & Mills, 2019). Programs such as unconscious bias
training, events that focus on women in technology, and employee brand and engagement
programs that emphasize gender diversity are common practice (Lanier & Fine, 2018; Williams
& Mills, 2019; Wilton, 2017). These programs are hampered by long-standing concepts of
gendered roles and functions (Bierema, 2016; Castilla & Benard, 2010; Rudman & Phelan,
2010).
The male ideal. The predominance of men in leadership did not happen suddenly. Over
many years, a number of societal assumptions and expectations shaped a leadership persona that
is based on the male ideal. The “male ideal” draws from the concept of a gendered organization,
meaning an organization or company that patterns advantage, meaning, identity, and value on an
association with males or females (Acker, 1990). By identifying the workers as male and using
language and examples that favor the male ideal, females are excluded from the
conceptualization of the worker (Örtenblad et al., 2016).

16
Perpetuating the male ideal through outdated beliefs about a woman’s way of working,
strengths, and availability reinforces continued imbalance in leadership teams (Acker, 1990;
Rudman & Phelan, 2010; Tienari, Quack, & Theobald, 2002). In a gendered organization, males
are predominantly the ideal candidates for managerial and professional jobs that are more
demanding, require longer hours, and are more highly paid because of assumptions about the
male role in childcare or other non-work-related activities (Gascoigne, Parry, & Buchanan, 2015;
Rudman & Phelan, 2010). Women are sometimes perceived as not aligning with the presumed
male norms both in style and availability due to stereotypical family obligations or preference,
and, therefore, their desirability for promotion or pay equity is diminished (Acker, 1990;
Bierema, 2016; Diehl & Dzubinski, 2016). Women who strive to become leaders are obstructed
by implicit patterns, stereotypes, and gendered roles that assume they are not as valuable or
reliable as men and therefore should not be promoted to leadership (Bierma, 2016; Cundiff &
Vescio, 2016; Diehl & Dzubinski, 2016). The use of the male ideal shifts and is used differently
in organizational contexts as companies evolve. It is therefore not static, and perhaps therefore
difficult to overcome definition (Tienari et al., 2002). Surprisingly, men who strive to become
leaders are hampered by these same patterns and stereotypes and subsequently make choices that
go against their own values to meet the standard of the male ideal.
The female ideal. As with the male ideal, stereotypes and patterns create the counter-
construct in the form of the female ideal. The female ideal is firmly rooted in gendered beliefs
about domestic responsibilities (Cha, 2010) and a persistent but debunked belief that women are
less interested in leadership positions (Mahitivanichcha & Rorrer, 2006). These beliefs may lead
to stereotyping policies and behaviors. Working arrangements, such as leaves of absence or
working hours, that seem to cause a lower wage for women may, in fact, stem more from the

17
societal norms where women shoulder more of the house and childcare responsibilities than from
personal choice for these arrangements (Leuze & Strauß, 2016).
There is no typical or ideal female leader, as there is no typical male leader, but, in
highly-gendered organizations, measures to counteract the negative associations ascribed to
women may need to be taken. These associations may include perceptions of being “behind”
after family leave, cultural stereotypes and assumptions about what women want or need in their
professional lives, additional requirements to prove equal qualifications, and concerns over
availability (Morimoto & Zajicek, 2014; Panteli, 2006). While this study is primarily about the
leadership characteristics that are most valued and valuable to technology companies, family is a
significant factor that drives the continued use of the male and female ideal.
The role of family in gender balance. Women, on average, carry a disproportionate
amount of childrearing and domestic responsibilities, resulting in assumptions about a lack of
time or focus to be an effective leader. Leadership positions that require unlimited availability,
complete flexibility in schedules, and undivided attention favor men (Cahusac & Kanji, 2014),
even though all workers find this to be increasingly untenable. Findings show that professional
women are less likely to receive spousal support in domestic responsibilities than professional
men, and having children in combination with a spouse who works extreme hours significantly
increases the odds that a woman will quit her job while having no effect on the odds that a man
will (Cha, 2010). Organizations are working to overcome these challenges and assumptions by
creating women-oriented programs which may be helpful to individual women but not
necessarily address the underlying infrastructure created by the perpetuation of the male ideal.
Women-centered programs. The influx of women-centered programs at technology
companies attempts to address the problem of women not behaving or performing in a way that
positions them for success and promotion. As popular as these programs are, they start from the

18
basis that there is a norm, derived from the male ideal, that women should work to achieve
(Amon, 2017). These programs can also create a belief that there is a separate “women’s way of
doing things,” which is often compared to the male “norm” and sets unrealistic expectations of
how all women will behave in the workplace (Bierema, 2016). This compounds the cultural
expectation that women need to play the “male game” (Knights & Kerfoot, 2004) and change
their work style and schedule to mimic the characteristics of an ideal candidate to succeed. In
more insidious ways, these programs can create a belief that women require disproportionate
help to be successful (Bierema, 2016; Cormier, 2007).
Dasgupta and Asgari (2004) suggest that a more effective way to counteract the male
ideal is through women-centered programs that promote a societal effect of continuous change in
stereotyping based on exposure to counter-stereotypical role models. Exposure to counter-
stereotypical women leaders not only counters unconscious stereotypes but increases counter-
stereotype beliefs (Buunk et al., 2011; Dasgupta & Asgari, 2004; Ioana, 2013). Similarly,
programs that focus on women in female-dominant professions can counteract beliefs about
whether these professions are worthy of pay equity or promotion (Blackburn & Jarman, 2006).
Finally, equality is promoted in organizations that have alignment among the values of the
organization, the value of women in the organization, and those that highlight the differences
between women and men in organizations (Örtenblad et al., 2016). Organizational leaders who
commit to identifying and addressing the systemic barriers to women achieving leadership
positions increase the likelihood that women at lower levels in the organization will be promoted
(Ibarra, Ely, & Kolb, 2013). Effective leadership should reflect characteristics that make up a
strong leader, not an idealized version of a leader. Those leadership characteristics are clearly
defined and consistent across organizations of many sizes and industries.

19
Leadership Traits Valued by Senior Executives
Leadership competency models are not new. Leadership levels, regional and cultural
norms, style preferences, and organizational research all influence the behaviors and skills
included in these models (Norzailan, Othman, & Ishizaki, 2016). It is important to know what
leadership behaviors are most valued by successful C-level hiring and promotion decision-
makers and how those capabilities are used in career progression and development. Cultural
norms define leadership expectations, including who will get promoted and who will garner the
attention of followers. Leaders create and change the culture, in contrast to managers who act
within the culture, but it is only partially influenced by leader behavior. It is the leader’s
responsibility to be conscious of the cultural norms of his or her organization to avoid
misinterpreting direction or expected behaviors (Schein, 2004).
There are a set of leadership characteristics that regularly show up on cross-industry
competency models. The most valued characteristics represent aspects of servant and authentic
leadership styles, not the stereotypical male ideal leadership model (Gerhardt et al., 2014).
Increasing awareness of the genderless nature of leadership characteristics may decrease biases
that favor male leaders (Cann & Siegfried, 1990).
There are many leadership models and it can be difficult to identify a standard
framework that will best establish the leadership capabilities most relevant to a specific woman
and organization (Giles, 2016). However, current leadership capabilities models consistently
include characteristics such as strong ethics and integrity, strong communication skills, influence
without authority, learning orientation for self and others, and ability to create a sense of
belonging and commitment (Gerhardt et al., 2014; Giles, 2016). These leadership characteristics
provide a starting point for aspiring leaders to self-assess and create a career development plan.

20
Aspiring leaders have a roadmap pertaining the clearly defined leadership characteristics
most sought after by technology organizations. To effectively transition from individual
contributor to leader, an individual needs to understand what leadership characteristics are most
valued, self-assess, and then map a development plan that builds those skills (Zenger &
Folkman, 2014). They need to use that map to create a development plan that takes advantage of
different tools and resources and to be cognizant of how personal fears about others’ perceptions
derail those plans. One such resource is relationships with other people.
Relationships and Career Development
Coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship are three types of professional relationships
commonly used to provide career support and guidance. Leadership capabilities, in particular,
are well-suited to these relationships because of the reliance on modeling and feedback to build
those skills. Professional relationships can provide the cornerstone of a leadership development
plan.
Career-oriented professional relationships. The use of professional relationships and
female role models is not formulaic and is subject to an individual’s needs and style, the
corporate culture, and a number of factors related to how well women are integrated into the
leadership ranks. Professional relationships can help change the focus of gender-diversity
initiatives from inclusion to integration (Hoyt & Murphy, 2016). A female leader feels fully
integrated into a leadership team when she is influential in decision making, is accepted as an
individual, leads with integrity, and is recognized for accomplishments (Cormier, 2007). This
sense of integration is enhanced when women are presented with subtle indications of female
leadership, improving performance and suggesting that female role models are a core part of the
development of successful female leaders (Ioana, 2013). Exposure to successful individuals
through different types of professional relationships affects the confidence and motivation of an

21
aspiring leader (Buunk et al., 2007). Mentoring is a type of professional relationship that
provides an opportunity for an aspiring leader to collaborate with someone more experienced or
knowledgeable to develop leadership characteristics.
The Role of Mentoring
An effective way to develop leadership skills is to work with, and learn from, a strong
leader. Mentoring is an active development activity that involves bi-directional information flow
and collaboration between mentor and protégé to develop specific skills and capabilities as part
of a development plan (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000; Sanfey et al., 2013). While a mentor can provide
ongoing support for women who have achieved a senior leadership position, mentors can also
help develop leadership skills, establish formal and informal networks, and provide guidance and
direction for future leaders (Sanford et al., 2015). In one study, Solansky (2010) found that it is
important that mentors establish strong communication ties with the protégé to increase the
protégé’s willingness to openly discuss leadership issues and receive feedback. Similarly, in
another study, Mains and Maclean (2017) found that clear personal and professional goal setting
was a critical element of a mentoring relationship and that planned discussions related to
reflection and feedback were an effective part of the mentoring process.
Mentoring relationships can be formal or informal. Formal mentoring tends to be
professional only, while informal mentoring relationships tend to have a personal or emotional
component (Sanfey et al., 2013). While mentoring shows long-term benefits to the protégé, the
future protégé of that individual, and the organization, there are costs to the individual, primarily
time and the risk of damaging their career by providing too much downward mentoring (Helps,
Arfken, & Bellar, 2016). Regardless of the type of relationship, the critical component is to
jointly create a development plan that ties to the leadership characteristics to be developed
(Baruch & Peiperl, 2000). An effective mentoring relationship is complex and requires active

22
engagement from both the mentor and protégé. This requires that both parties or individuals have
the knowledge, motivation, and organizational support to be successful.
The characteristics most valued by senior leadership should be the focus of technology
companies that have long-term goals to achieve and sustain leadership team gender balance.
These leadership traits are well-suited to relationship-based leadership development because of
the use of role modeling and feedback in those programs (Amon, 2017; Hoyt & Murphy, 2016).
Professional relationships with successful individuals increase the confidence and motivation of
aspiring leaders (Buunk et al., 2007). Mentoring, in particular, can help develop leadership skills,
establish professional networks (Sanford et al., 2015), and develop the skills and capabilities
specific to the protégé’s strengths and weaknesses (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000; Sanfey et al., 2013).
A core component of a mentoring program is that the mentor and protégé collaborate to
create a development plan for specific leadership characteristics (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000).
Leadership characteristics such as integrity, communication, influence, and a learning orientation
are most sought after by senior leaders (Gerhardt et al., 2014; Giles, 2016). There is no single
framework that applies to all women and organizations (Giles, 2016), but clarity on what is
valued at the protégé’s company and the characteristics that senior leaders believe are most
important to organizational success is a good place for an aspiring leader to start.
Theoretical Importance of Mentoring
An effective mentoring plan draws on the principles of social cognitive theory (SCT),
with a focus on positive outcomes, self-efficacy, the development of a goal-specific plan, and the
use of self-regulation (Bandura, 2005; Denler, Wolters, & Benzon, 2006). A core concept in SCT
is that people function within social systems. Individuals form intentions, or outcomes, that
include a strategy to achieve goals and regularly monitor and regulate their actions through self-
reflection (Bandura, 2005). Outcome expectations are a reflection of what an individual believes

23
about certain behaviors’ potential consequences. These expectations influence the actions an
individual chooses to take and the behaviors he or she suppresses (Denler et al., 2006).
Outcomes are also associated with self-efficacy, which is the extent to which an
individual believes he or she will be successful at a task (Bandura, 1977). Self-efficacy is a result
of past performance, an individual’s psychological state, and a product of observation and the
influence of others in the environment. Greater choice, persistence, and better use of strategies
are associated with high levels of self-efficacy (Denler et al., 2006). Additionally, outcomes are
the desired future state that an individual defines in goal setting. Goal setting includes the use of
forethought to envision and identify outcomes and generate a plan of action to achieve them.
Goal setting is a core part of self-regulation which is the action of managing thoughts and actions
to achieve an outcome (Denler et al., 2006). Self-regulation, self-efficacy, and goal setting align
with the principles of an effective mentoring relationship.
Mentoring happens within an organizational culture and context. Organizational cultures
are dynamic and shape the potential intentions of individuals to align with the cultural norm
(Schein, 2004). In this way, behavior is affected by the environment and organizational culture,
but individuals have the agency to influence their own outcomes through forethought, self-
reflection, and self-regulation (Denler et al., 2006). The acquisition of new behaviors is just one
aspect of learning. SCT assumes that behavior change, attainment of new knowledge, cognitive
skills, concepts, abstract rules, and values together comprise learning. This results from
observing the behaviors and outcomes of other individuals in a relevant context (Denler et al.,
2006). Individuals use the styles of others to shape their own patterns of thinking and behaving
(Schein, 2004) and, in a mentoring relationship, benefit from formative feedback that helps an
individual modify his or her thinking or behavior, with the intended goal of increasing learning
(Shute, 2008). Observational learning depends on four processes: paying attention to the

24
modeled behavior, retaining what is observed, making an effort to perform what was observed,
and motivational processes to interpret why the individual attempts to use the new skills (Denler
et al., 2006).
These principles are tools that can be used in a one-on-one mentoring relationship to
overcome the obstacles aspiring female leaders face due to the assumption that all women need
the same level and type of support (McGee, 2018). The clear identification of the roles, best
practices, and feedback are all ways to create a strong mentoring relationship (Dow, 2014;
McGee, 2018; Ragins, 2016). Further, a well-executed mentoring relationship relies on self-
reflection, self-regulation, modeling, and goal setting, all of which are supported by SCT
(Bandura, 2005; Denler et al., 2006).
In summary, the research shows that individual-focused career development programs
that rely on relationships with role models and mentors can be an effective way to develop new
capabilities and knowledge. These types of programs activate values, personal motivations, and
rely on feedback that may support an aspiring female leader’s efforts to fully integrate into an
organization. The organization, however, must be transparent and active in the rejection of the
traditional “male ideal” in how leaders are selected and in the role definitions and career
development programs that are based on gendered role definitions. The combination of
organizational and cultural norms that support a gender-balanced leadership team, a relationship-
based career development program for aspiring women, and an understanding of leadership traits
most valued in technology companies may lead to a more gender-balanced pool of leadership
candidates.
Clark and Estes’ (2008) Knowledge, Motivation, and Organization Influences Framework
Clark and Estes (2008) provide a framework that enables a systematic assessment of
organizational and stakeholder performance goals. This includes the identification of gaps in

25
performance in comparison to stated goals and the related stakeholder knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences that affect those gaps.
Krathwohl (2002) describes four knowledge types that help clearly delineate stakeholder
ability to achieve a performance goal: (a) factual, (b) conceptual; (c) procedural; and (d)
metacognitive. Closely related to these knowledge types are motivation influences such as active
choice, persistence, and mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). Some of the variables
that affect these motivation influences are self-efficacy, attribution, value, and goal orientation,
all of which can be considered when analyzing the performance gap (Rueda, 2011). Finally,
organizational influences such as work processes, resources, and workplace culture can be
analyzed when assessing performance gaps (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Each of these elements of Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis will be addressed below
in terms of an aspiring female leader’s needs to meet the performance goal of using mentoring
relationships to develop valued leadership capabilities. The first section will include a discussion
of the assumed knowledge influences. The second section will review goal achievement in the
context of motivation influences. The third section will explore the organizational influences on
attainment of the stakeholder goal. Each of these assumed influences on performance will then
be examined through the methodology discussed in Chapter Three.
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Analysis across technology companies in the United States highlights that, even with
high interest in gender diversity throughout the industry, there has been little improvement in
women’s representation in leadership positions in recent years (King, 2015). In fact, despite the
significant media attention on this problem, the number of women in senior leadership positions
in the United States remained flat year-over-year in 2016, and there is an apparent lack of
systemic and supportive practices to build a female leadership pipeline (Mercer, 2016). One

26
potential solution to this problem is for technology companies to use mentoring as a mechanism
to increase the number of women who have developed the knowledge and skills needed for a
senior leadership position.
In its simplest form, mentoring is an appropriate solution to this problem because, when
planned and executed well, it relies on self-reflection, self-regulation, and regular sessions of
modeling and goal setting, all of which are supported by SCT. The core principles of SCT are
observing the behavior of models in context, an expectation of positive outcomes, self-efficacy
and perception of capability, the identification of and creation of a plan to achieve goals, and the
use of self-regulation (Bandura, 2005; Denler et al., 2006). As described below, an effective
mentoring plan draws on these concepts significantly.
Mentoring can offer a number of mutually-beneficial career functions, such as
sponsorship, exposure, and challenging work as well as a number of psychosocial functions, such
as role modeling, guidance, and friendship (Kram, 1983). To be effective, the mentoring solution
requires activity by a number of stakeholders. A primary stakeholder in this type of initiative is a
director-level female employee. This section reviews the knowledge and motivation factors
needed to achieve that stakeholder’s performance goal of collaborating with a prospective
mentor to design a mentoring plan that is likely to increase key leadership skills. Clark and Estes
(2008) identify three critical factors to consider when analyzing performance gaps: knowledge
and skills, motivation, and organizational support. Knowledge and skills are important because
they ensure that individuals are capable of doing what is necessary to achieve a performance
goal. Motivation establishes an individual’s willingness to initiate, persist, and apply the right
mental effort toward a performance goal. Organizational support is an essential element to ensure
that barriers to performance are removed and that individuals have the necessary resources and

27
backing needed to achieve the desired outcome. Developing knowledge-development and
motivation programs that attract and motivate that workforce is critical to success.
Knowledge and Skills
Modern corporations rely heavily on employees’ ability to increase knowledge and adapt
to change and are challenged by the increasingly complex requirement to recruit, develop, and
retain a high-performing workforce (Clark & Estes, 2008). The ability to develop relevant
knowledge and skills is a critical component of the stakeholder’s ability to effectively design a
mentoring plan. Krathwohl (2002) describe four knowledge types: (a) factual knowledge, (b)
conceptual knowledge; (c) procedural knowledge; and (d) metacognitive knowledge. Factual
knowledge is specific information needed to solve problems. Conceptual knowledge is the
understanding and use of interrelationships between individual items. Procedural knowledge
refers to the ability to perform a step-by-step function. Metacognitive knowledge is self-
knowledge about how one learns and is performing. Clearly delineating the type of knowledge
needed by stakeholders ensures the right level of assessment and training design.
In the following section, four knowledge influences that relate to the stakeholder’s ability
to create an effective mentoring plan in the specific timeframe to achieve those benefits are
described. Closely related, the first and second influences are knowledge of how to identify
relevant leadership practices and how to use those practices to set goals. Third, knowledge and
skills related to using best practices to establish a feedback plan are explored. And, fourth,
knowledge of the relationship between mentoring and leadership development is discussed.
Identifying relevant leadership practices and setting goals. A primary goal of any
educational setting or program should be to increase a student’s ability to self-regulate her own
learning and establish and execute a plan to achieve the desired performance goals (Dembo &
Eaton, 2000; Kirschner & van Merrienboer, 2013; Pintrich, 2003; Rueda, 2011). A learner will

28
often fail at regulating her or his own learning and, subsequently, not achieve the desired
outcomes. This may be due to a lack of standards to apply to the current situation, an inability to
compare the current state of learning against a set of standards, or a lack of knowledge about
how to initiate change when behavior falls short of a standard (Kirschner & van Merrienboer,
2013).
There are many leadership models, and it can be difficult to identify a standard
framework that will best establish the leadership capabilities most relevant to a specific woman
and organization (Giles, 2016). This lack of a standard against which to measure current state
and establish goals requires particular attention to self-regulation to select an appropriate
capability set to strive for. But this is a critical element of a mentoring plan: the ability to
establish clear goals and expectations and to identify strengths and weaknesses against a
capability model (Sanfey et al., 2013).
Clark and Estes (2008) define a goal as a description of activities or objectives that are
required to achieve an outcome by a specified schedule. The authors recommend that individual
objectives be related to organizational objectives and, importantly, each individual has an
understanding of where she is or is not achieving a performance goal. To do this, the authors say,
a goal must be clear, concrete, and challenging. Once a goal is defined, the next steps are to
determine the gap between the current state and the standard, list and validate causes for the gap,
identify valid and appropriate solutions, and then measure results against desired outcomes
(Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011).
To start this process, themes that cut across multiple leadership models can be used as a
baseline for self-assessment, including capabilities such as strong ethics and integrity, strong
communication skills, learning orientation for self and others, and ability to create a sense of
belonging and commitment (Giles, 2016; Zenger & Folkman, 2014). These capabilities map to

29
common definitions of servant leadership and reflect hallmarks of that leadership style, such as
valuing unique qualities of individuals, organizational stewardship, and influence without
authority (Gerhardt et al., 2014). Using themes such as these, a stakeholder can establish
leadership capability development goals as part of her mentoring plan.
In a mentoring relationship, an important part of goal setting is a clear understanding of
the stakeholder’s locus of control. An internal locus of control indicates that an individual
believes that his/her own actions are the cause of an outcome. An external locus of control
indicates a belief that an outcome is not related to his/her actions (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, &
Bjork, 2009). Clearly identifying leadership capability gaps, establishing clear, concrete, and
challenging goals, and maintaining an internal locus of control are key elements of a mentoring
plan. There are two knowledge types described here. The first, knowledge of leadership
capabilities, is factual. Secondly, the ability to self-assess and set goals is conceptual in that it
requires the ability to relate discrete concepts together into a unique structure.
Best practices for feedback plans. McGee (2018), found that potential female leaders
face significant challenges when seeking development or promotion opportunities, not least of
which is a general assumption that all women are the same and need the same levels of support.
One path to overcoming this challenge is the clear identification of the role of a mentor and the
planned use of best practices to establish a meaningful relationship with a mentor and to define
the use of feedback during the mentoring process (Dow, 2014; McGee, 2018; Ragins, 2016).
Formative feedback is information provided to a learner to help him or her modify
thinking or behavior and, ultimately, improve learning (Clark & Estes, 2008). This type of
feedback is supportive and non-evaluative, usually presented in response to a learner’s action
within a time period that easily connects action and feedback (Shute, 2008). Goal-directed
feedback is oriented to providing guidance and support as a learner strives to achieve a desired

30
outcome, providing motivation and increasing self-efficacy (Deans for Impact, 2015; Shute,
2008). Poorly-delivered or constructed performance feedback can help or hinder performance,
while feedback that is seen to be directly related to achieving a stated goal or to personal
development is most effective (Clark & Estes, 2008). Using these best practices in the
formulation of the use of feedback throughout the mentoring relationship will increase the
likelihood that an effective plan will be created. This knowledge type is procedural in that it uses
established strategies and guidelines to create a feedback protocol.
Mentoring and leadership development. Mentoring relies on the protégé having a
learning orientation. Unlike a performance orientation that emphasizes completion of tasks, a
learning orientation is characterized by a desire for mastery, the use of complex learning
strategy, and persistence in the face of failure (Shute, 2008). Personal interest is a strong
motivating factor within a learning orientation (Shraw & Lehman, 2009). Intentionally designing
a mentoring program that takes advantage of learning orientation across all phases of the
relationship is an important knowledge and skill set for the stakeholder, and it starts with
knowledge of the mentoring phases and outcomes.
Kram (1983) developed a conceptual model for mentoring relationships that has been the
basis for most recent research. This model describes four phases of a mentoring relationship. The
first, initiation, is when a relationship begins. During this phase, both the mentor and protégé
have expectations of care, attention, and admiration. The second phase, cultivation, is the most
active and challenging phase. It is here that the value of the relationship is explored and the most
challenges and opportunities to expand knowledge and skills are evident. The third phase,
separation, is brought on by either organizational changes and availability of a shift in the needs
of either mentor or protégé. And the final phase, redefinition, is when the relationship either
evolves or ends. This model mirrors an idea supported by most learning perspectives that

31
learning occurs over time, with a particular emphasis on the fact that the need for and type of
learning experiences vary as an individual gains expertise, encounters new contexts, and
increases knowledge in a particular domain (Alexander, Schallert, & Reynolds, 2009). Using
knowledge of these phases, combined with the goals and feedback plan, enables the stakeholders
to create a realistic timeframe for the mentoring relationship. This knowledge type is factual and
can be assessed by checking for the stakeholder’s recall and application of the mentoring phase
definitions.
Table 1 provides an overview of these knowledge influences, corresponding knowledge
types, and methods to assess knowledge gaps that may influence the stakeholder’s ability to
effectively meet the performance goal. Table 1 also includes the organizational mission and
global goal.
Table 1
Knowledge Influence, Knowledge Type, and Knowledge Influence Assessment
Global Organizational Mission
Technology companies in the U.S. strive to create effective professional development activities that
will lead to sustainable gender balance on the senior leadership team.
Stakeholder Focus
Women who have achieved senior leadership positions at a technology company engaged in a
mentoring relationship.
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence Assessment
Senior leaders know the
leadership characteristics most
valued at their organization.
Declarative (Factual) Stakeholders were asked to identify the
leadership capabilities they believe were
most valued in the organization they
worked at when in a mentoring
relationship.
Senior leaders know how to
develop leadership capabilities.
Procedural Stakeholders were asked how they
developed the valued leadership
capabilities.

32
Table 1, continued
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence Assessment
Senior leaders know how to
establish an effective feedback
process with mentors.
Procedural Stakeholders were asked what feedback
process was used during the mentoring
relationship.
Senior leaders know the
relationship between mentoring
and leadership development.
Declarative
(Conceptual)
Stakeholders were asked why they
selected to participate in a mentoring
relationship and how that related to their
leadership goals.

Motivation
The second dimension needed for women directors to achieve their goal is motivation.
Motivation relies on active choice, persistence, and mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda,
2011). Active choice is the conscious decision to start an activity. Persistence is the commitment
to continue the work even in the face of difficulty. Mental effort is the amount of cognitive
processing an individual puts toward the activity (Clark & Estes, 2008). Some of the variables
that affect choice, persistence, and mental effort are self-efficacy, attribution, value, and goal
orientation (Rueda, 2011).
These concepts are closely related to the knowledge influences described above. Learning
and motivation are closely linked, and motivation drives engagement (Rueda, 2011).
Engagement includes aspects of behavior, cognition, and affect and should be regularly drawn
upon for the achievement of relevant performance goals (Pintrich, 2003; Rueda, 2011). In this
section, motivation constructs that influence the stakeholder’s ability to effectively create a
mentoring plan are discussed. These include self-efficacy and goal orientation.
Promoting self-efficacy. By its nature, the development of leadership skills and the
creation of mentoring relationships are self-directed activities that require a sufficient level of
self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the extent to which an individual believes he or she will be
successful at a task (Bandura, 1977). While self-directed learning is controversial with most

33
research showing that it is only effective with a small number of advanced experts (Clark &
Estes, 2008), without sufficient self-efficacy and belief that actions can produce desired
outcomes, learners have little incentive to act or persevere when challenged (Pajares, 2006). Self-
efficacy can develop from personal mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social
persuasion, and emotional reactions (Pajares, 2006). Personal mastery experiences may come
from the guidance and challenges presented by the mentor. Vicarious experiences may be
derived from the mentor’s experience. And social persuasion and emotional reactions may result
from the type of relationship developed between the mentor and protégé.
One of the most difficult aspects of planning a mentoring relationship is finding an
appropriate mentor (Laiho & Brandt, 2012). Fullick-Jagiela, Verbos, and Wiese (2015) found
that a critical outcome of a mentoring relationship is relational self-determination. This is the
protégé’s self-efficacy to start or end a mentoring relationship at the appropriate times (Fullick-
Jagiela et al., 2015). A preferred relationship type to promote self-efficacy and value is relational
mentoring (Ragins, 2016). Relational mentoring is a mentor-protégé relationship that provides
mutual benefits, primarily in the areas of care, concern, and shared professional growth (Ragins,
2016). Closely related to leadership capabilities, relational mentoring fosters skill development
for both parties in the areas of communication, active listening, providing feedback, and
managing conflict. Relationships that are marginal, meaning good enough with little real sense of
value (Ragins, Cotton, & Miller, 2000) erode an individual’s belief in the use of or self-efficacy
to foster a quality relationship. Trust, disclosure, and authenticity are difficult if the relationship
is reminiscent of teacher-student and not relational, including the potential for an unsatisfying
relationship to be more detrimental than never having a mentor at all (Ragins, 2016).
Mentoring relies on a form of collective efficacy, which is the shared belief that a group’s
combined capabilities to organize and execute a series of actions are sufficient to achieve an

34
outcome (Bandura, 1977). The combination of motivation through social partnership (Mayer,
2011) and the belief that collaboration between the mentor and protégé can positively influence
goal attainment (Bandura, 2000) is the underlying contract in a mentoring relationship. The
primary benefit of mentoring is sometimes simply the creation of a sense of well-being in the
workplace (Laiho & Brandt, 2012), and satisfaction with the mentoring relationship had a larger
impact on job and career attitudes than mentor type, mentor presence, or program design (Ragins
et al., 2000). Motivation is increased when an individual feels a sense of belonging and
acceptance, which, in turn, increases that individual’s ability to internalize critical feedback and
belief that she can meet a higher standard (Deans for Impact, 2015).
Fostering goal orientation. The creation of an effective mentoring plan requires the
creation of clear and concrete goals. Learners who have goals can link learning strategies and
behaviors to goals and are therefore more motivated and active (Pintrich, 2003). Mentoring
requirements change as a career progresses, which may be a result of early-stage career skill and
knowledge deficits and then increased motivation to better use resources as a career solidifies
(Hall & Maltby, 2013). Goal-oriented individuals are usually interested in self-improvement and,
just as mentoring needs change, are more likely to evaluate their current state and needs in the
context of prior achievements (Yough & Anderman, 2006).
Higher levels of interest and value motivate learners (Pintrich, 2003). Any activity’s
perceived value is guided by the learner’s intrinsic interest in the subject, the perceived
attainment value of completing the work in relation to the learner’s self-image, the utility value
of the task as it relates to long-term goals, and the perceived cost of time, effort, or social
standing required (Eccles, 2006). McGee (2018) shows that the emphasis on gender (or other
areas of diversity) can create a “one size fits all” approach to professional development that
ignores the positive impact of networking, affinity groups, or other relationship-oriented

35
activities. Potential female leaders face significant challenges when seeking development or
promotion opportunities, not least of which is a general assumption that all women are the same
and need the same levels of support (McGee, 2018). Mentoring programs that leverage a mastery
goal orientation can counteract this challenge.
Increasing motivation is often a result of influencing an individual’s awareness of the
impression they create, their own abilities, and their beliefs about the personal or group value of
the work (Clark & Estes, 2008). Academic motivation may be based on personal value or
interest, beliefs and self-efficacy, attributing success to effort instead of ability, a mastery
orientation toward the goal, and collaboration or social partnerships (Mayer, 2011; Rueda, 2011).
Mastery orientation is more prevalent when learners can set their own goals (Yough &
Anderman, 2006). Further, transfer is increased if learners are motivated by the application of
learning to goals (Grossman & Salas, 2011).
Table 2 provides an overview of the motivation influences and the methods used to assess
the impact of motivation on the stakeholder’s ability to achieve the performance goal stated in
Table 1. The motivational influence assessments include Likert-style survey questions to
measure the stakeholder’s self-efficacy, interest, and value, and interview questions that assess
the stakeholder’s level of knowledge and beliefs about effective mentoring relationships.

36
Table 2
Motivation Influence and Motivation Influence Assessment
Global Organizational Mission
Technology companies in the U.S. strive to create effective professional development activities
that will lead to sustainable gender balance on the senior leadership team.
Stakeholder Focus
Women who have achieved senior leadership positions at a technology company engaged in a
mentoring relationship.
Assumed Motivation
Influences
Motivational Influence Assessment
Self-Efficacy – Senior leaders
believe that they are capable of
developing valued leadership
characteristics.
Stakeholders will be asked how they developed the
confidence to pursue valued leadership characteristics.
Stakeholders will also be asked to describe how their
confidence was increased or challenged during the
mentoring process.
Goal Orientation - Senior leaders
develop a mastery orientation
toward achieving their goals.
Stakeholders will be asked for examples of when they
made a mistake while pursuing a senior leadership
position, including what actions they took and how their
mentor did or did not help.

Organizational Influences
Knowledge and motivation influences, when managed well, can increase the likelihood
of an effective mentoring relationship. But an over-reliance on the aspiring female leader’s
ability to regulate and manage these influences ignores an important aspect of performance
achievement: the organizational influences. An analysis of organizational cultural models and
settings with a clear approach to managing change is needed to develop a successful mentoring
program that helps aspiring female leaders build key leadership capabilities.
Clark and Estes (2008) identify a lack of effective work practices and material resources
as a third potential cause of performance gaps. However, practices, policies, and resources are
only part of the primary drivers of organizational culture. Schein (2004) defines culture as the

37
shared basic assumptions learned by a group as problems that require adaptation and integration
are solved. Espoused beliefs, values, and behavioral norms are formulated through group
learning and problem solving. When facing a problem, solutions are proposed based on an
individual’s beliefs and assumptions about what will work when there is not yet shared
knowledge of a viable solution. Until the action is tested, the group only has the belief that the
solution will work. After the action is taken, the group will develop shared beliefs about the
success of the action, eventually integrating those beliefs and behaviors into the organizational
culture (Schein, 2017).
An organization’s culture can enhance or impede performance (Bolman & Deal, 2017;
Rueda, 2011; Schein, 2004). As a group forms and learns, members gather and assimilate
feedback. If actions produce successful results, the group begins to take those behaviors and
beliefs for granted and that forms the organizational culture. The underlying assumptions behind
an organization’s culture provide the group a shared playbook of what to notice, what meaning to
derive, what the appropriate emotional reactions are, and what actions to take in a specific
situation (Schein, 2017). These assumptions become part of what is taught to new members of
the group as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to similar problems.
Organizational culture can be analyzed by uncovering these underlying assumptions, and the
interrelationships between those assumptions, that form the intangible cause of how things
“work.” This, along with an analysis of visible artifacts and espoused beliefs, values, and
behavioral norms, provides a clearer picture of what makes up an organization’s culture (Erez &
Gati, 2004; Schein, 2017).
Cultural Models and Cultural Settings
Organizational culture relies on underlying assumptions that the group shares. These
basic assumptions are consistent in a social unit with little opportunity for variation or even

38
consideration of change. It represents a group’s shared identity and therefore a source of stability
and consistency. Culture is closely related to a group’s purpose and the survival of the group
may depend on the degree to which that purpose is achieved. Changing the culture would change
the group (Schein, 2017).
Although difficult to observe, organizational culture can be analyzed by identifying
cultural models and settings. Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) and Rueda (2011) define a
cultural model as a shared mental schema that provides an understanding of how the world
works. This model establishes and incorporates how a group will interpret events, defines what is
valued and who participates, and sets the rules and purpose of interactions.
Cultural models evolve based on what is possible in a certain cultural setting where
individuals come together to accomplish something they value. Cultural settings are the
interactions between groups in a specific community or population that establish the cultural
model (Rueda, 2011). Organizations are made up of contexts, or cultural settings, where policies
and practices are enacted, and contextual changes may reinforce or negate the shared
assumptions, values, and experiences that have been sufficiently adaptive in the past (Erez &
Gati, 2004).
Cultural models and settings are dynamic and intertwined. A challenge in change efforts
is that initiatives and programs may be put in place or scaled without consideration of cultural
models and settings (Rueda, 2011). Individuals involved in the change need the opportunity to
make sense of the change and develop new mental models and assumptions about behaviors and
outcomes (Kezar, 2001b) and enact those new assumptions in multiple contexts. A mentoring
program that addresses the lack of gender balance in leadership teams is dependent on the
evolution of an organization’s cultural models and settings. These organizational influences

39
include a cultural model that values women in leadership and stresses the importance of a
learning organization and a cultural setting that provides visible support for an inclusive climate.
Gender-balanced leadership as a core value. The role of leadership and the influence
leaders have in affecting change is rooted in an organization’s cultural model. A leader has the
ability to take risks, change how people see what is possible, and form new relationships
(Mcgowan & Miller, 2001). Leaders act with integrity (Bolman & Deal, 2013) and take both the
intellectual and emotional needs of an organization into account (Northouse, 2016). A core
function of leadership is to drive change by establishing the reason and benefits as well as the
structures and processes needed for change (Gill, 2002). Leaders wield the power to demand a
new behavior directed toward achieving a purpose and, in this way, help shape the culture
(Schein, 2017).
Agocs (1997) points out that, if leadership refuses to take responsibility for change, it
may be because they believe that the issue will resolve itself over time, that the change is
contrary to the organization’s values, or that the change is not a priority or something that can be
solved. Individuals, however, look to leaders who demonstrate trust, compassion, stability, and
hope (Rath & Conchie, 2009) and who “project shadow or light onto some part of the world and
onto the lives of the people who dwell there” (Palmer, 2000, p. 78). This means that, while there
is a natural tendency toward positive thinking, good leaders pay attention to situations where
they are not taking accountability for challenges and failures. Even the best leaders can fall into
what Bolman and Deal (2013) refer to as a cocoon of cluelessness. Leaders who do not stay
connected to the purpose and structures of their organizations run the risk of believing that what
they are doing is the right thing and missing what is truly happening in front of them.
Organizational change cannot be produced through management dictate, sensitivity
training, or job enrichment programs (Perrow, 1972), which may indicate why typical diversity

40
and inclusion programs often fail at achieving gender-balance-related goals (Bierema, 2016;
Castilla & Benard, 2010). An organizational goal that involves changing the fundamental make-
up of a leadership team requires that the existing leadership team act as change agents and
resolve the dissonance between the organizational values and actions (Kezar, 2001a). This
increases the likelihood that a cultural model will evolve to a new shared group identity that
values a gender-balanced leadership team and supports the ongoing development of aspiring
female leaders.
Learning in the cultural model. An organization that has a goal to create a mentoring
program that will increase the leadership capabilities of aspiring female leaders should have a
cultural model that includes a dedication to learning. Peter Senge (1990) introduced the idea of
the learning organization, with specific leadership characteristics that differ from the
stereotypical charismatic and heroic leader. There is little doubt that successful organizations
emphasize learning and recognize the need for action and reflection to foster continuous learning
(Heffner, Kennedy, Brand, & Walsh, 2011). These aspects of a cultural model support the most
active phase of a mentoring relationship where the mentor and protégé are challenged to uncover
the activities most likely to lead to the desired professional development (Kram, 1983).
A learning organization is one in which employees are able to and are encouraged to
create, acquire, and transfer knowledge. In a mentoring program, this includes the capability to
establish clear goals and expectations and to identify strengths and weaknesses against a
capability model (Sanfey et al., 2013). An organization needs a supportive learning environment,
concrete processes and practices for learning, and leadership that is committed to ongoing
learning (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008). Senge (1990) describes the leader of a learning
organization as one who can disseminate a shared vision, uncover and challenge mental models
to facilitate more systemic thought patterns. To do this, a leader creates tension between the

41
current state and future state to spark creativity, establishes a clear purpose and set of
organizational values, and creates the structures and processes needed to drive decisions that
enable the purpose and values (Senge, 1990). These are the hallmarks of a learning-oriented
cultural model and setting and are an important aspect of an organization that embraces the
development of both male and female leaders.
Creating an inclusive climate. Organizational change relies on a personal connection
and reaction. Effective change management successfully integrates drivers of desired behavior,
including purpose, identity, and mastery (Moran & Brightman, 2000). Organizational change is
supported by manipulation of reward structures, decision-making processes and the resulting
expectations, and resolution of interdepartmental friction as well as the patience to let these
changes take effect (Perrow, 1972). The life cycle model of change recognizes that change
happens over time, with an emphasis on the importance of individuals being ready to embrace
and enact change (Kezar, 2001a). To counteract denial or resistance to change, a well-supported
and well-structured rationale for the change must be understood throughout the relevant parts of
the organization and given credence and support by leaders and influencers (Agocs, 1997).
Change can be impeded by culture because of the work needed to reshape shared beliefs,
values, and assumptions. Change may be negatively affected by a legacy of top-down leadership
and decision making, a focus on tactics over strategy, an influx of communication with little real
action, or the failure of leaders to model and communicate desired behaviors (Berger, 2014).
These aspects of the culture model become part of the cultural setting. One way to overcome this
is through a focus on climate. Climate can be thought of as how an organization acts and feels on
a daily basis. It is tangible, visible, and is specific to the cultural setting. Employees’ shared
values and beliefs are part of the organizational culture; changing the everyday policies,

42
procedures, and practices will affect the beliefs, values, and underlying assumptions that guide
employee behavior (Schneider, Brief, & Guzzo, 1996).
Schneider et al. (1996) suggest four dimensions of organizational climate: the nature of
interpersonal relationships, the use of hierarchy in decision making, the level of challenging
work, and the focus and use of goals, support, rewards, and recognition. It is possible to increase
the likelihood of successful change when an improvement or change goal is clearly articulated,
an active feedback loop is in place, there is a shared belief that the improvement is valuable and
viable, and thorough testing is done before a change is implemented (Langley et al. 2009).
Practitioners in inclusion efforts suggest that one has to start with a visible executive leadership
commitment (Diaz, 2016) with widespread communication to keep momentum and motivation
(Kezar, 2001b). This type of visible leadership support for learning, mentoring, and female
leaders is an important part of a cultural setting that supports the desired change.
Table 3 provides an overview of these organizational influences and methods to assess
organizational gaps that may influence the stakeholder’s ability to effectively meet the
performance goal. Table 3 also includes the organizational mission and global goal.

43
Table 3
Organizational Influences and Assessment
Global Organizational Mission
Technology companies in the U.S. strive to create effective professional development activities
that will lead to sustainable gender balance on the senior leadership team.
Stakeholder Focus
Women who have achieved senior leadership positions at a technology company engaged in a
mentoring relationship.
Assumed Organization
Influences
Organization Influence Assessment
The organization has a culture
reflecting the importance of
developing female leaders.
(Cultural Model)
Stakeholders were asked about the ways that senior
executives demonstrated visible support for the
development of female leaders
The organization has a culture of
learning. (Cultural Setting)
Stakeholders were asked in what ways their organization
displayed a commitment to learning, the willingness and
prioritization of time and financial resources to support
mentoring programs, and the value placed on interpersonal
relationships.
The organization provides
visible support for career
development for potential
female leaders. (Cultural
Setting)
Stakeholders were asked in what ways senior leaders
provided support for career development, the policies and
practices that were enacted to operationalize a mentoring
program, and goals and metrics associated with the
program.

The Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge, Motivation, and
the Organizational Context
A conceptual framework is used to describe the underlying structure of a study, including
concepts and theories that inform the study and provide the foundation for the study’s purpose
(Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Rocco & Plakhotnik, 2009). Merriam and Simpson
(2002) note that a conceptual framework serves multiple purposes and may be used by a

44
researcher to conceptualize the study, demonstrate how the study increases knowledge in a field,
provide guidance and explanation for the research design and instrumentation, and provide a
reference point for findings (as cited in Rocco & Plakhotnik, 2009, p. 122). In qualitative studies
in particular, a conceptual framework may be used to detail a theoretical lens or perspective that
provides an orientation to the behavior or attitudes being explored (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Drawing from Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis model, this study includes a needs
analysis to identify the areas of knowledge and skill, motivation, and organizational (KMO)
influences that relate to the performance goal. While the KMO influences have been presented
independent of each other, they do not remain in isolation of each other and, in practice, are
interrelated and interdependent. The interactions between these influences are the underlying
structure that makes up the conceptual framework used in this study.
The research problem of practice for this dissertation study was to explore the
characteristics of mentoring relationships that result in the development of high-value leadership
characteristics in aspiring female leaders. The conceptual framework is derived from this
research problem and serves to further define the foundational terms, models, concepts, thoughts,
and ideas (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This study sought to discover emerging theories and best
practices in an understudied area, and the conceptual framework was used to establish the
parameters and boundaries of the study in the context of the problem of practice (Rocco &
Plakhotnik, 2009).
The Importance of Mentoring in Gender-Balance Initiatives
Analysis across technology companies in the United States highlights that, even with
high interest in gender diversity throughout the industry (King, 2015), there has been little
improvement in women’s representation in leadership positions in recent years. In fact, despite
the significant media attention on this problem, the number of women in senior leadership

45
positions in the United States remained flat year-over-year in 2016, and there is an apparent lack
of systemic and supportive practices to build a female leadership pipeline (Mercer, 2016). One
potential solution to this problem is for technology companies to use mentoring as a mechanism
to increase the number of women who have developed the skills needed for a senior leadership
position. In its simplest form, mentoring is an appropriate solution to this problem because, when
planned and executed well, it relies on self-reflection, self-regulation, and regular bouts of
modeling and goal setting. Mentoring can offer a number of mutually-beneficial career functions,
such as sponsorship, exposure, and challenging work as well as a number of psychosocial
functions, such as role modeling, guidance, and friendship (Kram, 1983).
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational (KMO) Influences on the Problem of Practice
The conceptual framework shown in Figure 1 highlights that achievement of the
performance goal is directly related to the knowledge and motivation influences on the aspiring
female leader, as shown by knowledge influences existing in the context of the motivation
influences and the solid line from these concentric circles to the stakeholder goal box. In
contrast, these influences on the goal may occur within an organization, as noted by the
intersection of the aspiring female leader circle and the current or future organization circle or in
the absence of a direct organizational influence. Modern corporations rely heavily on employees’
ability to increase knowledge and adapt to change and are challenged by the increasingly
complex requirement to recruit, develop, and retain a high-performing workforce (Clark & Estes,
2008). This implies that a mentoring relationship designed to develop high-value leadership
skills could happen in an organization with a view toward promotion or independently with a
view toward joining an organization as a senior leader. For this reason, the knowledge and
motivation influences are interdependent, but the organizational influences affect the goal at

46
different times and in different ways depending on whether the aspiring female leader is focused
on a current or future organization.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework for a mentoring program design.
Knowledge influences. Figure 1 illustrates the KMO influences on the goal of
developing high-value leadership capabilities through mentoring relationships. The figure
illustrates the theory that the knowledge and motivation influences on an aspiring female leader
directly affect her ability to establish effective mentoring relationships. For this study, three
knowledge influences that relate to the stakeholder’s ability to create an effective mentoring plan
are included in the conceptual framework. Closely related, the first and second influences are
knowledge of how to identify relevant leadership practices and how to use those practices to set
goals. The third influence is the ability to use an effective feedback process in the mentoring
relationship. And the fourth influence is the knowledge and skills related to the outcomes and
activities of a mentoring relationship as they apply to leadership development.

47
Clearly identifying leadership capability gaps (Giles, 2016), establishing clear, concrete,
and challenging goals (Sanfey et al., 2013), and maintaining an internal locus of control are key
elements of a mentoring plan. The first factual knowledge type in this framework is knowledge
of leadership capabilities. Second, the ability to self-assess and set goals is procedural in that it
requires the ability to relate discrete concepts together into a unique structure. McGee (2018),
found that potential female leaders face significant challenges when seeking development or
promotion opportunities, not least of which is a general assumption that all women are the same
and need the same levels of support. One path to overcoming this challenge is the clear
identification of the role of a mentor and the planned use of best practices to establish a
meaningful relationship with a mentor and to define the use of feedback during the mentoring
process (Dow, 2014; McGee, 2018; Ragins, 2016). Understanding the steps to create a
measurable action plan, specific to the desired leadership characteristics, and that effectively
establishes a plan and feedback process is a core component of connecting goals to the
mentoring relationship.
The fourth knowledge area included in this model is a conceptual knowledge type.
Mentoring relies on the protégé having a learning orientation. Unlike a performance orientation
that emphasizes completion of tasks, a learning orientation is characterized by a desire for
mastery, the use of complex learning strategy, and persistence in the face of failure (Shute,
2008). Personal interest is a strong motivating factor in a learning orientation (Shraw & Lehman,
2009). The stakeholder’s ability to connect leadership development to an effective mentoring
program is an important knowledge and skill set for the stakeholder.
Motivation influences. In the conceptual framework depicted in Figure 1, motivational
influences are closely related to the knowledge influences described above. Learning and
motivation are tightly linked, and motivation drives engagement (Rueda, 2011). Engagement

48
includes aspects of behavior, cognition, and affect and should be regularly drawn upon for the
achievement of relevant performance goals (Pintrich, 2003; Rueda, 2011). In this conceptual
framework, the motivation constructs that influence the stakeholder’s ability to effectively create
a mentoring plan are self-efficacy and goal orientation.
By its nature, the development of leadership skills and the creation of mentoring
relationships are self-directed activities that require a sufficient level of self-efficacy. Without
sufficient self-efficacy and belief that actions can produce desired outcomes, learners have little
incentive to act or persevere when challenged. Self-efficacy can develop from personal mastery
experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and emotional reactions (Pajares, 2006).
Personal mastery experiences may come from the guidance and challenges presented by the
mentor. Vicarious experiences may be derived from the experience of the mentor. And social
persuasion and emotional reactions may result from the type of relationship developed between
the mentor and protégé.
The creation of an effective mentoring plan requires the creation of clear and concrete
goals and is influenced by goal orientation. Mentoring requirements change as a career
progresses which may be a result of early-stage career skill and knowledge deficits and then
increased motivation to better use resources as a career solidifies (Hall & Maltby, 2013). Goal-
oriented individuals are usually interested in self-improvement and, just as mentoring needs
change, are more likely to evaluate their current state and needs in the context of prior
achievements (Yough & Anderman, 2006). Mastery orientation is increased and fostered when
learners set their own goals (Yough & Anderman, 2006) and can continuously apply what they
learn in pursuit of goals (Grossman & Salas, 2011).
Organizational influences. Whether the aspiring female leader is subject to
organizational influences as a current employee looking for promotion or as a future employee

49
looking to be hired, the conceptual framework is used to acknowledge key cultural models and a
cultural setting to inform the study. The cultural models included in the study are related to the
value that leadership ascribes to having a gender-balanced leadership team and the degree to
which an organization is rooted in a learning orientation. The cultural setting included is the
visible support and policies, practices, and resources provided to achieve gender balance.
Organizational change cannot be produced through management dictate, sensitivity
training, or job enrichment programs (Perrow, 1972), which may indicate why typical diversity
and inclusion programs often fail at achieving gender-balance-related goals (Bierema, 2016;
Castilla & Benard, 2010). An organizational goal that involves changing the fundamental make-
up of a leadership team requires that the existing leadership team act as change agents and
resolve the dissonance between the organizational values and actions (Kezar, 2001a). This
increases the likelihood that a cultural model will evolve to a new shared group identity that
values a gender-balanced leadership team.
An organization that has a goal to create a mentoring program that will increase the
leadership capabilities of aspiring female leaders should have a cultural model that includes a
dedication to learning. Senge (1990) introduced the idea of the learning organization, with
specific leadership characteristics that differ from the stereotypical charismatic and heroic leader.
There is little doubt that successful organizations emphasize learning and recognize the need for
action and reflection to foster continuous learning (Heffner et al., 2011). These aspects of a
cultural model support the most active phase of a mentoring relationship where the mentor and
protégé are challenged to uncover the activities most likely to lead to the desired professional
development (Kram, 1983).
Culture can make change difficult because of the work required to reshape shared beliefs,
values, and assumptions. Change may be impeded by a legacy of top-down leadership and

50
decision making, a focus on tactics over strategy, an influx of communication with little real
action, or the failure of leaders to model and communicate desired behaviors (Berger, 2014), all
of which become part of the cultural setting. Practitioners in inclusion efforts suggest that you
have to start with a visible executive leadership commitment (Diaz, 2016) with widespread
communication to keep momentum and motivation (Kezar, 2001b). This type of visible
leadership support for learning, mentoring, and female leaders is an important part of a cultural
setting that supports the desired change.
This conceptual framework for this study includes the KMO influences that affect an
aspiring female leader’s use of mentoring to develop key leadership capabilities successfully.
While the cultural models and settings in an organization are significant influencers to the final
goal of achieving a senior leadership position, the conceptual framework shows that the cultural
models and settings are relative to the type of relationship the aspiring leader has with that
organization. In contrast, the knowledge and skills and motivation influences are directly related
to the achievement of the short-term goal of an effective mentoring relationship that leads to the
long-term goal of becoming a senior leader.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to better understand how female leaders across multiple
organizations have used mentoring relationships to develop valued leadership capabilities. The
goal is to provide guidance to organizations that wish to use mentoring to contribute to female
leaders’ success and to create a gender-balanced leadership team. This literature review
examined the prevalence of gender associations with leadership traits and how those associations
manifest themselves in career development activities and gender-diversity initiatives. The review
also explored the role professional relationships play in the development of those valued traits
and the organizational costs and benefits of achieving a gender-balanced leadership team. These

51
topics were then applied to Clark and Estes’ (2008) KMO influences gap analysis model to
create the conceptual framework that is used in the study. The next chapter will present the
study’s methodology and approach.

52
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
The purpose of this project was to study how female leaders across multiple
organizations have used mentoring relationships to develop valued leadership capabilities. The
project goal is to develop mentoring program design recommendations for technology companies
interested in creating sustainable career development programs that will, over time, address a
lack of gender balance in senior leadership positions. Drawing from Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap
analysis model, this study includes a needs analysis to identify the areas of KMO resources
necessary to meet the organizational performance goal. While a complete study would focus on
all stakeholders, for practical purposes, the stakeholders focused on in this is analysis were
female senior leaders at technology companies that have used a mentoring relationship to
develop valued leadership characteristics. Three questions guided this study:
1. What knowledge, motivation, and organization factors do women leaders in the
technology industry perceive to help or hinder a mentoring relationship that contributes to
their ability to achieve a senior leadership position?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and stakeholder knowledge and
motivation that affects a woman’s ability to identify valued leadership traits and develop
those traits through a mentoring relationship?
3. What recommendations in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organizational
resources can be made to inform the design of a mentoring program that is meant to
increase the number of women in senior leadership positions?
This chapter includes the research design and methods for data collection and analysis.
The chapter starts with a description of the primary stakeholders in this problem of practice and
specifies the stakeholder studied and the criteria by which the participants were selected. Next,
this chapter includes a description of the data collection and analysis instrumentation and

53
methods. Finally, the chapter concludes with a description of how the credibility and
trustworthiness of the researcher and process were positioned and any ethical considerations
taken throughout the study.
Participating Stakeholders
The study stakeholders were women who have achieved senior leadership positions and
incorporated mentoring in their career development activities. Each participant was able to
identify a mentor in her career that is seen to have been instrumental in the development of
leadership capabilities. In addition, each participant currently holds, or previously held, a vice
president or equivalent position in a technology company. For the purposes of this study, few
limitations were placed on the type of technology company since valued leadership
characteristics are generally universal (Zenger & Folkman, 2014). It is important to note that,
while men also benefit from mentoring programs, the stakeholder participants were individuals
who identified as female during their mentoring program and when they achieved their
leadership position.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Identifying the appropriate study participants is a crucial part of a study’s design
(Johnson & Christensen, 2015; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Merriam and Tisdell (2016) identify
two types of sampling. The first, probability sampling, allows a researcher to generalize study
findings to the relevant population. The second, nonprobability sampling, provides the researcher
a mechanism to discover implications of and relationships between occurrences and is, therefore,
more appropriate for qualitative research such as this study. Nonprobability sampling is
purposeful in that it assumes that the researcher is interested in gaining insight and needs to
select a sample from which the most can be learned. Purposeful sampling in qualitative research

54
emphasizes the use of information-rich use cases from which a researcher can gather significant
amounts of data about the issues central to the study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
This study uses a series of referrals to identify study participants (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Starting with the researcher’s professional network, the selection criteria described below
were used to request introductions to potential study participants (Palinkas et al., 2015).
Interviews were conducted with seven women to identify recommendations based on personal
experiences in multiple areas, as described in the conceptual framework. Throughout the
interview process, the researcher sought indications that information saturation had been
achieved and that additional interviews are unnecessary (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Criterion 1. Women who have achieved at least a vice president (or equivalent) position.
Individuals at this organizational level are generally held to be part of the senior or executive
leadership team and this level is a critical inflection point when assessing gender balance.
Criterion 2. Women who can identify at least one informal or formal mentor. This study
is meant to discover aspects of mentoring that led to the development of specific leadership
characteristics, not to compare the outcomes of those who had a mentor and those who did not.
Therefore, all participants need the experience of at least one mentoring relationship to draw
upon during the interview.
Criterion 3. Women who achieved the senior leadership position in a technology
company. While the leadership characteristics are generalizable and mentoring program design is
likely not industry-specific, this criterion increases the applicability and credibility of the
recommendations to aspiring female leaders in this sector.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
This study examined the KMO influences that affect the stakeholder’s ability to achieve
the performance goal, as noted above. With this in mind, this study uses the qualitative method,

55
which relies on inductive analysis, a holistic account of the problem, multiple sources of data,
and the researcher as the key instrument in a natural setting (Creswell & Creswell, 2014;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). As described by Creswell and Creswell (2014), the qualitative method
relies on the researcher to be the data collection instrument, employing emergent design to fully
explore, understand, and make relevant connections across multiple accounts and perspectives.
Fundamentally, qualitative research is about understanding why something happens and how it
works in order to improve the quality of practice and application (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
This study is meant to explore ways that technology companies can design a mentoring
program to address the problem of gender balance in leadership teams. The nature of
professional relationships is subjective and mentoring as a career development technique is
highly specific to the individuals involved. Using a qualitative research model is well-suited to
this study as the experiences and perceptions of successful women leaders provided a holistic
view on methods, techniques, and activities that contribute to achieving the performance goal.
A relatively small number of interviews (N = 7) were conducted to assess the experiences
and perspectives of senior female leaders and to identify promising practices. The qualitative
research form follows a model that focuses on specific human behaviors and actions (McEwan &
McEwan, 2003) related to mentoring and career development with a potential phenomenological
approach due to the reliance on the lived experience of the subjects (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
This research method and form are particularly relevant given that there are few frameworks or
models available in the existing literature. With all of this in mind, the study relies primarily on
interviews with supporting documentation reviews where possible.
Interviews
Interview protocol. The primary research method was qualitative, semi-structured
interviews using an interview guide (see Appendix A). The interview guide provided the

56
researcher with structured topics but enabled open-ended questions and conversational
discussions and additional probing questions and clarification as needed (Johnson & Christensen,
2015). The interview guide is appropriate for this study since the intent is to identify connections
between topics across the KMO influences, and therefore all topics must be covered in each
discussion. There is some risk in this method because it is difficult to validate experiences with
other data sources and therefore rule out alternative explanations (Johnson & Christensen, 2015),
but the nature of the research questions and study purpose requires a focus on individual and
personal perception and insight.
The interview guide contains questions that ask for specific and detailed information
related to the participant’s knowledge of the leadership capabilities that are valued in her
organization, the actions needed to establish and manage a mentoring relationship, her level of
self-efficacy regarding establishing a mentoring relationship, her desire for mastery of those
valued capabilities, and the types of organizational support and structure she was provided
throughout the course of the mentoring relationship. Interview questions are open-ended to
encourage thoughtful and rich responses, and most questions have follow-on or probing items to
relate responses to adjacent knowledge, motivation, or organization influences.
A good interview is one in which the participants speak freely and openly. The interview
guide provided prompts for follow-on questions, but also enabled the interviewer to ask
clarifying questions and ask for elaboration (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). The intentional use of
present or past tense in the interview questions helped participants recall specific incidents or
behaviors and avoid summarizing or generalizing (Weiss, 1994). The interview guide prompted
the researcher to note passing references to important events or feelings. These references, called
markers, encouraged the use of follow-up questions to better understand how the event or feeling
related to the research questions (Weiss, 1994).

57
Interview procedures. Seven interviews were conducted over a 4-week period to allow
for stakeholder identification and scheduling. Interviews were conducted before document
analysis, and the interview guide included questions specific to the identification of documents
and videos to review. English as a first or primary language was included as part of the selection
criteria and all interviews were conducted in English. Interviewees were not paid for
participating in the study.
Given the geographic location of the researcher and potential participants, virtual meeting
technology was used to conduct remote interviews. In these situations, participants were asked to
turn on their video cameras to increase interaction and connection with the researcher. All but
one participant were able to do so. Interviews were informal and intentionally conversational to
increase participants’ willingness to share in-depth information.
Weiss (1994) suggests that interviews should be at least 30 minutes and conclude ideally
after no more than two hours. Each interview in this study was between 55 and 65 minutes long,
varying based on the time it took to garner complete and detailed data. All interviews were
recorded to enable the researcher to focus on what was being said and to keep the interaction
conversational (Weiss, 1994). The virtual meetings were recorded using the recording
functionality native to the meeting application. While it is desirable to interview a participant
more than once to increase rapport and increase the respondent’s willingness to share (Weiss,
1994), participants in this study were interviewed once due to availability and the use of a single
interviewer. Following the interviews, recordings were sent to a transcription service to provide a
rich and complete data source that could replace or supplement the researcher’s notes (Patton,
2002; Weiss, 1994).
In addition to the recording, the researcher took notes to formulate follow-up questions,
record key terms or phrases to be used in related questions, and notate major points to help

58
facilitate future analysis (Patton, 2002). Throughout the interviews, a system of abbreviations
and shorthand was employed to facilitate note-taking and decrease the likelihood that note-taking
would disrupt the flow of conversation (Patton, 2002). After the interview, the researcher took
notes on her observations, insights, and reflections on the conversation.
Documents and Artifacts
Document analysis can provide context and historical insight into what has influenced a
participant’s experiences (Bowen, 2009). In this study, interview participants were asked about
books or videos that influenced their beliefs about leadership, mentoring programs, and
development. The books and videos were not reviewed in depth as part of this study because the
intent was to identify trends or common assets used by participants during their leadership
development progression. These types of mass communication can provide insight into cultural
trends and how similar or dissimilar these resources are for this group of leaders (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Common and unique assets, leadership principles and models, leadership
capabilities, and authors are noted for use in formulating recommendations.
When appropriate, participants were asked for documents or artifacts from their current
or past company that represent an organizational culture that supported a gender-balanced
workforce or leadership team. These work products included policy documents, videos,
leadership value statements, and other artifacts that provided insight into the beliefs and
initiatives related to the conceptual framework and research questions. These documents were
reviewed using a document analysis protocol (Appendix B).
Data Analysis
The interview protocol used for data collection is derived from the knowledge,
motivation, and organization influences that relate to the research questions. The interview
recordings were transcribed using a transcription service after the interviews were completed.

59
After the researcher reviewed the transcriptions for accuracy, the recordings were destroyed to
maintain participants’ confidentiality.
Data analysis started with open coding of each transcript. Next, during a second review,
the researcher looked for a priori codes as they relate to the literature and conceptual framework.
These codes were used to create a transcript codebook, organized by axial codes/themes that
emerged from the coding process. This codebook helped identify any conflicting codes or
conflicting examples, supporting the researcher’s goal of representing the findings holistically
and accurately reflecting the participants’ experiences. During the data analysis process, the
researcher analyzed documents and artifacts for evidence consistent with the conceptual
framework.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
The purpose of this study was not to generalize about all organizations and all mentoring
programs but, instead, to present working hypotheses about specific actions that might be
effective in specific contexts. In this way, findings are more credible as guides to decision
making (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Robinson and Firth Leonard (2019) describe several
techniques to increase study credibility and trustworthiness, including structure and specificity,
clarification of the researcher’s biases, and the use of rich data as it relates to transferability.
Structure and Specificity
Qualitative interviews require specific information, but respondents often generalize in an
attempt to consolidate multiple events or concepts (Weiss, 1994). Additionally, a potential
challenge in doing interviews that seek information about past experiences is that memory
requires reconstruction of events which is not always simple or accurate (Robinson & Firth
Leonard, 2019). The interview questions included in the interview guide ask for concrete
incidents and activities to obtain reliable and complete information and avoid generalization or

60
simplification of complex concepts. For example, one series of questions asked how the
mentoring activities and interactions changed over time, with follow-on questions that prompted
the participant to describe how and why they engaged with their mentor in different scenarios.
The questions were designed to prompt recall, and interviewees were encouraged through
probing questions to discover deeper insights and more complete experiences. The interview
guide provided structure and consistency in how the questions and follow-up prompts were
posed. The language used in the interview questions and subsequent data analysis was meant to
convey the worldview of participants and accurately create nuanced interpretations beyond
simple categorization (Robinson & Firth Leonard, 2019). For example, the interview started with
questions about the leadership capabilities the participant believes to be most valued and relevant
in her organization. This information was then used throughout the interview to ensure that the
participant’s context and beliefs were an integral part of the data and analysis.
Identify Personal Bias
To maintain credibility and trustworthiness, it is important for the researcher to clearly
explain personal biases, predispositions, and assumptions about the study, topic, and participants.
This provides insight into the researcher’s reflexivity and how the researcher potentially affects
and is affected by the process (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In this study, the
researcher is a peer of the participants and was diligent in including personal information and
background to the participants prior to the interview to ensure a level of transparency and
credibility.
The findings are always influenced by the researcher and the situation in which the
interview is conducted and the researcher’s job is to clearly articulate this effect as much as
possible (Maxwell, 2013). To this end, the data set includes the researcher’s observations and
reflections after the interview in the form of interview notes and relevant insights or biases are

61
presented as part of the analysis and conclusions. Because this study relies on individual beliefs
and experiences in their specific context, the use of their and the researcher’s worldview and
reflections enhances trustworthiness and applicability to other organizations.
Rich Data and Transferability
Rich, descriptive, and detailed presentation of the research findings enhances the results
and credibility of the study. However, credibility is relative to the purpose and design of the
study and findings (Maxwell, 2013). Qualitative studies provide theories and hypotheses based
on the cases studied that may be effective in other cases but that may alternatively produce
different outcomes in dissimilar circumstances (Maxwell, 2013). This study provides information
from stakeholders that may be applied in different contexts to maximize the potential use for an
organization who wishes to address the problem of practice. For example, the data set includes
information about leadership capabilities that are well suited to development through mentoring,
the knowledge and motivation factors that might compel aspiring future leaders to engage in a
relationship-based program, and the organizational needs and obstacles to supporting these types
of programs. Any or all of these may be transferable to a new context. In this way, the sample
selection emphasizes variation in experience and situation to help identify common patterns and
enable readers to better apply the findings to their unique situation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Triangulation
A key element of qualitative research is the use of triangulation. Triangulation is the
practice of analyzing multiple data sources to reduce the risk that a researcher will draw
conclusions with insufficient evidence (McEwan & McEwan, 2003). Triangulation may include
interviewing, which when done alone is subject to interviewer bias or failed recall, observation,
which require multiple interactions to look for patterns, and document analysis, which can fill in
some missing data or clarify or call into question some of the other findings. With this context,

62
this study relied primarily on interviews with supporting documentation reviews where possible.
Given that the researcher assessed the experiences and perspectives of senior female leaders in
service of identifying promising practices, a relatively small number of interviews (N = 7) were
conducted. The qualitative research form followed a case study model that focuses on specific
human behaviors and actions (McEwan & McEwan, 2003) related to mentoring and career
development with a potential phenomenological approach due to the reliance on the lived
experience of the subjects (Creswell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Ethics
A critical component of any study is that all activities are completed ethically from study
initiation through conclusion. The credibility of the researcher is based on training, ethics, and
rigor and, as such, the researcher must consider multiple ethical challenges before engaging in a
study (Merriam, & Tisdell, 2016). The researcher is aware of the ethical responsibilities and the
application of those principles and considered those responsibilities throughout this interview-
based, qualitative study. In this study, the primary ethical responsibilities relate to informed
consent, confidentiality, and the navigation of relationships formed throughout the study.
Informed consent means that research subjects know that their participation is voluntary,
are aware of any potential risks or aspects of the study that will affect their well-being, and know
that they can opt out of the study at any point (Glesne, 2011). Because this study involved human
participants, the researcher had a responsibility to ensure that participants were fully aware of
what the study is about, what their participation entails, and what their options ere during and
after the interview. Equally, consent should reinforce mutual respect between researcher and
participant that avoids any pressure to say or do anything that makes the participant
uncomfortable (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). Informed consent was part of the introductory comments
in each interview, including a study brief document given to each participant that outlined the

63
study goal, process, and the participants’ rights and options. Participants were asked to verbally
agree to participate and acknowledge that they understood these points before beginning the
interview. In addition, participants were asked to agree to the interview being recorded and
informed that, after transcription, recordings would be destroyed.
This study includes a small number of participants selected from the small population of
female senior leaders in the technology industry; approximately 20% of the senior team are
women on average in technology companies (Mercer, 2016). As noted in the study background
and purpose, not many individuals meet this profile and, as such, it is highly likely that the
contents of an interview would provide information that identified the participant. Participants
do, however, have a right to expect that a researcher will protect their confidences and preserve
their identities as much as possible (Glesne, 2011). This includes changing names, identifying
characteristics, and, in some cases, removing details from the interviews that would readily
identify an individual such as company position or professional association affiliation. In the
research findings, names, companies, and other identifying characteristics have been changed to
protect confidentiality but, to ensure that participants understand the risk of identification, this
risk will be noted in the informed consent presentation. Participants were asked if they would be
available during the analysis of findings to confirm or deny inclusion of information to protect
confidentiality if needed.
The small population of research participants presents an ethical challenge regarding the
relationship between researcher and subject. Any research project is affected by a relational
ethic, which means being aware of the role the researcher plays and the impact she or he has on
the relationships with the study participants (Glesne, 2011; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In this
study, participants were often peers of the researcher and therefore share similar backgrounds,
interests, and, in some cases, professional networks. This presents a potential for bias in the

64
researcher who may assume or associate interview responses with personal experiences. It also
presents an ethical challenge if the study participant views the researcher as a friend and not as a
researcher only. Information given to a friend is different than that given to a researcher, and the
researcher needs to ensure that the participant clearly understands the relationship between those
two roles (Glesne, 2011). To ensure this, the researcher reminded the participants that data was
being collected and recorded and offered the participant opportunities to go “off the record” if
needed.
An additional ethical consideration in this study is that the researcher is part of the
community being interviewed. The achievements described in the sample criteria are similar to
the researchers, and there is some risk of bias or assumptions introduced based on the
researcher’s own opportunities for education, mentoring, professional development, and
organizational context. It is important that the researcher fully explores topics and responses and
does not assume an understanding of commentary or reactions about the participant’s career
journey. The researcher was cognizant of the need to not inject her own experiences into the
interview protocol or discussion and to make sure that she clarified that her study participants
mean when they generalize or use euphemisms that may be understood in an informal context.
The researcher has a personal interest in this study as a senior leader in the technology
industry who currently mentors women who aspire to these positions. It is important that the
researcher acknowledge how her current position and positionality may affect the research
process. This includes recognition that the researcher’s tenure in the corporate world does not
reflect that of all women in senior leadership positions, that age, race, and ethnic diversity of the
researcher and participants affect career trajectories and opportunities, and that, while there may
be many similarities between the researcher and participants, each participant’s experience is
uniquely her own. Throughout the interview and data analysis processes, the researcher needed

65
to consider how personal experience may introduce bias and use tools such as reflective memos
to continuously assess for assumptions or bias-based interpretation of findings.
Throughout the research, recordings took place of all discussions, with the consent of the
participants. As part of the invitation to participate and at the start of each interview, the
participant was asked if she consented to being recorded and the interview progressed only if the
participant agreed. Recordings were stored on password-protected devices and transferred via
secure means. After each interview, the researcher contracted a service to transcribe the
interview verbatim. Transcriptions were coded with pseudonyms for confidentiality. After the
transcripts were reviewed for accuracy, the researcher destroyed all recordings.
Limitations and Delimitations
There are limitations and delimitations the researcher must be aware of as this study
commences. Limitations are the factors that are not in the researcher’s locus of control. Some
limitations that exist for this study are that
● The study is dependent on the truthfulness of the participants.
● The participants are from various fields, and companies and each participant has had a
unique career path that is related to their organization, field of practice, and personal
context.
● The study is about mentoring relationships that occurred in the past and is, therefore,
dependent on the participant’s ability to recall events.
Delimitations are the decisions the researcher makes that may have implications for the
study. Two delimitations affected this study:
● Data were collected from women who hold a senior leadership position and does not
include the perspective of other stakeholders.

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● The study was conducted prior to the innovation being introduced to best inform an
implementation. It is, therefore, not an evaluation study.

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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS
This innovation study sought to identify ways in which technology organizations can use
mentoring to increase the number of aspiring women leaders who are eligible for promotion to
senior leadership positions, ultimately addressing the lack of gender balance in leadership teams.
Qualitative data were collected to validate the assumed needs through interviews and document
analysis, using the processes described in Chapter Three. Seven women who met the qualifying
criteria were interviewed via video conferencing using the protocol in Appendix A. These
participants were asked for supporting artifacts and the researcher used web searches to identify
other relevant corporate material following the interviews.
This chapter opens with a description of participating stakeholders, proceeds with an
overview of how the results were analyzed, and then provides in-depth results analysis. The
chapter concludes with a summary of the validated influences. This study is based on a needs
analysis framework, with assumed knowledge, motivation, and organization influences as
detailed in Chapter Two. Those same influences will be used to frame the results of the
interviews and document analysis, in relation to the research questions:
1. What knowledge, motivation, and organization factors do women leaders in the
technology industry perceive to help or hinder a mentoring relationship that contributes to
their ability to achieve a senior leadership position?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and stakeholder knowledge and
motivation that affects a woman’s ability to identify valued leadership traits and develop
those traits through a mentoring relationship?
3. What recommendations in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organizational
resources can be made to inform the design of a mentoring program that is meant to
increase the number of women in senior leadership positions?

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Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholders for this study were women who were or had previously been a senior
leader in a technology organization who could identify at least one mentoring relationship used
for leadership development. For the purposes of this study, senior leader is defined as a vice
president (or equivalent) and above. The seven women who participated in the interviews were
recruited through referrals from the researcher’s network. Because the researcher herself meets
the qualifying criteria, to reduce opportunity for bias, interview participants were (a) not
previously known to the researcher and (b) individuals who did not and had not worked for a
company at which the researcher had worked in a senior leadership position.
The participants come from different parts of the company, including sales, product,
human resources, operations, and strategy. While most worked at large companies (>30,000
employees) during their mentoring relationship, two worked at companies with fewer than 500
employees. All participants worked at technology companies for the duration of their senior
leadership positions, but that tenure varied widely from 2 years to 22 years. Today, Participant 4
and Participant 5 work at the same company and Participant 1 and Participant 6 work at the same
company. None of the participants worked at the same company when they were being
mentored. See Table 4 for descriptive information for each participant.

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Table 4
Interview Participant Descriptions
Participant Current Role Tenure in
Leadership at
Technology
Company
Number of
Employees at
Company when
Mentored
Participant 1 Vice President of Compensation and
Benefits
5 years >500
Participant 2 Chief Operating Officer 15 years 30,000+
Participant 3 Sales Performance Consultant;
previously Head of Global Sales
19 years 30,000+
Participant 4 Vice President of Product 2 years 6,000+
Participant 5 Vice President of Engineering 2 years >500
Participant 6 Strategic Advisor 7 years 30,000+
Participant 7 Chief Human Resources Officer 22 years 30,000+

Determination of Assets and Needs
Data were collected for this study through interviews with qualified participants and,
where possible, document analysis. Interviews were between 45- and 60-minutes long and
conducted via video conferencing. Transcripts were auto-generated in the video conferencing
application and then human-reviewed and updated using a service from Rev.com. Policy
documents, leadership statements, and material describing leadership programs and activities
were provided by participants when possible. The researcher used web searches to find public
information from corporate websites and reports. Interviews are the primary data source and
were more heavily weighted than the document analysis. Documents were primarily used to
confirm participant statements. To reduce the risk that a researcher will suggest conclusions
without sufficient data, triangulation is used to analyze multiple data sources (McEwan &

70
McEwan, 2003). Data were triangulated through the use of document analysis and, more
significantly, through agreement with the literature and agreement among participants.
Interview analysis revealed that, while each participant has a distinct perspective and
experience, common themes emerged fairly quickly once seven interviews had been conducted.
Given the small sample size and the criticality of the influences being studied, the researcher
determined an influence was a need if the responses of fewer than six of the seven participants
(< 86%) were in agreement. If six or seven participants agreed in their responses, the influence
was determined to be an asset.
Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes
This section reports on the results of the interviews and document analysis. The results
and findings are reported by knowledge, motivation, and organization influences identified in the
conceptual framework described in Chapter Two and which answer the research questions. It is
useful to note that participants were asked primarily about their KMO culture when they were
being mentored (recall from the past). However, two items asked participants about their current
organization and perceptions and, in some cases, the documents shared by the individuals reflect
their current organization. These two items help illuminate how each participant’s experience
shaped her current perception and understanding of leadership development and provides some
insight into how these senior leaders believe gender balance issues may be addressed today. This
section starts with factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge influences, continues with
motivation influences, and concludes with organization influences. The chapter concludes with
an assessment of these findings.

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Factual Knowledge
Influence 1. Senior leaders knew the leadership characteristics most valued at their
organization.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. Participants were asked what leadership characteristics were most
valued at the organization at which they were when mentored, and how they knew those traits
were valued. All participants described a set of leadership characteristics they believed were
most valued at their organization. Most participants cited creativity, communication, the ability
to set a vision and an execution plan, and some form of team-building as highly-valued traits.
Participant 1 had the most variation, with more emphasis on risk management and quality output.
Participant 2 focused almost exclusively on the ability to work cross-functionally and manage
through influence.
Participant 2 was unique in that she was the only participant who described formal
management training that described these characteristics. She described her company as being
“very good having not only performance plans, but development plans.” Participant 1 and
Participant 7 both described observing others as a means to understand what was valued.
Participant 1 described this as, “it’s just been seeing, well, who got promoted? What type of
personality do they have in leadership?” In contrast, Participant 3 acknowledged that her moment
of realization came during an interaction with a senior leader, “he basically said, ‘you know
what, you don’t see the talent in yourself, but here’s the path that you have to take. You have to
go out in the field.’ Kind of pushed me into the uncomfortable zone.” Participant 5 did not look
to anyone else but herself to help her understand the valued leadership characteristics, and “this
took years to first become self-aware that, hey, these are things that I need to work on, and then
realized that I need to grow into that.” All participants were able to describe how they identified

72
the leadership characteristics valued at their company, but their means to learn them varied
widely in method and time span.
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. Only Participant 2 could recall any specific documents or websites
that listed her company’s valued leadership characteristics when she was being mentored.
Participant 2 provided manager training documentation from when she was being mentored, but
there was no mention of leadership characteristics in that material. Today, on the current
corporate websites, only Participant 4’s and Participant 5’s company lists corporate values,
including one about the importance of diversity. Participant 1 described her current company’s
efforts to publish company values but admitted that she believes those are different than
leadership characteristics that are valued in hiring or promotion.
Summary. The assumed influence that a senior leader knew the valued leadership
characteristics at her company was determined to be an asset. All participants described a fairly
common set of leadership characteristics they perceived to be valuable during their leadership
development process, and those traits were generally consistent with what research says senior
executives value today. Only one could describe a tangible way that leadership expectations were
described, but that information was not validated with supporting documentation. While the
leadership characteristics highlighted by participants were consistent, they were only partially
confirmed through document analysis. Since the data from the interviews outweigh the document
analysis, and, given that the described characteristics align with those that the research identifies,
this influence is an asset.

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Conceptual Knowledge
Influence 1. Senior leaders know the relationship between mentoring and leadership
development.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. Participants were asked to describe the role they believe mentoring
plays in leadership development. All agree that mentors help remind an individual of what she is
capable of, and, as Participant 7 says, “it’s something that they do because they care about you as
an individual or person.” Participant 6 emphasized that a mentor can provide a different
perspective on a problem, and force the protégé to expand her thinking, saying, “I can think of
many instances where it was my inclination to dive deep and to problem-solve. Sort of looking
downwards as opposed to looking upwards and moving the problem.” Participant 5 added to that
concept, noting that a good mentoring relationship is “being comfortable with being vulnerable -
know that that will not affect my career in any way.” Several participants also noted
organizational benefits, including engaging high-potential employees, driving performance, and
increasing employee satisfaction.
Participant 1, Participant 4, and Participant 7 all described the need for more than one
mentor, since, as Participant 4 says, “There is not one super person or super mentor.” These
participants suggested that their success with mentors is a result of having more than one mentor
at any given time with Participant 1 going so far as to say, “I feel like we can learn from every
single person that comes across our path.” Participant 1 calls this group of mentors her network,
Participant 4 refers to it as her “squad,” and Participant 7 describes having a pool of mentors. In
each case, the skill set and influence of this group of mentors vary and span personal and
professional topics. Participant 1 recommends that mentors “never underestimate something you
might think everyone knows,” and reinforces the potential to learn from almost anyone.

74
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. The researcher was unable to find any public documentation from
any of the participants’ current companies that describes mentoring as a form of leadership
development. Participant 1 provided two documents about mentoring programs at her current
company that connect mentoring to leadership development and explicitly describe how an
aspiring female leader can engage in a mentoring relationship. The first describes the process for
participating in a shadowing program that is available to all aspiring leaders. The second is a
mentoring program for women only. These documents demonstrate Participant 1’s current
company’s intent to help aspiring leaders more intentionally use mentoring in leadership
development.
Summary. The assumed influence that a senior leader knows the relationship between
mentoring and leadership development was determined to be an asset. All participants could
describe the impact mentoring has on a protégé and the ways that a mentor is an important part
of leadership development. Three participants described the need for more than one mentor and
noted that they ascribed their success to their ability to form a mentor network or “squad.” This
knowledge was self-taught, with no company direction or influence on that tactic. All
participants noted that their mentoring relationships were informal, highlighting the lack of
company documentation or support for formal mentoring in a way that participants felt was
meaningful. Since participants could describe their current understanding of the relationship
between mentoring and leadership development, this influence is an asset.
Procedural Knowledge
Influence 1. Senior leaders knew how to develop leadership capabilities.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.

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Interview findings. Participants were asked if and how they created a plan to develop
valued leadership characteristics while being mentored and whether their company provided any
tools or resources to assist in this activity. Only two of the seven participants were able to
respond to this, and, therefore, this influence was determined to be a need. Participant 2 was
unique, again, in her response to these questions. She described how, although in a very male-
dominated organization, she participated in a long-term program for high-potential employees
that helped her craft her 3-year and 5-year leadership development plan. Participant 3 also
participated in a high-potential employee program, but in her case, this included the mentor
giving her opportunities to explore new things, resulting in “the exposure I got and the
experience I got was pretty significant.” All other participants describe a process that was more
organic and self-directed, requiring self-awareness and observation. Participant 1 describes this
as the ability to “absorb information that I might not have ever picked up in any type of training
course” and Participant 5 describes how receiving critical feedback forced her to increase her
self-awareness and readiness to develop new capabilities. It is worth noting that participants
didn’t uniformly think that they needed formal training on how to create a leadership plan and
that, as Participant 1 says, there was value in
connecting the dots, making friends in other areas of the company and trying to provide
some value to them. And then knowing in turn, just sometimes by being able to be around
them, I was able to absorb information that I might not have ever picked up in any type of
training course.
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. Participant 2 provided a manager’s guide to employee development
from the time she worked at that company. While not about leadership development specifically,
the manager’s guide corroborates Participant 2’s description of the structured approach to

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employee development and the range of tools and programs available to employees and
managers to create a development plan.
Summary. The assumed influence that a senior leader knew how to develop leadership
capabilities was determined to be a need. The majority of participants describe a loose and
informal leadership development planning process. This relied on their ability to be self-aware,
invest time in creating internal and external networks, and have the foresight to anticipate what
they might need. Only two participants described a more formal, company-supported process and
that information was confirmed with the related document analysis. Therefore, the ability to craft
a leadership development plan is a need.
Influence 2. Senior leaders knew how to establish an effective feedback process with
mentors.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. For the final knowledge influence, participants were asked to
describe how feedback was provided during their mentoring relationship, how they established
that process with their mentor, and how it changed over time. No participant described a formal
feedback process used with their mentor. In all cases, participants described informal, in-the-
moment feedback, with Participant 6 describing it as, “it wasn’t anything that was formal - it
would come up naturally as part of discussions that we were having.” Participant 7 described the
feedback process as informal, but she noted the importance of being comfortable asking for it.
Participant 1 also stressed the need to “routinely follow up like, I don’t know, maybe every three
months checking in, how am I doing on this? What else do you need to see from me? Do you see
me stepping up at that level?”
Participant 2, Participant 3, Participant 5, and Participant 7 all referred to trust being a
critical element of giving and receiving feedback. For Participant 2, a mentoring relationship is a

77
“collegial relationship where feedback was about helping each other out.” Participant 5 referred
back to the vulnerability mentoring enables, “I can trust him in being vulnerable and talking
about some of my challenges.” These participants noted that trust was the driver for how
feedback changed over time from coaching to strategic feedback. Participant 7 took this a step
further to note that, while it might be good for feedback to start in a formal process, if that trust
doesn’t develop and feedback becomes more informal, “what happens with mentoring is it
becomes sometimes contrived.”
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. No document analysis was conducted for this item.
Summary. The assumed influence that a senior leader knew how to establish an effective
feedback process with a mentor was determined to be a need. All participants described an
informal feedback process with their mentors that focused on in-the-moment feedback and self-
directed activities to seek out feedback and guidance. Participants agreed that the goal of a
mentoring relationship should be to build trust so that feedback can progress from tactical
coaching to strategic direction. A critical aspect of this is the ability to receive feedback
constructively and then follow up with the mentor or ask the mentor for reinforcement.
Therefore, this influence is a need to be able to ask for, receive, and ultimately give feedback.
Results and Findings for Motivation Causes
Self-Efficacy
Influence 1. Senior leaders believed that they were capable of developing valued
leadership characteristics.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. Participants were asked how they developed the confidence to pursue
a leadership position while being mentored and how their mentor increased or challenged that

78
confidence. All participants described either a mentor’s challenge or a self-challenge to take on
more difficult roles and projects as part of how they developed the confidence to pursue more
senior leadership positions. Participant 2 describes her mentor as “one of those really hard
teachers that you have where they drive you nuts because they set such high expectations, but
you kill yourself trying to achieve it.” Participant 2 gained confidence through failure, describing
a situation where she was not able to meet an executive leader’s expectations and her mentor
helped by “just pushing [me] off the ledge” which “forced me to get my act together and get a
little more sophisticated.”
All but one participant said that their confidence was boosted by a mentor’s assurance
that the participant had more capability than she believed. Even though, as Participant 4 says,
“there’s always that doubt in the back of my mind that, you know, I’m in the right role doing the
right things,” and Participant 7 believes that “it is our own confidence that gets us, that gets in
the way,” most participants described situations where a mentor provided reassurance that the
next role would not be too challenging and that having a mentor is, as Participant 6 says, “about
seeing that you’re not alone about...having some people to bounce ideas off of when you are
having a little bit of a confidence crisis.” The majority of participants described the mentor’s
reassurance and challenge as an asset to building confidence during the leadership journey.
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. Most participants did not recall any documentation that discussed a
mentor’s role in confidence-building. Participant 2 provided a corporate brochure from the time
she was being mentored that details the company’s commitment to equal opportunity programs.
This brochure begins with a letter from the CEO at the time, stating the importance of equal
opportunity for all employees and the expectation that all leaders and managers support their
employees’ development. While not directly related to an individual’s self-efficacy, the existence

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of this statement and a brochure detailing the programs available supports Participant 2’s
assertions that the company increased her confidence in pursuing new roles.
Summary. The assumed influence that senior leaders believed they were capable of
developing valued leadership characteristics was determined to be an asset. The majority of
participants described successes and failures that required a confidence boost from their mentor
but that also increased their determination and self-efficacy. The majority of participants believe
that their self-efficacy was built by a mentor’s confidence in their abilities. Participant 2 also
provided documentation that tangentially reinforced her organization’s commitment to giving
employees new opportunities. Therefore, this influence is an asset.
Goal Orientation
Influence 1. Senior leaders developed a mastery orientation toward achieving their
goals.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. To discover whether and how participants developed a mastery
orientation, they were asked to describe how they handled a mistake they made during their
leadership development program and how their mentor assisted in that situation. Participant
responses were not consistent on this topic, and this influence was determined to be a need.
Participant 1 and Participant 5, in particular, described mistakes and challenges that were
external to their own goal orientation, with Participant 5 concluding that her mistake was
because “I did not fit the culture and the culture did not fit my needs.” In contrast, Participant 2
and Participant 6 echoed a version of Participant 4’s statement that, “sometimes, you have to
learn the hard way and learn on your own by making a mistake.” Participant 2 described her
“horrible decision” as “super helpful in terms of the learning experience” and Participant 7

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stated, “there were lots of things I learned from that [mistake] that I’ve taken with me further
on.”
Participant 6 provided the most insight into how her mentor helped her through her
mistake, remembering that “he absolutely respected the sort of falling on the sword as opposed to
covering it up and trying to hide it and not asking for help and not moving forward.” Other
participants described how their mentoring network asked thoughtful questions to help learn
from a mistake. Participant 7 concluded her discussion of her mentor’s role in identifying a key
lesson from her mistake, “there is something about if you don’t take a risk, it’s worse than if you
do and it fails.”
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. No documents were analyzed for this item.
Summary. The assumed influence that senior leaders developed a mastery orientation
toward achieving their goals was determined to be a need. While five of the participants
described how they learned from their mistakes and how these situations made them want to
continue to develop their leadership capabilities, two of the participants did not. Given the
criticality of mastery orientation in leadership development, the ability to develop such an
orientation is determined to be a need.
Results and Findings for Organization Causes
Cultural Models
Influence 1. The organization had a culture that reflected the importance of
developing female leaders.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. Participants were asked to describe how senior leaders at the
company at which they were when mentored demonstrated a commitment to the development of

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women leaders. In general, participants were not convinced that their organizations were
committed to developing female leaders. Only one participant, Participant 5, was able to describe
an investment in programs that she felt was meaningful and effective, and Participant 4 believed
that the company showed commitment “by action. So you could see that women were being
appointed to key positions within the company.” Therefore, this influence was determined to be a
need. Most of the participants described women-centered programs as the primary demonstration
of this commitment which, research shows, is rarely beneficial to gender-equity goals.
Participant 2’s participation in the high-potential employee program was a positive experience,
but she notes that it was not specifically for women and that “at the upper rungs it was definitely
pretty brutal. Because there were just so few women, and there was just so much that happened
in more social environments.” Participant 7 pointed out that women-centric programs did not
reflect the reality of her daily work, stating, “if I’m sittin’ with just women learning how to be a
good leader, then I’m missing an entire perspective and insight that I need to have because my
day looks different, and every meeting I’m in looks different.”
In the course of the interview, participants were also asked if they currently believe that
organizations should set public goals for women in leadership. Each participant stated that her
current organization does not have these goals but that she believes that this is needed. Most
participants qualified this statement, however, by emphasizing that goals without accountability
would be ineffective. Participant 6 referred to a problem with a lack of results, even when there
is a “there is a talk track around it…sometimes you see lip service.” She went on to describe how
her current company just initiated an executive bonus program that required meeting gender-
based hiring and promotion goals. This was because “everybody’s making the statements. It’s
about how do you hold them accountable to the statements that they make.” Participant 5
cautioned that the goals need to be realistic and reflect what’s possible in the market while

82
Participant 4 believes that “everything around this needs to be intentional...if you’re not doing
something, you may be doing something that hinders this from happening.” This influence is,
therefore, a need based on these women’s experience with company culture while being
mentored and their current organizational culture.
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. As mentioned above, Participant 2 provided a brochure from the
time she was being mentored that detailed the company’s commitment to equal opportunity.
While there are many examples of how the organization invests in education and community
programs and the brochure includes policy statements about equal opportunity employment,
there is very little information about a commitment to women specifically other than a work-life
balance section, and no information about women in leadership. This corroborates Participant 2’s
statements about the lack of commitment to women becoming leaders. Given that many
participants discussed the need for companies to set public goals about women in leadership, the
researcher reviewed the corporate websites of the companies the participants were at when
mentored and the websites and, when available, diversity and sustainability reports at their
current companies. All of these companies have statements about their commitment to
professional development for women, to varying degrees, but, as noted by participants, none
have a public goal stated on this topic. Only one reports on gender balance on the public website.
Summary. The assumed influence that the organizations at which these senior leaders
were when mentored had a culture that reflected the importance of developing women leaders
was determined to be a need. Most participants did not believe the company-supported programs
were effective or sufficient demonstration of commitment and this was supported by one
company’s equal opportunity brochure. Many participants mentioned the lack of women in

83
senior positions at the time they were mentored. Therefore, a culture that actively reflects the
importance of developing women leaders is a need.
When asked if their current organizations should use public goals to demonstrate a belief
in the importance of this topic, all participants responded that it would be beneficial, with most
noting that the appropriate accountability needs to be in place. A review of the public-facing
websites and reports support the participants’ assertion that their companies do not currently
have these goals. This reinforces the determination that companies need a culture that reflects the
importance of developing women as leaders.
Cultural Settings
Influence 1. The organization had a culture of learning.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. Participants were asked how senior leaders at that company
demonstrated a commitment to employee learning and what resources or tools were made
available to support learning. Every participant described formal and informal programs
provided by the companies at which they were when being mentored. This included corporate
goals that every employee completes at least 40 hours of training, manager-determined budgets
that could be used for certifications or conferences, and a general belief that time taken for
learning would not be questioned or challenged. Participant 4 described more informal programs,
“they were always kind of doing events in making sure they’re getting folks up to speed, they’re
trying new technology,” and Participant 6 described a tiered program that included learning and
development time, a job rotation program, and a learning-oriented sabbatical program. Both
Participant 6 and Participant 7 noted that they knew that the onus was on them to participate in
these programs but that the company was committed to supporting them through training.
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.

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Document analysis. No documents were analyzed for this item.
Summary. The assumed influence that the organizations at which these senior leaders
were when mentored had a culture of learning was determined to be an asset. All participants
described informal and formal ways in which their companies provided time, resources, and
support for learning and development. This included a variety of corporate-sponsored programs
and manager-level initiatives and the expectation that employees would take advantage of these
programs as needed. Therefore, a culture of learning is an asset.
Influence 2. The organization provided visible support for career development for
potential female leaders.
Survey results. No survey was conducted for this study.
Interview findings. For the final organizational influence, participants were asked to
describe the support policies, practices, and tools the company provided specifically for women’s
career development. Most participants referred again to the women’s programs they described
when asked about the cultural commitment to women in leadership. Participant 3 noted there was
no budget at her organization set aside for mentoring, but that sometimes “I would be put on
those special projects and kind of removed from my job. But that was rare.” Participant 2
restated the fact that her company made a significant investment in professional development in
general, but nothing specifically for women. Given that the responses were sparse and, based on
the information provided in the discussion about cultural models, organizations need to provide
visible support for career development for aspiring female leaders.
Observation. No observations were conducted for this study.
Document analysis. No documents were analyzed for this item.
Summary. It is useful to examine the cultural model-related influence that the
organization had a commitment to leadership development for women in conjunction with the

85
cultural setting-related influence that the organization provides visible support for the
development of aspiring women leaders. Participants responded to both of these items with
descriptions of women-related programs and described those programs as ineffective or, in one
case, detrimental. While there were examples of programs that were positive experiences for
some participants, both of these influences were determined to be needs.
Summary of Validated Influences
Tables 5, 6, and 7 show the knowledge, motivation and organization influences for this
study and their determination as an asset or a need.
Table 5
Knowledge Assets or Needs as Determined by the Data
Assumed Knowledge Influence Asset or Need
Factual
Senior leaders knew the leadership characteristics most valued at
their organization.
Asset
Conceptual
Senior leaders know the relationship between mentoring and
leadership development.
Asset
Procedural
Senior leaders knew how to develop leadership capabilities. Need
Senior leaders knew how to establish an effective feedback
process with mentors.
Need

Table 6
Motivation Assets or Needs as Determined by the Data
Assumed Motivation Influence Asset or Need
Self-Efficacy
Senior leaders believed that they were capable of developing
valued leadership characteristics.
Asset
Goal Orientation
Senior leaders developed a mastery orientation toward achieving
their goals.
Need

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Table 7
Organization Assets or Needs as Determined by the Data
Assumed Organization Influence Asset or Need
Cultural Model
The organization had a culture that reflected the importance of
developing female leaders.
Need
Cultural Setting
The organization had a culture of learning. Asset
The organization provided visible support for career
development for potential female leaders.
Need

Closing Recommendations from Participants
To close the interview, participants were asked what advice they would give someone
who is designing a mentoring program for women to help companies achieve sustainable gender
balance on the leadership team. While this item does not relate to a specific influence being
discussed in this study, the information is relevant to the program design detailed in Chapter
Five. These women, having been mentored in their journey to senior leadership, have a unique
perspective on what worked for them and, as senior leaders now, what they would want to see in
mentors and protégé s.
Participant 2 started with the importance of metrics. She described her own realization
that she had never asked how many women were in sales at her company which was surprising
given the company’s primary buyers are women. Participant 2 recommended that any program
start with being clear on current state and desired state of the number of women being
interviewed, hired, and promoted. Participant 5 recommended a practical approach that gives
tangible examples and develops important communication skills and several participants
mentioned that men needed to be actively engaged in any program. Participant 4 revisited the
recommendation that individuals be encouraged to have multiple mentors and Participant 6 took

87
this further to suggest that protégé s be put into cohorts for maximum support and shared
learning. Finally, Participant 7 summarized her thoughts by saying,
We need to do more to take the risk to put women in roles just like we do for men. We
need to create support systems for women, to help them build that level of confidence,
and we as women need to kick ourselves in the asses and say we can.
Chapter Five takes this advice and the information gleaned from the interviews and
document analysis to present recommendations for solutions for these knowledge, motivation,
and organization influences.

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CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS AND EVALUATION
The intent of this innovation study was to identify ways that technology companies can
use mentoring as one route to increased gender balance in leadership teams. The causes and
impact of a lack of gender balance were discussed in Chapter Two and included an exploration
of KMO influences that affect progress toward desired gender balance in leadership. Chapter
Four includes the results of the study, organized into KMO influence categories and discusses
whether participants experienced those influences as assets or needs.
Based on that information, this chapter includes a proposed program based on the needs
and assets identified in this study. The chapter starts with context-specific recommendations for
the KMO influences relevant to the problem of practice. The knowledge recommendations focus
on the training activities and supporting material that enable an aspiring female leader to learn
the leadership characteristics most valued at her organization and the procedures for creating an
effective development action plan and giving and receiving feedback. The motivation-related
recommendations use appropriate mechanisms to increase the self-efficacy and goal orientation
of aspiring female leaders. These include the use of role modeling, peer support, and coaching
during and after the training program. Finally, the organizational recommendations focus on the
use of concrete goals and investment, with senior leader accountability, to increase the likelihood
that aspiring female leaders will reach their goals and that the organization as a whole will meet
the intended internal and external outcomes.
The next section of this chapter provides a detailed evaluation plan. Using the New
World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016), this section includes internal and
external outcomes (Level 4: Results), stakeholder critical behaviors and drivers (Level 3:
Behaviors), learning objectives and assessment techniques (Level 2: Learning), and learner
engagement and satisfaction metrics (Level 1: Reaction) specific to the recommended program

89
and the overarching organizational goal. The program specifics, including learning objectives,
are detailed. The proposed program includes a series of videos and job aids that educate learners
about the valued leadership characteristics and motivate learners through role modeling and
examples. In-person workshops are proposed to give learners an opportunity to discuss the
characteristics and how they can be applied and sessions to learn and practice action planning
and giving and receiving feedback. A critical part of the proposed program is ongoing peer
support and coaching throughout the mentoring process. This section details the program
specifics and the evaluations, metrics, and tools that will provide program owners with the ability
to assess program effectiveness and, ultimately, associate program activities to the organizational
goal to increase gender-balance on the leadership team. Sample data analysis tools are included
in this section to give an example of how an organization might measure and visually display
progress toward the Level 4 results metrics.
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences
Knowledge Recommendations
Introduction. As discussed in Chapter Two, Krathwohl (2002) provides a framework
from which to assess knowledge-related performance gaps. The knowledge influences included
in this study, declarative and procedural, represent two of Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2002)
knowledge types. Declarative (conceptual) knowledge is the understanding of categories,
principles, generalizations, and models (Rueda, 2011) and, in this study, relates to the
stakeholders’ knowledge of valued leadership characteristics and the conceptual relationship
between mentoring and stakeholder development. Study participants indicated that both of these
conceptual knowledge influences are assets. Procedural knowledge is the ability to perform
sequential or intricate processes and tasks essential to a goal (Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011).
Procedural knowledge areas with a high probability of influencing stakeholder outcomes are the

90
processes to establish a feedback process with a mentor and the steps to take to develop
leadership characteristics, both of which were identified as needs in this study. Table 8 includes
the complete list of assumed knowledge influences and an indication of whether each influence
was found to be an asset or a need. Table 8 also includes a prioritization of influences based on
the probable level of effect on the stakeholder goals and recommendations for remediation based
on theoretical principles.
Table 8
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed
Knowledge
Influence
Validated
as a Need
or Asset?

Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Senior leaders know
the leadership
characteristics most
valued at their
organization. (D)
Asset Y Integrating auditory and visual
information maximizes working
memory capacity (Mayer,
2011).
(Information Processing System
Theory)

Provide experiences that help
people make sense of the
material rather than just focus
on memorization (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
(Information Processing System
Theory)

Provide a workshop that
starts with videos of senior
leaders discussing the
leadership characteristics
most valued at the
organization and then a
group discussion about
those characteristics and
when each may be applied.

Senior leaders know
how to develop
leadership
capabilities. (P)
Need Y Modeling to-be-learned
strategies or behaviors improves
learning, and performance
(Denler, Wolters, & Benzon,
2009). (Social Cognitive
Theory)

To develop mastery, individuals
must acquire component skills,
practice integrating them, and
know when to apply what they
have learned (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
(Information Processing System
Theory)

Provide a training program
that includes worked
examples of leadership
development plans,
activities that support
creating a leadership plan,
mentor recruitment and
collaboration techniques,
and facilitator- and peer-
feedback sessions.

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Table 8,continued
Assumed
Knowledge
Influence
Validated
as a Need
or Asset?

Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Senior leaders know
how to develop
leadership
capabilities. (P)
Need Y Feedback that is private,
specific, and timely enhances
performance (Shute, 2008).
(Social Cognitive Theory)

Senior leaders know
how to establish an
effective feedback
process with
mentors. (P)
Need Y To develop mastery, individuals
must acquire component skills,
practice integrating them, and
know when to apply what they
have learned (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006). (Information
Processing System Theory)

Feedback that is private, specific,
and timely enhances
performance (Shute, 2008).
(Social Cognitive Theory)
Provide a job aid describing
how to give (for mentors)
and receive (protégé s)
feedback. Include a
recommended feedback
worksheet to be used at
milestones established in
the mentoring plan
document.

Provide a scenario-based
workshop to give mentors
and protégé s opportunities
to demonstrate skills and
practice giving and
receiving feedback.
Senior leaders know
the relationship
between mentoring
and leadership
development. (D)
Asset N Social interaction and
cooperative learning facilitate
construction of new knowledge
(Scott & Palincsar, 2006).

How individuals organize
knowledge influences how they
learn and apply what they know
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006).

Provide information
pamphlets and a workshop,
if necessary, that includes
case studies, quotes, and
video testimonials about
how mentoring was used by
senior leaders for career
development. Give learners
the opportunity to discuss
how the mentoring
relationship will assist with
leadership development.

Increasing knowledge about the leadership characteristics most valued at the
organization. The findings indicate that an individual embarking on a mentoring relationship
often has declarative knowledge about what leadership characteristics are most valued at her
organization but would benefit from more formal confirmation that her perceptions align to
reality. To meet this declarative need, a recommendation based on information processing
systems theory has been selected. Integrating auditory and visual information maximizes

92
working memory capacity (Mayer, 2011). Additionally, learning is enhanced when individuals
have experiences that help make sense of the material rather than just focus on memorization
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). This suggests that providing learners with credible models
describing the valued leadership characteristics and then providing an opportunity to learn when
to apply those leadership traits would be appropriate to support learning. The recommendation is
to provide individuals who are starting a mentoring relationship a workshop that includes videos
of senior executives discussing the leadership characteristics most valued at the organization and
a group discussion about those characteristics and when each may be applied.
To effectively transition from individual contributor to leader, it is important to start with
an understanding of what leadership characteristics are most valued at the organization (Zenger
& Folkman, 2014). Clear and focused videos can help increase the learning effectiveness of
information presentation for declarative knowledge without increasing cognitive load (Hong, Pi,
& Yang, 2018). Videos such as these can be used to aid in the information organization needed
for declarative knowledge by helping individuals identify and understand important points
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). Additionally, effective training provides individuals with a
connection between the information provided and how that information is used on the job (Clark
& Estes, 2008), represented in this recommendation by the opportunity for learners to explore the
application of the leadership characteristics. From a theoretical perspective, it would appear that
increasing knowledge of the valued leadership characteristics would increase the likelihood of a
successful mentoring relationship designed to achieve the stakeholder’s goal.
Increasing knowledge about how mentoring can be used for leadership
development. The results indicate that an individual starting a mentoring relationship often
knows how mentoring relates to the development of leadership characteristics. To support
ongoing development of this conceptual knowledge, the proposed recommendation is based on

93
the sociocultural theory principle that social interaction and cooperative learning facilitates the
construction of new knowledge (Scott & Palincsar, 2006) and the information processing
systems theory principle that how learners organize knowledge influences who they learn and
apply new knowledge (Schraw & McRudden, 2006). This suggests that providing learners with
examples of how mentoring has been used effectively to develop leadership characteristics and
giving learners opportunities to practice integrating these concepts into their own mentoring plan
is appropriate to meet this need. The recommendation is to provide a workshop that includes case
studies, quotes, and testimonials from leaders who used mentoring for leadership development
and to give learners an opportunity to discuss how mentoring will fit with their respective
mentoring plans.
To encourage learners to think about content in strategic ways, it is useful to break down
complex tasks and encourage learners to consider how each element will contribute to their
development over time (Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). When learners work in partnership with
others to perform difficult tasks, such as integrating mentoring into a leadership development
plan, learning can increase (Scott & Palincsar, 2006). Additionally, modeling effective strategy
use, including worked examples of how and when to apply the knowledge, can assist in learning
(Kirschner, Kirschner, & Paas, 2006; Mayer, 2011; Schraw & McRudden, 2006; Van Gerven et
al., 2002). From a theoretical perspective, providing examples of how mentoring can help or
hinder leadership development and giving learners an opportunity to integrate that declarative
knowledge into their mentoring plans enables a learner to put those concepts into practice.
Increasing knowledge of how to develop leadership capabilities. The results and
findings indicate that an individual embarking on a mentoring relationship needs procedural
knowledge about the steps and process for developing leadership capabilities. To meet this
procedural need, a recommendation based on SCT and information processing system theory has

94
been selected. The basis of SCT is that learning occurs in a social context and that individuals
learn through observation and modeling (Bandura, 2005; Denler et al., 2006). Modeling to-be-
learned strategies or behaviors improves learning, and performance (Denler et al., 2006), to
develop mastery, individuals must be given opportunities to practice integrating component skills
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006), and performance is enhanced by private, specific, and timely
feedback (Shute, 2008). This suggests that providing learners with an opportunity to explore the
components of a mentoring relationship and practice with feedback is appropriate to meet this
procedural need. The recommendation is to provide a training program and toolset for mentors
and protégés so that those individuals can identify leadership strengths and gaps, develop a
mutually-agreed-upon mentoring plan, and receive facilitator and peer feedback on the plan.
Mentoring is an active development activity that involves bi-directional information flow
and collaboration between mentor and protégé to develop specific skills and capabilities as part
of a development plan (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000; Sanfey et al., 2013). A critical component of a
mentoring relationship is to jointly create a development plan that ties to the leadership
characteristics to be developed (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000). The plan needs to define clear goals
and expectations and to identify strengths and weaknesses against a capability model (Sanfey et
al., 2013). This training approach will provide opportunities for learners to check their progress
in a supportive environment and adjust strategies as needed (Denler et al., 2009) and receive
timely feedback that connects the learning strategies with improved performance (Shute, 2008).
From a theoretical perspective, using these techniques to ensure this procedural knowledge is
developed will assist in the stakeholders meeting the improvement goal.
Increasing knowledge of how to establish an effective feedback process. The findings
indicate that an individual embarking on a mentoring relationship needs procedural knowledge
about how to establish an effective feedback process. As above, to meet this procedural need, a

95
recommendation based on information processing system theory and SCT has been selected. To
develop mastery, individuals must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know
when to apply what they have learned (Schraw & McCrudden, 2006) and, when appropriate,
receive timely feedback on actions and progress (Shute, 2008). This suggests that providing
learners with tools to understand and plan for feedback and an opportunity to practice giving and
receiving feedback is appropriate to meet this procedural need. The recommendation is to
provide a job aid that describes the steps for giving and receiving feedback to mentors and
protégés and to provide a scenario-based workshop to give mentors and protégés an opportunity
to practice this skill.
To achieve the desired outcomes, a learner needs to regulate his or her own learning.
When a learner fails to do this, it may be because of a lack of standards to apply to the current
situation, an inability to identify the gap against a standard, or a lack of knowledge about how to
initiate change when behavior falls short of a standard (Kirschner & van Merrienboer, 2013).
Clark and Estes (2008) suggest that effective training must show trainees exactly how to
accomplish a performance goal, including a complete and clear description of the procedure. One
way to do this is to define the use of feedback during the mentoring process (Dow, 2014;
McGee, 2018; Ragins, 2016). Additionally, learning is increased when individuals have the
opportunity to practice new skills (Deans for Impact, 2015) and receive timely feedback while
they practice (Mayer, 2011). From a theoretical perspective, this recommendation aligns with the
procedural knowledge needed to reach the stakeholder goal.
Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. As discussed in Chapter Two, Clark and Estes (2008) suggest three
indicators of motivation in task performance. The first, choice, is the intention and action to start
something. The second, persistence, is the ongoing pursuit of a goal even when facing

96
distractions or obstacles. And the third, mental effort, is the active work to find and apply new
knowledge to solve a problem or perform a new task. The motivation influences outlined in
Table 9, self-efficacy and mastery orientation, relate to the assumed need for choice and mental
effort and were the motivation focus areas in this study. Participants indicated that self-efficacy
is an asset, but mastery orientation is a need. Table 9 also includes a prioritization of the
influences based on the probable level of effect on the stakeholder’s motivation and
recommendations for remediation to increase motivation based on theoretical principles.
Table 9
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation
Influence

Validated as
a Need or
Asset?
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Self-Efficacy – Senior
leaders believe that
they are capable of
developing valued
leadership
characteristics.
Asset Y Feedback and modeling
increases self-efficacy
(Pajares, 2006).
Learning and motivation
are enhanced when
learners have positive
expectancies for success
(Pajares, 2006). (Self-
Efficacy)

Provide modeling videos of
other leaders who have used
mentoring to develop
leadership characteristics.
Include check-ins with a
leadership coach to discuss
and gain immediate feedback
on the use of learning
strategies throughout the
mentoring process.

Goal Orientation -
Senior leaders develop
a mastery orientation
toward achieving their
goals.
Need Y Focusing on mastery,
individual improvement,
learning, and progress
promotes positive
motivation (Yough &
Anderman, 2006).
Create cohorts of aspiring
leaders to share experiences
and progress throughout the
mentoring process.

Increase self-efficacy of aspiring leaders. The findings indicate that an aspiring female
leader likely holds a strong belief in her ability to develop valued leadership characteristics. To
support this motivational asset, a recommendation rooted in self-efficacy theory has been chosen.
Feedback and modeling increase self-efficacy, and motivation is enhanced when learners have a
high expectancy for success (Pajares, 2006). This suggests that providing a learner with

97
opportunities to see others modeling the desired behavior, followed by opportunities to discuss
and receive feedback on learning strategies used throughout the mentoring process is an
appropriate way to increase the learner’s self-efficacy. The recommendation has two
components. First, the organization should provide videos of senior leaders modeling the valued
leadership characteristics in multiple scenarios. Second, the organization should include
opportunities for a learner to work with a leadership coach to discuss learning strategies being
employed and receive immediate feedback on those actions. This combination of modeling and
frequent feedback on the use of learning strategies strengthens self-efficacy.
In a mentoring relationship, a protégé’s self-efficacy to manage a mentoring relationship
is one of the most challenging but critical aspects of this type of leadership development activity
(Laiho & Brandt, 2012; Fullick-Jagiela et al., 2015). Individuals use the styles of others to shape
their own patterns of thinking and behaving (Schein, 2004), suggesting that the modeling
provided by those who have developed the target leadership characteristics should increase the
learner’s self-efficacy. Pajares (2006) posits that frequent, targeted, and private feedback on
progress in learning increases self-efficacy, and better use of learning strategies are associated
with higher levels of self-efficacy (Denler et al., 2006). Learners benefit from formative
feedback that helps an individual modify his or her thinking or behavior, with the intended goal
of increasing learning (Shute, 2008). From a theoretical perspective, it would appear that
increasing self-efficacy in the ability to develop leadership characteristics would increase the
likelihood of a successful mentoring relationship designed to achieve that goal.
Increase mastery orientation. The results indicate that an aspiring female leader needs
to develop a mastery orientation toward her goals. To close this motivational gap, a
recommendation rooted in goal orientation theory has been selected. Yough and Anderman
(2006) suggest that a focus on mastery, individual improvement, learning, and progress promotes

98
positive motivation. This suggests that providing learners with the opportunities to share
individual work and progress with others with similar goals is an effective way to foster mastery
orientation. The recommendation is that the organization create cohorts of aspiring leaders to
share experiences and progress throughout the mentoring process as part of the mentoring
program.
A mastery orientation is strengthened when peer interactions are fostered in like-minded
communities where learners support each other’s attempts to learn (Yough & Anderman, 2006).
Individuals with a mastery orientation have been found to demonstrate high in-role and extra-
role performance when working in a collaborative, supportive environment (Humborstad,
Nerstad, & Dysvik, 2012). Using cohorts to reinforce progress and provide insight and shared
experiences gives learners the opportunity to share individual goals and experiences and learn
from those of others to incrementally and continuously look for additional ways to improve
(Yough & Anderman, 2006). When working in a collaborative and supportive environment,
individuals have been seen to demonstrate a mastery orientation and high in-role and extra-role
performance (Humborstad et al., 2012). Many gender-focused professional development
programs assume that all aspiring female leaders need the same types of support (McGee, 2018).
Shifting from a homogenous training program to one that focuses on self-improvement and
avoids social comparison or norm-referenced standards increases motivation (Yough &
Anderman, 2006). From a research perspective, it would appear that focusing on developing a
mastery orientation increases the likelihood that learners will successfully overcome the negative
effects of perceived gendered roles and gain the most from a mentoring relationship.
Organization Recommendations
Introduction. Stakeholder goals are often restricted by a lack of resources, such as time
and money, and by a lack of alignment between stakeholder goals and the organization’s mission

99
and goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) propose two cultural
constructs that aid in understanding those dynamics. The first, cultural models, are the
observable beliefs and values shared by individuals in groups that often reflect the organization’s
mission and way of interacting with internal and external stakeholders. In this study, the cultural
model reviewed was whether the organizational culture reflected the importance of developing
female leaders, which was found to be a need. The second, cultural settings, are a group’s
processes, resources, and activities within which performance occurs. Cultural models, including
goals, cultural settings, resources, and processes must align to achieve the stakeholder goals. In
this study, the cultural settings explored whether the organization had a learning culture, found to
be an asset, and whether the organization provided visible support for the development of
aspiring female leaders, found to be a need. Table 10 outlines these influences, their priority
based on theoretical and literature review, and the recommendations for these influences based
on theoretical principles.
Table 10
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed
Organization
Influence

Validated as
a Need or
Asset?
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
The organization has
a culture of
promoting the
importance of
developing female
leaders. (Cultural
Model)
Need Y Effective leaders promote an
organizational culture that
promotes equity and inclusion and
cultivate an atmosphere where
diversity is viewed as an asset to
the organization and its
stakeholders. (Angeline, 2011;
Prieto, Phipps & Osiri, 2009)
(Diversity Toolkit)

Effective leaders utilize strong
public speaking skills to
communicate ideas and a vision to
the organization and larger public
circle. (Conger, 1991; Denning,
2005; Lewis, 2011)
(Communication Toolkit)
Executive leaders
regularly
communicate the
importance of
diversity and
inclusion through
formal and informal
channels.

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Table 10, continued
Assumed
Organization
Influence

Validated as
a Need or
Asset?
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
The organization has
a culture of learning.
(Cultural Setting)
Asset Y Organizational effectiveness
increases when leaders are
knowledgeable about and are
consistently learning about
themselves and their business
(e.g., learning). (Leadership
Toolkit)
- Successful organizations
emphasize learning and
recognize the need for action
and reflection to foster
continuous learning (Heffner,
Kennedy, Brand, & Walsh,
2011)

Measurement of learning and
performance are essential
components of an effective
accountability system capable of
improving organizational
performance. (Accountability
Toolkit)
• Measuring learning is crucial in
the decision-making process
(Marsh & Farrell, 2015).
Implement a policy
that enables current
and future leaders
to dedicate time to
learning and
professional
development.

Use learning
effectiveness
assessments to
determine learner
comprehension and
commitment.
The organization
provides visible
support for career
development for
potential female
leaders. (Cultural
Setting)
Need Y Understanding the meaning of
equity, diversity and access in
your organizational context
enhances the capacity to improve
organizational climate and
outcomes.
Systems of accountability should
address equity, diversity and
access in various sectors (Lim,
Haddad & Daugherty, 2013;
Trenerry & Paradies, 2012).

Effective leaders address
institutional policies and practices
that create barriers for equity
(Bensimon, 2005). (Diversity
Toolkit)

Effective leaders use
disaggregated data to make
informed decisions. They track the
impact of their decisions on equity
and access in organizational
practice. (Bensimon, 2005)
(Diversity Toolkit)
Define goals for
gender-balance in
the leadership team
and hold executive
leaders accountable
for achieving those
goals.

Establish a process
by which an annual
review of
promotion practices
in relation to
mentoring
effectiveness and
diversity goals.

Establish a process
by which promotion
decisions are data-
driven.

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Reinforce a cultural model in which the importance of developing female leaders is
well communicated. The findings show that organizations need to develop or reinforce a
cultural model in which the importance of developing female leaders is promoted. Effective
leaders promote a culture that emphasizes equity and inclusion and cultivates a work
environment where diversity is seen to be an asset to the organization (Angeline, 2011; Prieto,
Phipps, & Osiri, 2009). They do this through strong public speaking skills that effectively
communicate ideas and a vision to the organization (Conger, 1991; Denning, 2005; Lewis,
2011). This suggests that leaders can use their strengths in communication to convey the
importance of developing aspiring female leaders and the value of a gender-diverse leadership
team. The recommendation, therefore, is for executive leaders to communicate regularly about
the importance of developing female leaders and achieving a gender-balanced leadership team
through formal and informal channels.
Practitioners in inclusion efforts suggest that one has to start with a visible executive
leadership commitment (Diaz, 2016) with widespread communication to keep momentum and
motivation (Kezar, 2001). Research by Boies, Fiset, and Gill (2015) reveals that leaders who
seek to increase creative performance should focus on intellectually stimulating communication,
while leaders who desire and increase in task-based performance should use an inspirational
communication style. A cultural model that includes the belief that it is valuable to develop
aspiring future leaders requires both types of performance. Therefore, a focus on executive
communication that demonstrates the importance of developing female leaders should be a
positive factor to achieve the global organizational goal.
Create a learning culture. The findings show that organizations need to promote a
culture of learning. Successful organizations emphasize learning and recognize the need for
action and reflection to foster continuous learning (Heffner et al., 2011) and organizational

102
performance and decision-making processes are improved when learning is measured (Marsh &
Farrell, 2015). This suggests that an organization that enables aspiring leaders to spend time in
professional development and measures the impact of those activities will increase overall
organizational performance. Therefore, the recommendations are to implement policies that
enable aspiring leaders to engage in mentoring as a learning activity and to provide the
mechanisms by which to measure learning effectiveness.
An organization needs a supportive learning environment, concrete processes and
practices for learning, and leadership that is committed to ongoing learning (Garvin et al., 2008).
Elwyn and Hailey (2004) posit that protected time and places to learn are critical for a learning
organization to develop. Thorndyke, Gusic, and Milner (2008) found that a mentoring program
meant to advance an individual’s capabilities is more successful when it is clear how the
program outcomes will be evaluated. Berk, Berg, Mortimer, Walton-Moss, and Yeo (2005)
provide a mentoring effectiveness assessment framework that includes metrics associated with
both the mentor and protégé. These studies reinforce the need for a cultural setting with visible
support for learning.
Increase the amount of visible support for the development of aspiring female
leaders. The findings show that organizations need to increase the amount of visible support for
the development of aspiring female leaders. Organizational outcomes can be improved when
systems of accountability address diversity (Lim, Haddad, & Daugherty, 2013; Trenerry &
Paradies, 2012), leaders address policies and processes that inhibit equity (Bensimon, 2005), and
leaders use disaggregated data to make informed decisions and track the impact of those
decisions on diversity and equity (Bensimon, 2005). This suggests that an organization interested
in achieving better gender balance on the leadership team will enact policies that use and review
data to promote diversity in hiring and promotion and hold leaders accountable for progress

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toward gender-balance goals. Therefore, the recommendations are to define clear diversity goals
and hold leaders accountable for progress, institute a process to review promotion practices in
relation to the mentoring programs and those goals and establish data-driven promotion
practices.
Castilla (2015) similarly found, in a longitudinal study on gender pay equity, that an
organization that established clear gender-equity related goals and managed the processes that
supported those goals was able to improve pay equity over time and meet their stated goals.
Kilian, Hukai, and McCarty (2005) expand on these findings by showing a direct link between
manager accountability and diversity goals. This evidence suggests that a cultural setting that
includes leadership accountability and policies and practices that relate to gender-balanced
leadership development will help meet the organizational goals.
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The ability to evaluate and measure program effectiveness is a critical component of any
learning-focused solution. For the recommendations outlined above, The New World Kirkpatrick
Model is used to identify the reaction, learning, behavior, and results of the various activities and
actions. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2005) recommend this structure to assess how change will
occur throughout the execution of the programs and how stakeholders will know if the program
is successful at various levels. The first, Level 4, focuses on the expected internal and external
outcomes, metrics, and methods of assessment of the proposed program. Level 3 addresses the
extent to which the proposed program supports critical behaviors related to the KMO influences
included in this study. Level 2 measures the comprehension, skill development, and attitudes of
the aspiring female leaders who participate in the program. And finally, Level 1 measures the
initial reaction and satisfaction with the components of the program. Combined, the New World

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Kirkpatrick Model provides a comprehensive measurement framework that aligns the program
activities with the individual’s satisfaction, ability, and behavior and with the internal and
external organizational goals and outcomes (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations
The purpose of the proposed program is to equip aspiring female leaders with the KMO
resources needed to engage in successful mentoring relationships and to develop valued
leadership characteristics. The suggested program components are derived from the insights and
recommendations of women who have used mentoring in their career progression to senior
leadership. The program goal is to increase the number of women who are promoted to senior
leadership positions over time by removing organizational and systemic barriers to promotion
and increasing opportunities for aspiring women to demonstrate competence and qualification
for promotion. This aligns with technology companies’ organizational goal to increase the
gender balance on the senior leadership team and the financial and company performance-related
benefits gender-balance brings.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
The proposed Level 4 results and leading indicators are shown in Table 11. These take
the form of outcomes, metrics, and methods for external and internal outcomes for an
organization that strives to achieve a better gender-balanced leadership team. If the internal
outcomes are met as expected as a result of the proposed training and organizational support for
aspiring female leaders, then the external outcomes should also be realized.

105
Table 11
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
Improved public
perception of the
organization.
Increased number of positive
media and analyst stories and
reports.
Positive press and media
mentions collected by Public
Relations team
Analyst reports and inquiry
responses related to this topic
collected by Analyst Relations
team.
Increased interest in
joining the company as an
employee.
Increased number of qualified
job applicants.
Human Resources report on job
applicants who cite gender
balance of leadership team as a
reason to join the company.
Improved shareholder
perception of the
organization.
Decreased number of negative
inquiries from the board,
employees, and shareholders.
Sentiment analysis report
following all-hands meetings,
board meetings, quarterly
financial updates, and other
relevant company meetings.
Increased stock price. Percentage of increase in stock
price over time.
Multi-year stock price trend
(allowing for market forces).
Internal Outcomes
1. Increase in women
promoted to vice
president from within
the company.
Percentage of women who are
promoted to a senior leadership
position.
Employee demographic data.
2. Increased investment
in learning and
mentoring support.
Company spend per person for
mentoring activities increases.
Number of women engaged in
learning and mentoring
activities.
Human Resources report on
relevant employee consumption
and activities and associated
costs.
3. Increased employee
knowledge of cultural
expectations for
leaders and how that
connects to the
company mission or
purpose.
Average rating on related
employee survey topics.
Employee survey results on
“Culture” and “Leadership”
topics.

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. Level 3: Behavior measures the critical behaviors needed to achieve
Level 4: Results (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). While the stakeholders of focus for the

106
research conducted in this study were women who had achieved a senior leadership position at a
technology company, the stakeholders who will participate in the proposed program are aspiring
female leaders who wish to achieve that status. The first critical behavior is that an aspiring
female leader can create a mentoring relationship that improves her likelihood to be promoted
and that she can create an action plan to use during that mentoring relationship that focuses on
specific leadership characteristics. The second critical behavior is that an aspiring female leader
takes full advantage of relevant learning and mentoring activities supported by her organization.
The third critical behavior is that an aspiring female leader regularly reviews the valued
leadership characteristics at her company and assesses her progress against her goals to develop
those traits. The specific metrics, methods, and timing for each of these critical behaviors
appears in Table 12.
Table 12
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1a. Aspiring women leaders
create mentoring
relationships that improve
their readiness to be
promoted and visibility to
the senior leadership team.
Number of women
who participate in
mentoring programs
who are promoted
within two years.
Human resource
reports on promotion
decisions and
demographics.
Bi-annually
during
promotion
cycles
1b. Aspiring women leaders
create an action plan that
identifies leadership
characteristics to focus on
during the mentoring
relationship.
Quality assessment of
the action plan and
progress against that
plan.
Stakeholder self-report
on mentoring
activities.
Mentor assessments of
stakeholder progress.
Monthly

Quarterly

107
Table 12, continued
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
2. Aspiring women leaders
engage in learning and
mentoring activities as part
of their career development.
Number of employees
who use available
budget for learning
and/or mentoring.

Learning and
Development and
Human Resource
reports on submitted
budget requests.
Quarterly through
discussion and review
with facilitator/coach.
Quarterly

Quarterly

3. Aspiring women leaders
consistently review the
valued leadership
characteristics and assess
their progress toward
developing and
demonstrating those
characteristics.
Number of and quality
of mentor
engagements.
Stakeholder self-report
on mentoring
activities.
Mentor assessments of
stakeholder progress.
Monthly

Quarterly

Required drivers. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) assert that required drivers are
critical to increasing the likelihood that critical behaviors will be executed successfully. These
drivers are actions and tools used on the job to support transfer through job aids and modeling
(reinforcing), provide motivational support (encouraging), use rewards when critical behaviors
are demonstrated (rewarding), and organizational actions and accountability to support
stakeholders’ behavior (monitoring; Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). An aspiring female leader
requires the support of senior leaders and the organization to reinforce what she learns in the
training workshops. Organizational policies and processes need to be put in place to encourage
her to apply what she has learned in her mentoring relationship and leadership development
journey. Rewards should be established to recognize her achievement of performance goals and
monitoring by the organization should be established to provide needed organizational support.

108
Table 13 outlines the required drivers to critical behavior, including the methods and timing and
relationship to the critical behaviors shown in Table 12.
Table 13
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical Behaviors
Supported
Reinforcing
Workshop that provides stakeholders with an
opportunity to clearly articulate the valued leadership
characteristics and practice core components of a
mentoring relationship, include action planning and
giving and receiving feedback.
Ongoing 1b, 2, 3
Action plan template that includes worksheets and other
tools to identify leadership characteristics to focus on
and techniques to use with mentor.
Ongoing 1a, 1b, 2, 3
Establish a communication channel and periodic events
where senior leaders regularly communicate the
importance of gender diversity.
Ongoing 1, 3
Encouraging
Provide coaching sessions on mentoring action plan and
progress to provide support to program participants.
Quarterly 1b, 2, 3
Facilitate and encourage cohort meet-ups and online
discussion forum for support and to share learnings and
experience.
Ongoing 1b, 2, 3
Rewarding
Provide women participating in the program
opportunities in social settings to reflect with others on
their progress and successes.
Quarterly 1, 2, 3
Invite participants to events and meetings usually only
available to executive leadership.
Bi-annually 1a, 3
Monitoring
Demonstrate a financial commitment from the
organization to allocate funds for learning and
mentoring activities.
Annually 2
Establish corporate promotion goals that include gender
balance requirements and hold decision-makers
accountable to meet those goals.
Ongoing 1a
Establish and review corporate promotion and decision-
making policies that use data as a primary driver.
Ongoing 1a

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Organizational support. As noted above and shown in Table 13, organizational support
in the form of monitoring is needed to ensure that the appropriate cultural models and settings
are in place to increase the likelihood of stakeholder success (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
In this proposed solution, these are (a) a demonstrated financial commitment to allocate funds for
learning and mentoring activities, (b) promotion goals that include gender-based metrics and
methods to hold decision-makers accountable, and (c) the creation of corporate policies that use
data as a decision-making driver. These strategies ensure that the organization is actively
supporting the stakeholder critical behaviors.
Level 2: Learning
Learning Goals. Following completion of the recommended solutions, the stakeholders
will be able to:
● Articulate the leadership characteristics valued at their organization. (D)
● Describe the relationship between leadership development and an effective mentoring
relationship. (C)
● Develop a personal action plan for leadership development that includes goals, activities,
and timelines. (P)
● Collaborate with one or more mentors as part of a leadership development plan. (P)
● Apply the strategies to exemplify a good feedback process and outcome. (P)
● Explain the differences among the purpose of mentoring sessions, coaching sessions, and
peer support activities. (C)
● Critique one’s own progress toward the leadership development goals. (M)
● Adjust one’s leadership development plan to respond to changing goals. (M)
● Demonstrate newly developed leadership capabilities in regular work practice and in
sessions with senior leaders. (P)

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● Indicate confidence that the stakeholder believes she is able to develop the leadership
characteristics. (Self-Efficacy)
● Indicate value by continuing to engage in the program and doing the work with a mentor
to complete the leadership development goals. (Value)
Program. The learning goals listed in the previous section will be achieved with a
training program and ongoing support through coaching and peer sessions that explore the
leadership characteristics most valued at the organization, the value and techniques of creating a
leadership development action plan, including recruiting and collaborating with a mentor and
giving and receiving quality feedback. Aspiring female leaders will study and practice a range of
topics and processes related to using mentoring as a leadership development method. The
program is blended, consisting of a series of videos and collateral, an in-person training
workshop, and follow-up coaching and peer support. Throughout the mentoring period, it is
expected that participants will spend approximately two hours reviewing videos and other
material, one day in an in-person workshop, one hour per month with other cohort members, and
two hours each quarter with a facilitator coach for two years.
The program includes a series of video assets and other collateral such as case studies and
policy documents. The videos will be of senior leaders discussing the valued leadership
characteristics at the company and include testimonials of how mentoring was used by these
senior leaders for their own career development. Given that this is a 2-year program, it is likely
that senior leadership will change. Therefore, these videos will likely be regularly refreshed and
added to. These videos will be viewed during the in-person workshop and are available to be
reviewed by participants at any time.
Before an aspiring female leader engages in a mentoring relationship, she will attend a
one-day training workshop facilitated by an experienced leadership development coach. During

111
this workshop, the participants will engage in group discussions of the valued leadership
characteristics and when they might be applied. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss
how mentoring will assist with leadership development. A primary activity will be the creation
of a personal leadership development action plan to be used with the mentor and worked
examples of an action will be provided. Participants will study mentor recruitment and
collaboration techniques and how to give and receive feedback. The facilitator and peers will
provide feedback on the action plan and knowledge of these procedures. A job aid will be
provided to all participants on how to give and receive feedback and will include a feedback
worksheet to be used at milestones established in the development action plan. Mentors will be
given access to the videos and other collateral, job aid, and worked examples when recruited by
an aspiring female leader.
Aspiring female leaders will be assigned to a small (fewer than 10 members) cohort. This
cohort will meet once a month to share experiences, provide feedback, and give support to each
other. Each participant will also be assigned a facilitator coach, ideally the facilitator of the in-
person workshop she attended. The participant will meet once a quarter with this facilitator
coach to discuss and gain immediate feedback on the use of learning strategies and supporting
tools throughout the mentoring process. The facilitator coach will use an evaluation protocol (see
Appendix D) to assess the learner’s progress and to facilitate the discussion.
Evaluation of the components of learning. For an aspiring female leader to successfully
enact the procedural knowledge gained during the proposed program, she must develop the
needed declarative knowledge (Clark & Estes, 2008). Additionally, she needs to have the attitude
and confidence to create an action plan and work with a mentor to develop specific leadership
characteristics. Each of these knowledge and motivation components reinforces the others,

112
enabling an aspiring female leader to sustain the critical behaviors. Table 14 outlines the
evaluation methods, activities, and timing for these learning components.
Table 14
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”
Knowledge checks using role plays. Periodically during the in-person workshops
Knowledge checks through discussions. Periodically during the in-person workshops and
during the facilitator coaching sessions.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”
Demonstration in groups and with a coach of
using the job aids to perform the skills.
During the in-person workshops.
Feedback from peers and facilitators during
the workshop.
During the in-person workshops.
Review of individual action with the
facilitator coach.
Throughout the mentoring program.
Retrospective post-test assessment items. At the end of the in-person workshops.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Facilitator assessment of individual’s
commitment and motivation.
During the in-person workshop.
Discussions with peers and facilitators on the
value of the work.
During the in-person workshop.
Mentor’s assessment of individual’s
commitment and motivation.
Throughout the mentoring program.
Retrospective post-test assessment items. At the end of the in-person workshops.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”
Survey items using scaled items Periodically throughout the in-person workshop
and pulse check survey periodically during the
mentoring program.
Retrospective post-test assessment items. At the end of the in-person workshops.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
Create an action plan. During the in-person workshop.
Mentor’s assessment of progress. Throughout the mentoring program.
Retrospective post-test assessment items. At the end of the in-person workshops.

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Level 1: Reaction
Level 1: Reaction measures the participants’ engagement, relevance, and satisfaction with
the program (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Each of these participant reactions influences the
learning metrics in Level 2 learning, which, in turn, promotes Level 3 behaviors and Level 4
results. Table 15 details the methods, tools, and timing recommended for this proposed program.
It is important to note that while Level 1 reaction is a critical part of any learning program,
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) caution that Level 1 evaluation is often over-emphasized
when, in fact, evaluation resources for the other levels should be prioritized.
Table 15
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Completion of online videos and activities. Ongoing
Facilitator observation During the in-person workshop
Attendance During the in-person workshop
Workshop evaluation online survey Immediately following the workshop
Relevance
Closing discussion to reflect on and share
relevance and application to the individual
At the end of the in-person workshop
Workshop evaluation online survey Immediately following the workshop
Coaching session evaluation online survey Immediately following each coaching
session
Customer Satisfaction
Workshop evaluation online survey Immediately following the workshop
Coaching session evaluation online survey Immediately following each coaching
session

Evaluation Tools
Immediately following the program implementation. Throughout the training
program, the learning management system (LMS) should be used to track participant registration

114
and completion. Following the training workshops, the LMS should also be used to present
participants with a survey that indicates the level of engagement, satisfaction, and job
applicability of the training workshop. The survey includes a number of Likert-style items that
evaluate the participant’s level of engagement, perceived relevance of the workshop, and overall
customer satisfaction with the event. Additionally, the survey includes open-ended and multiple-
choice items that check the participant’s relevant declarative and procedural knowledge and
Likert-style items that check the participant’s self-perception of self-efficacy, goal orientation,
confidence, commitment, and attitude. See Appendix C for a representative post-training
workshop survey. During the workshop, the facilitator will conduct Level 1 reaction evaluation
by assessing participant progress and engagement and Level 2 learning evaluation by facilitating
a group reflection session to discuss learning and relevance to the participants’ future work.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. Approximately one month
after a participant completes the training program, she will have an opportunity to work quarterly
with a facilitator coach to reinforce the learning, make adjustments to the participant’s action
plan, and check for organizational support. During these coaching sessions, the facilitator coach
will use an interview protocol to evaluate Level 2 and Level 3 metrics. This protocol includes
open-ended interview items that assess the participant’s ongoing use of the declarative and
procedural knowledge gained during the training workshop, the application of critical behaviors,
and the participant’s perception of how the organization is supporting her goals. In addition, the
interview protocol includes items to assess the participant’s beliefs about the Level 4 results
internal and external outcomes. This information will be used as a tool for the facilitator coach to
use to provide participant support and for the program lead to use to evaluate program success
over time. See Appendix D for a sample evaluation instrument.

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Data Analysis and Reporting
Evaluation is only useful if there is appropriate reporting and analytics applied to review
progress and results at each level of the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). Ultimately, an organization is interested in the Level 4 results of an initiative.
For this proposed program, it is useful to look at multiple metrics to assess Level 1 through Level
3 outcomes, but also to provide senior leadership with an analysis of progress against internal
outcome goals. Sample data that might be presented include a funnel chart (Figure 2) that shows
the number of aspiring female leaders who are interested in participating in the program, the
number of women currently in or completed the program as eligible for promotion, and the
number of women promoted in the year in comparison to the organizational goal. As noted
above, a stated goal about women promoted to leadership is one of the recommended monitoring
activities. A related analysis to provide insight into the number of women who start the program
in comparison to the number of women who remain in the program in year 2 (Figure 3). This
information connects to the eligibility data provided in Figure 2. And finally, data analysis that
provides insight into the number of individuals in the company overall who use learning
investment funds and the total number of funds invested in learning activities this year helps
senior leadership understand progress against a cultural influence goal (Figure 4). These three
data types and charts are representative of the ways that an organization might use the data
collected using the Levels 1, 2, and 3 evaluation techniques to the Level 4 results.

116

Figure 2. Women promoted to VP positions.

Figure 3. Year 1 to 2 drop out rate.

Figure 4. Learning investment and participant count.

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Summary
The New World Kirkpatrick Model provides a comprehensive framework that aligns
organizational goals and outcomes to critical behaviors, activities that facilitate learning to
adoption of new skills and behaviors, and required drivers and evaluation methods to each aspect
of a learning program. Throughout this chapter, this model has been used to connect the KMO
influence needs and assets to learning activities and organizational support that drive measurable
behavior change. This alignment of evaluation levels, methods and activities, behaviors and
drivers, and analysis of outcomes will increase the likelihood that the proposed program will
increase the number of women promoted into senior leadership positions and, ultimately, change
the gender balance of leadership teams.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach
Throughout this study, the use of the Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Framework
combined with the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016) enabled the
development of a practical recommendation based on both theory and real-world experiences.
Connecting the two frameworks made it possible to focus the study on actionable influences and
turn the research findings into measurable program design suggestions. The use of KMO
influences for this study increased the connection to potential solutions because of the focus on
the assets and needs for individual and organizational success. Unlike other methods that explore
a singular aspect of a topic, the use of the KMO framework takes into account the
interrelationships between individual knowledge and motivation and organizational cultural
models and settings. This framework also has the benefit of being repeatable across multiple
stakeholders without requiring significant changes to the influences being assessed.
The use of in-depth interviews, supported by major themes from the literature review,
also bolstered the quality of the study. This topic is not yet widely studied and doing so at scale

118
is difficult because of the relatively few women in senior leadership positions at technology
companies. Learning from women who have succeeded within the strictures of organizational
and systemic bias provides insight into what the real obstacles are in technology organizations
and what has worked to overcome those obstacles.
This highlights, however, one of the significant areas of weakness in this study. The
number of interviewees is low and, as expected, the findings reflect unique personal experiences
that make it difficult to generalize results. Although there were many similarities in the study
participants’ experiences, it is unwise to assume that all women who hold similar positions have
shared those experiences.
Two other areas of weakness in this study relate to the fact that the stakeholders are
already in senior leadership positions and the researcher asked them about prior experiences and
organizations. First, few study participants were able to provide documentation that supported
their assertions and internet searches for information from or about those organizations’ views
and efforts about leadership development for women provided little additional information. This
may be because these organizations did not have policy or process documentation about
leadership development or simply because of availability of material from up to 20 years ago.
This makes triangulation through document analysis difficult. Second, the study relied on
participants’ memories and their ability to separate current knowledge from prior knowledge.
During each interview, the researcher had to remind participants to respond based on their
previous experience and not on their current experience or company. It is worth noting that an
additional potential weakness of the study is that organizational cultures and social expectations
about women in leadership may have changed since some of the participants were engaged in
mentorship relationships. In this study, the similarities in responses from participants across

119
multiple time horizons may counter this potential weakness, but this should be a consideration
for future studies.
Limitations and Delimitations
There are limitations present in every study, and every study is at risk of including
elements that produce inaccurate or unrepresentative data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
purpose of this study was to examine the KMO influences that affect an aspiring female leader to
use mentoring relationships as a means to develop valued leadership characteristics needed for
senior leadership roles. Due to the design of the research and the participant and researcher
profiles, three key limitations were present. First, the selection of a single stakeholder group
hinders gaining a broad perspective on a complex problem. Other stakeholders were considered,
including women currently in mentoring relationships, mentors, and individuals who design and
execute leadership development programs. Ultimately, women who have achieved senior
leadership positions were selected due to the insight they could provide after they engaged in
mentoring relationships, demonstrating the action and results of those programs. The other
stakeholders would be more likely to provide information about development activities in
process, without the benefit of connecting those activities to the stakeholder goal of achieving a
senior leadership position.
Second, as mentioned above, this study addressed items that required participants to
separate current KMO influences from those present when the participant was developing
leadership capabilities and being mentored. Memory requires reconstruction of events which is
not always simple or accurate (Robinson & Firth, 2019) and therefore represents a limitation of
the research approach. Participants were repeatedly prompted to limit their responses to the
relevant time period to help mitigate this limitation. However, inaccurate responses or responses

120
that reflect participants’ current knowledge, motivation, and organizations consistently represent
a study limitation.
Third, qualitative studies provide theories and hypotheses based on the cases studied that
may be effective in other cases but that may alternatively produce different outcomes in
dissimilar circumstances (Maxwell, 2013). The small sample size and the variety of
organizations, tenure, and specialties of the participants provided insight into a wide cross-
section of organizational cultures and scenarios. However, this is also a limitation of the study
that it is difficult to generalize to other organizations or even to other aspiring female leaders.
The design of the study and targeted stakeholders offer several notable delimitations.
First, the use of the KMO influences, each supported in the literature, ensured the study focus
was sufficiently narrow to preclude tangential topics from displacing the study goal.
Additionally, the literature discussed relevance and impact of gender balance in leadership, and
study participants demonstrated a strong willingness to participate, to reflect on personal
experience, and to provide insight into their career development journey to help solve the issue
of gender balance on leadership teams for the future workforce.
Second, the researcher was a peer of study participants and, as such, was likely viewed as
an insider with equal interest and experience. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) caution that research
can be affected by participants’ feelings about insider and outside beliefs. In this study, the
common bond between researcher and participants of being women in senior leadership at a
technology company was an asset. The researcher’s personal experience and current senior
leadership position made it possible to include relevant probing questions that illuminated the
KMO influences and how those influences interacted with each other.
While this study did not focus on a single organization, the participants were selected
because of their experience in United States-based technology companies in an effort to create

121
recommendations to address this market segment specifically. The selection criteria did not
include company size or focus area, and participant organizations range from fewer than 500
employees to more than 30,000 employees. Therefore, the recommendations included in Chapter
Five are drawn from theoretical and empirical research with a consideration to applicability to
technology companies of any size or focus area. Realistically, however, an organization that
chooses to implement some or all of these recommendations will need to adjust the scale and
scope of these activities to fit within budget and employee availability. For example, in a smaller
company, in-person discussions with senior leaders may be more feasible and useful than video-
based testimonials and case studies. In contrast, larger organizations may have more budget
available to have full-time facilitator coaches whereas smaller organizations may need to rely on
managers or other leaders to fill this role. The concepts driving each recommendation should
apply to multiple company types and sizes, but the execution may vary based on individual
company parameters.
Future Research
This study assessed one aspect of a complex topic. There are three future research areas
highlighted by this study that would be useful to any technology company seeking to reach
gender balance on a leadership team. First, participants were asked whether they thought
technology companies should publicly publish gender diversity goals. As noted in Chapter One
and in the document analysis conducted in this study, most technology companies have not
publicly stated gender-balance goals for their leadership team. Participants unanimously agreed
that companies should publish these goals and be held accountable for investing in effective
activities to reach the goal. Research to show the level of effectiveness of this type of public
visibility of gender diversity would provide insight into the use of this technique to achieve
gender balance on leadership teams.

122
Second, this study assessed one career development method with the intent to create a
recommended learning-oriented program design. As such, this study did not delve into the
systemic norms regarding the hiring and promotion of women described in Chapter Two. These
norms and practices are often cultural models and settings that act as significant obstacles to
women achieving senior leadership positions. Additional research into these norms, particularly
the use of stereotypical traits to describe the ideal leader, would complement this study’s
findings by clarifying and validating what leadership characteristics are truly relevant to
technology organizations in contrast to those ideals.
Third, this study provided real-world examples of how women used mentoring in their
leadership development journey, but the design of the study intentionally did not include a
comparable assessment of men’s leadership journey. There is vast opportunity to better
understand what, if anything, is unique about effective leadership development for women. This
research, coupled with research that evaluates the effect of systemic barriers to the promotion for
women, may provide technology organizations with the means to focus on investment and
energy in more meaningful areas.
Conclusion
Gender balance in leadership teams is an increasingly pressing topic at technology
companies in the United States. The increased interest in and media coverage of this topic are
results of these companies realizing the financial benefits of gender diversity and of the societal
pressure being created because of recent revelations about how few women there are in senior
leadership and board positions at these companies. This dissertation examined one aspect of this
complex problem, namely the KMO influences that affect an aspiring female leader’s ability to
use mentoring to develop valued leadership characteristics.

123
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Appendix A
Interview Protocol
Introduction

Thank you for participating in this research project. As a reminder, I am recording this interview
and will create a transcript as part of my analysis. After I have a complete transcript, I will delete
all of the recordings from my local computer, recording device, and video conferencing account.
Please note that recordings of this interview will be on the video conference provider’s server
until I delete them.

Do you agree to be recorded?

This research project is about how female senior leaders used mentoring relationships to develop
valued leadership characteristics and how their companies provided organizational support for
these activities. I am conducting a small number of interviews to gain insight from women who
have achieved a senior leadership position about those leadership characteristics, the process and
mindset you used when working with a mentor, and the aspects of your company’s culture that
helped or hindered that relationship. All information is confidential and I will strive to remove all
identifying information in my final write-up.

Do you understand the study purpose and how I will use the data?

Interview Protocol

Note that bulleted items are follow up or secondary items to be used to probe on responses.

1. I’d like to start with your current role. What do you do and what are you responsible for?
What is your title?
2. How many years have you been a senior leadership position? For the purposes of this
interview, senior leadership means Vice President (or equivalent) or above?
3. How many of those years have been in a technology company?
4. Think about a specific mentoring relationship you had during your journey to senior
leadership. Now think about the company you were at when you had this mentor. What were
the leadership characteristics that were most valued at that company?
● How did you know?
5. How did you develop those leadership characteristics?
● Did you create a specific action plan?
● Did your company provide any tools or direction?
6. What were the feedback processes you used with your mentor?
7. How was that developed?
● Did the feedback process change over time?

142
8. Describe the role that you believe mentoring plays in leadership development.
9. Describe how you developed the confidence to pursue a leadership position and how it
changed over time.
10. How did your mentoring relationship increase or challenge that confidence?
11. Describe a time that you made a mistake while pursuing a senior leadership position. What
did you do?
● How did your mentor help you?
12. At the company you were at while you were being mentored, how do you think senior
executives demonstrated that they thought leadership development for women was
important?
13. What kinds of support were provided for career development for women?
● What budget or resources were provided?
● Describe any company policies or goals that existed on this topic.
14. Describe how you think senior executives demonstrated a commitment to learning at the
company.
15. What time, budget, or other resources were made available to support your mentoring
relationship?
16. What advice would you give someone who is developing a mentoring program to increase
the number of women in senior leadership positions at technology companies?

143
Appendix B
Document Analysis Protocol
Date: Researcher:
Provided by: Organization:
Artifact Type: ❑ Document ❑ Video ❑ Brochure/Collateral ❑ Presentation
❑ Other:

Subject/Content:

Author(s):
Knowledge (Influences and Method of Assessment)
Knowledge Influence Document
Analysis
Observed?
0=No
Evidence
1=Some
Evidence
3=Strong
Evidence
Evidence/Comments/
Questions
Senior leaders know the
leadership characteristics
most valued at their
organization.

Senior leaders know how to
develop leadership
capabilities.

Senior leaders know how to
establish an effective
feedback process with
mentors.

Senior leaders know the
relationship between
mentoring and leadership
development.

144

Motivation (Influences and Method of Assessment)
Assumed Motivation
Influence
Document
Analysis
Observed?
0=No
Evidence
1=Some
Evidence
3=Strong
Evidence
Evidence/Comments/
Questions
Self-Efficacy – Senior leaders
believe that they are capable
of developing valued
leadership characteristics.

Goal Orientation - Senior
leaders develop a mastery
orientation toward achieving
their goals..

Organization (Influences and Method of Assessment)
Assumed
Organizational Influence
Document
Analysis
Observed?
0=No
Evidence
1=Some
Evidence
3=Strong
Evidence
Evidence/Comments/
Questions
The organization has a culture
of promoting the importance of
developing female leaders.

The organization provides
visible support for career
development for potential
female leaders.

The organization has a culture
of learning.

145
Appendix C
Post-Workshop Evaluation
Rate the level to which you agree to the following statements.
5=strongly agree
4=agree
3=neutral
2=disagree
1=strongly disagree

1 2 3 4 5
This workshop met my expectations. (E)
The videos presented in this workshop were useful aids
to learning. (E)

The facilitator positively affected my learning
experience. (E)

The workshop content is immediately applicable to my
professional development plans. (R)

I am prepared to start a productive mentoring
relationship. (R)

I would recommend this workshop to other people who
have similar goals. (CS)

Write a brief statement of what was most relevant from this workshop and how you plan to
apply what you’ve learned. (R)

What are the top 5 leadership characteristics most valued at this company? (DK)

Briefly describe how mentoring will help you develop these leadership characteristics. (DK)

What activities are most likely to be effective elements of your leadership development plan?
(Select 3) (PK)
Create a network of mentors
Ask for more projects to work on
Enroll in relevant training courses
Identify role models in your personal and professional life

146
Once you create a leadership development plan, what should you do next? (PK)
◯ Recruit a mentor
◯ Record it in the HR system
◯ Review it with your coach
What are the three core tenets of receiving feedback? (PK)

Rate the level to which you agree with these
statements:
1 2 3 4 5
I am confident in my ability to develop the valued
leadership characteristics. (SE)

I am confident that I can work with a mentor effectively.
(SE)

I like to learn from both my successes and failures. (GO)
I like to receive feedback on how I can improve, even
when it is difficult to receive. (GO)

I am able to start creating my leadership development
plan. (Confidence)

I am ready to use this information and these tools to work
with a mentor. (Confidence)

I am committed to completing this course of action to
achieve my goals. (Commitment)

I will follow up with my coach in the next 30 days.
(Commitment)

I am excited by the opportunity to develop my leadership
skills. (Attitude)

I feel positive about how mentoring will help me meet
my goals. (Attitude)

147
Appendix D
Delayed Evaluation Interview Protocol
Question 1: What are the leadership characteristics you are focusing on with your mentor?

Question 2: How has your leadership development plan changed over the last 6 months?

Question 3: Describe how your mentor is giving you feedback? What do you do with that
feedback?

Question 4: How is having a mentor helping you achieve your leadership development goals?

Question 5: Will you describe for me how confident you are in being able to achieve your goals
now in comparison to when you started?

Question 6: What are some ways you are applying what you have already learned in your work
today?

Question 7: Tell me a little about how you plan to continue working with your mentor or
network?

Question 8: What are some of the learning experiences you have participated in since you started
this program? Is that more than before or less? What did you take away from those experiences?

Question 9: What senior leaders have you had a chance to interact with in the last 6 months?
How did you meet them? What was the interaction like?

Question 10: How do you describe the leadership expectations to others in the company? What
about outside the company?

Question 11: Finally, what is your perception of how committed the company is to promote
women and getting better gender balance in senior leadership?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study uses a gap analysis problem-solving framework to examine ways in which technology companies in the United States can achieve gender balance on senior leadership teams through a relationship-based leadership development program. The purpose of the study was to identify the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that affect an aspiring female leader’s ability to use mentoring as a leadership development technique to achieve a senior leadership position. Seven women who currently hold or have held a senior leadership position at a technology company were interviewed in depth to discover how knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to leadership characteristics, the conceptual understanding of mentoring, the procedural use of feedback and development plans, self-efficacy and mastery orientation, and cultural models and settings aided or hindered their ability to achieve their leadership aspirations. Findings show that influences related to knowledge of valued characteristics, conceptual knowledge, motivational influences, and an organizational culture of learning were assets in these women’s experience, but that aspiring female leaders likely lack support in procedural knowledge of feedback and development planning, and organizations have insufficient visible support for the development and promotion of women leaders. Based on these findings, recommendations are drawn from the research literature are offered to address these needs and reinforce these assets. This study helps to understand the complex interactions needed to increase the number of women in senior leadership positions, ultimately providing technology organizations with the financial and social benefits of a gender-balanced leadership team.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Lang, Catherine E. (author)

Core Title Mentoring as a capability development tool to increase gender balance on leadership teams: an innovation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 04/21/2020

Defense Date 04/21/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag diversity and inclusion,gender balance,leadership development,mentoring,OAI-PMH Harvest,women in leadership

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Yates, Kenneth (committee chair), Donato, Adrian (committee member), Foulk, Susanne (committee member)

Creator Email clang700@gmail.com,langc@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-285174

Unique identifier UC11673187

Identifier etd-LangCather-8295.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-285174 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-LangCather-8295.pdf

Dmrecord 285174

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Lang, Catherine E.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA