The Women's minister, Harriet Harman has welcomed a groundbreaking report which defines the 8 characteristics that make Asian women successful leaders in the workplace. 'Different Women, Different Places', the first study of its kind to focus on successful black and minority ethnic (BME) women at work, found that BME women bring 8 leadership qualities to the workplace which are highly valued in today's society.

Firstly, the women have bicultural competence, being familiar with both British values and the norms of their ethnic group. This gives them the ability to manage and lead across cultures, an asset that is highly valuable in todays increasingly globalised business environment.

Their multiple identities and cultural breadth gives them the ability to see things from multiple perspectives and thus often come up with novel solutions to problems.

The women have a reserve of cultural capital from their experiences gained outside the workplace through voluntary work or activities with community or religious organisations. This stands them in good stead in terms of building up leadership and motivational skills.

The women are transformactional leaders they are both transformational, able to challenge the status quo and implement change within their organisations, and transactional, regularly delivering results without affecting the overall direction of organisational travel.

They have developed self-mastery, a sense of assuredness in their innate talents and a resilience to deal with challenges and setbacks.

They have power, presence and passion, being able to communicate their views with conviction and enthusiasm, and hold the attention of others.

They have a values driven leadership approach, being guided not so much by monetary rewards as the desire to make a positive contribution to their organisations.

Many of the women felt they derived their values and inner strength in part from religious faith or spirituality, which they felt was in no small way fundamental to their success.

Speaking just prior to the launch Harriet Harman said "I hope today's report will inspire many more Black and Asian women to pursue senior leadership roles within the workplace, and that they will be supported and encouraged by their employers."

The year long study elicited the views of nearly 400 BME women, most of who are in senior management positions and presents a new and dynamic perspective on the factors that guide successful BME women.

Denise Milani, Director of Diversity at the Metropolitan Police welcomed the report saying, "My hope is that this report will open up dialogue in the workplace about how we can create more inclusive cultures and better manage diverse talent today and in the future."

Commenting on the final report of the Different Women, Different Places investigation, Zohra Moosa, Senior Policy Officer of the Fawcett Society, said: "This important report demonstrates what a contribution ethnic minority women leaders can make in the workplace when they are able to tap into all of their talents. "The study confirms what Fawcett's Seeing Double project on ethnic minority women has found – that organisations are not served well by identikit workers. The 'cultural barriers' that ethnic minority women face are often not their own, but that of organisations that maintain outdated stereotypes of what a successful worker looks like. "Government and employers need to do much more to enable all ethnic minority women to excel."

Its recommendations below are for three key audiences: government and policymakers, employers and their HR/diversity managers, and the women themselves.

Government and policy makers

• The Minister for Women should establish a strategic forum where BME women, business and community leaders can engage and shape the issues impacting their local communities, to access and consult a broader cadre of successful black and Asian women leaders.
• The Equality and Human Rights Commission should seize the opportunity presented in its combined new structure and extended remit to ensure that their collective experience and in-depth knowledge of the various diversity strands is effectively integrated and used to address the needs of BME women and other multiple identity groups.
• Policymakers in the education sector should ensure that teachers and career advisors introduce BME girls to the full gamut of career and employment opportunities available to them, where appropriate utilising the Different Women as role models.

Employers and HR/ Diversity Managers

• Diversity practitioners should move towards a more integrated approach to diversity, implementing strategies, policies and actions that have as their focus the challenges faced by BME women and other multiple identity groups, together with the added value that they offer to employers and organisations.

Recommendations for employers include:

• Conducting a cultural capital audit to identify and leverage the extent and nature of community leadership undertaken by BME women.
• Reshaping their approach to talent management with more inclusive identification, development and promotion of BME women.
• Acknowledging, valuing and integrating the difference that BME women bring as positive and significant contributors to organisational success, by publicising the achievements and contributions of BME Women through internal communication vehicles.
• Designing bespoke learning and development programmes tailored to meet the specific needs of BME women leaders.
• Extending the cultural competence of managers, senior executives and other key employee groups engaging with BME women, using as a development tool the eight factors for leadership success identified by this study.

Click here for a summary of the report 'Different Women, Different Places' (2.63mb, )