When it comes to women achieving real, meaningful success in the workplace, much of the popular advice given over the past couple of years revolves¹ around the role women play in determining their career. But a new report reveals that the responsibility falls on their managers, too.

每当谈及职场女性实现事业成功之道的时候，过去几年最热门的建议便都围绕女性在职场中所扮演的角色。但是最近一份报告显示，女性能否攀上事业的巅峰，也与她们的管理层有关。

In the latest white paper from management consulting firm Bain & Co., Everyday Moments Of Truth: Frontline Managers Are Key To Women's Career Aspirations³, co-authors Julie Coffman and Bill Neuenfeldt explored why, despite the high number of women who earn an advanced degree and succeed in entry and midlevel positions, there are still too few thriving at the top. The study looked at women in corporate⁴ settings across a variety of industries.

最近一份来自管理咨询公司Bain &Co.的官方报告——Everyday Moments Of Truth: Frontline Managers Are Key To Women’s Career Aspirations，它的两位合著者Julie Coffman和Bill Neuenfeldt就阐述了这个问题的原因：尽管很多女性拥有高学历并能在基层和中层职位取得成功，但只有极少数的女性能够晋升至高级管理层。这份报告深入调查了来自不同行业公司架构的职场女性。

The sample in the study showed no discernible difference in the responses from women with and without kids who were both new and experienced employees. Instead, the report exposed three elements in particular that affect a woman's career success and, it turns out, have less to do with them specifically and more to do with their surrounding environment.

报告中的调查样本显示，无论是出入职场还是经验丰富的女性，她们是否生育都不影响这个调查的结果。相反，报告特别提出了3个影响职场女性成功的因素，并且，这些因素大多数与她们个人的特点关系不大，而与工作环境的关系非常大。

Here are three workplace factors that keep women from aspiring⁵ to top jobs, according to the report.

根据报告显示，下面便是让职场女性止步于高级管理阶层的3个因素：

1. The conventional profile of the successful leader doesn’t look that appealing.

1. 传统的成功领导形象对她们来说没多大吸引力。

Many of the women did not find the values and ideals encouraged within their company for promotions⁷ to be particularly inspirational.

许多职场女性认为，公司所坚持的价值观和理想状况，对推动她们追求更高的职业目标不能起到多大的作用。

"This idea that you have to always be 'on' or take the highest profile client or be a very adept⁸ networker -- which may or may not be written down as promotion⁶ criteria⁹ but yet are the perceived important things to accomplish in order to get ahead -- were less motivating to the women," said Coffman, who has also served as the chair of Bain's Global Women's Leadership Council for the past five years. "They didn’t feel like they could be that person, that the profile of the successful person was perhaps too limited."

“这种你必须随时待命，照顾高端客户或者成为一名圆滑老练的客户联系人的想法，可能或不能作为晋升的标准，虽确实能够为事业前进作为重要的参考内容，但这对职场女性来说没有多大的吸引力，”Coffman，这位过去5年在贝恩资本的全球女性领导委员会担任主席的学者在报告中说道。“她们不认为自己能够晋升到那么高的职位，因为成功人士的职场形象太局限了。”

2.They lack an active, supportive relationship with their supervisors¹¹.

2.她们没有得到上司的积极主动的支持。

Participants who could positively¹² answer the question, "Do you feel like you have a supportive supervisor¹⁰ who is interested in helping¹³ you develop your career?" maintained higher levels of remaining aspiration² to reach the senior level than those who answered negatively.

对于这个问题“你能感受到你的上司很乐意为你的事业晋升助你一把吗？”给予积极回答的受访者，比消极回答的受访者，对于晋升高层管理的目标抱有更大的期望。

The presence of a supervisor who is actively¹⁴ trying to help employees further their careers has a substantial effect on employees' level of interest in progress -- especially with women. Men want supervisor support as well, but the absence of it doesn't seem to affect them as much. Having that built-in support system not only provides a morale¹⁵ boost for employees but helps them produce higher quality work that can, in turn, advance their careers.

上司积极参与帮助员工事业前进的举措，对激发员工对晋升的兴趣起着实质性的作用，特别是女性的员工。男性员工同样也需要上司的鼓励帮助，不过即使没有上司的帮助，也不会对他们追求更高职位产生多大影响。采用植入式的支援系统，不仅能够鼓舞员工的士气，还能帮助他们创造更高质量的工作效果，然后最终推动事业的发展。

3.They don't see a relatable role model within their company.

3. 她们在公司找不到可以借鉴的榜样。

"Do they look up and see that their leadership or feedback style is being personified by the leaders of the company?" Coffman asked. "Do they feel like they see anybody in senior leadership that they would view as a role model?"

“她们有没有留意并发现领导们的态度或反馈方式已经被领导们人性化了？”Coffman问道。“她们能否从高级管理层中寻找到能够作为榜样的领导者？”

Often, because women typically don't see other women in the leadership position they are striving for, it becomes difficult for them to picture moving into such a role themselves. This lack of a role model makes it even more difficult to develop the one-on-one relationship with a boss that can help make them feel comfortable with the idea of aiming high and supported in their attempt to do so.

通常来说，由于职场女性一般都无法找到同一领域里的更高级别的女性领导，这对她们来说想要找到奋斗的目标是相当困难的。在这种缺乏榜样的情况下，使得建立老板和员工一对一的工作关系（让她们感觉到能够轻松追求更高的职位，并受支持的感觉）就更困难了。

"A lot of women, in my personal opinion, are looking for the nonexistent," said Coffman regarding finding a role model. "There are very few women in senior leadership roles, and if you think the only role model that is out there for you is a senior woman who’s got your same family situation or is from your same hometown or attended your same university, at some point, it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Instead of an über-role model, think about assembling a personal board of directors -- a collective of individuals that have competencies in different areas that are meaningful to you, and together, embody¹⁶ the various things you’re looking for."

“许多职场女性，就我个人的观点，都只是追求默默无闻的工作岗位。”在谈及工作榜样时Coffman这么说道。“极少数的女性在高级的管理层，并且如果你认为你能找到的唯一榜样，必须与你的家庭背景一样，或者来自同一地方，或者是你的校友，这样在某种程度上，你只是在大海捞针。相反，区别于极其出色的榜样，还不如找到一群个人专属的人生导师——他们在不同领域里具有不同能力特长，并对你产生非凡影响力的个人，然后，把他们的优点融汇贯通，就形成了你所寻觅的榜样形象了。”

The report comments at length about how women, as they look to progress from middle to senior management, suddenly lose a necessary sense of confidence and replace it with self-doubt. But more significant than that is the dramatic disappearance¹⁷ of their aspirations. Rejuvenating¹⁸ that spirit is not just the work of the women themselves, it's the job of their managers, too.

这份报告以较长篇幅谈及了职场女性，如何在她们追求从中级阶层到高级管理阶层的进步的时候，突然就让自我怀疑的感觉淹没了原本必备的自信。不过比这更重要的是她们突然就失去了职业追求的热情。想要重新唤起这种精神不仅需要女性本身的努力，这也是作为她们的管理者的责任。