Best Company for Advancing Women Leaders — Assessment Questionnaire

Does your organisation have a formal, documented strategy with stated objectives for advancing women into senior and executive leadership roles?

This includes board-approved DEI strategies, leadership pledges, published targets or inclusion roadmaps.

Do you formally track and report gender representation data at middle management, senior leadership, executive committee and board level — segmented separately for each tier?

Reporting may be internal to the board, disclosed to stakeholders, or published externally.

Do you have a dedicated formal sponsorship programme for high-potential women — distinct from mentoring — in which senior leaders actively advocate for and open doors to specific individuals?

Sponsorship means active advocacy and career-defining introductions, not advice-giving. Answer yes only if this programme is formally structured with named sponsors and tracked outcomes.

Do you have a formal mentoring programme for women that is structured, time-bound and independently tracked — separate from any sponsorship initiative?

Answer yes if your mentoring programme has defined matching criteria, programme management and outcome measurement distinct from sponsorship.

Do senior leaders and line managers have formal KPIs or performance objectives directly linked to women's advancement outcomes?

These should be reflected in performance reviews or executive scorecards, not aspirational statements.

What percentage of your total leadership roles (senior manager and above) are currently held by women — broken down by tier?

What percentage of your executive committee or C-suite roles are held by women, and what percentage of your board are women? State both separately.

How many women participated in formal leadership development initiatives in the past 12 months — and what percentage of total programme participants does this represent?

What measurable change in women's representation at leadership level has your organisation achieved over the past three years? State the starting point, current position and percentage point change.

What percentage of all promotions into leadership roles went to women in the most recent 12 months — and how does this compare to women's share of the pipeline below?

What structural challenge or leadership gap were you trying to address, and why was it a priority?

Describe the specific gap with data, context and business case. Avoid general statements about wanting diversity.

Describe the specific initiatives your organisation introduced — distinguishing clearly between your formal sponsorship programme and your formal mentoring programme, explaining how each is designed and what each achieves.

Judges will look for evidence that sponsorship and mentoring are genuinely distinct in design, governance and outcome — not the same programme with different names.

What has been the measurable impact on women's progression, visibility, retention and leadership readiness — and what are your next commitments?

Strong entries combine hard data with participant voices. Include testimonials or reflections where available.