Connect with your Community
Pricewaterhousecoopers created women upfront, an internal online community that connects the company’s 14,000 women in 73 offices. Each woman creates her own page and can peruse colleagues’ profiles, which helps demystify advancement by showing real-world examples of how others achieved their success. “Any one of our women can see the personal journey of any of our partners, what they’re juggling in their home and work lives, how they advanced at the firm,” notes Jennifer Allyn, a managing director in PwC’s office of diversity. “This is critical for the next generation of women to see.”

DIY
Tap the many professional groups on LinkedIn or other online sites to connect with professional women at your level and above.

Invest Early
“When you get someone fresh, you have the ability to groom and develop loyalty to the company,” says Guy Di Lella, chief human resources officer for cA technologies, based in Islandia, NY. Minorities, who make up half of the company’s new recruits every year, get plugged in immediately to a training program that includes job shadowing for cross-functional exposure. The company also offers intensive rotation programs in its finance and marketing departments, where employees can take on stretch assignments and participate in lunch-and-learn sessions, panel discussions and leadership training.

DIY
Make connections across your own company through affinity groups and other networks. Don’t be afraid to learn about new lines of business.

Track Talent
“We don’t let good people slip through the cracks,” says Kelly Baker, vice president of human resources for minneapolis-based food marketer General Mills. “Any high-performing woman of color is covered” by a company-assigned mentor. In 2010, 174 minority women participated in mentorship programs. While mentoring initiatives aren’t new, Sandra Gruner-Domic, a University of Southern California sociologist who specializes in race relations, says they’re still crucial because “these women have less access to networks and relationships that help them to advance.”

DIY
Find your own mentor, whether internal or external, and build the networks you’ll need to advance.

Mind the (Midcareer) Gap
Studies show that attrition spikes at midcareer, when many women feel they’ve hit a wall. Telecommunications giant Verizon—where minorities represent 18 percent of its workforce and 20 percent of its managers—has found ways to get over this hurdle. The New York City–based company uses My Backfill, a succession planning service, to ask managers to recommend internal candidates for job postings. It also helps the company track talent, particularly midlevel minority female leaders who might’ve flown under the radar. In 2009, more than 38 percent of district managers placed by My Backfill were minorities, as were 51 percent of store managers.

DIY
In a midcareer lull? Assess where you want to go. Connect with your manager, recruiters or your peers to discuss what it will take to get you there.

Go Off-Site
In the 1990s, global investment bank Goldman Sachs began taking groups of high-performing women to a New York City loft to discuss work issues. “We found a need for an off-campus setting where women could have an honest dialogue with senior leaders about how to manage their career development,” says Aynesh Johnson, head of global leadership and diversity. Now called the Loft Series, the quarterly meetings pair multicultural women one-on-one with senior leaders to share candid advice in a more intimate, off-site setting.

DIY
Take your team out of the office every quarter or so to host your own honest dialogue. Let the coffee and conversation flow.

Plan Ahead
For multicultural employees ready to make partner or managing director, PwC’s Diamond program focuses on advocacy. Each participant receives six months’ executive coaching from three people within the top 100 firm leaders. Women made up 41 percent of last year’s participants. “Individuals are in the program until they make partner or managing director,” says Niloufar Molavi, PwC’s chief diversity officer, who was born and raised in Tehran and is mom to Darya, 15, and Tara, 12. “Having those advocates and sponsors has been critical for me in my career.”

DIY
Consider hiring your own executive coach. Many services exist at all price points. Invest in yourself and reap the dividends!