Is your company interested in having higher productivity? Being more innovative?
Research data links diversity to these improved results.
Surprised? Curious about where to begin?
Read on!
Companies achieving these beneficial outcomes have embraced diversity of thought, perspective, and opinion in addition to gender and race.
They’ve adopted a whole new mindset in which differences are maximized in pursuit of an “inclusive culture that values and uses the talents of all would-be members.”
In today’s challenging economy, staying competitive in an increasing global marketplace requires cultivating fresh perspectives and you don’t get that by perpetuating an ‘all the same’ leadership model. ~Irene Lang, Honorary Director, Catalyst
There’s a smorgasbord of differences that prompt a wide range of beliefs and opinions: age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic and marital status, upbringing, disability, appearance, education, and lifestyle.
Managed to maximize, not stifle, input, this variety yields more productive outcomes and fuels creativity and innovation.
If your organization is like most, men hold the majority of your leadership positions. On average, women hold about 11% of corporate leadership positions. Currently only 5.2% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Having 30% diversity representation is the tipping point for culture change and performance improvement.
3 ways to increase opportunity and diversity
To have 30% (or more!) of your senior leadership team be women, here are three good places to start:
- Establish a sponsorship program
- Revisit performance and promotion criteria, and
- Assess your culture for practices that hinder diversity.
Powerful impacts of sponsors
Sponsorship programs increase access and to share intellectual capital (the knowledge and wisdom employees contribute). Women at lower management levels often do not have contact with or visibility to senior management. Sponsorship programs close this gap.
Notes a Harvard Business Review article about promotion rates and gender, “Sponsors go beyond giving feedback and advice; they advocate for their mentees and help them gain visibility in the company. They fight to get their protégés to the next level.”
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, an economist and expert on gender and workplace issues, frames it more bluntly, “Sponsors not only promote their charges, they also protect, prepare, and push them.”
Unconscious preferences and performance
No company wants to think they practice gender (or any kind of) bias, but doing so is a more prevalent practice than most realize.
Research from Catalyst shows that “most people are not aware of how stereotyping automatically influences their thinking and, therefore, believe that their perceptions are based on objective observations.” These unconscious preferences find their way into performance evaluation criteria. Often when people think leader, they think male and thus attribute masculine tendencies—aggressiveness, winning, task-oriented, etc.—to performance requirements.
Research shows that women’s performance reviews are more likely to contain critical feedback, especially if they exhibit behaviors more commonly expected of men. Consider promotion practices and preferences in your organization:
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- Are male leaders praised for being competitive and assertive, while female leaders who behave similarly are labeled bossy?
- Do men hold the majority of line positions while women fill many staff ones?
Simply acknowledging that these unconscious biases exist has been shown to reduce their impact.
Unwritten rules of culture
Culture is the sum of a company’s “values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors, and attitudes.” Embedded practices that devalue differences can hamper performance, discourage women candidates from applying, deter current female employees from seeking promotions, and undermine efforts at inclusion. Some areas to review if you have concerns about your culture:
- Think about how frequently sports are referenced in general discussion or incorporated into work activities.
- Look at how flexible your time off policies are.
- Consider how people who use those policies are viewed.
- Reflect on how frequently women or minorities are interrupted in meetings.
3 things women can do
If you’re a woman working at a company dedicated to increasing the number of women on their executive team, there’s a few things you can do to position yourself for advancement:
- Confidently share your thoughts and ideas in meetings.
- Use productivity tools to maximize your performance and stay organized.
- Tactfully call out stereotypes and unconscious bias (like when a man makes the same suggestion in a meeting that you just made and is hailed a hero when your idea was greeted with silence).
Forward-thinking companies seeking an edge in global markets embrace differences to utilize all the talents a diverse workforce brings.
What would you like to see companies do so there’s more diversity?
Image credit before quote added: Gratisography
Brava, Jane! One of these days, I’d like to get a list of links for articles showing correlation between increased diversity in management (especially gender) and increased profits for companies.
The website InPower Women sponsored by Dana Theus is a treasure trove of data. You’ll love it!