In Britain we may think we lead the world when it comes to being inclusive for women. We have a female PM (for the second time), we were one of the first countries to give women the right to vote, and this year we start to mandate gender pay gap reporting. However, in this article Stephen Frost asks “could your company be doing more to be inclusive to female employees?”
We may be surprised to hear that when it comes to recruiting judges, only one of the twelve Supreme Court Judges is a woman. When it comes to women on Boards, France, Sweden and Finland are ahead of the UK. And when it comes to recruiting artists, only 8% of London’s public works of art were created by women.
Five years after “Lean In’, 2017 feels like the year of leaning out. The Trump effect is further evidence that it’s not just about women ‘leaning in’, we need systemic change too. There are some common things companies get wrong without realising. So what more could your organisation be doing?
Be data led
Many business executives think they have achieved gender equality because they can name senior women. However, hold up the mirror and challenge assumptions – minorities tend to stand out more.
Take the travel industry, for example. Whilst the majority of junior staff is women, the average gender representation at Board level is only 17%. This compares with the FTSE 100 Board average of 26%. Expedia has only 2 women out of 17, TUI has only 1 out of 6 and the IATA Board of Governors are all men – not one single woman amongst 31 members. The same is true for LUX resorts (11 men, no women).
Measure the gender (and other) diversity characteristics of your organisation by grade and department and benchmark them in a scorecard that is regularly reviewed by management.
Support women
When going for promotion, men are likely to put themselves forward when they can fulfil 50% of the job description. Women are likely to hold back until they can complete 90%.
You could argue that cognitive diversity can happen amongst a group of white men. That’s true, but it would be significantly more if women and other minorities were included. Gender and ethnicity are proxies for cognitive diversity and ignoring them reduces the perspectives available in decision-making.
Be proactive in seeking out and encouraging women and minorities to advance through leadership development programmes, reverse mentoring and networking.
Support men
Gender equality is perhaps less about women and more about men and their reluctance to change or ignorance of the need to. Whenever there’s a ‘women’s initiative’ at work, for example, how often have you heard men say, “where’s my network/programme/quota”? The truth is, it’s not just a zero sum game of men v women but about enlarging the pie – how men can benefit from women advancing in all walks of life.
Diversity is a reality. There are the obvious demographic differences amongst us; gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and so on. Then there are the less obvious, but none the less critical, differences such as cognitive ability and persuasion, political view, personality type. But ultimately diversity is infinite – no two people are the same, and it is this diversity of people that makes it valuable.
Use your communications to ensure men realise diversity is about them too – International Men’s Day is on 19 November!
Nudge your way forward
97% of our decision-making is unconscious. So it doesn’t matter how much training we do, unless we change the system (as well as train behaviours) we wont achieve gender equality. For example, if you recruit teams rather than individuals, and interview in groups rather than 1-1, you give introverts and people less likely to self promote more of a level playing field by focussing on team skills rather than individual promotion.
Redesign your recruitment systems to be more inclusive and improve meritocracy, efficiency and transparency.
Get personal
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you believe, you can still be yourself but flex your behaviour. Whilst diversity is a reality, inclusion is a choice. Take a moment and try the following exercise:
Write down your closest five friends. Then your closest five colleagues in your organisation. Think about your partner and where you live. How diverse is this group? You may think it would be innately diverse, but chances are you are part of the majority of people who hang out with people incredibly similar to themselves. We call this homophily and it’s the natural and normal tendency to gravitate towards like minds.
That’s one of the reasons the Board of LUX resorts are all men.
If we don’t look for diversity, inclusion won’t ‘just happen’. Thinking about your network is a good place to start your diversity journey. It can then lead to questions of bias, decision-making and ultimately professional development and making us better leaders.
Stephen Frost is the founder of Frost Included, a consultancy dedicated to helping people understand diversity and inclusion. His latest book, Inclusive Talent Management – How business can thrive in an age of diversity, is out now, published by Kogan Page. For more information go to www.frostincluded.com or follow Stephen on Twitter @FrostIncluded
