Inclusion Starts with Me

The most amazing thing happened to me this week. On the scale of world peace or global warming it would fall into decimals, of course, but personally for me it was a serendipitous revelation.

I was typing away an invitation brief for guest speakers for a global Diversity & Inclusion event that we organise in December, when the autocorrect function all of a sudden decided to give me a lesson in personal accountability. For some (only Microsoft known) reason, Word started changing "D&I", typically standing for "Diversity & Inclusion", to "D&me", a grammatically correct but somewhat corporate-lingo-awkward coinage. This got me thinking...

Inclusion cannot be forced onto you. It's either you make a point of stopping by everyone's office in the morning saying "hi" or not. It's either you eat on your own or you invite everyone to join in. It's either you pause and ask if everyone understands or keep going just to get to the end of your presentation in time. Small things matter a great deal.

The times when corporate policies were rife with non-D&I clauses and restrictions are drifting away: most of big firms now have their people guidelines checked and D&I-proofed, and here's where it really comes to me, as an individual: diversity is easier to promote and check, while inclusion is a mindset that must be shared by everyone, otherwise it won't work. What I mean by that is that you can get together the most diverse team possible, ticking off all the boxes on your Diversity dashboard, but until those people respect each other, consider each other's opinions on their merit and without prejudice and account for individual differences in every smallest way, true inclusion would be out of sight. It is as small as a micro-inequity or comment in passing. It is as big as including someone from communication or a social routine.

I've reinforced something in my own mind this week, thanks to Word and Bill Gates. Diversity is everybody's business, but Inclusion starts with me.

MEN are finished

Salary discrimination

The controversy whether it's a man's world still or not deserves to be on the agenda but the facts point in the opposite direction:

• women earn 10-30% less than men
• men utterly dominate such beefy industries as transport and mining. A hefty 11% of men work in construction; only 1% of women do. Women cluster in communications, retail and public administration, including education and health. See here a larger list of female dominated industries.

Pat Heim assures that until very recently the only truly female professions were (1) queen and (2) witch. The things have changed...

- Women 3.0

-  Women, Know Your Limits

 ...but females are still not scoring even with men in the workplace. Why?

World Bank suggests the following reasons:

1. Discrimination
1. Some men think women are less capable, and some laws treat the sexes differently
2. Women also have fewer assets that can be turned into capital. Land is a prime example. In 16 poor countries, 55% of female-headed households own land, but 64% of male-headed ones do.
2. Women are sometimes less qualified than men
3. Women do not control their own time. In rich Austria and Italy, women do at least three times as much housework and child care as men. In poorer Cambodia, they do 50% more.

With a large degree of generalization, I think there are three constituencies that have highest stakes in this issue:

• The society bears part of the blame: gender stereotyping begins from the moment parents and relatives start buying pink or blue clothes on finding our the sex of the baby. Not many know the difference between the concepts of "sex" and "gender" and many do not think that the baby itself does not really care what color pamper it is going to wear.

• The business should also assume partial responsibility. Managers do not want to deal with pregnancies and child care leaves, so females in the workforce have been traditionally shunned (emphasis on "traditionally"), particularly in the senior echelons ("boys' clubs), and the board of directors have this affinity for the alpha-male style of leaders, and that's exactly whom they appoint CEO, and alpha-males like those alike, and the vicious circle makes another loop.

• Finally, it is the individual (man or woman - does not, actually, matter): the stance you take, the force of your conviction and the passion, with which you are going to defend your beliefs --- they do make a difference.

Women 3.0

How would you explain the fact (McKinsey) that:

Companies with three or more women in top-management positions achieve higher scores for each criterion of organizational effectiveness than do companies with no women at the top.

The business case for women has been made and heralded through and through. But…

Despite significant corporate commitment to the advancement of women’s careers, progress appears to have stalled. The percentage of women on boards and senior-executive teams remains stuck at around 15 percent in many countries, and just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women (Source).

The journey we have traveled so far is impressive. Just think of 1960s and take a look at these newspaper ads to get the idea where we started: http://bit.ly/raZIDj. I can't help myself posting one of those here:

If you don't recall the Women, Know Your Limits video, I urge you to watch it again before we continue the conversation:

Women 1.0: Set the ground rules

Getting policies and procedures in place was an important step: it ensures the legislative base and empowers people to stand up for their rights. Unfortunately, not always what is written becomes what is out there in reality. However, in most Western countries this hurdle is cleared. I make this "western" caveat, because if we look deeper into most Asian or African societies, there is a long way to go.

Women 2.0: Women buy in

It is tougher out there for women, no doubt about that (recall the Executive Women and the Myth of Having It All article), but the number of role models, success cases and female entrepreneurs is steadily growing:

•  Forbes Women: 30 Utterly Inspiring Role Models
• Women CEOs
• Top 15 young female entrepreneurs

What is really tough is the next step -

Women 3.0: The world buys in

This month McKinsey published their new think piece on this topic: Changing companies' minds about women:

The last generation of workplace innovations—policies to support women with young children, networks to help women navigate their careers, formal sponsorship programs to ensure professional development—broke down structural barriers holding women back. The next frontier is toppling invisible barriers: mind-sets widely held by managers, men and women alike, that are rarely acknowledged but block the way.

I believe that any problem can be solved if we look at it through the prism of communication: there is always either too much or too little of it. Advocacy, engagement and inquiry are nice big words but they are useless until you start putting meaning in them. Same goes for understanding, acceptance and ambassadorship.  Simply relating the message is not enough; that is one of the reasons why many good initiatives fail: the senior leaders, who are supposed to spearhead the initiatives, blurb out what has been written for them to say and forget about the whole thing as a bad dream. While it should be just vice versa.

Women 3.0 is not an unrealistic dream. Actually, it is more of a reality than you might think. Just like with the handicapped, LGBT, racial tension, age differences, etc.: all one needs to do is to see the point of view of the other.

How do HR Managers prepare for Ramadan?

Ramadan in 2011 will start on Monday, the 1st of August and will continue for 30 days until Tuesday, the 30th of August.

Whether you have Muslim employees or not, that is not the question. Nowadays the workplace is so diverse that somewhere somehow you will always have a connection. Besides, think about your client base. What about the suppliers? Monocultural, monoreligious, monoracial and other "monos" are extinct just like those creatures of the Jurassic Park: welcome to the World of Diversity!

The significance of Ramadan cannot be downplayed in the Muslim community: it is the most important month of the year, the month when the Qur'an was revealed, a period of fasting, repentance, increased prayer and charity. It lasts for a year and ends with Eid, day of celebration and gratitude. All Muslims (except for children, sick adults, warriors, pregnant women and some others) fast, which means that from the break of dawn until sunset they must engage in two aspects of fasting:

• physical: refrain from food, drink and intimacy (depending on location and season may last from 12 to 17 hrs);
• spiritual: refrain from blameworthy thoughts and acts during all hours.

Every day of Ramadan, after sunset, Muslims break fast with Iftar, the evening meal that can be consumed only after the sun goes down. If you think that you can survive for a month without water and food for 12-17 hours a day, I suggest you try it, even if you do that purely for for the reasons of challenging yourself and cleansing your entire body along the way.

"How does this affect me?" you would ask. Well, think about all the restrictions some of your fellow employees are subjected to during Ramadan and here are a few simple steps that you can follow and alert others to, in order to contribute to the inclusive atmosphere at your organization:

• try to avoid the following for your Muslim colleagues and business partners: meetings which include lunch, meetings going beyond 5 PM, social functions (e.g. parties) 
• be understanding that it is the most important month in the Muslim calendar
• it is common to take vacation during the last week of Ramadan
• Eid is day off, especially for those with family
• greet colleagues with "Ramadan Mubarak" (Blessed Ramadan), as a nice way to cross into a new culture
• if invited to share Iftar, go for it - it will be fun!

Even if this "soft" stuff is not for you, please consider the following limitations:

• Holiday jams to Muslim countries begin over a week before Ramadan till three days after Eid
• Congestion occurs on flights to and from the Gulf area during the second half of Ramadan (people visiting Mecca)
• Working hours in some companies end earlier during Ramadan - please plan accordingly!

In the end, if there is one thing that you should do to foster inclusiveness is be considerate and supportive. 

Ramadan Mubarak!

Making the Most of Who You Are: Corporate Diversity Programs

Being different is no longer is looked down upon or is it? Answering this question tells you much about the culture of the community that surrounds you, the organization that you work for and country that you live in. The levels of acceptance and inclusiveness differ greatly across borders and continents, and with this world becoming smaller and smaller, the job seekers can really choose and pick the organizational cultures that are most welcoming and inducing productivity. Hence, increasingly more companies are putting greater efforts to appeal to a wider population of diverse talent: how to pick one that would be right for you? Choosing the right culture is of utmost importance since it is not merely about feeling great – it is the main determinant if you are going to be successful in your job. 

There is a ton of information that you can get about a company even without talking to anyone there: the internet contains most of the answers if you know what to look for. Let’s take a glance at the key elements (most of them will be directly available on the company’s career website, or alternatively you can explore specialized career portals like Vault, Glassdoor or even LinkedIn):

• Definitions: how does the company define “diversity”? Is it just women and people with disabilities? What words are they using? Do the definitions of YOUR diversity group offend you? Think about it: using “limited capability” instead of “crippled” hints at a greater degree of sensitivity to the issue; using “LGBT” instead of “gay” demonstrates awareness which is a one step further towards understanding and inclusion.
• Statistics: many large companies would publish sustainability reports that have a Talent section in them with graphs, charts and numbers boasting great advances in diversifying their workforce. Analyze those carefully and draw your own conclusions. Having 30% of women in senior management is great, but why not 50% or 60% while it was proven by much research that increasing the number of women in senior management is positively correlated with shareholder returns?
• Internships and Scholarships for Diverse Candidates: old proverbs generally hold water no matter what – put your money where your mouth is. One might hail the virtues of having a diverse workforce and do nothing about it while someone else will have a varied program of scholarships, apprenticeships, internships and other -ships for minority employee groups or potential candidates and not being very vocal about it. Search for facts and real diversity interventions from the company’s side rather than believing everything you see or hear coming out from the mouths of its managers.
• Employee Groups and Networks: if there are many networks and diversity affiliate groups and they are active and closely linked to the business, it is a very good sign. What is really difficult to do is to fake the employees’ interest in something that is artificial and clearly top-down. Try to contact the representatives of those groups with any personal questions you might have about the general atmosphere in the workplace and diversity initiatives that the company is pursuing; I am more than confident that you will get honest answers.
• Diversity & Inclusiveness Plans and Other Documentation: failing to plan is planning to fail, as a well-known saying goes. Having a solid Diversity & Inclusiveness plan in place is already being half-way there. Undoubtedly, often those plans of action mean mostly lots of plans and no action, so what would be really important is to see the progress, or what exactly the company is doing to carry out those plans. Additionally, read testimonials, corporate diversity newsletters and magazines, diversity profiles and other bits of diversity information that more and more companies are willingly share with the general public these days.
• Diversity Statement: if it there, it’s already a plus. I agree, words are words, but often even in the way the diversity statement is phrased you can pick up the genuine corporate attitude to managing diverse talent. Whose name is signed at the bottom – is it the HR Director or the CEO?

In closing, I would like to note that looking for a job is like marrying. You will never be sure until the moment you start living together (figuratively and literally). So, I guess following the 80/20 principle is a good bet. Being 80% sure of your decision based on all the information you have collected following the steps outlined above is a high confidence level already to say “yes”. In both cases you will also suffer from the “Apple syndrome”: you always know that there is a new better version available if you wait just a little bit. 80/20 rule will work here as well: collect enough critical information and act on it.

Blending in is no longer an option – being different is your competitive advantage so make the most of it. 

Yet, be careful: not everywhere diversity is celebrated and being unique appreciated. 

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If you are keen to learn more about the topic, I encourage you to explore the Vault/Inroads Guide to Corporate Diversity Programs available at Vault.com.

For the Spanish version of this blog post visit http://blog.wiseri.com/es/espanol-aprovechate-al-maximo-de-quien-eres-programas-de-diversidad-corporativos/.