Voice At The Table

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch

Let’s talk about the danger of ‘Echo Chambers’ and how to break through them.

Diversity can be a divisive topic.  With claims of ‘Reverse Discrimination’ and statements like ‘All lives matter!”, the conversation can often deteriorate.   The temptation to be dogmatic and fall back the righteousness of our own position can stand in the way of productive dialogue.

So how can we get past the mudslinging and entrenchment (on both sides!) in order to create a movement that hears and acknowledges all voices?

The trouble with Echo Chambers

In his book Rebel Ideas, Matthew Syed explains the term Echo Chambers not simply as communities subject to ‘confirmation bias’ (i.e. when members hear and see only what they believe – and no other information that could, if heard,  dispel some of the data that accompanies the bias).  Syed explains that, in order for an Echo Chamber to exist, that community’s belief must actively undermine the trustworthiness of any outsiders who don’t subscribe to that same belief.  In other words, Echo Chambers exist when one community distrusts anything that is said that is contrary to its beliefs.  Think of the Brexit topic, for instance.  Regardless of what side of that argument you are, whatever argument or fact the other side might present to you is typically discredited, regardless of how true or factual it may be.  Similarly, think of Trump loyalists and critics.  I honestly cannot think of one thing that one side can say to win over someone from the opposing side.

The issue at the very heart of all of this is trust – or rather, lack of trust.  So long as one side believes that the other side’s motivation is self-serving or wrong, it will ignore or devalue any statement – regardless of how factual it may be.

So how do we overcome it?  The answer is obvious:  we need to build trust between camps.  How do we do that?  There are lots of ways of doing this, but the very simple and impactful one is to acknowledge that each person is entitled to their view – and then listen.

Our very own Communications expert Jayne Constantinis runs workshops on this topic, and has created a very helpful acronym that helps us remember how we can speak with others who espouse very different views from our own.

The acronym is RATIO:

R stands for the Right to an opinion.  This is based on the philosophy that no opinion is wrong.  Every person has reached their opinion by growing through their own life experiences – and given how different life experiences are, it shouldn’t be surprising that people will also have different views.  On this basis, and while we may very much dislike it, we do have to admit that every person is entitled to their view.    This is also consistent with being inclusive – we can’t be inclusive only when it suits us or doesn’t violate our own values.  Inclusion is about respecting everyone – even those who make it difficult for us.

A stands for Ask.  This is the first step in engaging the person in conversation.  We can ask the person about their views.  Ask them to clarify their perspective, put it in context, explain how they formed their opinion.  This is an excellent time to practice what we preach and simply listen.  As we listen, we validate the speaker.  And trust begins to build, because now, we are no longer just dismissing them as wrong or, worse, insignificant.  Quite the contrary; we are interested in how they reached their opinion and we want to hear more.

T stands for Think.  Now we’re processing what they say, clarifying it further and probing.  As we try to understand, we might ask them to compare it to something else or apply their argument to a different set of facts.  This is when we also offer a friendly challenge, that may be rebuked, or provide an opportunity to come to an agreement on a particular point.  More trust develops.

I stands for Inform.  You’re now sharing your thoughts and perspectives, while it’s their turn to grant you the very courtesy you just granted them.  Trust continues to build.

O stands for Offer.  We are now ready to build a bridge.  It can be in the form of ‘agreeing to disagree’ or to offer to send an informative article or link to some more information, or to read up on something they said.

Whatever it is, the Offer paves the way for a path you can now walk together.  And, in doing so, you have created a foundation for collaboration that chips away at the walls of the echo chamber in which both people were sturdily ensconced – until now.

The most difficult part about inclusion is in fact this.  There are many views in life with which I disagree, but I try hard to understand how they people who espouse them may have reached them.  Until more of us can do this, we will not overcome the many challenges that face our society.

To learn more techniques on how to talk to people with whom you disagree – either with Jayne, myself or another of our very expert associates – please get in touch.

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch

Last week, we completed a half-marathon walk around London in support of the fight against dementia.  It would be remiss not to thank all of you who, very kindly, sponsored this effort.  You made a tremendous difference with your support, not just to us (by making it difficult for any one of us to rethink our commitment to the walk – not that any one of us was tempted) but to those affected by dementia both now and in the future.  The team and I are most grateful!  For a full account of the walk, read Melissa’s editorial.

What I want to share with you today are some of the insightful conversations that we had during our five hours of walking through the streets of our incredible city.

It won’t surprise you to hear that the conversation meandered (like the River Thames) through some of the topics of our trade, Diversity and Inclusion.  Here are three of them:

Stereotypes and Individuals

Walking with worldly, culturally-diverse women, the conversation at one point turned to cultural stereotypes.  We observed how families often hire au pairs from a specific country based on cultural stereotypes.  I remembered how people expected me to be an excellent ice-skater just because I was born in Russia.  And Inge – being from the Netherlands – fell foul of the expectation that Dutch people are very tall.  This is, of course, because, when applied to individuals, stereotypes tend not to hold up (my ice-skating skills are abysmal, and Inge is not very tall).  Bearing this in mind will help us mitigate some of our biases and avoid questions that shouldn’t be asked (as discussed in the blog “Are you coming back?“) While stereotypes might have their place, it would be a mistake to apply them to individuals.

The Fallacy of Averages

Like stereotypes, we discussed how averages also don’t work well.  Referencing the book Rebel Ideas, we reminded ourselves of the story Matthew Syed told about a time when cockpit dimensions were based on the average measurements of pilots.  As a result, planes designed on this basis suffered frequent accidents.  The reason: cockpits based on averages didn’t fit any one single individual in it.  In other words, a one-size-fits-all approach resulted in a one-size-fits-none situation.  To address this, cockpits were re-designed to allow pilots to adjust seats and angles to suit their requirements – much like we’re accustomed to doing in our cars.

Applying this to business, many of today’s work-related conventions are not suitable for the type of diverse environment that employment has become.  Judging all individuals, for instance, on the basis of leadership criteria that are attributed to a specific type – directive, outgoing, polished – disqualifies many suitable candidates for whom those criteria don’t work. Were we to judge individuals on their ability to lead (as manifested in various ways, including in volunteer and personal responsibilities), we would be able to harness more diversity at leadership level, which is still so desperately lacking in most companies.

Breeding Entitlement

The conversation then moved to “privilege”, i.e. the lack of obstacles experienced by those who embody the type for whom institutions were created.  We talked about how most women still experience the world as a man’s world – case in point, the recent realisation from the health minister Nadine Dorries that the NHS caters to men more than to women.  We also explored how when women apologise or step out of the way when a man walks towards them, this behaviour breeds entitlement.  When someone says “sorry” for no apparent reason, it makes the other person intuitively think “You should be!” and inadvertently increases that sense of entitlement (to an apology) that continues to grow.  In this way, the rift between the “privileged” and the “less privileged” expands and becomes more difficult to bridge.

As we reflected on society’s complexities and ingrained behaviours, we realised how incredibly difficult this challenge is to crack.  We also, thankfully, observed that the world has come a long way, and many of the norms that were in place even 10-15 years ago have dissipated, making way for new practices that allow individuals to be themselves and not be punished for it.

By Melissa Jackson

What better way to spend a sunny Saturday in June than trek the streets of London to raise funds for a worthwhile cause? Team Voice At The Table donned their walking boots and tapped into their energy reserves to meet the Alzheimer’s Society challenge to walk 13 miles in support of the fight against dementia.

When Rina caught me at a weak moment about six months ago and sweet-talked me (I should mention that she’s good at this) into accompanying her on a half-marathon schlep around the scenic centre of London, I hastily agreed and then buried it away in the cerebral filing cabinet marked “non-urgent”.

Then I started receiving email reminders from the charity to “launch” myself to potential sponsors via social media and direct mail. I realised I needed to get my act together.

I also discovered that Rina and I were not alone. She had managed to “persuade” an ensemble of walking buddies to join us: namely Inge Woudstra, co-founder of The Big Fish D&I Academy; Rebecca Dalton – my VATT editorial predecessor – and Andrea Atkins, a friend and supporter of VATT. We were Team Voice At The Table – allied to the cause and determined to motivate and encourage each other to get off the fundraising starting blocks and mine the willpower to walk the walk.

It was well worth the effort. We had a ball. The weather was perfect and we chatted our way round the half-marathon route, largely ignoring the creaks and throbs of our waveringly compliant limbs, spurred on by the many thousands of others who were pounding the streets alongside us.

As we took in the views, including the London Eye, Fleet Street, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the poignant and heart-adorned Covid-wall and the perimeters of the capital’s oases of majestic parks, we were reminded of the perils of Alzheimer’s and the growing number of people affected by it. The disease is so prevalent that we probably all know someone who has succumbed to its debilitating scourge. There’s nothing greater to focus the mind than an obstinate statistic – and at about the halfway point, a notice bleakly proclaimed that six people would develop dementia by the time we reached the finish line.

It’s clear that dementia is fast becoming the defining health issue of our time, with the numbers of people living with the condition projected to increase rapidly and no treatment to prevent, slow or cure the underlying diseases. Despite this, awareness of the condition – though rising – is still low, and funding for research lags behind other serious health conditions.

This walk, for me, was imperative and if our fundraising efforts help one person to adapt to their dementia diagnosis with dignity and fortitude, then we’ve made a difference and that’s what counts.

For Rebecca it had personal context, “This was always going to be an emotional day for me as my aunt, to whom I’m very close, had been living with Alzheimer’s for many years. But when she passed away 24 hours before the walk, it took on extra significance. More than an act of remembrance for my Auntie Kay, the day was also a celebration of life, camaraderie and resilience.”

Optimism shines through and this was the axis on which the walk revolved. There was a culture of laughter and joy amid the test of endurance, especially for those who’d signed up for 26 miles and were limping towards the journey’s end.

And what a journey.

As Inge said, “I’ve made new friends, chatted all the way, walked the best parts of London and for such a good cause.”

And from Rina, “It’s been in the planning for months and now that we’ve raised £2,500 as a team and walked in the beautiful sunshine through beautiful London, we want to do it again next year. Let’s raise a glass to that.”

We certainly did… once over the finish line we “toasted” our efforts, thanks to the generosity of the Alzheimer’s Society, which provided every triumphant walker with a glass of well-earned Prosecco, and a souvenir medal.

And, of course we’ll be doing it again next year. Why don’t you join us? I’m sure Rina will be working her magic to make you an offer you can’t refuse!

We’re sharing some top tips on career success from our Australian sisters, following our discovery of Women’s Agenda – an internet platform that supports and encourages women to fulfil their potential. Here are some inspiring ideas from a cluster of successful women that are guaranteed to fuel your desire to “go for it”.

1. You’ll never feel ready, so just start…

“Just start. That’s probably something I put off for a long time, feeling that I was never going to be ready… and worried about other people’s opinions. I think the biggest thing is you’re never going to be ready, but it’s about just starting and once you start, you are constantly learning. From people every day I learn something new. So it’s just having the confidence, I suppose, to back yourself and to believe in what you’re doing.”

By Jenny McAllister, a young stroke survivor and the founder of StyleAbility.

2. Bring your lived experience to the table

“When they talk about family violence in that chamber, I know what it’s like. When they talk about poverty in that chamber, I know what that’s like. Racism, being a woman, being a mum, being a grandmother, it’s all lived experience. You know, these people read a brief about it. These people go to uni and learn of ways to speak about it. But unless you’ve lived it, you don’t know. And you certainly can’t come up with the solutions if you haven’t lived it.”

By Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Victorian Parliament in 2017 and then to Federal Parliament in 2020.

3. Put the right thing before the easy thing

“There’s all of these incredible women who are able to identify what is good and what is right, and who will fight for it. And not necessarily in big Greta Thunberg style ways. They’re not out there. Their names are not household names. They are just chipping away in their corner of the world and making the right thing happen. And I think that’s who I take inspiration from. You know, I need to make change right here where I am and always put the right thing before the easy thing.”

By Kylie Flament, the General Manager of award-winning social enterprise Green Connect.

4. Surround yourself with the right people

“I honestly had no idea what I was doing, didn’t go to school for non-profit management, actually didn’t really know anything about it. But what I did do and what I think I recognised early on was that you need to surround yourself with people that do know. And in my leadership, that has continued. If you’re going to work with me or I want you to work together, you have a skill that I don’t have and so I need you to tell me… and that’s a very humbling process, because I think that people think that leaders are the ones that need to have all the ideas. I really don’t believe that. I think they just need to be really good at organising people and then giving those people a platform to be who they can be.”

By Yanti Turang, a registered nurse from Australia who lives in the US and has spent the past year working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

5. If you can’t see it, be it

“When I would go to these angel syndicate meetings, I would often be the only woman, I would often be one of the youngest people, and I would very often be the only person of colour and especially woman of colour… Sometimes I would go to these events where I would have older men come up to me and ask me if I was a founder and how much money I needed. And at first, I thought, that’s a bit funny, but it happened more than once. And so then that penny dropped: oh, I think this is a problem. And if I were a founder and wanted to go for funding, is there anyone who looks like me on the other side? And you can’t really, I think you have to look at it from both sides. You can’t just say, oh, there aren’t enough female founders and we need to grow the pipeline. There also needs to be female investors on the other side.”

By Solai Valliappan, former actuary who’s now a tech-industry investor.

6. Don’t be afraid to fail

“It actually became harder not to do it than to actually do it. You know, when you feel a real calling to do something. One of my friends calls it ‘having soul in the game’ and I think that’s so right because suddenly it was like, I couldn’t not do it. I was sitting on the idea for quite a while because I spoke with a lot of charities and not-for-profits and they all kind of said, ‘You’re crazy, you will never get into the hospitals’… and I just thought, you know what? I think I can do it. So I’m just not going to listen to people who say that I can’t.”

By Ingerlise Svaleng, founder of 21 Gifts, a project that is changing the narrative surrounding babies diagnosed with Downs Syndrome.

Women’s Agenda

What She Did Next podcast

Guest Blog By Claudia Bruce-Quartey

There are some questions that just shouldn’t be asked – and if you were male, they categorically wouldn’t be asked. Here’s a salutary tale of how to successfully take control and show a winning hand when awkward conversations arise in the workplace.

I was born in Germany and when I was younger, I never thought I’d work on anything related to technology or numbers – to me they were just for boys! Now I’m a Key Account Manager for a major Software company – in other words I sell (numbers) IT (technical).

The industry is fast-paced and innovation is disruptive. This is what fascinates me. When it comes to women in IT however, there are still visible disparities of internal and external opportunities and they show within the companies.

When I started working in Switzerland in the IT industry back in 2015, I was the first woman in Sales at my company. The first Black woman ever to be employed by that company and the first female sales person to fall pregnant within an all-male field sales organisation.

What a gift!

I remember announcing my pregnancy and noticing the unease in my boss’s eyes.

Needless to say, there were few detailed plans on my re-integration and similarly no thorough discussions about general well-being during pregnancy.

As the pregnancy progressed, we finally had a one-to-one conversation on what would happen next.

“Are you coming back?” my manager asked.

I felt uneasy, I thought, “Well if you believed we had everything in order then you wouldn’t be asking me this question, would you?”

Despite great efforts, gendered differences in employment and pay gaps persist in most European countries, especially due to childbirth. For context, Swiss maternity leave is regulated to 14 weeks, but companies may decide to offer more paid leave.

My company didn’t have any such plans, so leaving the job after 14 weeks would mean a career interruption which just wouldn’t have been feasible at that point in my life. I wanted to balance childcare, work and my professional career because I saw more than just being a working mum. My title was proof: I was an Account Manager.

My responsibilities as a mum didn’t mean I needed a pay cut – what I needed was flexibility to do my job just as professionally as before having kids.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and planned what I needed from my company using these five steps:

1. Understand what you need as a woman: Everybody is different but for me it was the flexibility to schedule my own time without guilt and excuse.
2. Make your requests clear: After identifying my needs, I decided to let internal and external team members and partners understand how, moving forward, we could continue to work with each other.
3. Be there to get the job done, not to be seen: When I needed to visit clients or give a presentation/close a deal, I identified beforehand what was needed for successful execution. I asked myself the following questions: Is my presence needed or can anyone on my team execute?
4. Make a succession plan: Pregnancy is a beautiful journey, but babies will have their way and signal to your body what is needed. This means somebody has to jump in sooner or later. Have a joint succession plan session with your manager and your stand-in colleague to manage open tasks and business continuity.
5. Things can change – be open and honest with yourself: You might decide to get back to the workplace as quickly as possible – which could be great – but also remain open to possibilities. Do you want to go back to the same role/function and within the same capacity? For me, the answer to all these questions was “yes”. But I knew I wanted to see my young child grow up, so working from home and phone calls became my default.

This is by no means an exhaustive list as there were several micro steps and adjustments that either preceded or followed these steps. However, taking these actions helped me to gain peace of mind and clarity for me and my team, as well as being good for my mental health after my maternity leave. I was able to enjoy my new-found joy as well as balance my career, which really helped my confidence and so much more.

Claudia Bruce-Quartey is a Key Account Manager at Red Hat Switzerland,

Co-founder of Iconic Women and Children’s Author (My Hair, My Choice. Due to be published in September 2021).

You can connect with her on

LinkedIn

Instagram

Gmail claudiabruceq@gmail.com

We’ve all seen the headlines:

• London: Sexism and the City
• ‘It was toxic’: how sexism threw police off the trail of the Yorkshire Ripper
• Sportswomen share experiences of sexism and the reasons they do not report it

Sexism is still rife in our society.  While things have improved, the headlines confirm that sexism continues to thrive in its various guises.  In the workplace, it continues to hold women back from progressing and from contributing.   So this month, we’re looking at the elephant in the room: sexism in the workplace.

Sexism can be overt – something that most of us would recognise straight away.  More often, however, sexism is disguised in humour, compliments, and other communication.  It’s this particular type of ambiguous, unintentional sexism that is harmful, because it’s difficult to detect and to fight. Let’s take a look at some common forms of covert sexism.

Sexist Comments
Studies report that most women experience sexism in the workplace.  In one study, 81% of women reported being on the receiving end of a sexist comment or joke.  These comments and acts vary from being innocent (yet harmful) to inflaming.  Here are some of them:

• Referring to women as ‘girls’, ‘sweetheart’, ‘love’ or ‘honey’
• Making comments about women’s appearance (‘You look like you’ve lost some weight’ or ‘You should smile more!’)
• Addressing men by their title and women by their first name
• Confusing women’s names
• Referencing women’s menstrual cycle (‘Must be that time of the month’) or emotions (‘Don’t take it so personally!’) to infer they’re not being professional
• Putting women down in a disagreement by referring to their contribution as ‘whining’

Gender Stereotypes
Believing that men and women want different things from their careers often leads to women not having the same opportunities as men.  An example of this is when someone assumes that a female colleague would not want a more challenging job opportunity because she recently got married or has smaller children, or is caring for someone. These kinds of career-limiting assumptions are rarely made about men.  As a result, women are often relegated to jobs that don’t present progression opportunities.

Women are also often expected to behave in certain ways, leading to comments like ‘bossy’ or ‘aggressive’ when they assert themselves.  In many cases, if a woman isn’t direct, speaks loudly or acts expressively, she is labelled as lacking confidence and therefore not ready to step into management.

Disregarding opinions and contributions
Women, including senior ones, report having to justify their opinions more than their male peers.  They also point to incidents when their contribution to a discussion is subtly discouraged, like in this example: “My old boss would only take advice and suggestions from males. It was subtle because he would nod and smile as you made the suggestion, but he would only follow through with things that male colleagues said.”

In addition, women tend to be interrupted or spoken over twice as often as men and are often assumed to know less than men.  This can lead to men explaining, sometimes basic, details – something that’s commonly referred to as ‘mansplaining’.

The consequence of sexism in the workplace
Sexism causes a number of problems for organisations, such as:

• The gender pay gap.  When women do not progress to more senior positions, they don’t earn as much as men.  In fact, the gender pay gap in the UK in 2020 was 15.5% – that’s to say that, on average, men earned 15% more than women last year.

• Mental health repercussions.  Sexism can and does have a great impact on women’s mental health.  Anxiety, a decreased sense of self and uncertainty are all consequences of sexism.  These can lead to women contributing less of their thinking and creativity and to lack of motivation.
• Sexual Harassment.  Persistent sexism can also lead people to believe that women are inferior to men, which can also lead to harassment and discrimination.

How to combat it
It’s not just up to women to address sexism.  It’s important that everyone does it.  Companies must raise awareness about it and work to gradually eradicate it.

Here are a few tips on what everyone can do:

• When you hear or see sexism, speak up –even if the relevant person is not in the room.
• Raise awareness by learning about it, reading up on it and expanding your knowledge about Unconscious Bias and how it leads to blind spots and stereotypes.
• Deal with repeat offenders sternly. Companies must have clear cut policies on sexism and sexual harassment and be consistent in applying them to those who persist.
• Prepare in advance. If you are on the receiving end of sexism, think of a few statements or come-back’s you can use at the right time.  Following Kamala Harris’ example, next time you’re interrupted, say slightly louder ‘I’m speaking!’.

If you have a question or comment you’d like to share about your experience with sexism at work, please email me.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy The Online Toxicity Creating a Landscape Where Women Fear to Tread

In his book Rebel Ideas, Matthew Syed shares some interesting data:

• 43% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants (or their children)
• Immigrants are twice as likely to become entrepreneurs
• Although they account for only 13% of the US population, immigrants account for 27% of all US entrepreneurs
• Half of the US-based Nobel Prize winners were born abroad
• What do Elon Musk, Walt Disney, Henry Ford and Arianna Huffington all have in common? They are all immigrants (or children of immigrants).

The point Syed makes is that an immigrant perspective is responsible for many innovations and business successes.  Given their exposure to different cultures and perspectives, immigrants are better able to generate new and creative ideas than those without a similar experience or insight.

He calls this the Outsider Mindset.

What is the Outsider Mindset?

The Outsider Mindset is the ability to step away from convention and view a challenge from a different/novel perspective – something that we absolutely must do in order to innovate.

For those who have not had opportunity to live abroad, there are other ways to learn to be creative.  As one study has shown, Nobel Laureates are typically also proficient in other disciplines like playing musical instruments, drawing, writing and drama.   This is also the case with entrepreneurs and inventors.  Diverse skills and disciplines can replace experience of living in a different culture yet offer a broader perspective – an Outsider Mindset.  This allows one to look at a problem and apply learnings from other experiences that may have nothing to do with the matter at hand.  Like putting wheels on suitcases or dispensing water from fridges.  Two ideas from unrelated functions that are brought together to create a third idea or solution.

It takes the mindset of an outsider to come up with an insight like this.

How can we cultivate an Outsider Mindset at work?

One suggested way to do this is to turn assumptions on their heads in order to liberate the Outsider Mindset in us.

Here’s an example:

Instead of assuming that all employees of a company must be located in the same place as the company’s offices, assume that employees do not need to be located at the ‘epicentre’ of the business and, instead, can do the job from anywhere in the world.  By doing that, you instantly open up the pool of candidates for these jobs to people anywhere in the world and, as a result, stand to hire with greater levels of diversity.

What is the connection to Diversity?

People with an Outsider Mindset can bring huge benefits to an organisation, bringing innovation that can be transformative. However, if they are perceived as being ‘different’ or not fitting the required criteria, they may in fact be excluded from contributing fully and struggle to be heard.  An inclusive environment – one that seeks out different voices BECAUSE they’re different – is one that stands to benefit the most.   As Matthew Syed quotes: ‘To become a visionary, you have to take the perspective of an outsider in order to see things that are taken for granted by insiders.  Possibilities and opportunities become most apparent when you are confronting a problem with fresh perspective.’

Do you want to find out how to transform your work environment to one that can harness diversity of thought?  Get in touch to discuss how we can help.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy reading Seven Steps to Handling Change Without Pain

Diversity and Inclusion is BIG BUSINESS nowadays.  Companies around the world are embracing the journey.  And with good reason.  After all, the case for the benefits of diversity in the workplace is insurmountable.  For example:

• Most research studies agree that for every 1% increase in gender diversity, revenues grow by 3%;
• A diverse ethnic mix in the workplace increases company revenues by 15%; and
• Glassdoor feedback shows that 67% of those looking for work say diversity plays an important part in evaluating prospective employers and jobs.

But the benefits of diversity can only be harnessed when the company sees diversity and inclusion as a business strength and embraces it as an opportunity.  On our Diversity Journey Model, that is Stage 4 – Seeing Diversity as an Opportunity –  and beyond.    Examples of global organisations that have achieved this stage of their journey are numerous.  Here are three of them:

1. Johnson & Johnson
2. EY
3. Novartis

1. Johnson & Johnson

With over 132,000 employees around the world, J&J invested heavily to develop Inclusion.  The company defines its D&I vision as a drive ‘to maximise the global power of diversity and inclusion, to drive superior business results and sustainable competitive advantage’.  In other words, D&I is baked right into the business strategy of the company.  To prove they mean business, J&J appointed a Chief Diversity Officer who reports directly to the CEO and the Chairman.  D&I is not the domain of HR – or seen as a sub-tranche of another function – it is its own valid business unit that touches every aspect of the organisation.

2. EY

With 280,000 employees across the globe, EY believes that “only the highest-performing teams, which maximise the power of different opinions, perspectives, and cultural references, will succeed in the global marketplace.”  EY recently introduced the  “Strong when we Belong”  campaign as one of its inclusion-building initiatives which shares stories and podcasts celebrating EY colleagues from different backgrounds.  EY’s continued dedication to inclusion and diversity have helped it increase its female partner representation to 23% and its female director representation to 37% (among other positive changes to its ethnic mix and other diverse representation).  They have also reduced the gender pay gap and are reporting on other pay gaps that are not legally required.

3. Novartis

With over 125,000 employees around the world, Novartis sees diversity as an integral force in its success.  The company believes that understanding the unique needs of its patients and finding innovative ways of addressing those needs will it a better pharmaceutical company.  For instance, the company replaced the word ‘disability’ with the word ‘diverseability’ reflecting the view that people with disabilities are not people with lack of ability but rather they are people with different skills and proficiencies.

These three examples show what can be achieved by organisations who have been on their Diversity Journey for a while.  They no longer see the lack of diversity as a problem to solve.  Instead, they see it as a missed opportunity to achieve more, for themselves, their employees, their customers and their communities.

This mindset change is an integral milestone on the Diversity Journey.  It changes how companies approach diversity, how committed people (including leadership) are to driving diversity and to what extent diversity and inclusion is embedded in every aspect, decision and consideration of the organisation.  It is only when an organisation has reached this mindset that it is able to begin to benefit from the diversity of thought that its people not only bring but are invited to share.  And that, after all, is the ultimate destination.

Has your organisation reached Stage 4 of its Diversity Journey?

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy reading Diversity Audit: What’s behind the steel door?