Why LGBT Inclusiveness is a Business Matter for Everyone
By Nicki Gilmour, Founder and CEO of The Glass Hammer and Evolved Employer
I am delighted to introduce our 2012 Pride month coverage on theglasshammer.com, starting with this week’s profiles of LGBT women.
Our profiled women this week are also the panelists at our event in London on the 26th June called “Managing Multiple Identities at Work.” The event is part of our career management series exploring social identity and how it relates to building your network and advancing in the industry.
I am sure at this very moment, there are readers who are shaking their heads and saying, “If you work hard enough, it doesn’t matter who you are.” I would beg to differ. Our very existence on the web would suggest that competence alone does not get women to senior management.
Most of the research around gender issues at work is done around straight white women, and in fact, adding degrees of difference from the so-called “norm” (such as being LGBT [PDF] and/or being multicultural) to the mix often creates additional barriers to advancement, due to harmful stereotypes that, incredibly, are still alive and well in 2012.
This is where a supportive company culture motivated by good leadership, along with the right sponsors and a powerful network, can play a huge role in ensuring the success of talented people of all stripes. It’s only when everyone accepts that we aren’t all the same and are able to “own” their social identity that they can begin to understand that privilege is usually greatest for those who find themselves in the dominant group – the group which gets to set the societal, and consequently, the workplace norms.
Diversity should not simply be relegated to the diversity department to “sort out,” nor is diversity a matter of taking a Noah’s Ark approach so commonly seen in the form of box ticking and compliance. We all play a part of what makes up a company’s culture, as culture is really how work gets done beyond the organizational chart. That is why we welcome men as gender champions to our upcoming event, as well as straight allies to come and be active in their support. It’s also why I’m delighted to announce that we will be offering leadership development courses around diversity and inclusion through our consulting and research arm Evolved Employer.
LGBT issues, as with gender and ethnicity issues, are business issues, and we must stop asking these groups to prove their legitimacy. The business and talent benefits will come if relationships are built in an inclusive way. However, that is not to say that we want everyone to “suck it up and fit in.” Otherwise we are encouraging assimilation and ultimately group think. All that energy around fitting in could be used to innovate products and invigorate business relationships.
Let’s not apply the golden rule of treating others the way that you wish to be treated, and instead, treat others how they themselves want to be treated. The competitive advantage will go to leaders who can spot who gets silenced at work, and who will prevent unconscious biases from being rewarded.
I hope we can be the role models that the next generation wants and needs us to be.
