Tag Archive for: catalyst

Betsy Bagley: Co-Founder and Director, Pulsely

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“I want to inspire people to be more curious about the impact of things rather than just defending their intent. Because when we’re curious, we are open to hearing how different people experience the workplace and the world,” says Betsy Bagley. “If you’re not even curious about how people’s backgrounds shape their experience, you won’t be able to hear that it’s not the same for us all.”

A Family of Diverse Backgrounds

Bagley grew up in a family she affectionately calls “her parents’ collected children.” Not only did she have her three biological siblings, all who went on to become college educated, but her parents also adopted two boys out of foster care and became the guardians of four orphaned children.

While all ten children came together as one family, the impact of their different backgrounds, when it came to education and their ability to thrive, was evident to Bagley even as a girl. From the start, she learned to recognize the unique skills and strengths each individual brings, and then ask what support did they need in order to fulfill their potential.

“It enabled me to witness early on that not everybody gets the same support, which means it’s not really a level playing field. Even though we all came from the same family, we started at different places and there’s only so far the family could take us,” reflects Bagley. “That made me curious about other people’s experiences and how we create a more equitable opportunity when we bring people with different backgrounds into a workplace.”

Monitor Bias by Impact Not Intent

Across her journey, Bagley has moved from working with women and their individual challenges towards working with organizations and the systemic advantages and disadvantages that inhibit equitably supporting the success of different pools of talent.

With Catalyst, she witnessed that leaders are often quick to dismiss industry research around the business case for inclusion as too disconnected to their business. So Bagley began doing bespoke research with organizations, which was powerful in influencing leaders but expensive, resource-intensive and unscalable.

In co-founding Pulsely, Bagley has created technology-based diversity, equity and inclusion measures that are accessible, fluid and actionable for all kinds of organizations. She assesses diversity (representation within a company); inclusion (whether different demographic groups feel welcome, supported and able to be authentic in the workplace); and equity (whether different demographic groups are having similar or disparate experiences of that workplace).

When it comes to how to reframe the DEI conversation to navigate it constuctively, Bagley encourages separating intent from impact.

“What you will often hear is leaders defending their intent: ‘So are you saying that we discriminate? Are you saying that we aren’t fair?’,” she summarizes. “But the opportunity is if we can recognize that despite our best intentions, our decisions sometimes have impacts that we don’t intend. It’s important to be curious about the cumulative impacts of individual decisions, along with organizational systems and policies.”

Look For Patterns Not Decisions

A previous mentor at Catalyst imparted upon Bagley that it’s important for organizations to understand that each individual talent decision can make perfect sense and be defended, at the level of each decision. But it’s the patterns of those talent decisions that you have to look at, and that’s where you see the potential for bias.

“When the patterns of your decisions consistently favor a certain demographic group, it’s important to have conversations about that,” says Bagley. “No, it’s not our intent, and yet look at the result. And what message do people who aren’t in that majority group receive?”

One piece of research Bagley finds compelling reviewed performance appraisals in the military. When looking at the objective scoring, there was no difference between men and women’s scores; it was equitable. But in subjective descriptives, the use of adjectives was incredibly different based strictly on gender – more task-oriented for men, more relationship-oriented for women. That subjective difference matters.

“These are patterns I want to shine a light on,” says Bagley. She feels that 2020 helped to do so at a collective level, so now investors, boards and employees are holding organizations more accountable for how they manage diversity and opportunity within their workforce.

Taking the Lead on Accountability

“The organizations I experience that are creating the best opportunity for progress are where the leaders are role modeling a willingness to engage in difficult conversations and admitting where they’ve made mistakes,” notes Bagley. “It’s a different place to begin the conversation.”

She cites an example during her Catalyst consulting where women at one company revealed that the word cloud differences based on performance appraisals were all derived from reviews written by women themselves (despite their own best intentions and yes, creating different outcomes).

“Instead of trying to accuse, blame and shame others, those stories that inspire real change are where people are saying we’re all part of the problem, so we all need to be a part of the solution,” says Bagley. “Those conversations where the people leading the conversation are not there to point fingers, but to be vulnerable themselves.”

Connecting the Dots to Qualify Yourself

Early in her career, Bagley shifted between positions as she moved with her husband ’s work. So when recommended for an interview at Catalyst, she didn’t have the traditional Ivy League background, impressive titles or big roles, but she was able to demonstrate why the value she brought uniquely qualified her.

“It’s your job to connect the dots in a way that makes sense for the job that you are applying for. You don’t just throw your dots out there and expect somebody else to connect them,” says Bagley. “That makes it too hard to hire you if you’re not the natural choice. You have the opportunity to connect the dots and build the story for why you’re the best candidate.”

For Catalyst, Bagley had the advantage of receiving a competency-based interview challenge related to the job, which often is more objective than a resume and helpful in qualifying non-traditional candidates.

Furthermore, she made a point of giving an evidence-based narrative of her skills and experiences, such as being entrepreneurially minded, being successful in building business through her network, and using her analytical skills to create and implement research: “I pulled different examples from different roles and projects to demonstrate the competencies that they were looking for.”

“On the other side of the table, I also need you as an interviewee to help me to make the connections with what we’re seeking,” she advises. “It can’t be so much work for me as an interviewer to figure out whether you’re the best candidate. So don’t just show up, say here I am, and wait for me to see how right you are.”

Solutions That Work For Everyone

Bagley notes that the work-from-home environment of our times has put pressure on parents and especially mothers of school-age children, though it’s hitting fathers as well. She hopes that organizations will recognize it’s not a time of individual challenge, but a call to change how we organize work to equitably support the valuable contributions of our full team of talent – such as allowing more agile and self-determined work schedules.

Also during the pandemic, she discovered that hiking is her true happy place, with her eyes set upon a move to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the future. She can also be found escaping into a great fiction novel. Investing her energy in extended family is what most feeds her soul.

By Aimee Hansen

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How To Disrupt Gender Bias in the Virtual Workplace

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Gender BiasWhat can leaders, managers, allies and women themselves do to minimize and challenge gender bias in the virtual workplace?

Last week, theglasshammer.com explored the impact of the virtual office in either neutralizing or amplifying pre-existing dynamics of gender bias.

Ultimately, the gender bias present in our cultural paradigm is also present in our offices, and this week we explore how to address it.

How Leaders Can Diffuse Gender Bias in the Virtual Office

An article in the World Economic Forum asserts that when it comes to bias in virtual meetings as in any context, “changing the environment in the room – rather than changing women’s behavior – should be the goal.“

“If we build a world in which women’s voices are valued and listened to,” says Jessica Preece, associate professor in political science at Brigham Young University, “they will speak up without having to be told to.”

“Smart companies create inclusive work cultures so that all employees actively support each other, particularly marginalized groups. Allyship and curiosity should be at the heart of a manager’s leadership, regardless of gender, to create a more inclusive, welcoming workplace,” says Serena Fong, Vice President, Strategic Engagement for Catalyst.

As leaders, meeting chairs can set the tone and expectations upfront, including implementing ground rules for discussions that mitigate some of the communication challenges and gender imbalances, such as a no interruption rule in Zoom calls.

As written in Forbes, reducing interruption requires the self-reflection of questions such as “Is this person making a point I need to add onto?” and “Am I listening equally to everyone in the room?”

Calling out when gender imbalances occur is another approach to being an ally on Zoom, as exemplified by an associate professor who let the men dominating the virtual conversation know that she was happy to hear their input, but also wanted to hear from the women.

Introducing positive interjections, such as “that’s a really valuable point” to validate, amplify and give pause of consideration to women’s voices is another strategy for leveling the field.

Putting workflow systems in place that ensure communication flow, project tracking and clear administrative responsibilities will also help reduce the amount of extra work picked up by women.

According to Fong at Catalyst, leaders should embrace these five key strategies to disrupt gender imbalances and build a more flexible, equitable and inclusive workplace for all:

  • Lead inclusively through crisis: keep inclusion front and center as you navigate the shifts in how we’re working currently and how we’ll be working in the future.
  • Tackle inequities, large and small: face biases and stereotypes head on through workplace policies and opportunities such as re-skilling your workforce, examining talent management, recruiting, and advancement practices for biases, and setting DEI targets and goals.
  • Connect with empathy: put yourself in your colleagues’ shoes and imagine what they might be experiencing vs. your experiences.
  • Trust your team: don’t micromanage projects and processes, and be transparent about when, how and who is involved when decisions are made.
  • Work remotely and flexibly: the pandemic dispelled many myths and assumptions about working remotely and flexibly. Take the lessons learned and incorporate it into the “new normal”.
How Women Can Ally Together in the Virtual Office

While not responsible for correcting gender imbalance, women can still be allies to one another in subverting gender imbalances of the virtual workplace.

“If you see a colleague being ignored or is trying to speak, say something. If you learn about an act of bias, think about how you can address it,” says Fong. “It may not seem like much, but it is infinitely better than ignoring it.”

Carol Vernon, founder and principal of Communication Matters, recommends for women to set the stage early for speaking up in a virtual meeting rather than waiting to have the perfect compelling thing to say, and to take the lead in introducing non-verbal expression to the meeting.

Another way of subverting bias is by actively reinforcing ideas that another woman has brought to the table and then re-accrediting the idea as hers, as While House staffers did during the Obama administration.

Women leaders have also told theglasshammer.com about actively inviting female colleagues who hold valuable insight on a topic to share their viewpoint, as well as instant messaging with coworkers during meetings to enhance solidarity and encourage each other to speak.

Nicki Gilmour, Leadership Coach, Organizational development specialist and founder of theglasshammer.com adds, “Creating psychological safety as the leader in the virtual room matters also, as who you authorize to not only speak but to demonstrate expertise matters. People will take their cues from you in person or otherwise about who is truly authorized to speak up. Asking for different people’s viewpoints from their perspective will not only add value but level the playing field for the quieter, more hesitant people on the call.”

Virtual gender bias is really just the same dynamics at play in a new space, but perhaps the playing field also allows for new disruptions.

By Aimee Hansen

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Thought Leader: Lorraine Hariton, CEO, Catalyst

Lorraine HaritonBy Nicki Gilmour, CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com

We caught up with Lorraine Hariton, recently appointed leader of Catalyst to hear her thoughts on change, gender progress at work and what excites her about her in this new role.

Nicki Gilmour (NG): What is your vision as leader of Catalyst?

Lorraine Hariton (LH): I am honored and thrilled to join Catalyst as President and CEO. My career has benefited so much from Catalyst’s work, and I am excited to have the opportunity to help write the next chapter and pay it forward to future generations. I have been involved in women’s advancement leadership initiatives throughout my career. This is a dream opportunity to give back and pay it forward in an area that has been a lifelong passion and indeed my life experience.

There’s so much I want to do with this opportunity. We are at an inflection point in our history—the #MeToo outcry combined with rapid and enormous shifts in how we work offer the opportunity to build a new kind of workplace: one in which women advance to leadership much more rapidly and intentionally than ever before. I see Catalyst leading that charge and I’m excited to be a part of this moment in history.

NG: What has changed for women in the workplace in the past 10/20/30 years?

LH: The workplace of 2018 looks very different from that of 1962, when Catalyst was founded, and will look much different 20 years from now and beyond. Rapidly changing technology and the surge of millennials and Gen Z into the workforce guarantees that advances in technology will continue to significantly change the Future of Work, including shifting demographics, automation, AI, machine learning, the gig economy, more geographically dispersed, culturally diverse teams, changing dynamics in the interaction between humans and machines, etc. The future of work will need soft skills that include empathy, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration. This will require companies to turbocharge their efforts to build diverse and inclusive teams to be competitive. The rapidly changing nature of how we work presents a real opportunity in the “here and now” for women and other marginalized groups in the workplace. It’s essential that women are not left behind in this shifting workforce and that companies are prepared to utilize all of their diverse talent.

However, despite these advancements, women continue to face barriers that are complex and ingrained, especially women of color. Harmful and misleading gender-based stereotypes and biases are alive and well. We need to make sure that the people who are coding and building the machines of the future aren’t also baking in sexist or stereotypic assumptions. Getting women into all aspects of tech, STEM, and also data analytics will allow us to create a future that works for all of us. Gender diversity in the workplace is the right and the smart thing to do. Gender based innovation means ensuring products are built by diverse people so they work for everyone. Tech companies need to be at the table partnering and taking the steps needed to bring about positive change.

NG: How do we take the onus off the individual and instead ask the firm’s to ‘lean in’?

LH: It is vital men do not take a step back in the aftermath of this global wake-up call on sexual harassment or become afraid to advocate for women. The vast majority of men at work have the best intentions but stop short of identifying as champions. Inclusive leaders encourage their male employees to challenge the status quo while also modeling sponsorship behavior. They lead courageous conversations about what concerns men have and how they can step up to become allies for women in the workplace.

NG: Tell is about your personal pathway to this work?

LH: I have been involved in women’s advancement leadership initiatives throughout my career. I’ve held senior-level positions in Silicon Valley, including serving as CEO of two Silicon Valley start-ups and holding C-level roles in sales, marketing, and engineering in public companies. Most recently, I was Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships for the New York Academy of Sciences, where I was instrumental in creating the Global STEM Alliance and its 1000 Girls, 1000 Futures program, a global mentoring initiative to help girls pursue careers in STEM.

As Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the US Department of State, I established The Global Entrepreneurship Program, the WeCreate Center for women entrepreneurs, and the Secretary’s Council on Women’s Leadership.

I’ve served on several boards of organizations committed to the advancement of women in the workplace, including the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change, the Stanford Clayman Institute for Gender Research and Watermark.

My eclectic and diverse background helps me to look at the challenges, opportunities and solutions from many different angles.

My career has benefited so much from Catalyst’s work and I’m thrilled to be a part of the next chapter lending my experience to help build workplaces that work for women, and for everybody.

NG: What excites you most about the future on this topic of equality and equity?

LH: This is a critical time in our history. There is a huge spotlight on issues facing women in the workplace. Unfortunately, progress has been stalled for far too long but there’s an opportunity in this #MeToo moment to make a quantum leap ahead for gender equality in workplaces. We at Catalyst will continue to support leaders and organizations in creating inclusive cultures and opportunities that support and advance women. The best defense against sexual harassment is building an inclusive workplace culture with zero tolerance for discrimination and bad behavior.

NG: What is your advice to your younger self?

LH: I would tell my younger self to learn how to be flexible and adaptable, adept in digital literacy and interpersonal skills. I would ensure I took the time to invest in internships and job experiences. There is no longer a traditional linear “major to career” path. I would also remind myself to gravitate to organizations and cultures that support and elevate women. I started my career with IBM and returned back there after Harvard Business School because of their women-centric and women-supportive environment. I would encourage young women starting their careers to similarly seek out cultures and organizations that emphasize women’s inclusion.

NG: A big thanks to Lorraine for taking time out to speak with us and we look forward to more excellent work from Catalyst!
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Catalyst Honors Gap for Pay Equity, Leadership Diversity

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diverse workforceBy Melissa Anderson

Gap, Inc. was honored last week with a Catalyst award for its achievements in building diversity and inclusion at the company. Not only has the company made strides in increasing the number of women in key leadership positions, it has also focused on improving opportunities for women of color.

Between 2007 and 2015, the company has increased the representation of women reporting directly to the CEO from 33% to 77%. Forty percent of those top level reports are women of color. Similarly, in the same time frame, the number of women serving on Gap’s board has increased from one to four, two of whom are women of color.

Women also lead four of the company’s five brands, and since 2007, the representation of women at the vice president level has increased from 44% to 49.7%.

“Equality is engrained in everything we do. For us, it was not only the right thing to do, but also a business imperative,” said Dan Briskin, VP of Global Employee Relations and HR Shared Services, Gap Inc., during a panel at Catalyst’s annual conference on Wednesday.

The company’s award-winning diversity initiative, “Women and Opportunity,” was made up of three key pillars, according to Heather Robsahm, Senior Director of Talent Management for Banana Republic, one of Gap’s brands. These include career mobility, results oriented work environments (ROWE), and pay equity.

The vast majority (83%) of Gap’s current female executives are promoted from within, and many, like Robsahm, come from the company’s field operation. As part of its career mobility pillar, Gap has created career readiness programs to ensure employees are able to build their skills and set their career trajectory.

“We have a deep bench for women who are poised the lead the company into the future,” Robsham says.

Instituting the ROWE has helped the company improve accountability and engagement, Robsahm says, and demonstrated that people can own their time and still be successful at their jobs.

Finally, in 2014, the company affirmed it had achieved gender pay equity across its global workforce of 150,000 people. When the company set out to track its workforce pay, executives expected they might come across some gaps, so the company set aside some money to make up the difference in pay for women. But after looking at the data and partnering with an external firm to verify the results, the company found it had no significant gaps and hadn’t needed to tap into the extra cash.

“When you are focused on paying people for the work they do, and you are focused on grappling to get the best talent and focused on paying the market rate for that talent, [pay equity] naturally follows,” Briskin said.

This was the first year Catalyst named only one award winner, which, conference organizers said, emphasizes the impressiveness of Gap’s achievements.

Leadership and Courage

Also speaking at the event was Marillyn Hewson, CEO and Chair of Lockheed Martin, the defense and technology firm that took in over $46 billion in revenue last year.

In a Q&A with Catalyst CEO and President Deborah Gillis, Hewson described her views on diversity. Several years ago, she noted, Lockheed’s senior management realized it needed to get more women and minorities into its leadership pipeline.

“It starts with leadership setting the tone from the top,” Hewson said. She emphasized the importance of taking meaningful action to build diversity.

Today 20% of Lockheed’s leadership and a third of its board are women. But earlier in her career, things were different, Hewson recalled. That’s why today she places such importance on mentoring other women, she said.

She recalled often being the only woman in the room coming up in her career and noted how difficult it can be to deal with negative comments or unintentional slights when there’s no one to share them with.

At one point she was greeted in an all-male meeting with a comment that the others were glad she’d arrived because they ‘needed a pretty face’ in the room. “I said, ‘I guess I’m in the wrong room because I have other things to do,’” she remembered.

“You can be caught off guard, and having the chance to talk to other women about those things makes a difference.”

Hewson chairs the diversity and inclusion council at Lockheed Martin, and requires business leaders to meet with her once per quarter to discuss their strategies and metrics on diversity. She expects them to share information on hiring, promotion and attrition with respect to the demographics of their division. The company has also recently made an effort to incorporate white men into the conversation on diversity, she revealed. Previously, this group had felt locked out of diversity efforts, she said, which was presumably doing more harm than good.

An audience member asked Hewson to discuss a quote by Gloria Steinem: “Women still require an adjective and males don’t.”

When will a woman CEO simply be referred to as a CEO, she inquired.

“This is my fourth year as a CEO, and I don’t get the woman question as much anymore,” Hewson said. “That’s why I want to talk about being a leader.”

She encouraged women who aspire to be leaders to be courageous and take difficult assignments that showcase their capabilities and experience.

“Importantly, you bring the character and integrity that the team needs,” she said.

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The Cycle of Sponsorship in the Workplace: You Get What You Give

iStock_000007832712XSmallBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

If you feel like you are stuck in a plateau in your personal career development, it is probably time to take a step back and assess what you should be doing to remain relevant in your company and in the eyes of upper management. The key to your success may not be found in the typical areas of corporate training and development. Instead, you may benefit by becoming a sponsor to someone within your organization who you feel can turn into a rising star with the right guidance and representation.

How does sponsoring someone else help you advance? While the idea of sponsoring someone may feel one-sided to you, this is actually not the case. Anna Beninger, Senior Research Associate for Catalyst, states, “One of our major research findings around the idea of sponsorship is that paying it forward pays back. Developing others really increases your own visibility.” She adds, “Essentially what you are doing is showing the company that you are not only about your own advancement, but that you are invested in the future of the organization.”

By taking on a sponsor role, you automatically align yourself with other influential players in your company. People will notice. You will inevitably get the attention of the decision makers as they start to recognize the impact of your institutional knowledge and experience. What this means is that by helping a young executive navigate their own career path, you reinforce and display your real value to the company, not just your perceived value.

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