Tag Archive for: Inclusion

Why Micro-affirmations Matter as a Leader

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micro-affirmationsWhile microaggressions and micro-inequities contribute to experiences of exclusion for many at work, frequent experiences of micro-affirmations could help to cultivate a culture of inclusion. Every single person is capable of being an agent of micro-affirmations – and as a woman leader, you’re more likely to be ahead of the curve.

Microaggressions and Micro-Inequities Create Exclusion

Microaggressions are the brief and everyday slights, insults, indignities, and denigrating messages sent to marginalized groups. Though often unconscious, they perpetuate a devalued “otherness” by: establishing the majority group as the norm, “highlighting a person’s ‘difference’ from the majority represented group” in a way that diminishes, discomforts or disapproves, and reinforcing thinly veiled stereotypes. This includes “complimenting” an individual in a way that implies “exception” to a hidden underlying group assumption.

Verbal examples that different members of BIPOC communities experience include:

  • “Your name is hard to pronounce.”
  • “You’re so articulate.”
  • “But, where are you really from?”
  • “I don’t see color.”
  • “Your English is really good.”

In a similar vein, micro-inequities are “cumulative, subtle messages that promote a negative bias and demoralize.” These reaffirm the status quo of power dynamics and discourage, devalue and impair workplace performance for non-majority groups.

Common gender related examples that women face include:

  • Asking the woman in the room to get the coffees
  • Mansplaining and manterruption
  • More multi-tasking on phones while a woman is speaking
  • A woman’s idea being dismissed and later mis-attributed to a man
  • Women in the room receiving less eye contact from the speaker

Microaggressions create cumulative psychological harm – impacting upon mental, emotional, and physical health. Long-term exposure is associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and can be corrosive to self-worth and self-esteem.

In Forbes, Paolo Gaudino suggests that one effective way to measure inclusion is to ask people whether and how often they have incidents of exclusion. The sum impact of microaggressions and micro-inequities is the substantial harm of exclusion.

Micro-affirmations Help to Creating Inclusion

According to Mary Rowe at MIT, “micro-affirmations” are “apparently small acts, which are often ephemeral and hard-to-see, events that are public and private, often unconscious but very effective, which occur wherever people wish to help others to succeed.” They foster inclusion, listening, comfort, and support for people who may feel unwelcome or invisible in an environment. Micro-affirmations can proactively affirm belonging, value and sense of self.

As shared by The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University, “Micro-affirmations substitute messages about deficit and exclusion with messages of excellence, openness, and opportunity.”

Drawing on her own experience as an executive at an international engineering firm years ago, Change Catalyst CEO Melinda Briana Epler, defines micro-affirmations as “little ways that you can affirm someone’s identity; recognize and validate their experience and expertise; build confidence; develop trust; foster belonging; and support someone in their career.”

University of Kansas research found that being aware of a male ally who is vocal about gender equality reduces anticipated feelings of isolation for women in STEM and increases anticipation of support and respect. Research has shown that experiencing micro-affirmations – such as “affirmations that people of your culture/ethnicity/gender/sexual orientation are important contributors to advancing knowledge,” “affirmations that you are a scientist,” and “affirmations that you can complete your degree” – help increase student’s integration into the science community and intentions to persist in the STEM field. Other research has suggested that integrating micro-affirmations in academic advising in the college environment could fuel optimal student development and better engagement, retention and graduation outcomes.

Rowe hypothesizes that regular practice of using micro-affirmations could increase one’s tendency to be “universally respectful” to others. Affirming others has the potential to create a positivity loop that ultimately fosters a more inclusive culture – supporting both marginalized voices in the workplace and your female peers and colleagues.

What Do Micro-affirmations Look Like in Action?

As found in the Women in the Workplace 2021 Report, employees report women are more likely showing concern for the overall well-being of their reports, supporting them emotionally and checking in on their work/life challenges

“Allyship is really seeing the person next to us,” says Epler. “And the person missing, who should be standing next to us.” She encourages us to all be allies to each other.

Here are examples of everyday micro-affirmations that you can use to help support others, especially those underrepresented and marginalized voices in your teams:

  • Give your undivided presence when others are speaking or presenting. As a leader, you have the opportunity to model being attentive to and listening to others. Notice when you go for your phone or an e-mail. Ask thoughtful questions that reflect real engagement.
  • Be an active listener. Use reinforcing body language. Eye contact, nods, facial expressions, tone of voice and choice of words all contribute to convey care and listening. By repeating back key points that struck you, you can let others know you were attentive and valued what they shared.
  • Invite individuals from marginalized communities into the room with you to be part of the discussion. Also help to create the space so they are heard, which may include leveraging your position of relative power to intercept an interruption. Using your voice to advocate for the voices of others is empowering to everyone.
  • Echo good ideas that members of your team raise and attribute those ideas back to the person, especially when you see their ideas being overlooked or highjacked. Support your female colleagues and underrepresented voices to receive the due credit for their contributions. “Building upon what Jasmine said” is one approach.
  • Publicly acknowledge the accomplishments, expertise and skills of marginalized team members and help raise their profile with others, especially as many have to reassert these more just to be heard. Reflecting back qualities or contributions you appreciate to individuals can also impact upon feeling seen and valued.
  • “Mirror” the language that people use to describe their identity. Epler emphasizes to listen and learn to how people describe themselves so you can use that language. Pay attention to how someone refers to their gender or pronouns. Don’t make assumptions about sexual orientation. If you don’t know how to say a name, ask and then, get it right.
  • Create openings for the underrepresented voices in the room. If someone is consistently quiet or not participating, check in on them, also as they may feel more comfortable to share ideas in another forum. Invite the less heard voices in the room to contribute on topics where you know they have value to add and encourage in confidence with your desire to hear it.
  • Give opportunities for visibility. When you receive an invitation to a networking opportunity, consider if you can bring an underrepresented individual along. When you have a speaking invitation, can you also use highlight an expert in your team and share the spotlight? For events you participate in, hold event organizers accountable for having diversity of representation. Refer and encourage underrepresented people to go for opportunities – help to close the confidence gap and mentor or sponsor them.
  • Acknowledge important moments – birthdays, milestones, holidays, anniversaries – which shows that you are paying attention to others and care. Overcome affinity bias by taking a genuine interest in people in your team who are less like you and in what their lives might be like outside of work.
  • Provide honest feedback, formal and informal, and both positive and constructive. Epler notes women tend to receive less quality feedback, and more on communication style than actionable developmental skills. While everyone needs to hear what they are doing well, make sure you are not shying away from giving constructive input to anyone out of discomfort, if it will serve their growth and development.

As Rowe says, micro-affirmations may often even be unconscious, too, as they just feel like caring. But you can actively create inclusion for others by intentionally affirming the value and contribution that we each bring to the table.

By Aimee Hansen

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Inclusion: One Destination, Many Intersectional Paths?

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Over 2/3 of companies say that DEI work is critical, and the conversation these days centers on fostering cultures of inclusion to support the diversity of workplaces we need to have, do have and will have – if organizations are optimizing potential. Organizations are increasingly aware that “diversity without inclusion is exclusion.”

According to a new Bain report from a survey of 10,000 people (4,500 women) in seven countries entitled “The Fabric of Belonging: How to Weave an Inclusive Culture,” most people agree on what inclusion looks and feels like, but what actually creates the outcome of feeling fully included is more complicated – not only to organizations, but also to individuals, themselves.

Inclusion is Nearly Universally Defined, But Rare?

We all want to belong, but how we get there, together, can feel enigmatic and the solution is far from a one-size-fits-all approach. People, regardless of individual identities, levels and experiences – describe what inclusion feels like and what it looks like in very similar, nearly universal ways.

When it comes to what inclusion feels like, the researchers define inclusion as: “the feeling of belonging in your organization and team, feeling treated with dignity as an individual, and feeling encouraged to fully participate and bring your uniqueness to work every day.” When it comes to what it looks like, people to tend to come together on the notion that an inclusive organization is diverse and where people are heard, valued and supported. Other research has shown that we feel inclusion only when our needs for both uniqueness and belongingness are met.

While people hold a universal ideal of what inclusion means to them, one of the most “stark” takeaways Bain asserts is that the majority of employees – regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation – do not feel fully included (less than 30%), including those we tend to regard as most favored by the system and in positions of influence and power (straight white men). And no one demographic indicator can predict who feels excluded.

However, as Bain points out, “Even though the feeling of inclusion is fundamentally the same across groups, our research shows that the lived experience of inclusion is driven for various groups by a diverse variety of factors.”

To add some grounding, too, another perspective is that inclusion is really a net effect of day-to-day interactions, and individuals in particular groups experience acts and outcomes of exclusion far more frequently than individuals in other groups. In Forbes, Gaudino writes that “inclusion is invisible to those who enjoy it, because inclusion reflects the absence of negative incidents that make one feel excluded.”

Among the many examples we could draw on, McKinsey notes that black employees are 23% less likely to see there is support to advance and 41% less likely to view the promotion process as fair. Or consider that 59% of black women reported never having a casual interaction with a senior leader, versus 40% for all men and 49% for all women. Or that Asian American women have been the least likely group to experience being promoted to management.

If the experience of feeling “fully included” is pretty low in general, the evidence of exclusion is still highly punctuated for individuals in particular groups.

Feeling Included Matters For Individuals and Organizations

Amidst The Great Resignation, the feeling of inclusion is important to retention. Women who feel excluded at work are 3 times more likely to quit. Employees experiencing low inclusion are up to six times more likely to actively pursue new jobs compared with those in similar demographics experiencing high inclusion.

On the flip side, Bain found that approximately 65% of people across identity groups view an inclusive environment as “very important when considering new roles.” Employees who do feel fully included are much more likely to promote positive word of mouth about their organization. People in more inclusive environments, where psychologically safety is present, are more likely to innovate, challenge the status quo, and bring new ideas to the table. Bain argues the gains in creative thinking from inclusiveness are much greater than increasing diversity alone.

Just What Creates Inclusion?

Not surprisingly, the researchers found people hold different deep-seated notions on what creates inclusion, and those beliefs can clash in ways that create strong discomfort.

What is even more critical is that individual’s perceived notions of which “behavioral” and “systemic changes” would create more inclusion do not always match up to what actually drives impact or the experience of inclusion, so leaders are advised to “listen first for problem identification, not solution design.”

As an example, black women’s perception of how certain enablers are important to their sense of inclusion matched up 55% of the time – high perceived enablers corresponded to actual high impact on their sense of inclusion and same with low perceived enablers. But enablers such as “open and honest communication” and “coaching and professional development” were undervalued in perception, relative to how highly they were attributed to feeling a sense of inclusion for black women. And enablers such as “engagement check-ins” and “team feedback sessions” were overrated in perception relative to how attributed they were to feeling a sense of inclusion.

In inclusive cultures, people feel able to be authentic and supported to fulfill their potential, and Bain found that a common denominator of inclusion for everyone is opportunities for professional development and growth – in which there is much room for more equitable access to opportunities – and where employers can focus effectively.

When it comes to what individuals truly need, or different demographic groups, Bain emphasizes a data-informed intersectional approach that incorporates geography, demographics, and seniority to understand how to identify the systemic and behavioral enablers that can increase a sense of inclusion.

Other research has also indicated that inclusive leadership is fundamental, as Bourke and Titus point out: “what leaders say and do makes up to a 70% difference as to whether an individual reports feeling included.” They found the most important factors in cultivating a culture of inclusion are leadership commitment and demonstrating a visible awareness of the bias within oneself and the organization.

Ultimately, everyone wants to feel a sense of both authenticity and belonging and like they have access to the opportunity to thrive and fulfill their potential. People look to see if leadership is listening to this, and whether they are committed not only to the cause, but to understanding the real needs of their people.

By Aimee Hansen

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Why Introverts Are Needed In the Workplace

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introverts at workWhen you enter the corporate world as an introvert, one of the first hurdles you may have to overcome is the societal expectation that you should behave more like an extrovert. The temptation to be someone you are not can be overwhelming and may lead to disappointment and missed opportunities. What if rather than hiding who you are, though, you were able to listen to your own wise inner voice and use your unique communication style and let your true personality shine through while also contributing tremendous value to your organizations and teams?

The reality is that if you are willing to stretch and grow and be a little bit vulnerable, if you are willing to stop being who people expect you to be and to start experimenting with being curious, listening more, and showing your real quirky self to the world, you may be surprised at the results. When you stop talking only about business, stop trying to be the loudest, smartest, most confident person in the room, you are then able to access your unique introverted abilities and wield them like a superpower.

The Advantages of Being an Introvert in Business

Let’s look at some well known introverts who demonstrate this every day. In his article, 23 of the Most Amazingly Successful Introverts in History, John Rampon tells us that many industry giants are not only introverts but their success shatters stereotypes about what it means to be an introvert in the business world. Among others he shares with us that Marissa Meyer, current Yahoo! CEO, has admitted that “I’m just geeky and shy and I like to code…” He and numerous other sources quote Bill Gates as saying, “ …if you’re clever you can learn to get the benefits of being an introvert, which might be, say, being willing to go off for a few days and think about a tough problem, read everything you can, push yourself very hard to think out on the edge of that arena.”

This comes as no surprise when you look at research done by organizational psychologist Adam Grant. His findings not only confirm that there is no real long-term difference in the effectiveness of introverted and extroverted leaders, but that in some situations, introverts actually outperform their extroverted colleagues. For example, his findings show that introverts really shine in situations where creativity and team cohesion matter. They are more likely to be better listeners and to encourage creativity and to form deep and meaningful relationships with team members.

If you think back over your own personal experiences, you may have found this to be true at times in your personal experience also. Can you remember a time when you listened deeply and collaborated with another individual only to find that you had effortlessly built a relationship without even really trying? That ability is the secret sauce that introverts often don’t even know they possess because they are trying to so hard to act like extroverts instead of tapping into their natural relationship and problem-solving abilities. When introverts tap into their unique ability to listen, collaborate, problem solve and build trust, they are a quiet but powerful force in an organization that helps share a diverse orchestra of talent that works together to create a beautiful symphony of diverse abilities.

A 2002 study by Nassbaum supports this idea and reveals that introverts are in fact more likely to work together to find solutions to problems and to listen to and ask for other people’s suggestions. They are more willing to consider new ideas and are less attached to their own personal ideas. This allows team members to feel valued and free to share their ideas and for clients to feel cared for and part of the problem-solving process when issues arise. When introverts let go of the expectation to come up with all solutions on their own and to be the most engaging person in the room and just let themselves be a safe place for others to express themselves, relationships blossom from that organically.

A study by Rehana Noman in the International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences reveals that more than 79% of introverts rely on their intuition, inner feelings and reactions to make decisions rather than making snap impulsive decisions. This is compared to 50% of extroverts who report making snap impulsive decisions on their own. The most successful introverts know their strength comes from their natural ability to listen not only to their own intuition but also to seek input from others and to cultivate deep long-term relationships one at a time. They may not woo a room of a hundred people in one fell swoop or shake 50 hands in a night, but just like the proverbial tortoise and hare, they move slowly but surely across the finish line. Over time they gather speed as one relationship leads to another and then another. Initially it may take longer for their careers to take off but the willingness to be open and vulnerable can create a feeling of reciprocity that naturally leads to long term relationships and a surprisingly large network of clients, colleagues and referral partners that form a solid foundation for growth.

Supporting Introverts Helps Your Organization Thrive

The problem comes when a workplace is set up in such a way that introverts don’t have a chance to have a voice or use their unique strengths. For instance, let’s look at another study by Adam Grant of Wharton with his colleague, Dave Hofmann of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They studied a U.S. pizza-delivery chain and found that introverts’ strengths are often locked up simply because of the way work is structured. If in meetings only the loudest voices are given a chance to share ideas or employees are pitted against each other to find solutions, then any solutions presented will naturally come only from the extraverts and solutions that might otherwise be found are squashed by the loudest voices. On the other hand, if meetings are structured in a way that everyone has a chance to speak, or introverts are given opportunities to lead small teams, that creates a culture and space in the organization that allows room for their natural creativity, intuition, and desire to collaborate, and results follow.

How does an organization get the most of our its Introverts? It creates a work culture that allows introverts to be themselves, have a voice, to lead small groups and to have opportunities to build deep meaningful relationships one at a time. By holding space for both personality types, leaders and organizations can access the unique skillsets and characteristics that both personality types bring to the table and reap the rewards of a neurologically diverse and productive workforce.

By: Monica Parkin is a self professed introvert, an award winning International speaker, author of Overcoming Awkward, the Introverts Guide to Networking Marketing and Sales and Podcast host at the Juggling Without Balls Podcast. Find out more at monicaparkin.ca, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at info@monicaparkin.ca

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Women in Tech: Is a “Widespread Cultural Reset” on the Horizon?

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women in techAmidst a global acceleration of the tech transformation, the shortage of tech talent is becoming increasingly pressing. Accenture is advocating that a “widespread cultural reset” is needed to address the gaps in women’s representation in tech.

COVID-19 Disproportionately Affected Women In Tech, Too

A recent tech report by Kapersky showed that over half of surveyed IT professionals felt that women in senior tech roles had increased and gender equality had improved.

But nearly half the women in tech felt COVID-19 effects had delayed, not accelerated, their own career progression, largely due to the challenges of balancing home/work life while taking on a disproportional amount of cleaning, childcare, and homeschooling responsibilities. Four out of every ten women felt these pressures had kept them from pursuing career changes, and the same amount felt men had faster career progression. Not to mention that male-majority teams dominate female-majority teams at nearly a 5 to 1 ratio.

Another 2021 “Women in Tech Report” by TrustRadius shared that women were equally as likely to claim the pandemic had a negative impact on their careers as a positive one. But men (54%) were more likely than women (42%) to perceive the remote work office in the past year had been positive for women.

57% of women in tech felt burnt out, relative to only 36% of men. Women in tech were more likely to have worked overtime, taken on more responsibility at work, and have much greater childcare responsibility than male counterparts. They were also twice as likely to have lost their jobs or been furloughed since the pandemic began.


The report found that “bro culture” remained pervasive in tech firms, but interestingly only 63% of women in IT/engineering roles reported this, relative to 80%+ in sales and marketing roles in tech firms.

Intervention: Unbiasing Systems and Caregiving Support

In identifying the best tech companies for women, Anita B concluded from their 2021 Top Companies for Women Technologists report that those organizations which focused on unbiasing systems such as recruitment and performance management, rather than just training on raising awareness of bias, had much stronger representation of black women and Latinx women. The report found that companies with mandatory training on unbiasing the hiring process have 20% more tech women and tech women hires.

When it comes to women of color, companies that provide caregiving support as a benefit had higher levels of black and Latinx women, especially at the senior and executive levels. Companies that conducted intersectional pay audits had 30% more women hires, 90% more black women hires, and 80% more Latinx women hires.

Wake-up Call: “Widespread Cultural Reset”

Accenture’s Resetting Tech Culture 2020 report found that an inclusive culture that enables everyone’s voice to be heard at both the academic and professional levels is the “master key that unlocks opportunities for women who are studying and working in technology.” The pillars of “more-inclusive culture”, underpinned by 40 specific factors, are “bold leadership, comprehensive action and empowering environment”.

For example, only 1 in 20 tech women feel like an “outsider” in more-inclusive colleges, whereas 1 in 4 women feel this way in less-inclusive colleges. Among more-inclusive cultures, all women are much more likely to see a clear pathway from studying STEM to a related career and are much more likely to enjoy their jobs. And while literally half of women in tech roles among less-inclusive cultures feel they are made to feel their job is “not for people like them”, this drops to 16% in more-inclusive cultures. Also, in more- inclusive workplace cultures, the likelihood of women advancing to manager and beyond by age 30 increases by 61%; for women of color it increases by a staggering 77%.”

But Accenture found that HR professionals tend to significantly undervalue the importance of building a more-inclusive culture and support in retaining and advancing women in tech roles, only 38% seeing it as effective, when it’s the number one reason why women leave tech jobs, and alongside with more role models, the top factor listed for attraction.

Accenture is advocating for a “widespread cultural reset” to drive the much-needed change in tech, projecting in just one example, that if every company had a culture like the top 20% more-inclusive ones, annual attrition of women in tech could drop by 70% and 1.4 million more women would be retained by 2030.

Overall, Fortune points out that women need the same conditions to thrive in tech as anyone needs to thrive: “encouragement; hands-on tech discovery in school; the presence of role models in leadership positions; mentorship; executive sponsorship; fair pay; workplace inclusion; and the flexibility to parent while employed.”

By Aimee Hansen

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2020 Year In Review: Are We Ready for the Bigger Questions in 2021?

2020 Year in ReviewThe world turned upside-down in 2020 as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic event altered our daily lives and conversations on a collective level.

In this annual year in review, TheGlassHammer considers the major updates that we’ve witnessed for women, diversity and inclusion.

Women’s Representation in Leadership in 2020

First of all, a quick glance at leadership statistics. Based on 2019, an “all-time record” of 37 women were represented among Fortune 500 CEOs, three being women of color. Nearly 93% of top companies are still steered by men, with few black men present.

The Global 500 includes 13 businesses run by women, none being women of color. Over 97% of the world’s top businesses have men at the helm. When it comes to boardrooms seats globally, women held 16.9% of seats though research cites women’s board presence as a business imperative.

Although VC-backed founder teams that include women hire 2.5 times more women, raise more in capital and generate more revenue, 2020 has brought a dip to the already marginal amounts of Venture Capital funds going to women founders (only 1.8% as of September 30th, down from 2.6% in 2019)—with industry speculation that funders are ‘playing it safe’ within their staid networks.

Korn Ferry also observed that global firms have in many ways leaned towards freeze mode rather than opportunity and innovation during the “giant pause,” especially in leadership.

Meanwhile, continued lack of women in tech and tech leadership contributes to rendering women invisible by design in our world.

COVID-19’s Big Impact on Gender Equality

Though many women we’ve interviewed have felt fortunate for the work-life integration of remote working and the Zoom living room office, this sudden shift was brought by collective trauma and simultaneous to at-home care-taking and education responsibilities.

More broadly on a global scale, we’ve tipped into a staggering regression in gender equality that is getting lost in the conversation.

The World Economic Forum declared COVID-19 “the biggest setback to gender equality in a decade.” UN Women reported that “While everyone is facing unprecedented challenges, women are bearing the brunt of the economic and social fallout of COVID-19”—which is widening the gender poverty gap and the gender educational gap.

Women are disproportionately employed in the industries most impacted by the pandemic, and their jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable than men’s, according to McKinsey’s study of pandemic gender impacts.

While women make up 39% of overall employment, they accounted for 54% of job losses as of May 2020 – an employment exodus so overly female that it’s been dubbed a “shecession.”

“As COVID-19 has disproportionately increased the time women spend on family responsibilities,” write the McKinsey researchers in Harvard Business Review, “women have dropped out of the workforce at a higher rate than explained by labor-market dynamics alone.”

In the US, women are taking on 1.5 to 2.0 extra hours of family responsibilities per day – including at home education responsibilities. For many the multiple changes are off-setting mental health, physical well-being and work-life balance.

A Deloitte Global research survey which polled 400 working women around the globe found that 82% found their lives had “been negatively disrupted by the pandemic” and 70% of those women were “concerned about their ability to progress in their careers.”

Deloitte found that among women who had experienced shifts in their daily routine from the pandemic, 65% had more household chores and a third had bigger workloads. Among these women, those shouldering 75% or more of caregiving responsibilities tripled (from 17% to 48%).

The research also found that women without caregiving responsibilities were experiencing different kinds of stressors, more likely to feel they needed to be always “on” and available at work (53% vs. 44%).

These women reported feeling overwhelmed more so than their caregiving peers (58% vs. 41%) – which highlights a need for women to create their own healthy boundaries despite the normalized, technology-enabled business culture of 24/7 availability.

Both teams of researchers push for policymakers and business leaders to “take action now” to curb the impact on women, as the “do nothing” scenarios show far graver gender equality and economic impacts.

Women’s Leadership In Headlines in 2020

While the floor is being seriously shaken on gender equality on a global level, women have featured in the leadership headlines of 2020.

The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) on September 18th, amidst the presidential election campaign, closed a 27 year stint and preceding judicial legacy that included redefining gender roles, challenging sex-discrimination, supporting women’s reproductive rights, voting for same sex marriage and confronting other social inequities. The loss of RBG has thrown the future balance of the highest court decision-making into question.

In RBG’s words, ”Women’s rights are an essential part of the overall human rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy.”

The Supreme Court replacement was a woman considered to be of conservative ideology, Amy Coney Barrett. This gives us pause as it is a great example of the conflict that arises when we try to hold competing ideas in our head. In this case the happiness of another woman in the seat adjacent to the notion that she may not rule in the interests of women’s rights with a track record to show such tendencies.

Meanwhile U.S. Senator Kamala Harris collected yet another breakthrough first in her expansive leadership career when she became the first women US vice president-elect this November.

As a multiracial woman, she will also be the first Black person and person of South Asian descent to hold the office – with hopes that she may become the first women US president.

And it’s no surprise that Catalyst CEO Champions for Change who pledged to support women and women of color into leadership are leading in bringing more gender and racial equity into leadership.

Where Do We Go In 2021?

A paradox of the events of 2020 is that some conversations have become so divisive they can barely be approached, while other social injustice topics have finally been put on the table where we cannot look away from them—especially, systemic racism.

If we want real change, more conversations need to be put on the unavoidable table, no matter how much vulnerability they bring up or how hard they are to confront, within and between us.

As a culture, we are arguably becoming more conscious of the many aspects of cultural social architecture we have been complicit in accepting as normative – down to the level of making visible the microaggressions that uphold racism.

Many top executive women who have spoken to us this year are emphasizing taking diversity and inclusion out of its departmental silo. As a side dish discussion, it’s at best lip service.

What will the leadership numbers look like when we review the board and executive levels of 2020?

And regardless, we are still talking year after year about top business leadership in the 90th percentiles of men and far too few people of color, as we report on “record highs” that are only micro-progress.

Can we talk about that?

Right now, we are witnessing a drop in women employment so fast that it’s crippling any progress on global gender equality. A few women making headlines in leadership will not offset that.

Do the ethics of companies and leadership still carry a paradigm that depends on this gap?

Can we talk about that?

As we enter into 2021 having already adopted the language of the “new normal,” the question increasingly becomes what do we want to make it?

Will we be willing to make the invisible even more visible? What questions are we willing to ask? Instead of being caught in crisis response, are we ready for real cultural re-envisioning?

What values are at the center of a “new normal” and where is it taking us? What connects us, what divides us, and can we find our way back home?

Where do we need to stop telling the same narrative and further stand up, from within ourselves?

Are we ready to find out, together?

By Aimee Hansen

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Melanie Priddy: Chief Talent Officer, Katten

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Melanie Priddy

Photo provided by Gittings Photography

“At the end of day, relationships are the key to everything, regardless of what industry you’re in, or what your profession is,” says Melanie Priddy.

Katten’s Chief Talent Officer speaks about the value of connections, the need to merge professional development with diversity and the importance of self-advocacy.

Becoming a Business Professional in Law

“I wish I could tell you this was the plan all along, but sometimes the careers we find are ones we fall into,” says Priddy, about being a people-oriented business professional within the legal industry.

Upon graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law, she started her legal career as a practicing lawyer at an Am Law 50 firm.

After a few years as a transactional attorney, Priddy gravitated toward recruiting attorneys for law firms and counseling law students on their career options. She went to work for a staffing firm and then a university and found that she loved advising others on making choices to navigate their career in line with their ambitions.

Priddy joined Katten in 2008 as an attorney recruiting and development manager in the firm’s Los Angeles office, where she managed professional development programs for associates for a few years. She worked at a couple other law firms before she returned to Katten in 2018 as Chief Talent Officer based in the Washington, DC office where she oversees administrative areas including human resources, attorney recruitment, professional development, and diversity and inclusion with an eye on hiring, career growth opportunities, diversity and inclusion efforts, and retention of both attorneys and business professionals.

Diversity and Development Are Inseparable

“To me, diversity and professional development are closely tied,” says Priddy.

At a previous firm, she led recruiting strategies and managed training programs. She took the initiative to expand her role by launching a diverse lawyer mentoring program. She became the Development & Diversity Manager and implemented programs to advance diversity and inclusion within the firm. At a subsequent firm, Priddy was able to incorporate her work in professional development programming with her interest in making workplaces more diverse and inclusive.

“I honestly pressed for it, rather than sitting back and waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder,” says Priddy. “I had to say, ‘I think I would be really good at this combination of roles, and let me explain how and why they should be combined for me to be successful, and what I could do.’ That set the stage for me to be in the role I have now at Katten.”

She’s committed to offering diversity and development support at every level, and integrating it into the decision-making process at law firms.

“My approach has been that diversity is part of every discussion—when you are talking about recruitment, about development, about choices people are making with regards to business or client development or opportunities around training,” states Priddy.

From the top down in law firm hierarchy, diversity should be top of mind.

“One of the things we always talk about is that everyone is responsible for improving diversity in the legal field,” she says. “The diversity professional brings the opportunities and the resources to others in the law firm or legal industry, but everyone is responsible for ensuring a diverse workforce. When you look at it that way, then you’re really going to make progress.”

Priddy emphasizes Katten’s successful participation in the Mansfield Rule, which sets benchmarks for women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and attorneys with disabilities to account for at least 30 percent of the candidate pool considered for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions. This initiative, coupled with the firm’s newly launched Kattalyst Sponsorship program aimed at retaining and advancing diverse associates and income partners, works toward the goal of increasing representation of historically underrepresented attorneys in law firm leadership.

Invest in Relationships and Self-Advocacy

Priddy stresses how important it is to nurture relationships and curate a support network for career guidance.

“When I started in my career, as many people do, I thought if you just keep your head down and work hard, everything will be okay. You’ll advance and be rewarded,” she reflects. “What I’ve come to realize over time is the importance of developing relationships—obviously with the people you’re working with and for, but also outside of your immediate circle and within the industry itself.”

She advises others to network within various organizations that align with their interests at all stages of their careers. For example, she has been involved with the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), previously serving on the board of directors and most recently as chair of the nominating committee, which solicits nominations for elected positions, slates members for officer and director positions and administers the election process.

She also stresses the importance of advocating for yourself to achieve your goals.

“As women, often there’s a tendency to downplay your success, your role or leadership skills, whether with a boss or with a group,” she says. “But someone else can’t speak up for you on your behalf, if you don’t do it for yourself first.”

Bring Your Whole Self

“A lot of times as women of color, we bring just a part of ourselves to work and we leave a broader sense of who we are back at home,” she says.

Priddy feels that this year’s remote work environment is helping to break down some barriers with her colleagues.

“Our personal and professional lives are so blended because we’re at home, and you hear my dog barking and you see my kids going through the background—and I’m getting my job done,” says Priddy. “I would say in some respects, because of tearing down these walls, I’m more connected to people now than I was in person.”

She adds, “I see how important it is to bring some vulnerability into the workplace so people feel like they can connect and share and get to know you.”

Supporting Personal and Professional Integration

Priddy has been instrumental in Katten’s efforts to destigmatize mental health issues and to draw attention to substance use disorders within the legal profession by joining the American Bar Association’s well-being pledge and launching a firm-wide wellness program, Katten Well-Being 360: Live Well, Work Well, Be Well to support attorneys and employees with information, training, and helpful resources.

She’s proud of being a mother of two sons, ages 10 and 13, modeling for them a world where they grow up with a mother who has a seat at the table where high-level decisions are made.

Under Priddy’s leadership, Katten created a Parents Affinity Group as a resource and support network for working parents at the firm to connect and discuss approaches to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. She also worked with firm leaders to get the  parental leave policy expanded to a 12-week, gender-neutral paid leave, with an extension of 8 more weeks for a total of up to 20 weeks for birth mothers and those who have exceptional circumstances, such as adoptive and surrogate parents.

In this virtual environment, her team is also tasked with seamlessly bringing on new attorneys and employees without daily in-person interactions with co-workers and supervisors. “How do you onboard and integrate new people, or create relationships when you’re never in the same room physically together?” Priddy said. Her answer: offer productive programs that build relationships.

For example, she helped roll out a more elaborate mentoring program involving mentoring circles to foster a sense of connection at the firm, as well as a coaching program covering career development topics, goal setting and development of an action plan for summer associates and first-year associates who joined Katten during the pandemic.

These creative solutions appear to be cultivating connections—whether virtual water cooler moments or shared creative nights from home. With less travel, she finds her colleagues are more available than ever to get on the phone.

Outside of work, she’s enjoying more time at home with her family, cycling on her Peloton bike, and perfecting her green thumb, checking on her tomatoes in the garden. A proponent of integration where it serves better results, Priddy is embracing the experience of blending her home and professional life.

By Aimee Hansen

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Intrepid Women: Beverly Robinson, Client Service Consultant Abbot Downing

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Beverly RobinsonBeverly Robinson, Client Service Consultant Abbot Downing is a woman both of influence and advocacy.

“I’ve learned to “code-switch” conversationally, in order to convey diverse philosophies and concepts. This tactic allows me to circumvent being profiled and misinterpreted as “angry or aggressive”, and in that way, my voice for diversity and inclusion, and ideas for advocacy are heard more clearly. As an African American woman in Corporate America, I’ve learned that I cannot afford to be thin-skinned when my ideas are usurped, re-mixed or claimed by others. There’s an art to being a woman of diversity, inclusion and advocacy.

My banking career is a means to my economic well-being. However, support of the disenfranchised and marginalized is where I have the greatest impact, and receive heartfelt, profound fulfillment.

As a survivor of childhood molestation, it’s imperative that I fight for those whose voices are often stifled by domestic violence, fear, stigma and even death. I spend priceless time at our local Family Services and Rape Crisis Centers, talking with mothers, hearing their stories of survival, and offering my time and resources. Organizing programs for the national “Domestic Abuse Awareness Month”, to assist the families in moving to the next level, empowers these families and creates hope for a brighter future. In addition, I spend time on college campuses, speaking for the National “Take Back the Night” campaign, and have met and formed friendships with students who have opened up and come forward with their own stories of abuse. Many of these students have graduated to become powerful advocates. Pushing my corporation to provide professional opportunities for students of color who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) is an ongoing passion, resulting in graduates achieving internships and careers and even becoming entrepreneurs. Several of my colleagues have volunteered to become guest lecturers at those HBCU’s, forming an alliance with the faculty and students, helping to power an enduring and ever growing partnership, focused on providing opportunities for a rising generation of talent and leaders.

Because of the confluence of all the above, I became an author, sharing my story and life experiences, presenting workshops and seminars, and traveling nationally doing book tours. My audience is diverse, broad and varied.

Growing up, my upbringing was a bit eclectic. My childhood was not unusual, but not necessarily normal. I began school in Ft. Riley, Kansas where my step-dad was stationed in the Army, in an integrated environment including students who were children of soldiers. Our neighborhood was fully integrated, and by all accounts, civility and unity ruled the day. Being a leader in class both scholastically and athletically, I made friends easily. I clearly remember my first bold act of advocacy on behalf of my classmate, my little blonde, blue-eyed friend named Donna, who, when called on by our teacher to give answers to pop quizzes, was paralyzed with fear, unable to raise her hand to answer the questions asked in rapid fire succession.

As all of our hands were upstretched in excitement, wanting to be picked to answer the questions, our teacher continued to purposely call on her, making my classmate cry uncontrollably, in embarrassment.

The discomfort I felt for her compelled me to yell out the answer each time our teacher berated her, which angered and frustrated the teacher. I spoke up and answered the questions out of turn, knowing I would get in trouble. Donna’s feelings mattered to me. I didn’t appreciate the mistreatment and bullying of my friend. Conversely, my teacher didn’t appreciate my interjections, with my yelling out the answers, so she hastily took me out of the classroom, and in the presence of another teacher as the “witness”, I received corporal punishment. The other teacher seemed irritated that the punishment did not fit the crime, but did not interfere, nor raise opposition. I remained defiant. After this episode,  the teacher tapered her verbal assaults directed at my classmate, all but ignoring her. I remained prepared to yell out answers on her behalf. I learned about getting into “good trouble” early on.

My step-dad’s military career was cut short due to his poor physical health. The normality of my childhood was disrupted because he was also unhealthy mentally. He was an incestuous pedophile. We left Ft. Riley, and moved back to my hometown, where I began a new school. A segregated school. The anomaly of transferring from an integrated school to a segregated school and neighborhood wasn’t earth shattering in my young eyes, as I felt comfortable in both settings. My new school was all-Black. All of the teachers, faculty and staff were Black, and the students were treated like family. The women wore dresses, pearls and heals, and all the men wore suits and ties every single day. The pride they carried washed over us as students. They believed strongly in instilling in us a solid education. They believed in excellence and wouldn’t allow any of us to settle for less. Integration and busing came to our school four years later. Our fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Tanner, who was beautiful and brilliant, prepared us for the integration process that was to happen the following year. She gave us “the talk”, and drilled in us that although the books, equipment and educational materials that we used for study were old and dated, compared to the ones of our white peers whose schools were on the more prominent side of town, we were just as smart and capable. I believed Mrs. Tanner, and her words regarding capability settled in my consciousness to this day. I graduated from college and obtained my MBA.

From corporate boardrooms to college campuses, and from church pulpits to women’s empowerment conferences, my sphere of influence has allowed me the esteemed opportunity to listen with compassion, create viable diversity programming, to serve as mentor and trusted advisor to executive management, share life experiences, and to empower and affirm those seeking answers to life’s challenges. I learn and grow with each interaction. Advocacy isn’t the path of least resistance, and often, fighting for others while girding oneself mentally and emotionally is typically the road less
traveled. At times, my resolve and tenacity has been shaken when I’ve seen clear paths and pipelines to inclusion, but met with non-cooperation, deflection, indifference and lack of enthusiasm. It’s always a challenge understanding those who are not willing to work hard on behalf of others, unless they receive accolades – self-aggrandizement. But I’ve learned that to push forward to accomplish goals, ideologies and dreams, sometimes obstacles have to be sidestepped, and rerouting and recalibrating is necessary in order to accomplish the objectives of unity and inclusion.

I’m enjoying my journey, paying keen and sincere attention to the needs of those requiring a voice. I relish being able to push, pull and convince others to work on behalf of those in need. All of our lives improve markedly when we serve l.o[0others. I shall continue to advocate for those within our company structure, and for those outside of our corporation. And, as I say often, “courage takes courage”.

Abbot Downing, a Wells Fargo business, and Wells Fargo Private Bank offer products and services through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and its various affiliates and subsidiaries. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is a bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company

By Aimee Hansen

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Far Too Few Latinx Executives: When Will the C-Suite Stop Resisting Reality?

Theglasshammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 with profiles of Latina leaders. Enjoy our 2020 update progress!

The gap between workforce participation and leadership presence is wider for Hispanics than any other group in the U.S., and Latina executives report cultural barriers to inclusion. The result of these barriers is far too few Latinx executives, which is an inequitable representation of not only the growing Hispanic population but also of its buying power. What will it take for the C-Suite to understand this?

Hispanics make up 18.3% of the U.S. population and 17% of the workforce, but only 4.3% of executive positions. Though female CEOs amidst the Fortune 500 hit a record high this year (37, vs. 33 last year), only three are of color, and none are Latina or black.

Latina women also experience the worse gender wage gap, earning 46% less than white men and 31% less than white women. As for the pipeline, for every 100 entry-level men who are promoted to manager, according to a McKinsey study, only 68 Latinas are.

High Workforce Participation, Few Leadership Positions

In New York, Hispanics represent 22.6% of the workforce, but only 4.5% of executives. In LA, Hispanics represent 34.2% of the workforce and 8% of executives. In Houston, they are 43% of the workforce and 10.3% of executives.

Secondary cities with a smaller Hispanic population of less than 4% seem to exhibit more equity in leadership representation, such as Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

Miami, where the benefits of cultural and linguistic diversity are likely more valued, and where Latin America media-based companies like Telemundo are based, is an exception with 44.1% of the population and 24.6% of executives being Hispanic.

Cultural Barriers to Inclusion

“I am just one of millions of people who have been told that in order to fulfill my dreams, in order to contribute my talents to my world, I have to resist the truth of who I am,” expressed award-winning actress America Ferrera in her Ted Talk last year, “I, for one, am ready to stop resisting and to start existing as my full and authentic self.”

Along these lines, a recent qualitative study by the Network of Executive Women (NEW) and Latinarrific explored barriers to inclusion for Latina leaders, as possible insight into the exodus from big companies. The focus group study was based upon 36 Latina leaders, 25 mid-level executives and 11 senior executives.

The executive participants mentioned several Latinx cultural aspects that clashed with U.S. big corporate culture and inhibited “authentic advancement.”

These “barriers of inclusion” included:

Collectivist (vs. Individualistic)
Whereas corporate culture exalts an individualistic culture of assertiveness, independence and push-back, Latinas come from a more collectivist culture that emphasizes being selfless, giving and respectful of authority. Participants felt this focus on collaboration and end results rather than self promotion can create the impression that Latinas are less “hungry” for individual advancement, and they get overlooked.

Latina Expressiveness (vs. Reserve)
Some women spoke of their “Latina-ness” as being “too much”, with phrases like “too colorful” or “too expressive” or “tone it down.” Others referred to being perceived as having a “Latin temper.” Compared to a cultural norm of expressiveness and gesturing, the office “poker-face” can be enigmatic.

Personalismo (vs. “Too Familiar”)
The Latin comfort with physical proximity, openness and touch as personal and respectful ways to do business can clash with the more distant and removed norm of the U.S. boardroom and more uptight cultures.

Prioritizing family (vs. “Whatever it Takes”)
Latinas put a big importance on sharing time with family and reject the notion that spending more time with family diminishes their commitment to or delivery on the job. Despite lip-service, the corporate line remains an attitude of doing “whatever it takes” for work.

COVID-19: A Catalyst to Embracing Latina Leadership?

“Most Latinas feel they’re not being listened to or supported because their values do not align to the corporate culture,” said NEW member Iliana Rojas Saldana, Founder and CEO of BeLIVE Coaching & Consulting, who turned to entrepreneurship like many, only after holding executive positions in Fortune 500 companies.

But that could be changing in the light of the pandemic impact.

“In a way none of us could have predicted, many of the traits the Latina professionals in our focus group cited as drawbacks within the traditional, white male dominated workplace – expressiveness, empathy, a desire for work-life balance – have become celebrated assets in the COVID-19 work-from-home landscape,” shared study co-author Karianne Gomez.

Even as the stay-at-home orders loosen, Saldana suspects the opportunities for Latina executives could improve. “Companies are rethinking the working environment; seeing how employees can be productive – especially Latinas who (successfully) manage family and business.”

The study authors observe that Latina executives have the competitive edge of having “a foot in two worlds,” and this has never been more valuable than now.

“A Latina’s cultural heritage has genetically engineered her for the work-from-home paradigm shift prompted by COVID-19,” said study co-author Arminda Figueroa. “Freed from the stress of babysitters, elder-care and long commutes, she can seize her full potential as ‘Chief Household Officer,’ being there for her family while managing her schedule and tapping into her overachieving nature to produce high quality work.”

“You are What the World Looks Like”

“My identity is not my obstacle. My identity is my superpower. Because the truth is, I am what the world looks like. You are what the world looks like. Collectively, we are what the world actually looks like,” spoke America Ferrera. “And in order for our systems to reflect that, they don’t have to create a new reality. They just have to stop resisting the one we already live in.”

With a 19.6% (and growing) Hispanic population in the U.S. that controls $1.5 trillion dollars in buying power, it’s time for corporate culture and the C-Suite to meet reality.

by Aimee Hansen

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Want to be an inclusive leader? Create psychological safety for your team

Several years ago diversity became diversity and inclusion with many putting emphasis on the inclusion part.

How can you walk the talk on being an inclusive leader of a high performing team? Because performance and team happiness is the reward of actually doing diversity right.

Why is creating psychological safety the answer?

Studies have been exploring the effects of psychological safety at work for several years now and Google more recently experimented the concept with something they call Project Aristotle. They discovered that just by having genius or two on the team, you are not going to get the best results. However, if you have a team environment where people can feel safe and heard and valued as themselves, then they can think and perform better and the result is productivity. There are many factors to high performing teams for sure but Google’s data indicated that psychological safety, more than anything else, was critical to making a team work. This certainly makes sense if you think about it. Women ( and anyone who does not fit the mold of the traditional legacy work persona /expert) can find space to connect with others talking work and/or any other topic of shared interest.

Where to start?

Tip 1: Recognize the belief system in your team. What is the norm for your team? What are the shared beliefs that you all have? How does that make it easy for people to express ideas outside of the belief set? Is cognitive or thought diversity rewarded or silenced? If an event happens, such as a code problem, then what are the thoughts and actions from this? What emotions are attached and how are they expressed? What happens then?

Tip 2: Social identity diversity- having all types of people on your team is a good start but let people talk, let them tell you about their lives. Find out that diversity is not about noah’s ark and not a collectable set of 2 of each “kind”. People have personalities, traits and behaviors that often not aligned with the stereotypes regarding gender, ethnicity and other identities that so commonly prevail. Let people tell you their interests and likes instead of you presuming who and what they are! You might just be surprised at the results. If people have anxiety over being themselves ( for example, an LGBT person cannot mention their significant other by name or pronoun due to fear of not being accepted equally) then they cannot engage fully in the team as trust is everything. Acceptance and trust are interrelated!

Tip 3: Studies show women are less confident than men. I wonder when people are going to connect the dots on this one. Granted, personality has some part to play but really If women are less confident, it is because culturally, whether its explicitly or implicitly, they have been messaged to not believe in themselves to an equal degree as their male counterparts or simply put others have not endorsed them to the same degree. It is a true fact women experience credibility tests multiple times per day from is that your plane seat to are you sure your budget is right. This tedx tells of a man who became a woman recounting the difference in treatment or we can look to the Heidi Rozen Stanford experiment. Or the 50 year long academic body of work Virginia Schein has done on “think manager, think male”. I have written about this every single day for 12 straight years so the glaring systemic and culture issues that remain unaddressed are getting a little tedious. So, as a leader you have to think about your role in ensuring the women on your team get heard. Tell them to ask, but listen when they do!

If it is done properly however, inclusion is the most powerful tool a leader or manager can have in their toolkit because it can provide something that is the basis for individual and team performance.

Need an executive coach? Work with me on the system and your part in it, why you behave like you do and how you shouldn’t believe all that you think! Email nicki@evolvedpeople.com for an exploratory (free) chat to see if coaching can help you be a better professional, manager or leader.

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LGBTQ: Inclusion Means Being Visibly Valued, Not Just Accepted

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LGBT flag featured

By Aimee Hansen

Last year, theglasshammer covered how corporations are taking the unexpected lead role in advocacy for LGBTQ rights, amidst the debasing of governmental protection and condoning of discrimination.

As companies continue to do so – for a multitude of reasons possibly as a direct response to the regressive approach that the Trump administration has taken. The Fenway Institute concludes that, “on balance the Trump Administration has pursued policies that will likely increase discrimination against LGBT people.” This includes repealing non-discrimination regulations that provided protections to LGBT people, encouraging religious refusal discrimination through executive branch actions and “vastly reshaping the federal judicial landscape in a way that is very concerning for LGBT people.” And, in the US, 28 states still lack basic protections in employment (and housing) when it comes sexual orientation and gender identity. Fear and phobia are arguably the central agency of political action and inaction on the LGBTQ front, nationally and internationally. But public opinion around the validity of equal rights for same-sex marriage has never been higher at around 62%.

So, with progressive corporations taking the lead, what does real LGBTQ inclusion look and feel like?

Increased Corporate Adoption of LGBTQ Friendly Policies

In HRC’s Corporate Equality Index 2018 annual assessment of employer’s LGBTQ workplace policies, a record-breaking 609 companies earned perfect scores, up by 18% from 517 last year. 83% of U.S.’s Fortune 500 companies offer clear protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, an increase from 3% just 15 years ago in protection for gender identity. Over 90% of CEI-rated businesses include both sexual orientation and gender identity employment protections for their U.S. and international operations. The results demonstrate that “business has not waited for a legal mandate to become LGBTQ-inclusive,“according to Beck Bailey, deputy director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, because it’s both the right thing to do and good business in creating diverse and attractive workplaces. ”They aren’t waiting for federal civil rights laws to change; they’re adopting their own inclusive policies and practices.”

“Good employers don’t simply cut paychecks every two weeks. They have to model good citizenship–not just in words but in actions–in the communities where their LGBTQ employees live and work,” wrote Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project, in Fast Company.

Mushovic urges companies to do four things to advance LGBT rights: push for non-discrimination laws, declare that you’re open to all, fight discriminatory ‘bathroom bills’, and build a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

The Tangibility Gap Between Policies and Practice

OutNEXT/PwC surveyed 231 LGBT+ high performance employees, and 28 corporate leaders among mostly Out Leadership companies, for their report “Out to Succeed: Realising the full potential of LGBT+. The report sought to better understand how organizations can support high-performing LGBT+ employees. The majority of employees and employers agreed that having an openly supportive focus on LGBT inclusion has given the organizations wider access to the best talent and improved the organization’s place in the market. Additionally, 60% of employees believed that “being out at work has improved their ability to do business and engage with customers.” The report also noted some gaps between employers and employees, and gaps between the existence of policies in companies and whether LGBT+ employees experienced them as being present, visible and realized.

99% of employees indicated “reputation as a fair and equal employer (e.g., known for being LGBT+ friendly)” as important to making a company attractive as an employer. Only 57% of employers saw this as a key factor, a clear gap. Also according to the report, “Nearly 90% of employees believe that visible LGBT+ leaders within a company are important, though a high proportion of organizations don’t have senior LGBT+ leaders who are visible.” The report authors also shared that “while employees valued both inclusive action focused on recruitment and career progression, many were unaware even when companies claimed to have these programs.”

Only 35% of employees were aware that their companies had programs focused on recruiting LGBT+ employees, though 60% of businesses claimed to have them. And “while nearly 60% of employers take steps to create a pathway to senior management for LGBT+ people, only around 40% of employees believe this is the case.”

Further, about 40% believed that their organizations weren’t doing enough to encourage LGBT+ diversity. Over a third felt that despite the talk, opportunities weren’t really equal for all. The authors note, “It’s telling that nearly 40% of employers agree.”
OutNEXT/PwC found that over 80% of these “high-performing, high potential developing leaders” felt comfortable being out at work, yet more than half knew junior colleagues or even peers that were not out.

Stonewall found that in Britain, 35% of LGBT+ employees still hide their identity out of fear of discrimination. According to Psychology Today, “Two in five LGBT workers (40 percent) report feeling bullied at work.”

“For too many LGBT+ employees, many organisations still feel closeted. This hinders not only the organisations in recruiting and retention, but, more importantly, this hinders the careers of LGBT+ professionals,” says Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC. “All of us need to create inclusive environments where LGBT+ talent can feel safe, free to be their true selves, and fully participate in the workplace.”

The Importance of Being Visible & Valued, Not Just Accepted

In its third year and with an active alumni network, Stanford’s LGBTQ Executive Leadership Program supports experienced applicants to catapult their careers into the C-Suite. The week-long program offers, among other benefits, to help participants learn the influences of their LGBTQ identity on their leadership style and how to become a more authentic leader (or be their ‘genuine self’).

“I’ve always been out at work, but I think Stanford helped me to embrace the idea of not just being out, but being visible,” said Beth Parker, public relations director at PwC in Washington, D.C. “It was transformative for me because it was sort of an awakening. I became keenly aware of the responsibility that I have to other people in the LGBTQ community,” said Parker. “It made me want to mentor people, it made me want to lead more in that space and be more visible.” Other alumni have also shared how the program encouraged them to stop trying to be heteronormative and to speak out visibly about issues of sexual identity in the workplace. Set against a political backdrop of dismissal of rights and encouragement of discrimination, the real bar of inclusion isn’t just acceptance. It’s cultivating a culture which allows LGBTQ individuals to show up as our whole selves at work, not feeling the need to pass or cover. It’s feeling invited, visible and valued, and to see it play out in our leaders and in our opportunities.

Companies can more demonstrably show LGBTQ employees what inclusion really looks and feels like. LGBTQ leaders and individuals can more visibly claim their inclusion.

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