Managers: The Dark Side of Diversity and the Bright Side Wanda T. Wallace. Ph.D. 9 February 2011 Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc. What are the barriers? Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

What keeps women from advancing to senior ranks? Senior Level Support Lack of substantive feedback and counsel Lack of well placed sponsors and mentors No one to pull her up Network and Organisational Savvy Lack of access to informal interactions Inadequate understanding of how to influence the organisation Weak network Leadership Style Not like the norm or “like me” Difficulty balancing aggressiveness, conflict and confidence Not seeing how to communicate with impact Career Path Lack of career movement Career tracks with ceilings Access to “plum” assignments Frustration Lack of appreciation of her challenges Isolation Values versus actions Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc. What about the challenge of raising families or caring for others or balancing life? In my experience… Talented women question whether they can do both career and life only when things in the career are not going so well. While it is the reason most women give the organisation for leaving, it’s not what they tell me. Flexible policies seem to be reassuring. Managers who appreciates the challenges are often enough. How each woman defines “balanced” varies widely. Younger men also want flexibility. Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Is this any different for other populations? Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Are diversity efforts worthwhile: Does diversity pay? Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc. Yes and maybe no. Well, it really depends. Why and under what circumstances is the question for the rest of the day? Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Yes, companies with more women have better financial performance Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Diversity Should Lead to Greater Creativity In practice … IDEO corporation – a design group – deploys a very diverse set of talents against each project In writing and training…. Teresa Amabile, Mitch Ditkoff, Stan Gryskiewicz, Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap Without diversity, group think is likely to occur But… how diversity is managed may be critical Challenger disaster Recent research on brainstorming Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Can Diversity Hinder Performance? Possibly – especially if not managed well. Need to monitor sense of belonging and/or power differences Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Managers: Environment they create Data from over 800 retail bank branches in the US Racial diversity of each team is assessed between 0 (all white or all minority) and .50 (50/50 balance) Performance declines when diverse members believe the environment is not conducive to learning Performance increases when diverse members believe the environment is conducive to learning The more racially diverse the team, the greater the impact Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

US Retail Bank Branches Learning Environment 93.0 Total Performance No Learning Environment . 72.0 0.00 0.50 Racial Diversity Courtesy of Robin Ely – taken from Ely, Thomas and Padavic, Harvard Working Paper, 2010

Impact of Being One of a Few “Breaking a lot of glass ceilings leaves a lot of shards.” “The one and only woman.. tries to perform her ‘real’ job while representing and championing her demographic constituency … bearing the weight of the category.” Feeling of isolation Less at ease with team members Censoring of ideas in case they are rejected or criticised Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Data from Client Survey Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Data from Another Client Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Women flock to female leaders: Why? It is possible to get ahead in this organisation. I believe she will understand my concerns. There are more people like me. I can find people with whom I have something in common other than work. Others are struggling with the same issues with which I am struggling. I believe she will be fair in assessing my contributions. Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Managers: The Dark Side Without great management, diversity efforts will not succeed. Worse, inappropriate management can derail both diversity efforts and damage performance. In my coaching and development of younger women, the issue that most often prompts the question of leaving is the relationship with the manager. Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

What management behaviours are most critical? Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

What are the behaviours of organisations that manage diversity well? From CRF members … What are the behaviours of organisations that manage diversity well? Behavior # Times Mentioned Support from senior leaders 8 Transparency in decisions Valuing diversity of thought Monitoring outcomes (e.g. KPIs, targets) 6 Open/unbiased managers Acknowledging each person has potential 5 Good management and processes Inclusivity 4 Willingness to listen Diverse leadership 3 Understanding importance of diversity and the link to business objectives Training 2 Coaching 1 Raise awareness of barriers Role modeling appropriate behaviour Content © 2010. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc. My Opinion Belief that alternative approaches could work with some sensibility about how different is too different Understanding of barriers and how as a manager to support employees Practice of incorporating silent voices Monitoring of where time is spent and with whom Equal availability to all employees for informal conversations and advice Providing honest, direct feedback to all Ability to create a learning environment Where at least ideas are encouraged, risks are taken and mistakes are discussed Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

How Managers Can Help Women Help her assess and develop her network - identify ways she can get to know people that are female oriented Help her build her brand and reputation Appreciate the risks and challenges of being “the only one” Respect the stress she feels and monitor comments that bite Help her understand how senior executives think – what they expect and what they want to know Help her find and understand how to develop advocates and sponsors Provide candid, actionable feedback that she can understand - she may argue with you but that is important and not a sign of disrespect Assess her exposure to the main stream business and help her gain access Develop her diplomacy skills Groom her for a more senior role and encourage her to take smart risks

Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc. Summary Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Changing Our Organisations Understanding and tackling the barriers Working with managers to improve practices Senior level actively and visibly owning agenda Metrics Attending to who sponsors and advocates for whom Removing biases – internally and with recruiting Development efforts supporting and nurturing target populations Reaching the tipping point Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.

Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc. “If you do not manage culture, it manages you, and you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening.”  Edgar Schein Content © 2011. All rights reserved. Leadership Forum Inc.