1. Creating Inclusive Leadership Cultures
Catherine Ashcraft, Ph.D., NCWIT, Senior Research Scientist 1

2. Overview
Why is Diversity Important? Why is an Inclusive Culture Important? What Gets in the Way of Recruiting & Advancing Women & Other Underrepresented Groups? What Can We Do About All This? How Can We Build Partnerships and Create Inclusive Cultures?
Catherine: Goals of session & Overview
Some goals:
Learn effective employee recruiting and retention practices for diversifying your technical teams
Share experiences what’s worked and what hasn’t
Think of ways to take action on what you’ve learned
Find NCWIT resources that can help
A quick overview of the talk today

3. Why Diversity Matters Catherine: Slides 6-25
So why does all of this matter? Why is increasing women’s participation important. there are several reasons. First, WOMEN MAKE UP A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE CUSTOMER BASE --If 50% of your user base isn’t represented in your design team, how can you expect to produce things that they will all find useful?
Second WOMEN CAN FILL the growing gap between available technology jobs and available skilled workers.
Finally, a great deal of research now illustrates that diversity in general and WOMEN in particular improve innovation, productivity and the bottom line. We will dive into these areas in more detail in the following slides.
Terry: So personally I would treat this as a high level overview slide and just give the above overview; I think sometimes other people go into the detail below but we’re going to cover most of that in the following slides so I wouldn’t do it here….. 1)
2) The presence of women in a group is more likely to increase the collective intelligence (problem-solving ability, creativity) of the group than the presence of individuals with higher intelligence. (“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi and Malone.) Groups with greater diversity solve complex problems better and faster than homogenous groups. (Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2009.)
3) Women are 50% of the workforce. There will be an estimated 1.4 million computing-related jobs in the workforce by 2020, yet at current graduation rates we’ll produce only enough candidates to fill 30% of those jobs. Meanwhile, women are earning more than half of all undergraduate degrees, more than 60% of biology degrees, 42% of math degrees. They are a untapped workforce.
4) Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior positions as unsuccessful companies. (Dow Jones VentureSource, 2011.) Tech companies with women have been shown to use 40 percent less capital and be more likely to survive the transition from startup to established company. (Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech," 2010.) Tech companies with the highest representation of women in their management teams have a 34% higher return on investment than those with few or no women. (Catalyst, The Bottom Line, 2004.)

4. Diversity Enhances Team Innovation & Productivity
Groups with greater diversity solve complex problems better and faster than homogenous groups.
A great deal of research has demonstrated this. For example, one study by the London Business School found that teams comprising equal numbers of women and men outperformed teams of any other composition in terms of problem-solving and productivity. Other studies have shown that companies with higher levels of racial and gender diversity have higher profits. In fact, one study found that racial diversity was a key predictor of a company’s competitive standing in it’s industry. So how does this work? Let’s consider this diversity thing with a non-gender-related problem. Any left-handers here? A couple of years ago a major company released a very popular phone, and people quickly began to complain about dropped calls when the phone was held a certain way. Turns out that because of where the company positioned the antenna in this phone, this problem particularly affected left-handed people, who happened to hold the phone in the “wrong” way more often. WE ALL EXPERIENCE THE WORLD IN A DIFFERENT WAY and it’s important to bring as many of those experiences as possible into the development and design of technology.
(The company’s charismatic founder was ambidextrous, BTW.)
Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2009.

5. Women Improve Innovation
A group’s collective intelligence is not predicted by the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises.
Several researchers set out to measure the collective intelligence of a group; they wanted to know if it could be explained by the intelligence levels of group members or not. They were surprised to find that one of the key predictors of a group’s intelligence level was the number of women on the team; the more women on the team, the more the team’s collective intelligence rose, up to a certain point. Individual intelligence of group members was not a predictor of collective intelligence.
This is an interesting finding because it absolutely counters the “rock star” approach to hiring. We all love the stories of a brilliant loner or a couple of guys dreaming up a tech company in somebody’s garage, but the fact remains that the vast majority of technology is developed by multiple people as part of a team. So whether you’re hoping to be acquired or doing the acquiring, it’s smarter to build good teams than look for the one brilliant standout.
“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi and Malone.

6. Women Correlate with Success
Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior positions as unsuccessful companies.
Successful startups have a median of 7% of their executive positions filled by women, vs. 3.5% for unsuccessful startups. Still a pretty low number overall but twice as high as unsuccessful startups.
Correlation doesn’t equal causation, as we all know. But let’s pick this apart for a second: either women in leadership positions at startups cause those startups to become more successful, OR successful startups decide to hire more women into leadership positions. Either way, you want to be one of these startups. Because by the time you become a BIG company, this matters in different ways, too: among companies with a market cap of $10B or more, those with women on their board of directors outperformed those with no women in revenue growth, debt-to-equity ratio, and stock price. (
Dow Jones VentureSource, 2011.

7. Find out More Business Case: Research Summary
Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech," 2010.

8. The Numbers Don’t Add Up
When we Drill down further we see that many technical women complain about being side tracked in technical “empathy” or execution jobs and are not in the creator roles
Women comprise 57% of all U.S. professional occupations – these are defined as occupations requiring a 4-yr degree
But they hold only 25% of Computing jobs – and this number has been declining since 1990s when it reached a high of 37%
And as you see here, the numbers are even fewer for certain tech jobs – such as software developers.
Finally, women hold approximately 5% of technology leadership positions

9. We’re Losing The Diversity Already There:
An Unnecessary Corporate Brain Drain
74% love work
56% leave
And when it comes to women in tech in particular: similar phenomenon. Largest study on this issue, 74% of women in computing jobs report loving their work, yet 56% -- more than half – leave mid-career. Mid-career is defined as years into your career – an especially costly time to lose employees after significant resources have been invested into these employees. People often think these women are leaving to take care of children, family responsibilities. But here’s the kicker – only 25% leave the workplace – 75% stay in the workforce full time – more than half of these stay in technical jobs – they just leave large private sector companies and go to non-profit, govt, or sometimes startups. We have initial evidence that suggests they often feel that they can contribute more to innovation in these environments. So in some ways this can actually be good news for startups. If you develop the right culture you can attract these women to your company.
75% stay in workforce
Sources: Capturing Turnover Costs, Joins, 2000; TalentKeepers, 2010; Athena Factor, 2008

10. What Gets in the Way of Recruiting & Advancing Underrepresented Groups?
What the Research Says
We are going to roll through a ton of social science research in 10 minutes – we won’t do it justice. First, 3 caveats……

11. Intersectionality: Examining the Impact of Multiple Biases
Gender
Race
Perspectives & experiences shaped by multiple, shifting, identity categories
Class
One -- it is Important to consider multiple kinds of biases. This term intersectionality specifically refers to how these multiple kinds of biases intersect – a woman of color, a gay woman or woman, etc. I’ll give examples of different kinds of biases throughout, with an emphasis on women but other biases as well. Important to point out that the kinds of phenomenon we’re talking about as well as strategies to address these biases apply to all kinds of biases, not just gender – also to race, class, sexual orientation ability….
Ability
Sexuality

12. Let’s Cut to the Chase
Minority Groups Aren’t Broken Majority Groups Aren’t The Enemy Culprit = Societal Biases We All Share We Can Take Action Together
Two…..a lot of chit chat in social media – not productive – this is not about blame and it is not about pitting groups against each other….as we shall see
ALL share these biases – good news is we can work together to reduce them…..

13. Society is Biased About Gender and Technology

14. Society is Biased About Gender and Technology

15. Society is Biased About Gender and Technology
Project Implicit – measures automatic associated between gender and science.
We’ve all taken these at NCWIT and still come out biased associating male with science/tech. Not about blame or intent! We all have these biases because we grow up being exposed to similar kinds of messages in the larger culture.

16. What Causes Societal Bias?
We all have shortcuts, “schemas” that help us make sense of the world. But our shortcuts sometimes make us misinterpret or miss things. That’s unconscious bias.
Brad
Unconscious bias results from schemas that we all have and need. Schemas, in this sense, are maps we have in our head that let us quickly filter info and categorize it.
For example, most of us have schemas for what a mall looks like……a car, etc.
We may drive by a mall we’ve never seen before but we know it’s a mall; it may have some small differences, but the main components are there.
We don’t have to start from scratch and examine new objects closely each time we see them.
These examples are simple objects but we also have schemas for more complex things like leader, what makes a good leader, what makes a good technical person, and gender, what’s appropriate for female behavior and male behavior, etc.
Hugely important – we wouldn’t be able to live without these schemas – too much to process, overstimulation – paralyzed by all the information coming in.
But BECAUSE THESE SCHEMAS FILTER information they can also result in biases that we don’t necessarily intend.
SUBTLY INFLUENCE Behaviors and decisions, cause us to miss certain strengths/talents, etc they NEGATIVELY EFFECT employees from these groups……… and the companies they work for.

17. What do you see?
This and the next slide are the two short interactive pieces to illustrate unconscious biases

18. Notice anything odd about this lung scan?
Photo:

19. Howard vs. Heidi

20. Howard vs. Heidi

21. Howard vs. Heidi

22. We All Bring Unconscious Bias to Work
Society
Organizational Culture
Subtle Dynamics
Institutional
Barriers
Schemas/
Unconscious
Biases
Employees
Brad
UB results when our pre-existing beliefs and attitudes about particular groups of people subtly influence behaviors and decisions; prominent in industries dominated by a single gender or group. Practices, cultures, and systems naturally emerge in these workplaces to reflect and meet the needs of the dominant population. These systems inadvertently disadvantage employees from underrepresented groups who later enter the field with different needs.

23. Subtle Dynamics Example: Stereotype Threat
Fear that our performance will confirm negative stereotypes
Raises anxiety, reduces confidence and risk-taking, lowers performance
First example want to focus on stereotype threat – which is the fear that our performance or actions will confirm a negative stereotype about an identity group to which we belong. It raises anxiety; reduces performance, confidence and risk-taking. More than 350 studies with all kinds of populations have shown this….replicated over and over. For example:
-- AA perform worse on tests when racial stereotypes about intelligence are invoked ahead of time
-- Women perform worse on math tests when gender/math stereotypes are called to their attention
-- Elderly people perform worse on memory tests when told the test is about age and senility
LIVING WITH THESE STEREOTYPES BUILDS THIS THREAT OVER TIME
BUT IT DOESN’T EVEN TAKE A HISTORY OF BEING STIGMATIZED TO INVOKE STEREOTYPE THREAT. In one particularly interesting study, the researchers set out to understand if one instance of exposure could have the same effect

24. How Stereotype Threat Shows Up in Technical Environments
Not speak up in meetings
Be reluctant to take leadership positions
Be overly harsh about their own work
Discount their performance
Here I will mention that this is true of any minority in a majority environment not just women

25. Microinequities: Examining the Impact of Multiple Biases
Gender
“Oops, I forgot to cc her/him on the about the
architecture review.”
“Do you think if I invest, people will think that I’m gay?”
“You just need to be more ‘professional.’”
“Dude, let’s talk about it over a beer!”
“Husbands, wives & partners”
Race
Class
Elaborate on a few of these examples
Ability
Sexuality

26. Institutional Barriers
Hiring
Selecting people “like me”
Task Assignment
Women find themselves in “low status” jobs
Performance Appraisal
Men appraised for effort, skill; women for collaboration, luck
Promotion
Criteria modeled implicitly on existing senior male leaders

27. Small Changes Can Make A Big Difference
Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review, 90(4),
“Blind” orchestra auditions, with musicians behind a curtain, increased the number of female musicians hired by 25% to 46%.
Catherine
Use as example of simple changes having big impact

28. JILL
Turn to the action piece of this.

29. Don’t depend on underrepresented employees to advance diversity goals

30. Be a Male Advocate; Inspire More Male Advocates

31. Industry Change Model

32. Addressing Subtle Biases: 5 Things Everyone Can Do Starting Today
Start Small, Start Now!
Addressing Subtle Biases:
5 Things Everyone Can Do Starting Today

33. #1 Ensure Productive Team Meetings
Solicit opinions of quieter employees – now OR later
Intervene when someone is interrupted or not getting credit
Find an ally who can support and help notice these things
People who believe that effort improves ability, are more likely to persist in the face of challenge.
A research-verified means of minimizing stereotype threat is by informing students about the evidence on the plasticity of our brains and our intelligence. They need to know that our brains, like our muscles, get stronger by working through challenges. For example, African American college students who were exposed to this view received higher grade point averages and later reported that academic achievement was more important to their senses of selves (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002)” (Goode et al. 2008).
Likewise, there was an intervention where “college students mentored middle school students and helped them create web-pages advocating the view that intelligence is a malleable capacity (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). At the end of the year, the middle school females who received the malleable message earned higher scores on the state-wide standardized test in math than their female peers who instead received an anti-drug message as part of the intervention.” (Good et al. 2008) *

34. #2 Listen For “Personality Penalties”
“Pushy, bossy, aggressive”
”Has a challenging personality”
“Sometimes you could tone it down a little”
“Not a risk-taker; not very confident; not leadership material”
Doubt Raisers: “Need to see more evidence?
People who believe that effort improves ability, are more likely to persist in the face of challenge.
A research-verified means of minimizing stereotype threat is by informing students about the evidence on the plasticity of our brains and our intelligence. They need to know that our brains, like our muscles, get stronger by working through challenges. For example, African American college students who were exposed to this view received higher grade point averages and later reported that academic achievement was more important to their senses of selves (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002)” (Goode et al. 2008).
Likewise, there was an intervention where “college students mentored middle school students and helped them create web-pages advocating the view that intelligence is a malleable capacity (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). At the end of the year, the middle school females who received the malleable message earned higher scores on the state-wide standardized test in math than their female peers who instead received an anti-drug message as part of the intervention.” (Good et al. 2008) *

35. #3 Be a Sponsor; Find a Sponsor
“All mentoring is not created equal, we discovered. There is a special kind of relationship—called sponsorship—in which the mentor goes beyond giving feedback and advice and uses his or her influence with senior executives to advocate for the mentee” (Ibarra, Carter, & Silva, 2010).
Mentors Advise. They can be role models that inspire, motivate, sympathize, and support. They expect very little in return. Mentors serve their “mentor-ees” by:
Helping to navigate unwritten rules and understand how things work
Providing useful tips and strategies
Building confidence
Reducing isolation and stress
Fostering connection to the company and others within it
Sponsors Act. They have the “power and incentive to make things happen for up-and-comers” (CTI, Athena Factor 2.0, p. 18). They expect performance and loyalty in return. Effective sponsors deliver results for their protégés by:
Endorsing protégés and making them visible to other leaders within and without the company
Connecting protégés to career opportunities
Advocating for advancement
Helping to overcome bias and stereotype
Sponsors support publically of course but more importantly in private …..Mentor more behind-the-scenes working with you personally (advise, support) whereas sponsors advocate for you behind other scenes in places like promotion meetings.
Boat = protégé being lifted and guided to its career trajectory because of the whale.
Mentors
Advise
Sponsors Act

36. #4 Share Your Experiences:
Enlist More Allies
“When it finally started to hit me about gender diversity…We were in a big meeting and…she made a comment about how difficult it was for her to be a leader in the organization as a woman. And so, here is someone who I literally was putting on a pedestal saying this…And I…was like, “Wow!” So I asked her after the meeting… “Hey I want to go to lunch with you, I want to understand this!”

37. #4 Share Your Experiences:
Enlist More Allies
Every person that becomes an advocate had to go through that door where they take the first risk and realize, ‘Oh, that wasn’t so bad.’ So I would talk about the risk-taking that you take the first or second time and how, all of a sudden, it is no longer risk-taking.”

38. #5 Provide Legitimate Encouragement

39. Practice: TWO Sets of Strategies For Today
Strategy #1 Inclusive Job Ads
Strategy #2 Productive Team Environments
Jill
3 Key questions common to each activity:
What will work in your organization?
What will not work in your organization?
What are your personal experiences related to this issue?

40. Strategy #1 Inclusive Job Ads
AGGRESSIVE; HARD-DRIVING; ROCK STAR; WORLD-CLASS CODER; DOMINANT
Jill or Catherine? I think you can do it if you feel comfortable? I can chime in as needed? Or I’m happy to do it……
“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD:

41. NCWIT Job Ad Toolkit Tips
Avoid Superlatives & Extreme Modifiers
Avoid Gender-Specific Pronouns
Be Sure Graphics and Pictures Represent Diverse Range of People
Make Sure ALL Qualifications Are TRULY Required
Include an Engaging Intro
Jill or Catherine?
JOT DOWN A FEW NOTES
“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD:

42. Activity & Discussion Strategy #1 Inclusive Job Ads
Step 1: Using the Job Ad Tip Sheet, Identify Problems with Ad
Step 2: Suggest Improvements
Step 3: Debrief with Whole Group
Jill and/or Catherine
3 Key questions common to each activity:
What will work in your organization?
What will not work in your organization?
What are your personal experiences related to this issue?
Materials:
Job ad # 1 cards: Bad job ad
Job ad # 2 cards: Good job ad
Job ads toolkit checklist
Wendy might have slides? One or two…bad ads,

43. This position requires the following skills:
Sample Job Ad:
Do you have the technical chops to develop code alongside the very best? We are looking for engineers with world class technical skills around a variety of technologies, starting with [insert Example A] all the way to [insesrt Example Z]. The ideal candidate should be someone who is always tinkering with new products and processes. If you think you have unparalelled coding skills, are a highly motivated and innovative developer then this is the team for you.
This position requires the following skills:
The ability to position end to end solutions and articulate complex technical vision to mid-level and senior customer executives
Must be an aggressive self-starter who can articulate ___________’s product and business strategies,
Must be seasoned in defending an installed base against strong competition and unseating incumbents within the account
Demonstrate the necessary skills to negotiate issues with peers, partners and customers using a Win/Win philosophy
5 years of experience developing Java/J2EE applications.
4 years of experience with structured analysis and design.
May need to do some more formatting – I think they can read this but it’s a lot to cram in ;-)

44. Active Recruitment Strategies
Go Outside Your Usual Networks
Diverse Recruiting Teams
NCWIT Aspirations Pipeline
Return to Work and Alternative Pathways
Creative Partnerships: Go Where The Women Are
Jill or Catherine?
Added this in to sum up or add to what they bring up……
“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD:

45. Examine Interview Questions
Make sure that they REALLY get at what’s required
Avoid hostile, “defend your code” questions
Have follow-up prompts to “draw out” quieter candidates
Catherine
“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD:

46. Include Diverse Representation in the Interview
Catherine
Anyone ever gone through a technical interview with those “gotcha” logic questions? These can often disproportionately disqualify underrepresented groups because 1) they play on existing stereotype threat and impostor syndrome. So ask yourself, are those gotcha logic puzzles an accurate reflection of the engineering work being done in your office? Or is there another way you can test someone’s problem-solving ability?
Diversity comes in many forms. For example, “functional diversity” means identifying that people use different methods and creative solutions when tackling work assignments or solving problems. A pile sort is when you provide a random set of objects or in this case terminology and ask the person to sort them according to categories that make sense to them. A pile sort is a great exercise to screen for functional diversity. It helps identify people who may be good problem-solvers but don’t use status quo methods to arrive at a solution.
Also, try to interview at least one diverse candidate for every position you advertise, and try to include diversity on the interviewing committee. Remember that you’re not doing this to fulfill a quota but to include diverse perspectives in the process.

47. Audit Your Physical Space for Implicit Biases
Catherine
Physical environment counts a lot. Research has shown that women are less likely to be attracted to computing majors and anticipate less success in these fields when asked about their interests while sitting in a room with Star Wars posters, stacked soda cans, action figures, and other stereotypical “geek” objects.
4 Make sure you’re communicating that your office welcomes all different kinds of people, not just those who enjoy beer pong between all-night coding marathons – heterosexual nature of BRO culture
(Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P., & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), )
(Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P., & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), ;
Photo:

48. Before We Go On …..Other Strategies for Increasing the Pool
What have you tried?
Successes and Challenges?
Jill and/or Catherine.
NOTE to JILL: I’m thinking it’d be good to have this as a transition? So we spend a little bit of time talking about active recruitment – what they’ve tried and we can also make recommendations (e.g., returnships, aspirations, creative partnerships, going outside your usual networks)
(Let them talk for 5 minutes at tables and then regroup. Call on 3 people to briefly share what they discussed).

49. Strategy #2 Productive Team Environments
Assure inclusive team meetings and social events.
Catherine

50. Activity & Discussion Strategy #3 Productive Team Environments
Step 1: Read through scenario Step 2: Discuss as group and offer solutions/alternate endings Step 3: Share one or two recommendations with whole group
JILL AND/OR CATHERINE
Materials; Promising Practices handouts
What will work in your organization?
What will not work in your organization?
What are your personal experiences related to this issue?
Interviewing/Selection
Examine physical environment/setting
Diverse composition of interview team
Atmosphere of interview (hostile, gotcha questions)
Interview Questions
Evaluation tools

51. The team is meeting to discuss their latest project
The team is meeting to discuss their latest project. One team member talks often, usually loudly and sometimes a bit combative, knocking down other team members’ ideas – sometimes joking, sometimes in a more obnoxious fashion. Another team member participates similarly but doesn’t dominate as much. Both of these team members also talk quite a bit about their accomplishments or ideas. Two other team members are quieter, with one being particularly quiet. The quietest team member is frequently interrupted and seems to barely get a word in edgewise. At one point this team member manages to make a good suggestion that goes unacknowledged because the first team member interrupts to talk about something else. Later another team member makes a very similar suggestion and the team all agrees it’s an excellent point. The quieter team member seems subtly annoyed.
Have you seen or experienced something similar?
What biases or related dynamics are at play here?
How might some of the team members have intervened in the moment? How might they intervene later after the meeting?

52. In Summary……
Jill

53. Concrete Steps to Take Today
Make diversity part of the corporate DNA/brand right from the start
Expand sources of future talent
Remove bias from business processes
Foster inclusive team meetings and culture; hold staff accountable
Provide legitimate recognition, credit, encouragement
Jill

54. NCWIT Has Free, Research-based Tools
Supervisory Program-in-a-Box Series
Top 5 Reasons You Should Work at a Startup
Top Ten Ways to Be a Male Advocate for Technical Women
Top 10 Ways Managers Can Increase the Visibility of Technical Women
Jill

55. Thank You! Catherine Ashcraft, Ph.D., NCWIT Senior Research Scientist
Jill and Catherine