Gender Diversity and Inclusion
This isn’t a “women’s issue”. It’s a business issue.
It’s about having the best talent in the best place to deliver the best results.
However, when it comes to gender diversity and inclusion, many people don’t understand it, don’t like it, or, resist it.
Setting targets and quotas has certainly moved things along, for example, gender pay gaps shrink when companies are required to disclose them. The number of women on UK boards rose from 12.5% in 2010 to 29% in 2018, (target is 33% by 2020) but there is evidence that momentum is tailing off.
Without an organisational development approach, involving men and women, all efforts will falter.
For those that take it seriously, gender balance is a business opportunity to drive growth, enhance productivity, build stronger teams, increase innovation and improve decision making.
Having balanced teams with diversity of skills, styles, knowledge, experience and thinking brings a broader dimension and is good for business.
Companies whose executive teams are more gender balanced report higher profitability and return on equity.
Educating men and women is key to creating an inclusive culture.
Men and women are both immersed in the same system and are impacted by the same unconscious bias that results in the underrepresentation of women in senior positions and men fearing negative repercussions if they were to take the full amount of paternity leave available to them.
To retain and get the best from women and men, we need to uncover what’s really happening in the culture and behaviours within the organisation.
If women don’t feel like they belong or if they don’t see they can achieve their career ambitions, they will go elsewhere. If men feel they are being treated unfairly because of ill-conceived gender diversity initiatives, they will resist or leave. It’s often very subtle and to the extent that the organisation doesn’t perceive they have an issue, until it’s too late.
For Executive Leadership Teams:
Culture Change Leadership
If you want to create a gender balanced organisation where everyone thrives then this requires dedicated effort to drive the change necessary to attract, retain and develop talent.
We work with executive teams to:
- Build a compelling business case for gender balanced organisation
- Establish buy in and commitment from key stakeholders and senior leadership to champion gender equality and inclusion
- Recognise unconscious bias and surface how it shows up in your organisation.
- Raise awareness of what they are doing that is holding women back, explore how this is and will impact on business success and determine what needs to change.
For mentors, sponsors, line managers and team members:
Creating a culture that enables talented women to flourish
- Recognising the differences in the way men and women communicate
- Appreciate how your own bias and resulting behaviours impact women and men
- Acknowledge the structural and cultural barriers that get in the way of women fulfilling their leadership potential
- Develop strategies to overcome structural and cultural barriers
How to be an effective sponsor/mentor for talented women
- Coaching and mentoring skills
- Recognise unconscious bias in themselves and others
- Feel confident to sponsor a female protégé in a #MeToo world
- Empowering your protégé to overcome barriers to career progression
For everyone in the organisation:
Gender Diversity Awareness
Peer relationships are vital in organisations operating with flatter structures, so it’s helpful for everyone to be gender bi-lingual to avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding and to maximise contribution of both men and women.
An interactive session with a mixed group for candid dialogue about gender inequality to explore how the culture and behaviours in your organization facilitate an inclusive, balanced and diverse workforce and uncover what, if anything, is lurking in the unconscious that is working against this.
Outcomes:
- Develop an understanding of how unconscious bias permeates the culture within organisations.
- Greater awareness of own unconscious bias and how this impacts on thinking, behaviour and team work.
- Uncover any unwritten rules that prevail within the organisation.
- Consider how unconscious gender bias negatively impacts on both men and women.
For your talented women:
Leadership Development
Leadership Development to develop, encourage and leverage your talented women to stay and progress in your organisation.
We believe women (and men) have a combination of stereotypically masculine and feminine qualities which they need to own and include in their leader identity.
Integrating leadership into ones core identity is particularly challenging for women who must establish credibility in a culture that is deeply conflicted about whether, when and how they should exercise authority. Instead of defining themselves in relation to gender stereotypes, women leaders can focus on behaving in ways that advance the purposes for which they stand.
We provide a safe development environment for women to develop and explore their own brand of bold and authentic leadership which is key to addressing the legacy of unconscious bias.
Bringing it all together
Built around the 4 pillars of leadership and our signature Transforming Me Transforming You programme this programme is tailored to the specific vision, strategy and needs of your organisation and brings men and women leaders together in joint sessions so they understand, respect and communicate with each other in a way that values their differences and their strengths.