"Where Should Inclusionary Leaders Start?" In Pt. 5 Of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corporate Culture
Tools, tactics, and team dynamics continue to be shared this week as we explore the questions, "If you were to speak to a room full of leaders, and potential leaders or the next generation of leaders, what would you tell them to go and start doing today? What is the thing you would get deeper knowledge about? What is the thing you would invest your time in? If you were starting today as a leader in this space, where would you put yourself?"
Co Founder of Inclusionary Leadership Group, Dale Thomas Vaughn, host of The Inclusion Roadmap: Where to Start Engaging Men in the Workplace - Pt. 5 of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corporate Culture at the Better Man Conference 2017 asks the question above of corporate leaders, Dr. Ronald Copeland from Kaiser Permanente, MD SVP and Chief Diversity Officer of National Diversity Inclusions, Strategy and Policy, Lesley Slaton Brown from HP Inc., Chief Diversity Officer, Nadia Chargualaf, Telstra VP of HR for U.S. Operations and Mike Dillon, Chief Diversity Officer at PwC. Read the transcript below or in listen in on their answers by playing the video. The first four parts of the series can be found here:
Part 1 Of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corp. Culture
Part 2 Of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corp. Culture
Part 3 Of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corp. Culture
Part 4 Of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corp. Culture
"Where Should Inclusionary Leaders Start?" In Pt. 5 Of Problem, Opportunities And Solutions For Gender Equality In Corporate Culture
Dale Thomas Vaughn:
I want to take a little bit of a different tack here, which is, if you were to speak to a room full of leaders, and potential leaders or the next generation of leaders, what would you tell them to go and start doing today? What is the thing you would get deeper knowledge about? What is the thing you would invest your time in? If you were starting today as a leader in this space, where would you put yourself? And this is open to anyone.
Mike Dillon:
I would say, don't be afraid to have conversations. Encourage those authentic conversations in your workplace every day, I think, again, people are bringing their whole selves to work, and yet they think about that so comprehensively. I would also think about talking to your employees about what’s happening in the world. People want to hear from you. Our CEO is talking directly to our people all the time now.
EMPLOYEES WANT TO HEAR FROM ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
I came into this job on July 1st of last year (2016), the year has turned out very differently than I would have expected with just diversity and inclusion being on the top of people’s minds and probably unfortunately for the wrong reasons. But our employees want to hear from ourselves, and our CEO has helped in on the founding committee for the CEO Action Committee for Diversity and Inclusion. So we're really proud of that!
But that’s one of the things they’re really grappling with - how do you talk to your employees on a basis that’s appropriate, on a volume that’s appropriate, and also to make sure they understand there’s a welcoming place within the four walls of your workplace.
Dale Thomas Vaughn:
Thank you.
Lesley Slaton Brown:
I think for me, I would say that I like to tell millennials and gen Z'ers to first and foremost find companies that fit your culture. Because what I would tell you next is, and I say this to my daughter, is to do you, to be you.
FIND COMPANIES THAT FIT YOUR CULTURE
You need to be able to go into a culture that allows you to bring all of who you are, so that the company benefits from it from an innovation standpoint, from a creative standpoint, and you benefit from it from the place of being able to really flourish and to bring your ideas to the table. We too do a lot around courageous conversations. I do think you need to have the place where you’re having open conversations. I know I wouldn't fit in where I couldn't voice my opinion and my thoughts.
THE GROWTH MINDSET ULTIMATELY LEADS TO INCLUSION AND INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP
But more importantly there are some places where, and we're going through this now at HP, that we're looking at that growth mindset. And the growth mindset ultimately leads to inclusion and an inclusive leadership style that allows you to fully be who you are and bring who you are to the table. As a male it allows you to be an ally without guilt, without regret, with true accountability. And as a woman it allows you to really just come in and flourish. You have the opportunity to develop and be promoted.
Dale Thomas Vaughn:
You mentioned the growth mindset, that’s Carol Dweck, right?
Lesley Slaton Brown:
That’s Carol Dweck. We were working with the neurological leaders institute and David Rock there too as well.
WE'RE HARDWIRED TO SEE DIFFERENCE AS THREAT...AND RESEARCH ALSO SHOWS THAT EMBRACING DIFFERENCES LEADS TO GREATER OUTCOMES
Dr. Ronald Copeland:
Yeh, I would say make a commitment to empower and enable yourself to understand, first of all, that we're hardwired to see difference and all the ways it shows up as a threat.
At the same time, we have reams, and reams, and reams of research that show embracing difference drives innovation and leads to high productivity, high performance, and greater outcomes. When people universally say, “I want all of those upside opportunities, but I'm limited in my ability to get them because of this threat and fear in overcoming that.” understand that dynamic and then commit yourself to actually, personally and leading from a point of advocacy, to be a change agent in your own personal life and in your organizational life to overcome that fear and achieve those outcomes. That’s the journey, that’s the challenge that we're in. I think if people understand that is the dynamic in the beginning and all the way it shows up, can personally commit to overcoming that on a personal basis and then advocating it in their organizational world, that’s where I would start.
Dale Thomas Vaughn:
Thank you.
Nadia Chargulaf:
I think for a young person starting out in the business on their journey of gender parity in the workplace, I think everybody has touched on it on this panel, is certainly providing that safe place for people to come and talk about what it means to them to be in an organization as a woman, as a man, as a Latina, etc. What we did, and I'm going to plug it again, I'm going to plug the Gender Leadership Group (now Inclusionary Leadership Group) and Dale, (they) came into my organization and had that workshop with leaders, and it really changed their perception of the workplace. It gave them and us all as an organization and as a team, the language in which to call out man-interrupting, mansplaining for ourselves, for our colleagues, in meetings, subordinates, etc. It really changed the culture and it gave us that identity. We started from the top and we brought it all the way down throughout the organization.
NAME A TIME WHEN YOU FELT INVISIBLE OR TREATED DIFFERENTLY, FOR WHATEVER REASON?
It really has helped us improve our diversity in general. It started with gender partnership, but in those discussions Dale asked one question, and it’s, “Name a time when you felt invisible or treated differently, for whatever reason.” Remember, this was a gender partnership, every diversity topic came up in that setting, and everybody felt endeared towards each other. There was a certain level of respect and it was because we provided that safe place to them. Like I said, design and roll out initiatives to really improve our workplace.
Dale Thomas Vaughn:
Thank you. I have two or three minutes left so I want to take a few questions. Here in the front.
Audience Member:
A question for Mike.
Mike Dillon:
Yes.
Audience Member:
I guess you saw this coming. I'm coming from an assumption that you’re not part of those legally protected characteristics, you’re just a plain middle class, middle aged white guy? Is that correct?
Mike Dillon:
(Laughs) I didn't see that coming, but yes. And I'm an openly gay man in the firm.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
WE'RE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN!
Upcoming Event: EQ Inspiration
Improve productivity and results through inclusive leadership and culture by being on the right side of the Better Man Movement. Join me for a conversation about how to do so at EQ Inspiration at 5pm on Wed, Jan. 31st at Lyft in San Francisco
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Ray Arata, Better Man Conference and Co Founder of Inclusionary Leadership Group
Better Man Conference 2017 Recap Report
We are proud to share this recap report from the Better Man Conference 2017 as just last month, 200+ leaders and many great diverse speakers and panelists, both men and women came together to be a part of the movement to engage men as inclusionary leaders at the Better Man Conference 2017. This year we grew in both quantity and quality. That’s due to your involvement. We thank each and every attendee, speaker, sponsor, marketing partner, and supporter for being such an important part of the men's inclusionary leadership movement. See the recap report here.