In a recent 2019 McKinsey & Company (October 2019) report on Woman in the workplace, it seems clear that some progress is being made but that organisations are still struggling in a few key areas. Whilst the data appears to be US-centric, I would argue that certainly the same trends around progress and challenges are likely to apply at least in Europe.
There has been a 24% increase of women in C-suite positions and a 13% increase in organisational commitment to gender diversity. These are good signs. Unfortunately a decline is recorded of women in senior management roles. Perhaps because they have been promoted to C-suite roles and pipelines are weak.
What is interesting is that in the more subtle areas of women feeling gender is a barrier to progression, and microaggressions toward women, results have not changed against previous research and perhaps even declined. This suggests to me that organisations have become better at appointing women to C-suite roles, (perhaps from the senior management ranks), but not at appointments to senior management roles, and not at changing the culture to make it more inclusive for women (in this case).
Changing the culture of an organisation is potentially the most difficult and most important aspect of bringing about real change. Organisations will only genuinely thrive in a sustainable way when their cultures are inclusive and also offer an element of psychological safety. Management practices over the last 3 decades (outsourcing, mass redundancies, off shoring etc) have in fact eroded psychological safety leading to risk aversion (as opposed to discretionary innovation) and lack of inclusivity. (Blanchard & Sinek 2019).
The McKinsey& Company report says, “The culture of work is equally important. All employees should feel respected and that they have an equal opportunity to grow and advance. Employees care deeply about opportunity and fairness, not only for themselves but for everyone. They want the system to be fair.”
It is my experience that for something that is so important, executive leaders and HR functions spend surprisingly small percentages of their time discussing and managing their culture. And, whether you manage it or not, every workplace has one or more “ cultures”.
As I have stated in previous articles, gender diversity is an important precursor to diversity more generally and thereafter the ultimate aim – an inclusive culture. Although we should be mindful that being diverse does not guarantee inclusivity, it is an important precursor.
A truly inclusive culture will ensure;
- That all employees rather than just some are engaged
- With high engagement, organisations might get higher levels of discretionary innovation
- “Group think” will be undermined, and decision making should be improved and more robust
- Improved decision making should protect to some extent against corporate scandals
- Organisations, when more representative, will likely be more in touch with their stakeholders (including customers)
The signs of progress are very positive, but I would argue still too little, and not commensurate with corporate rhetoric and investment concerning commitment to diversification. I would argue that the ROI in this space (diversity effort and investment in diversity) is still low (as measured by overall progress towards the stated goal of being diverse and inclusive.)
So what might help?
- Boards need to become more forensic in this space and less forgiving
- Clients and customers should become more vocally interested in this element of transformation
- CHRO’s should stop colluding with CEO’s and hold the mirror up with more clarity and agitation
- CHRO’s should ensure that this issue is owned by the business and business leaders, not HR
- The issue of culture should be taken far more seriously by business leaders and CHRO’s
- CEO’s should devote as much time and energy to this issue as they do other business imperatives
Andrew Fox
Notes:
>Gender microaggressions are defined as brief and everyday verbal and nonverbal behaviours and environmental conditions that communicate demeaning, hostile, and otherwise sexist insults towards women (Nadal, 2010)
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