Diversity Equity and Inclusion Archives

The war for talent has never been more intense. In many sectors, there are simply not enough workers to meet demand. Yet still there remains one group of individuals who continue to be underrepresented in the workforce – Generation Z. This is often because many companies fixate on recruiting staff with an established set of qualifications and skills, and this can alienate a large proportion of the younger generation who have opted not to follow the traditional higher-education path.

Interestingly, some companies are beginning to broaden their approach; PwC have recently removed their requirement for new employees to have a minimum of a 2:1 in their degree. However, does only considering the “graduate” population go far enough when there is still so much potential talent being overlooked? 

Tapping into Gen Z is a different prospect to recruiting the post graduate population. While companies are starting to broaden their recruitment criteria to take on traditional students (those that went into university/college), there are many non-traditional students (those who left college/high school but did not continue studying) who are not being considered. In the UK, 12.6% of ‘Gen Zers’ are unemployed according to Research Briefings , and this is without considering those potential non-traditional students who are working in the retail and hospitality sectors as an interim job.

Additionally, Pew Research discovered that 57% of 18–21-year-olds who graduated high school continued into college/university in the US. This leaves 43% of Gen Zers as potential non-traditional students – which in terms of US population equates to approximately 17 million people; so, while many companies will continue to compete over the traditional 57%, the smart money will be looking at ways of targeting the untapped 43%.

There are various socio-economic factors that influence this, but a consistent underlying theme is how the education system(s) encourage students to choose subjects they like. This helps improve the chances that they will excel and ultimately pass the final examinations with good grades. While this is of course good for the school/colleges ultimate ranking in the education tables, the unfortunate and (probably unintended consequence) of this key-performance-indicator-focused approach is that students often leave with a disjointed mix of qualifications that do not support any given career path. Subsequently, when employers remain focused on traditional qualification sets, they are missing out on this wealth of new talent. If companies want to tap into this pool, they should start relying less on specific qualifications and focus more on aptitude and attitude.

Yet, a change in thinking is now becoming evident. As companies strive to find innovative ways to engage with this non-traditional student population many are offering educational assistance or, in the UK, degree apprenticeships. This fosters a genuine win-win for both the organisation and the employee, as by allowing them to study and work in parallel the organisation immediately bridges its resource gap, the employee gains the qualifications suited to their career path and both prosper from the requisite hands-on experience gained from working.

These sponsored leaners/employees also build a strong affinity with the organisation as they are given the opportunity to grow alongside the business, which ultimately fosters a sense of loyalty. This allows for a foundation to be created for leaders to build real relationships with their staff from the start, which in turn improves retention rates in the long-term.

This phenomenon is readily seen and proven with apprenticeships, as the National Apprenticeship Service’s recent guide found that 69% of employers said that employing apprentices improved staff retention. 

Attitude is not something you can train, so by offering recruitment opportunities to those who are eager to learn new skills, you will also be adding fresh, diverse and digitally savvy perspectives to your workplace culture. 

With September being the seasonal hotspot for taking on recent graduates, companies urgently need to re-evaluate their hiring criteria. Assessing whether a candidate has the right attitude to learn and develop to fulfil your businesses skill gaps will allow you to broaden your hiring prospects. By adopting an experiential learning approach, you will be able to take full advantage of this recruitment window and gain access to a largely untapped pool of talent.

If you need advice on how to approach this opportunity, please get in touch with me at gavin.jones@orgshakers.com 

In June Carers Week 2022 published a report highlighting the challenges facing working carers in the UK.

To discuss the implications for employers, I brought together Vivek Patni, CEO of care service access provider WeMa, and Max Lintott, UK General Manager of financial wellbeing platform Wagestream.

Both WeMa and Wagestream are actively engaged in helping working carers cope with the burden of caring for sick or elderly relatives, and their perspective on the report’s findings were enlightening and provocative!

Here is a brief extract from our conversation:

Therese

One statistic that stood out to me in the Carers Week report is that workers on lower incomes are disproportionately impacted by the need to provide unpaid care for a loved one – 34% of carers with an annual household income of £20,000 or less are caring for over 20 hours a week, compared to 24% of carers from higher income households.

For me that cuts right to the heart of why employers need to help their people on lower incomes access services and manage their day-to-day finances.

Because you’re more likely to face mental health issues due to your inability to be able to get the help you need, or to speak up about the problems you’re facing, because of the fear of losing your job, or whatever it might be.

Vivek

I think there are two angles to this.

Firstly, the number of people now caring for their family has significantly increased; there were 4.5 million additional informal carers in the UK in the 6 months from the start of Covid back in early 2020 (2.6 million of these were working carers). Did you know, by 2025 there will be more adults of working age with adult dependents compared with child dependents?

As well has having little knowledge of how to care, finding time to do so around work, and not being paid for the care they deliver, two-thirds of these carers are in fact using their own income and savings to cover the cost of care for their loved ones, 40% of which are struggling to make ends meet. It’s these people that we’re really trying to support with the WeMa service, because they’re struggling massively.

Secondly, there’s the shortage of professional care workers – and the challenge you’ve got there is that it’s a very low paid job. This is one of the biggest factors as to getting more people coming into those jobs, but it’s also a very difficult, demanding job which must be respected much more than it currently is. The lack of professional carers puts more pressure back on the informal carer.

To build on what you were saying about the impact on these people, Therese, other research has shown that 54% of carers suffer from negatively impacted financial wellbeing, 70% suffer with mental ill health, and 60% struggle with physical ill health due to the burden of delivering that care.

Max

Add to that the fact that the Carers Week report says that more than 10.5 million adults in the UK are now acting as unpaid carers. I mean, there are only 12 million frontline workers in the UK and there are only around 30 million employees in all, so around a third of the total workforce are impacted by this.

And the burden will often fall on lower-income households which aren’t given access to affordable private healthcare to help.

Vivek

I think that’s why this conversation is really timely. If you look at the social care market, everyone’s trying to figure out how are people going to fund their care moving forward, because they’ll definitely be a very limited amount of money going into it through the state.

The cost per hour of privately funded homecare can range anything from £19 to £30 per hour – the average is estimated to be £21.50. So, based on 2 hours a day, 5 days a week of care required for an individual who’s got, say, early-stage dementia, that’s about £13,500 a year.

So, the question is what kind of support can we put in place around access to care services and the finances to pay for that care?

Therese

We also have to remember that some of that support is short term. If an elderly relative has just come out of hospital I don’t need six weeks off, but I desperately need two or three days.

So, I think the thing that employees want more than anything, is some flexibility. And what you’re both giving in different ways is a new flexibility for people to be able to shape and live their lives.

Vivek, your WeMa service is helping working carers to connect quickly and simply with healthcare providers in the community, removing the massive stress and distraction of accessing the services their loved ones need.

And Max, Wagestream, for example, might be helping someone in a situation where they’ve just had to fork out £50 or £60 on some stuff from Amazon that’s going to help an elderly person coming out of hospital live their life a bit easier. When you’re on £20,000 or less, you’re a frontline worker, and you’ve budgeted every single penny, and you’ve got all the utilities going up, how can you afford this stuff that then comes on top? Being able to access the wages you’ve already earned can be a lifesaver in that kind of situation.

Max

I’d like to add to that too. We’re now finalizing an income protection insurance to cover people on zero-hours contracts for sick leave.

On a zero-hours contract if you don’t do any hours you don’t get any money, right? So, there’s a very innovative insurance company we’re working with to underwrite it so that you can insure yourself very cheaply – it’s hopefully going to be something like £2.00-3.00 a month to insure yourself for a set number of weeks’ pay if you get sick.

We’re still ironing out the details but could imagine a very similar product to insure against time off for care.

Vivek

I think the bottom line here is that there’s no money from state to support working carers – and there’s going to be limited funding for social care going forward.

So, it’s going to come down to employers giving their people the support they need to deal with it in their own way. I wonder what incentives the government could give to businesses to stimulate business-backed support?

Therese

And I think the more we can get that into the mindset of the CEOs and the board – the people that are making decisions around the table – the better, because this has got to go faster up the agenda.

It shouldn’t be this difficult for working carers!

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If you’d like to find out more about any of the issues we were discussing, please contact me: therese@orgshakers.com.

Hybrid and remote working have become a post-pandemic norm, and have paved the way for an entirely new working environment – the metaverse. This is a virtual reality environment where employees can meet and interact from anywhere around the world through avatars – digital versions of themselves – which they have designed.

The concept of the metaverse has started to gain significant traction, with a poll conducted by HR Magazine finding that over a third of respondents thought the technology was suitable for business, and that they were excited about using it. Many companies have even started rushing to buy virtual ‘offices’ in prime locations in these simulated universes.

On the one hand, the introduction of a digital working world can offer those working remotely the ability to interact with their colleagues more authentically. However, the rise of the metaverse also brings with it the question of how to approach it from a HR perspective.

How do you monitor diversity and inclusion when people can choose what they want to look like?

The process of designing one’s avatar is important for the metaverse to work. Having face-to-face interaction is what makes this technological development so attractive to organizations, but this will require a different set of people policies to those we currently have in the real world.

For example, when someone is creating their avatar, they will probably want it to look like them – but it will likely be an ‘enhanced’ version of themselves. After all, this is an opportunity to make yourself look the way you have always wanted! This is known as the ‘Proteus effect’ with employees adjusting their height, age, wardrobe, etc. to fit their desired self-image.

However, this risks creating an expectation that avatars should be physically ‘perfect’ which, in turn, could undermine the self-esteem and mental wellbeing of some individuals.

And while altering your avatar to have features which are manifestly different to your own might be considered harmful (or even offensive), organizations will need to decide whether there certain circumstances where significantly changing your avatar’s appearance might be acceptable. For example, if a wheelchair user were allowed to create an avatar which does not use one, would this create a workplace culture where people can be recognised for their ability to do their job rather their physical differences – or one where physical conformity is a requirement for an individual to feel that they belong? These are difficult ethical choices.

How do you design people strategies for people that are no longer physical?

Creating policies surrounding the creation of avatars is one thing, but the way employees behave towards each other in the metaverse workplace in another.

‘Trolling’ is a common internet phenomenon in which people will bully and harass others online through harmful comments. In the context of the workplace, if a colleague is offensive to you online it would probably be considered equally as severe if they were offensive to you in person. Most organizations already have procedures in place to deal with this type of verbal harassment – digital or otherwise.

But what about ‘physical’ harassment in the metaverse?

There have already been issues of avatars being assaulted by virtual colleagues, which begs the question whether this would (or should) be dealt with by employers in the same way they would respond to a similar assault in the real world. If I virtually strike your avatar, is that as bad as actually striking you?

So, the full implications of working in the metaverse are yet to be determined, but it is already clear that the HR strategies and policies we will require for this virtual workplace to be safe and inclusive for every employee will require careful consideration.

And although this may be a vision of the future, organizations should be starting to think about it in the present.

“You will fit in perfectly here” is a phrase that many of us will be familiar with hearing after receiving a new job. And while this is positive, it can make you wonder what employers really mean when they say an employee is a ‘good fit’.

Is a ‘good fit’ someone the interviewer feels they would get along with on a personal level? Someone who looks and sounds like they do? Or could it be someone who they think will blend seamlessly into the current team?

If such a small phrase raises this many questions, there is probably a hidden meaning behind these words.

To begin with, what do we mean by a ‘good fit’? For me, it is all about culture. Each organization has its own culture which is made up of common practices driven by its values and the working practices of their leaders and supervisors. This culture will have formed over time, and typically, a company will hire candidates that reflect their way of thinking and behaving. In other words, they are a ‘good fit’.

For example, research by Totaljobs found that 67% of employers saw a candidate’s cultural fit as ‘very important’, with one in five going as far as saying they would not hire a candidate if they were not the right cultural fit. However, the idea of maintaining a company’s culture could be the very thing holding it back.

Tara Ryan, the Director of People Experience at Monzo, pointed out that if you are trying to preserve your workplace culture, you are not giving it the opportunity to evolve. In short, the potential for business progression is being lost due to this rigid mindset.

Sure, employing people who ‘fit’ may help create a cosy camaraderie, but it will not necessarily bring anything new and innovative to the table to help your business increase its productivity and maintain a competitive advantage. Tapping into a wider range of attitudes and perspectives will enable you to push the boundaries of what you are trying to achieve and remain the preferred business partner to your clients.

So, rather than assessing if a potential hire is a culture fit, start assessing how they will be a culture add. What can this individual add to our culture to ensure we become irreplaceable to our clients?

While this approach is good in theory, it can be tougher in practice. Laura Rivera conducted a study for her book Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs which highlighted that only half of managers had a clear understanding of what their organizational culture was. In light of this, a shift to culture add can only be achieved by investing time in helping leaders understand what your company’s culture is, how it impacts business outcomes, and how hiring and leveraging a greater diversity of talent can strengthen it.

At OrgShakers we want to help you seize this opportunity by developing your Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategies. You can read more about the DE&I framework we use here or contact me directly at: Marty@OrgShakers.com.

In both the US and the UK employers are waking up to the fact that the workforce is ageing. And they should, because for the first time in history, over 1/3rd of the working population are over 50!

There is growing evidence, however, that organizations on both sides of the Atlantic are failing to act.

In the UK the Chartered Management Institute (CIM) works with business and education to inspire people to become skilled leaders.

Their research found that although 85% of managers taking part in a recent survey said their organization was age inclusive, only 5% reported proactive efforts to recruit older workers.

Ann Francke, the CMI’s chief executive, described this as “a wake-up call for all organizations to practice what they preach”.

Meanwhile, in the US AARP is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age.

In a recent interview AARP’s CEO, Jo Ann Jenkins, highlighted that “78% of our members recently surveyed told us they had faced some type of age discrimination in the last year … Yet, at the same time, older people are going to be the solution for many companies that are trying to hire people to deal with labor shortages and bring folks back into the workplace.”

OrgShakers’ Therese Procter reflected at the end of last year that “for many years the HR community (me included!) put our energy, focus and effort on progressive processes and practices that were supporting the needs of the younger working generation. Many of these innovations were ground-breaking – especially around maternity/paternity, IVF, adoption, childcare, etc. – and we should be proud of what we achieved.

“However, the ageing workforce means that we now have to widen our focus to meet the wellbeing and mental health needs of those in midlife and to consider how they can help them to live their best life while performing their job.”

As a proud midlife HR practitioner, Therese’s aim – along with her likeminded OrgShakers colleagues around the world – is to shine a light for employers on the issues people face at midlife and to provide education, policies, training, seminars, and guidelines to ensure organizations can maximize the performance of an age diverse workforce.

If you would like to know more, please get in touch: hello@orgshakers.com

A YouGov survey of 1,025 HR decision makers working across UK businesses has found that almost three quarters (72%) of businesses do not have a menopause policy.

This is despite it being widely accepted that the effects of the menopause can be debilitating for a woman’s physical and psychological wellbeing.

Symptoms such as joint pain, hot flushes, memory loss, fatigue, and anxiety can have a huge impact on a women’s confidence and workplace performance.

Indeed, a recent survey published by renowned GP and menopause specialist Dr Louise Newson found that 99% of respondents said their perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms had led to a negative impact on their careers, with more than a third calling the impact ‘significant’.

Almost 20% were off more than eight weeks and half of this group resigned or took early retirement.

Key findings from the YouGov survey include:

Almost three quarters (72%) of businesses do not have a menopause policy.
Over a quarter (27%) of large businesses (250 employees or more) say they have a menopause policy but only 10% of small firms (0-50 employees) do.
Even within organisations where the workforce is more than 50% women, the same low level of organisations (13%) have no menopause policy.
Only 16% of businesses train their line managers about the menopause. 94% of organisations in hospitality & leisure surveyed say they provide no training in this area.
Almost half (44%) of all the businesses that say they do not train their staff about the menopause admit to not having thought about it. 15% don’t consider it a priority whilst 7% claim that sensitivities and embarrassment about the issue hold them back.
Only half of organisations questioned (50%) say they are confident that women in their organisation are feel able to talk about the menopause. Almost 1/3 (31%) say they are not confident and 1 in 5 say they’re don’t know.
Within organisations where the proportion of women was the highest, the confidence levels amongst HR teams that employees are able to talk to their employer was the lowest (57%).
Only 18% of organisations say they provide information about the menopause to their employees with 13% offering internal support groups.
Almost 2/3 (64%) of businesses say they do not consider menopause during performance reviews for female staff. This is even higher in some sectors including manufacturing (76%), hospitality & leisure (75%), media, marketing & advertising (67%).

The YouGov survey was commissioned by employment law specialists at Irwin Mitchell. The total sample size was 1,025 HR decision makers and fieldwork was undertaken between 10th – 28th February 2022. The survey was carried out online.

In this episode of the HR Leaders podcast, Chris Rainey is joined by Therese Procter of OrgShakers and Vivek Patni, CEO and Co-Founder WeMa.

With one-third of the workforce now over the age of 50, their focus for discusion is how organizations can optimize this often overlooked pool of talent.

Midlife is a pivotal period in our life journey. It can suck – or rock!

Neither well defined nor well understood, Midlife is described simply as ‘the time between youth and old age’. A time which is often associated with stress and crisis – especially for women.

I can relate to this, but there are many positives to celebrate in Midlife too, including higher earnings, status at work, leadership in the family, authority in decision-making, self-confidence, and contribution to the community.

The reality is that these negative and positive aspects of Midlife are not exclusive to women – these are things we will all experience.

50 is the new 30

Employers are slowly starting to take more interest in Midlife workers … and they should, because for the first time in history, over 1/3^rd of the working population are over 50!

On reflection I realise that for many years the HR community (me included!) put our energy, focus and effort on progressive processes and practices that were supporting the needs of the younger working generation. Many of these innovations were ground-breaking – especially around maternity/paternity, IVF, adoption, childcare, etc. – and we should be proud of what we achieved.

However, the ageing workforce means that we now have to widen our focus to meet the wellbeing and mental health needs of those in Midlife and to consider how they can help them to live their best life while performing their job.

I suggest there are three issues we need to prioritise:

Biological Changes – Menopause and Andropause
The tide is turning with conversations at work about Menopause.
Rightly so, as there are 34 symptoms associated with this time in women’s lives – with some individuals suffering for up to 15 years.
However, less understood and rarely talked about is the fact that men can experience 17 of these 34 symptoms – the Andropause.
None of the Midlife men I speak to about the Andropause has heard of it. But all of them recognise that they have experienced the symptoms.
And the number one silent condition in both women and men linked to the biological changes we go through in Midlife is probably the least well known – a loss of bone density.
Osteoporosis typically strikes in older age but starts with the Menopause and Andropause.
Cancer – Breast Cancer/ Testicular Cancer
One in four of us will get cancer.
Breast cancer is the biggest cancer in women and testicular cancer in men.
New cases of cancer are 50% higher amongst over 50’s.
Mental Health – ‘Brain Fog’ and Memory Loss
A symptom of both Menopause and Andropause is ‘brain fog’ and memory loss.
It’s a scary feeling, and people often mistakenly fear that it’s the onset of dementia.
However, the evidence shows that these symptoms pass over time and that cognitive ability is not affected – we remain as sharp as we were.

In most cases if these issues are identified early, they can be treated positively and permanently.

So, is your organization encouraging Midlife colleagues to be aware of these issues and encouraging them to get regular health checks? And are they being given time to get appointments booked and time off to support these issues?

I’m in the camp that wants to Rock my mid life and get up every day and perform at my best.

So, I recently started taking HRT – not because I had any menopausal symptoms, but because my mum has osteoporosis. I have also had a blood tests and bone scans.

My parents are my role models, they exercise every day and have done since I can remember, and they are 83!

Diet and exercise are important. And so is being aware of what is going on in our bodies.

So, my call to arms is for all of us in Midlife to take control of ensuring that we can live our best lives – and for organizations to provide the encouragement, environment, and policies that support their employees throughout their working lives.

For more information, training, policy reviews or insight on how your business can navigate this important topic and “shake” things up, please contact therese@orgshakers.com.

Life expectancy is increasing, and by 2040 this is projected to rise to the age of 85.

That’s great news for me personally as I am now in my 50’s, but as an HR professional I’m also thinking about what these projections mean in the workplace – and what I should be focussing on for the future to benefit employees and to drive business performance.

The ageing population means that there are more midlife workers than ever before.

The employment rate for 50- to 64-year-olds in the UK has risen from 56% 30-years ago to 73% today – and it’s still rising.

We know that knowledge, skills, and experience are at their peak in midlife. And for employers to optimise these, they need to better understand and answer the needs of midlife workers.

Working Carers. Working age people will soon have more adult dependants than child dependants, with 1 in 6 of the workforce currently balancing their ‘day job’ with adult care responsibilities.

The pressures created by this balancing act can be enormous, with many being forced to take a career break.

Midlife workers the most likely to fall into this category, and the pandemic has had a massive impact on them with 81% saying caring responsibilities have grown due to Covid-19 and 74% feeling exhausted because of the increased stress.

Menopause and andropause are a biological fact of life and many organisations are starting to implement policies and workplace principles to support their employees through these changes.

More remains needs to be done, however, to educate managers and those without experience of midlife issues.

Career opportunities. Perversely, career and personal development opportunities for midlife workers slow down at precisely the moment they have the most to offer.

Some organisations offer a ‘returnship’ programs for individuals who have had to take a midlife career break, but these are currently very inconsistent with varied success.

There is also disparity in gender pay – especially if a person has been out of the workplace for some time and then returning.

As a proud midlife HR practitioner my aim is to shine a light for employers on the issues people face at midlife and to provide education, policies, training, seminars, and guidelines to ensure organizations can maximise the performance of an age diverse workforce.

I’m also very privileged to work with companies who are developing products to support businesses with these issues and, in doing so, help us all to live our best life, for the rest of our life.

Diversity brings a range of experience, differences in mindset, background, upbringing, world view, etc. and, as a result, diversity of thinking.

When we talk about the business benefits of diversity and inclusion we are thinking of the removal of inequitable barriers and widening of the talent pool, the richness of culture that a diverse workforce can bring and, from a business perspective, the wide range of viewpoints and ideas which create an engine for innovation and increased profitability.

Harnessing other people’s brains is a key leadership skill, as is also being able to understand others’ needs and appealing to their hearts through defining and articulating a motivating shared purpose.

The yin and yang of leadership – ‘Winning Hearts and Minds’ – should, I believe, be updated to ‘Sharing Hearts and Pooling Minds’.

The drive for diversity and inclusion in organisations is, thankfully, moving forward at pace and will hopefully lead to more diverse humans around the leadership table and thus diverse thinking in the most senior of leadership teams.

In my experience of working with senior leadership teams, there is often a vague understanding of the need and benefits of diversity. They know it’s a ‘good thing’ morally but often cannot articulate why from a business perspective and, even if they get the diverse thinking argument, they fail to fully leverage the benefits.

Many appear ill-equipped to know what to do with ideas different to their own when these appear around the senior leadership table. At its worst, they are confused that the new person that they have invited to share the table isn’t thinking like they are, isn’t towing the party line or ‘fitting in’.

Some leaders seem particularly focused on creating and ensuring team harmony, seeing the strongly held differences of opinion as conflict and to be avoided. They see a team as functioning ‘well’ when there is not dissent. But, as with many things, it is ‘how’ we challenge, not the challenge itself, that is the key. We don’t want harmony at all costs – and we don’t need outright conflict.

What we do need is ‘respectful challenge’. Ensuring that there is plenty of emotionally intelligent and respectful challenge of each other, is in my opinion, a business culture change that we need to make happen and soon.

Respectful challenge sits alongside co-creation but acknowledges that we need to draw differences of opinion out, in order to benefit from them and truly co-create, not bury the differences or paper them over in the name of being collaborative.

I am suggesting that we need to bring differences of thinking out into the open around the leadership table in a productive manner; to make it the norm to challenge openly, honestly but respectfully; to know that we don’t have the only answer, the one and only route; to really listen to and question each other with curiosity; and to find the nuggets in each of our ideas that when combined really are pure gold.

Our aim for leveraging diversity of thinking surely is not to agree quickly and move on, or shout down ideas that don’t make sense to us, our aim is to shine the light on different ideas and opinions, examine and find the optimum ideas for our organisations and then agree how to proceed.

Making the time to listen to multiple ideas drawn from many people may seem to be the antithesis of our fast moving, quickly decisive ways of working currently (and I’m not saying that we don’t have to make quick decisions in times of urgency), but we seem to have a business trend which pushes Pace over Quality – and I believe we are the poorer for it.

I have seen the following range of issues in leadership teams (sometimes several in the same team):-

‘Group think’ – where there is a lack of diverse thinking at all, such that the members are so aligned in their view of the world (same backgrounds, experiences etc) that “there cannot possibly be any other way to do things or think about things” – can there?
Intimidating leader – will brook no dissent, closes down debate, already thinks they personally have all the answers and that their job is to get everyone else to see the merit of their idea and agree with it.
Learned helplessness – often as a result of the intimidating leader, people give up airing views especially those they believe are not aligned with the leader’s viewpoint. They tend to leave the ideas and strategy to the alpha leader. This is dangerous for so many reasons – how good are the ideas from the leader? Harnessing other ideas is likely to create better end results and get buy-in. People are demotivated when they don’t have a voice – even senior leaders – and may leave.
Silent dissent – the team seem to agree with a course of action, or do not surface objections around the table, but mutter dissent outside of the meetings in small groups of allies. As a result, issues return to the table time after time or proceed slowly as people do not agree with the course of action and drag their feet.
Open aggression – the team all sit in their silos only thinking about their own business function and argue their position without listening to each other or focusing on what is best for the whole organisation.

None of the above are particularly healthy or lead to optimum functioning of a leadership team.

So, what are the solutions? Here are a few:

Hire diverse talent and recognise that what you will hopefully get is lots of difference in opinion, thinking and ideas. As a leader YOU need to learn how to best harness the differences and not try to bend diversity to fit into the existing ‘group think’ or shut down dissent. (I coach leaders to manage their concern over dissent and control their tendencies to take over and drive only their point of view).
Really understand that there are individual differences in thinking, not that someone just doesn’t get what you are saying or isn’t as smart as you! Remember that our goal is to understand each of our team’s unique viewpoints on topics precisely because each person truly does not think the same as the next and may have some great ideas and insights that may not occur to us. (I run neuroscience training to help individuals understand this key point.)
Develop the habits of active listening and questioning with curiosity, create team norms around these behaviours. I do this work with individuals and teams.
Encourage and make time for challenge – not conflict – and make respectful challenge a stated behaviour of your leadership team, reminding each other every meeting and interaction.
To respectfully challenge, team members need to feel that the environment is psychologically safe for them to step up and share a different perspective. So, develop your emotional intelligence, EQ – the ‘how’ we interact and communicate with each other – and hire talent with strong EQ or develop the EQ of the whole team. (I run individual EQ assessments and coaching and EQ awareness sessions).
Ensure that whoever is leading the meeting draws out the thinking of all in the group that wish to contribute and allows for different methods of contribution. For example, some people prefer to reflect and then suggest ideas – so send details of the key issues out ahead of the meeting or allow them time after the meeting to come back with thoughts.

Now, the cry I often hear when discussing respectful challenge and co-creation is “it takes so much longer to hear others’ views”. My response to that is yes, it can take time, but the outcomes will be of higher quality, you will innovate more frequently, you will have more buy-in and less instances of having to ‘do-over’ as potential objections and new ideas will have been addressed.

Of course, there will be instances when, in a time critical situation, a more rapid response may be needed – and often this will need to lean on the expertise of one or two people in the group advising the others. That said, in my experience once respectful challenge becomes the norm within a team it becomes quicker to achieve results that truly work as opposed to the delays that arise from the huddles of dissent outside of the meetings.

In summary, in order to really leverage the benefits of diversity we need to develop habits and behaviours which allow us to harness everyone’s unique brains. It’s not enough just to invite diverse thinking to the table and then think ‘job done’, we have to really be prepared to open up our minds to differences of opinion and build a culture of speak up and listen.

We need to build the emotional intelligence skills to actively listen, question with curiosity, build the skill of respectful challenge in all members of our leadership teams, and be humble enough to know that we don’t have all the answers and our job as leaders isn’t to provide all the answers ourselves.

Pride Month had become an affinity month that lives in two places in my mind.

First, it is the celebration of who I am, who I married, and progress towards true recognition and justice.

Second, it is a period where organizations mumble through encouraging statements, high-fives, and rainbow merchandise most of which I honestly won’t wear … and certainly won’t buy!

This duality has caused a bit of an internal struggle, as I watch most organizations take up space in a perceived effort to capitalize on and market to the Queer Community, while never instituting change with the intention of longevity.

However, there remains a huge opportunity for companies big and small to do something purposeful and use this moment to create a meaningful sustainable impact.

The truth is most organizations still do not know what to do to express allyship and inclusivity, but they desperately want direction in this space. So, they show up in June waving the rainbow flag smiling so big like “Hey – look we did it!” Unfortunately for them, we can hold those flags ourselves. The month of recognition is nice to have, but what members of the Queer Community deserve from their places of work are the policies, procedures, language, and systems that not only support who they are, but affirm who they are through company sponsored practices.

OrgShakers know this. In celebration of Pride Month, we would like to affirm the Queer Community by lifting the burden of explanation and ideas.

We are offering a conversation on Applying Allyship with leaders in the people space. This dialog will touch on the topics of where we start, how can allyship be applied tangibly, inclusive language and practices, and providing structure internally to make these ideas a reality.

Therese Procter and Marty Belle, who both have global experience in bringing these ideas to life in many organizations, will be hosting FREE virtual seminars from 10.00am CDT / 4.00pm BST on Thursday June 17 and Thursday June 24, 2021.

We would love to see many of you attend to join our conversation, so please CLICK HERE or scan the QR code below to register.

Phil Mickelson stunned the golf world on Sunday when he finished off his win in the PGA Championship to become, at 50, the oldest golfer ever to win a major championship.

He finished the event shooting six under par. After his win, praise flooded in from across not just the golf community, but from other star athletes and celebrities across the world. His performance was truly inspiring.

What came after, was not so much an explanation of how Mickelson reached the finest achievement of his career, but insistence of how he never believed his time on golf’s frontline was over.

Mickelson admitted ”it is very possible that this is the last tournament I ever win. It’s also very possible that I may have had a little bit of a breakthrough in some of my focus and maybe I’ll go on a little bit of a run. But the point is, there’s no reason why I or anybody else can’t do it at a later age … it just takes a little bit more work.”

This immediately made me think of my father Michael.

At 83 years young, his passion for golf is a strong today as it was at the age of 7 when the Christian Brother monks would give him time off school from so he could caddy for American visitors at the course near his home in Lehinch, Co. Clare in Ireland. He received golf balls as payment and split the proceeds with the monks.

Last year, he won the senior singles competition at his club against a 55-year-old opponent.
He’d previously won the same title in 1996 – but he wasn’t going to let 24 years, two hip replacements, a knee replacement, and COPD get in his way!

Like Phil Mickelson, he believes that there’s no reason why you can’t keep going – and that one day, when the wind is on your back and the sun on your face … you might just get a win!

My dad really inspires me never to give up and to keep on learning. It’s a lesson I’ve taken from him and one I’ve passed to my two daughters and the countless leaders I’ve had the privilege to coach.

My colleague Pamela Kingsland at Orgshakers also talks and writes about how we can keep developing and learning all through our lives and age should never be a barrier.

As a woman who is now mid-life, I’m so encouraged by that.
And both Phil and my Dad are testament to the fact that for all the mid-lifers (and even those who’ve entered later-life) … now is our time!

As I was writing this, a poem I had read some time ago came into my head: ‘Don’t Let Anyone Mess With Your Swing’.

It wasn’t written for golf, but it could have been. It was written about a Boston baseball player called Ted Williams, and this verse is my favourite:

Enjoy your talents. Have your fling.
The seasons change. The years advance.
Watch the ball and do your thing.
And don’t let anybody mess with your swing.