Bias: the Achilles’ heel of diversity advancement + 4 things you can do to mitigate bias

Three diverse women sit at a table together working. No instance ofbias.

Bias is the primary reason why, despite the diversity goals, the same type of candidate is still selected, leading to the same type of team composition and the same team thinking. Bias leads employees from underrepresented groups to feel disengaged and not being “really seen”. Bias leads to even the most personally committed leaders of diversity unwittingly and unintentionally excluding some members of the organization while including others.

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Four ways to support cultural and linguistic diversity at work

Support diversity at work.

At Leaders in Heels, we are passionate about celebrating women’s stories, and when we heard Div Pillay’s story, we knew we had to share it with you. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in to enjoy this article, written by Div herself.

In light of everything going on in the world today, I #ChooseToChallenge you. I challenge you to think about how you are advocating for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women.

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Gemma and Valeria of Diverse City Careers on diversity in the workplace

Gemma and Valeria are co-founders of Diverse City Careers, a jobs board that advertises positions from Australia’s top companies which provide ideal workplaces for women. Since my first coffee with Gemma and Valeria last year, I’ve seen these ladies go from strength to strength. We’ve been lucky enough to get some time with them to answer some questions about their startup, diversity, enacting change and community, plus a throwback to the school days.

diverse-city-careers

Do you recall the moment when the lightbulb illuminated with the Diverse City Careers (DCC) idea, and why you became so passionate about starting the business?

Gemma: The idea behind DCC came to me after spending 8 years in IT&T and experienced the challenges faced by many women in male dominated industries. Both Valeria and I were also on the board of Females in Technology and Telecommunications (FITT). FITT is a NFP network with over 4,000 members. Through volunteering with FITT, we realised there were so many other women experiencing the same challenges as us. Through the FITT corporate sponsors, we were exposed to companies doing amazing things to support women- such as internal leadership programs, a focus on equal pay and great parental policies. That’s when I thought- why can’t all companies be like this? Essentially that’s where the concept for DCC was born- to only promote the companies doing the right thing. Initially I reached out to Valeria to see if she’d be interested in helping me with some marketing activities but she fell in love with the idea too and the rest is history!

Valeria: My passion for DCC stems from the desire to see more companies focus on outcomes rather than “time spent in office” to enable more inclusive and happy workplaces. Flexibility is one of several key aspects to drive productivity and while not every role can be flex, there are lots of room for improvement in this area across Australian businesses.

I also found myself and other women frustrated with the lack of options to easily find the most supportive employers. Most job boards were either flooded with anonymous, or even worse, fake recruiters’ jobs and others only catered to working mothers.

DCC’s motto is: “We believe in a better way of working”. With that in mind, can you give examples of ideal environments for businesses to work toward?

An ideal working environment consists of a few different things:

  • A place where everyone believes in the company’s mission and working towards a common goal
  • A place where everyone can be 100% themselves and feel included
  • Where there are opportunities to learn and grow, to reach your full potential
  • Where you feel empowered to make decisions within your area of expertise, an agile environment that can respond to the market quickly without bureaucracy and politics.

Your start-up is still young, but you’re smashing it from all angles! Can you share three things which have been contributing factors to this rapid rise?

  1. We are genuinely passionate about what we’re doing and we’ve struck a chord with many others who believe in what we’re achieving
  2. We’ve developed key industry partnerships to help expand our community through the collective networks of different groups such as Tech Girls Movement and Women in Energy
  3. For the last 12 months we’ve lived and breathed everything DCC, we’ve worked really hard to achieve this growth- we have sacrificed a lot personally as would most startup founders.

Both of you have a background in tech. What advice do you have for women wanting to get into the tech space, and/or manifest change in their chosen STEM career?

Gemma: There are so many awesome career paths you can take in tech and it’s an incredible field to be in! Many great organisations are hiring for potential rather than experience, so don’t be afraid to go for roles you may not have 100% experience in. With less than 30% of the ICT workforce female, forward thinking organisations are providing great training and professional development opportunities to be able to create a more diverse workforce.

Valeria: Tech has the capability to provide the most flexibility- you can literally do you job anywhere and I’m a prime example of this- prior to DCC, I’ve worked with four different tech companies in a marketing capacity, where I managed activities nationally from Melbourne. Over the years I’ve met brilliant people working in IT, many of whom are not strictly ‘technical’- which breaks the common perception of this industry.

Some people may say that your business is not about diversity; rather, it backs the effort to increase women’s rights in the workplace. What is your response to that?

Gemma: The two go hand in hand- we need to increase women’s rights to ensure there are more diverse, inclusive and equal workforces. Within ICT specifically in the top 3 tiers in management, only 1 in 5 leaders are female. We need to support and increase women into those roles, part of that is enforcing women’s rights such as equal pay, better parental leave policies and mentor programs.

Valeria: The policy changes we are influencing are all about inclusivity. Let’s take one aspect for example; parental leave policies. Our vision is to see companies abandon the ‘maternity leave’ policies in favour of parental leave where males and females can have access to the same entitlements. Our clients do not just focus on ‘women’s rights’ but creating an overall inclusive culture. However there is lots of work to be done to change the image of some companies being strictly a ‘boys’ club’ which is where using images of women at work in job ads and sharing their stories comes in.

I would imagine the community aspect plays a big role when engaging with a business. How much of what you do is about advocating change, and does community play a role in that?

It’s a huge part of our business and why we do what we do- with only 10% of computer science graduates in Australia female, we need to make sure we’re building the pipeline of women coming through. A good example of this is our partnership with Tech Girls are Superheroes and our “Superhero Daughter Day”. Held at the Microsoft Innovation Centre in Brisbane during International Women’s Day week, we had 120 girls as young as four years old through to 13 attend with their parents to celebrate technology and even have a go at coding!

We are very focused on sharing the positive changes in the industry as well- whether this be through a digital campaigns such as the IWD Pledge for Parity or events with our corporate clients and partners. These include facilitating panel discussions around how companies are getting creative in solving barriers to gender equality along with donating our time to speak at external events. The media has also been very supportive through sharing the news of our initiatives.

Do you have any tips for community managers to consider when pitching to management about adding or updating policies about balanced diversities?

There are countless studies that demonstrate how more diverse organisations are more profitable, productive and have a lower turnover of staff. I’d definitely be using these! Plus demonstrate industry leading practices at other organisations. On the DCC website, we profile organisations under the Companies we Endorse page to showcase some of the great things companies do to support women.

In 25 words or less, why would you love to check out Silicon Valley?

Because it’s the worlds hub for tech start-ups. It’s filled with highly successful entrepreneurs, investors and home to the most successful companies like Apple and Google- you would meet some truly inspiring people and learn a lot!

Windows or MacOS?

Gemma: Windows desktop, but iOS phone

Valeria: Windows desktop and Android phone

Here’s a throw-back to primary school! What was your best school project and why?

Gemma: I don’t remember much from primary school so had to call my mum for this one! She said my favourite project was when we went to Egypt and Israel on holiday. At school I created a big collage of my trip and the history of those countries, like the pyramids. I was creative during primary school which is why I enjoyed this project.

For high school, in year 12 I was part of “Business Week”. In groups, we had to design, market and simulate the growth of a hotel which then competed against other groups in our year. I’ve always had an urge to run my own business so I loved this project!

Valeria: In primary school, my obsession with the NBA and in particular Michael Jordan meant that each and every project had to be directly related to basketball. This included a maths game which was based around players’ jersey numbers, a felt collage for art consisting of the 1992 Dream Team and when it came to picking a country for a geography project, I had no hesitation in choosing Jordan. All projects drove my teachers mad but I was extremely proud of my commitment to basketball and my ‘unique’ creations.

 

Feel free to connect with Gemma or Valeria via LinkedIn. You can also check out DCC online via web, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Solution to gender diversity? Appoint more women

Time is not the answer for those hoping to see more women in leadership positions. A study conducted by Bain & Company, and Chief Executive Women (CEW) recently released found the following:

  1. Presence of women in leadership positions inspired other women to reach their full potential.
  2. Since 1985, more women have been graduating from universities than men.
  3. Nine times more men make it to senior leadership positions than women despite both genders showing equal amounts of ambition.
  4. 53% women are detractors of their organisations as a place where women can progress to senior levels.
  5. Women are five times more likely to promote their organisation as a good place to work when females represent more than 25% of the
    executive team.

It was also found that women tended to be most negative when it came to progression in their junior to middle management years, being especially critical of their management style. During this career formative years, many women were also faced with starting a family and balancing their work, questioning the possibility of being promoted if they don’t have examples of other women having done it previously. At a Bloomberg and Chief Executive Women (CEW) panel event in November 2012, CEW’s Chief Executive Officer, Julie White observed the decrease in the numbers of women between twenty-five and forty-four years of age typically when Australians often start families.Melanie Sanders, Bain partner and co-author of the report advises Australian businesses to stop talking and start implementing: appoint more women to top positions

Melanie Sanders, Bain partner and co-author of the report advises Australian businesses to stop talking and start implementing: appoint more women to top positions. Helen Conway, Chief Executive of EOWA (Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency), urged shareholders to ask their companies to better utilise their female talent.

Whether Australian businesses add gender diversity to the top of their business plans remains to be seen however ASX listed companies appear to have taken this onboard given the results of the 2012 Australian Census of Women in Leadership.

3 tips to help overcome diversity issues

I’ve been asked to run some one day workshops around Australia in 2013 on “Employing and Engaging Women in Low Diversity Environments”. So as you can imagine I’ve been thinking a lot about diversity lately.

The focus is on male dominated industries – the resources sector, transport, perhaps even trades. Although low diversity environments could actually be senior management roles or even on positions in boards – they’re all very topical at present especially given the recent EOWA statistics. Diversity is an interesting subject because we usually think about it in terms of women or the lack thereof, it can also encompass other areas such as religion or race. So I believe it’s not just about gender.

When we think about gender diversity, it’s usually in relation to women. Looking at the flipside of it, low-diversity environments for men are roles traditionally undertaken by women. Hairdressing, aged care; nursing, executive assistants and what about ‘at home dads’, of which my brother was one. Although you see more and more men entering these arenas, I’m sure they at times suffer from the same issues.

The bottom line is, no matter who the person is or the role they play in life, we should follow some basic rules that apply to everyone:

  • Treat everyone with respect. No matter what they do or say, be the bigger person by not engaging poorly. You don’t know and may never know what’s happening in their life.
  • Remember every time you speak badly to someone, it reflects upon you and not them.
  • In every conversation, aim for a win/win outcome. When you walk away, ensure you both feel good. Even if the conversation is a tough one, words can be delivered in such a way that the other person doesn’t feel belittled.

Follow these few simple tips and there is no doubt the world would be a better place and really, isn’t that what we’re all striving for?

Throwing in one more tip for good luck… if you’re going to an interview, ‘Be yourself and not who you think they are looking for’. Employers are looking for the person who will ‘fit’ within their organisation. If you want to be happy in your job – show your authentic self from the beginning and then everyone knows where they stand.

Glenise Anderson is the Chief Confidence Chick at Self Confident Women, a personal development company helping women around the world create a better life.

Top image: credit

Body confidence in young girls starts at home

mother-and-child

In today’s society where over a third of Australian girls are dissatisfied with their bodies at the age of four, it’s important that we start building resilience and investing in empowering our girls to be body confident, which is why we feel it’s important to discuss how body confidence in young girls starts at home.

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