Yes, you read that right. Equality is not a belief, it’s an action.
The road to equality is bumpy. Most of us know it’s the right thing to do, but why then is it so difficult to get there?
In my previous article I examined some of the obvious conscious and unconscious biases we are up against when pushing equality forward. Today, I want to go deeper and address some of the organizational issues that are to blame when diversity, inclusion, and equality directives don’t take off.
Equality Does Not Happen by Wishing Alone
Let me give you a set of scenarios to ponder upon:
Organization A
Let’s say Organization A decides to add diversity, inclusion, and equality to its core values. The leadership team agrees it sounds good. And since it was your idea, you are rewarded by being in charge of the initiative. Tag—you’re IT! You are left to make it happen with no direction, no resources, and no money. Leadership wishes you luck and says, “Please MAKE US look good and report your successes.” Pretty clever if you ask me. Now the company can say it is making inroads and that it has a program.
During a recent speaking engagement, I spoke to a wonderful and brilliant woman who shared that she alone IS the equality initiative at her workplace. Her company doesn’t spend a dime on any program or training, although they do allow her to speak on stages about how supportive they are of women. Well, that’s one way of doing it. Estimated date to arrive at goal? Never.
Organization B
Organization B is willing to put some resources behind equality and provides time and space to put a mentorship, sponsorship, or roundtable program in place. Leadership here has read some of the numbers on the gamut of studies that declare balanced leadership is good for business. With that awareness, their goal is to identify and advance high potentials. However, leadership is not convinced they can get behind this initiative 100% so they go safe and slow.
In the Organization B scenario, there are aware male leaders who are behind the idea and want to offer mentorship and sponsorship to women in the organization who have been identified as high potentials. Something is better than nothing. The company wants to do something and starts with the obvious—its own internal resources. I see this example most often play out in very large companies.
The problem is that most male leaders have not been trained in coaching and there is a complete lack of structure, measurables, deliverables, outlines etc.
It is not wise to start an initiative like this without having a plan.
Who will do it, how it will be done, and what will make it successful all need to be considered at the start. Sure, they put forth a commendable effort, but still the initiative lands on the shoulders of those who believe in the idea of equality. It is added to their workload with no outside resources.
Organization C
At Organization C things are… well, let’s call them the denial company. Founded by white men with big aspirations asking for seed money from other white men, following a white male culture and going after white male targets. This is the beloved start-up with the hot idea and all they need to do is raise money, nail a successful IPO, and deliver shareholder value again and again. The pressure to perform and be the next big thing is huge.
While all that chasing and intense churning might look good on the spreadsheet, this type of business is in grave danger. We often see a lack of culture development and planning because the organization is built on the flashy personality of the CEO. Who cares about the people? Because this is self-bravado culture at its very worst, think of it as stepping back into Mad Men advertising culture where men could do no wrong. Until, that is, the first muttering that there is an issue with equality, diversity and inclusion here.
We see this in countless examples, especially in the high-pressure world of Silicon Valley. My prediction is that equality will continue to be the most expensive problem faced by successful tech companies.
It’s only when the problem affects the bottom line that shareholders suddenly become much more amicable to changing the culture.
Once you or your organization is called out for being sexist, you are buried deep in damage control for years to come. Claims like that follow you like a curse. And now the cost to your business are staggering. From bad publicity, users creating hashtag movements to delete your app, lawsuits, to strained investor/shareholder relationships the damage catalog is broad.
Über was caught with its hand in the cookie jar, proverbially speaking. What we suspected all along turned out to be true (“Where are the women?” was finally answered) and the avalanche of sexism, crude comments, and sexual harassment accusations started rolling. In any unbalanced organization, once the first woman opens up about its sexist culture, more will join her. Sexism is rooted so deeply in white male culture that unless there is awareness training, most men don’t even know that a well-meaning compliment could be sexist.
Drum Roll Please!
Here’s THE BEST example, and please roll your eyes with me…
The President of the United States said to the French President’s wife, “You’re in such good shape.”
Lesson: If our own leadership can’t decide whether it’s a compliment or sexism, how can the rest of us figure this out?
So, What Can Be Done?
When you turn on the news channel, one thing is clear—the responsibility to create the changes we want to see relies entirely on us. No mandates, no rules, no regulations, nothing matters but what you personally believe in and what you are willing to do to make it happen.
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Personally, I am so over rolling my eyes. I am ready for action. My team and I have created pilot programs ranging from 2 hours to 2 days and we offer a yearlong follow up. We are ready when you are.
Equality is not a belief, it’s an action. Let’s get moving!
At her lowest point, Beate Chelette was $135,000 in debt, a single mother, and forced to leave her home. Only 18 months later, she sold her image licensing business to Bill Gates in a multimillion dollar deal. Chelette is a nationally known ‘gender decoder’ who has appeared in over 60 radio shows, respected speaker, career coach, consummate creative entrepreneur, and author of Happy Woman Happy World. Beate is also the founder of The Women’s Code, a unique guide to women leadership and personal and career success that offers a new code of conduct for today’s business, private, and digital worlds. Determined to build a community of women supporting each other, she took her life-changing formula documented it all in a book Brian Tracy calls “an amazing handbook for every woman who wants health, happiness, love and success!”
Through her corporate initiative “Why Acting Like a Girl Is Good For Business” she helps companies with gender diversification training, and to develop and retain women.
If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on New Leadership Balance or Creative Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect with me.