Feature insight - Staff development
...empathy that allows them to appreciate what it might be like to come from a different background
appreciated as their individual needs and aspirations are taken into account. In turn, creating a greater sense of empowerment will help people to take more responsibility for their development, building a virtuous circle that enhances the diversity of approaches and practices within an organisation. People have differing preferences in the way they learn, for example using digital technology. By recognising these differences, talent professionals can have a huge impact. Challenging your organisation’s underlying talent management philosophy and adjusting assessment processes will go a long way towards ensuring a level playing field in decision-making. ● A pply proportionality – gaining credibility through data transparency – One of the most demotivating elements of organisational culture is a secretive promotion process. Proportionality is the simple and hard to refute concept that promotion should be in proportion to the talent available. Let’s say that in an organisation there were five grades, from A at the top to E at the bottom. Men and women were 50/50 at Grade E but this declined to only 20% women at Grade A. If 30% of Grade B population is female, then we would expect 30% of promotions to the Grade A above to be women. In this way, the Grade A 20% female population would increase over time towards the 30% incidence at the grade below. This is a benchmark, the exact amount would obviously differ according to individual skill set, organisation/ market conditions and so forth. But proportionality acts as a yardstick, a check and balance against bias. To understand why this is so important, look at the data. Even though proportionality seems fair, most organisations have never met it and still bias certain groups (usually men and extroverts) over others. That’s one reason why, over time, and at more senior levels, organisations become more homogenous. Referring to the data allows us to challenge subjective decision- making. People will often use positive discrimination, or non-merit based promotion, as an excuse to avoid promotion based on what’s actually available. It’s more likely that positive discrimination has occurred in the
opposite direction, in the absence of proportionality. The concept’s simplicity allows it to be scalable across the entire organisation. It’s a nudge that doesn’t require much training. Its power lies in challenging previously held assumptions about the fairness of our promotion systems – now we have a check and balance to see if that perceived fairness is justified. To be enacted, proportionality requires data to be mobilised. To be even more effective, that data should be used to set targets. To be the most effective those targets should be published so that transparency can be an added incentive to become more diverse. The professional services firm KPMG has gone public with targets and uses proportionality for all promotions. Knowing there are open checks and balances in the system gives people confidence that they have a fair shot at advancement. ● Incentivise the right behaviours – insist on transparency and accountability – Just as recruitment diversity was benchmarked every month by departments at the London Organising Committee of the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012, functions can be benchmarked on their promotions. Apportioning accountability for decision-making is a business efficiency imperative. Transparency is one of the best tools we have to challenge poor decision-making. We know from experience that certain individuals would not have been promoted if the decision maker had to stand by their decision in a public forum. Objections to such transparent structures usually range from time commitment to other decision makers not knowing the person/business case. The response to the first challenge is the cost benefit of time investment versus the cost of a bad hire, especially at senior levels. The response to the second challenge is that if the candidate is good enough they should stand up to scrutiny by people who have the whole organisation’s interests at heart. ● Develop empathy – Just as in a relationship, people want to feel listened
to. Though those at the top may feel they have worked their way up based on their ability, they may not recognise the advantages they had on their journey and the fact that others from a less privileged upbringing may not have had the same opportunities. There is huge empathy deficit in many large corporations. The result is many companies do not create environments where great talent can thrive and flourish. We have tended to merely focus on specific contexts, short-term results and commercial returns. Those in management positions need to develop the empathy that allows them to appreciate what it might be like to come from a different background. An empathic culture is particularly important for millenials who are demanding a different kind of working experience: they are looking for connections; they want their voices, and their workplace requirements, to be heard. In most cases organisations are making slow progress in meeting diversity targets so it’s becoming widely accepted that we need to recognise the wide range of social, biological, psychological and organisational factors that influence how we think and operate. Belinda Parmar developed an organisation called Lady Geek and works specifically on building empathy in organisations to retain diverse talent. She says, “The good news is that empathy can be demonstrated in the form of easy to implement nudges. Change small things, and the bigger things can follow more quickly." A story-telling model, for example, is a powerful means of cascading information. n People are inspired by leaders who believe in an inclusive mission. It’s more effective to lead by example and show rather than tell. Implement the above five techniques and move your organisation further towards the meritocracy Michael Young originally intended. The more you can open your doors, the more you can let diversity in, the faster you can ably progress.
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Issue 25 | November 2016
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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