Women Leaders In Learning

Pulling through crisis with an inclusive approach and aim for higher standards

As someone with extensive experience in the HCM and learning technology industry, I’ve always held the philosophy that diversity in the workplace is absolutely crucial for building great companies and the best workplace cultures. I’m also a firm believer in the hiring practice of culture add rather than culture fit. To me, culture fit describes how well an individual can conform to an organization, while culture add refers to individuals who value a company’s standards and culture, but also bring a unique aspect of diversity and inclusivity that positively contributes to the organization success.

According to Great Place to Work, more inclusive and more diverse teams outperform less diverse organizations in revenue growth, productivity, brand ambassadorship, and employee intent to stay at their respective organizations. They experience higher levels of innovation, customer satisfaction, and also contribute to a high-trust culture where employees believe leaders are more credible and believe the workplace is fundamentally more fair.

I have never witnessed a better example of the importance of diversity and leadership in action, as I have with the pandemic. At Inkling’s Illuminate annual user conference last Fall, we heard from several women leaders in learning in a panel discussion where they shared their experiences from when the country began going into lockdown mode last spring. Business models were turning upside down literally overnight, as work shifted from the office to the home.

These amazing women explained how they had to draw upon their leadership to meet, head on, unforeseen workforce challenges for survival. Whether it was developing new standard operating procedures for employees in a Covid-19 world at Taco Bell, or creating a best practices guide for Stanford University faculty on how to use Zoom, the women who spoke at our conference exhibited true grit and determination.

For example, one woman explained that a key learning for her during the early stages of lockdown was the discovery that she quickly dropped the “fluttery” language she had used in the past to couch her messages among a team of mostly male technical engineers. “I just said things directly because none of us had time for chit chat and formalities,” she said, adding that the men she worked with were accustomed to speaking forthrightly all the time.

This was a reminder of some of the challenges women leaders can face, particularly in an environment where they are outnumbered by men. What concessions do they find themselves making to accommodate others, or to avoid being perceived in a negative way?

A common theme I observed was how the element of inclusivity was a part of their decision making and subsequent actions, as though they felt like their teams were family. These comments capture that sense of inclusivity:
 

These women and their teams were forced into survival mode, but the crisis at hand even pushed them to set higher standards. When normal office work activities barreled into a new, virtual environment, they recognized that the rules had to be rewritten. “We decided that now is the best time to experiment, for example, how do you build teams when you’re not in the same room? We acknowledged we had a new baseline and we gave a name to our fear, but we knew we could do better even in the midst of (the pandemic)...and found unexpected rewards that helped us set a higher standard during these tough times,” one of the panelists commented.

Another panelist had to prepare an emergency operations manual for her company’s workforce that incorporated CDC, state and municipality health and safety compliance guidelines using a digital learning platform. This document has since evolved into what is now her company’s global project operations and merchandising playbook.

These panelists clearly represented the principle of culture add vs. culture fit. A culture fit approach has boundaries, is less open to change, and leans toward what is familiar. In contrast, I heard many accounts of how the women panelist leaders navigated their way through a very difficult time, determined to embrace change, experiment with new ideas and processes, learn from their mistakes, and above all, manage from a perspective of inclusivity to reinvent how they conduct business.

Despite how difficult the past year has been, I believe we can find a number of silver linings in how the workforce can adapt to change when it has to. As we forge our way into a new era of work, I’m hopeful that diversity and inclusion will continue to play a key role in enabling everyone, no matter who they are or what jobs they do, to have a great work experience. Each person matters, and it’s good business to include everyone and create a great place to work where people can experience the psychological safety to be their real selves, and all employee stakeholders can thrive.