Category Archives: Mentoring

Get to Know Us

Posted by Corey Jamison on May 5, 2011 None comments

Do you sense a generation gap in your workplace? It may have less to do with the difference in generations than with tenure in the organization—and, more specifically, attitudes toward change.

In one corner are associates who have served the company for years, even decades. They have long since assimilated into the organization’s ways of working and interacting. Many of them see no reason for change and actively resist it. When approached with a new idea by someone with less experience, they might react with “wait until you’ve been here as long as I have, and then you’ll understand why we do things the way we do.”

In the other corner are change agents new to the organization. Often in the early stages of their career, they walk in the door, see the need for change everywhere, and press to make it happen. They are accustomed to the idea (from their schooling, their upbringing, or other influences) that they are entitled to start reshaping things in their environment from day one.  

Both groups are invaluable to the organization. Each brings a perspective that the other needs but does not have. Together they can move the organization forward far more effectively than each group could on its own.

What if they meet in the middle?

Those of longer tenure can, and should, honor the desire for change. Without change in this fast-changing marketplace, no organization can survive—and the perspectives of all associates, including new people, are needed to identify the changes necessary. At the same time, new people can advance the organization more effectively by supplementing their zeal for change with an ever-growing knowledge of the organization as it is. The more they know about the organization, the more aligned—and thus more relevant—their ideas for change are likely to be.

Many organizations fail to realize the importance of communicating this knowledge of the organization.  Often people learn their specific job tasks first and then, on their own, start picking up the ways of interacting that characterize the organization. If the environment were seen as part of the learning curve, new people might integrate faster into the organization and thus contribute more relevant ideas more quickly.

To longtime associates, the message is: welcome the perspectives of others. To new people, the message is: get to know us. Only when both happen can greater collaboration, meaningful change, and higher performance start to take place.

Seven Things Organizations can do to Enable Women’s Success

Posted by Judith Katz on October 16, 2007 None comments

katz_judith.jpgRecently while reading an e-newsletter from a professional organization, I came across yet another article about a mentoring program for women in the workplace. Although the article itself—about an approach to mentoring women in the workplace—was useful, I found myself upset, not by the content, but by the underlying mindset and approach.

For over 20 years, organizations have been implementing mentoring programs to support women’s and people of color’s ability to succeed in the workplace. Yet it is still quite clear that women of color, white women and men of color have not attained the level of success of their white male counterparts. With all the effort, you’d think we would be doing better by now – and although women and people of color have had some success moving into more senior leadership roles, we are far from having equity in the workplace.

The real issue is that we continue to misdiagnose the problem, leading us to use programs and approaches that only address a small part of the challenge. You can’t stop a boulder with a pea shooter and in many ways that is what we have been doing as organizations have worked to address the “women” and “people of color” “problem.” Although this blog is focused specifically on the question of systemic barriers for white women and women of color much of the same could be said about the barriers that men of color experience as well.

I was pleased to see a recent Harvard Business Review article that spoke to this very issue. ”Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership” discussed the fact that calling the barriers that women experience a “glass ceiling” actually is a misnomer; that the real experience is a labyrinth—a maze in which every twist and turn presents challenges and obstacles to success. By mislabeling or misdiagnosing the issue, we have been formulating simplistic approaches to a much more complex set of challenges. Many of the approaches focus more on tactics organizations and individual women can use rather than addressing the systemic issues of organizational policies, practices and structures just don’t work to enable and foster women’s success. Combine that with biases about women’s leadership styles, the lack of flexibility in many organizations and a lack of recognizing the real barriers that still exist for women and a maintenance of systems that are mired in the past without much hope of real change.

While mentoring is important, mentoring is only a small part of the solution. Women’s roles, styles and leadership are still often relegated to second-class status in the workplace and mentoring simply will not change the systemic structures that perpetuate this disadvantage. While organizations do need to consider how they can allow, support and have the flexibility to value and recognize differences, the real question for organizations is “Are you really committed to having a more diverse workforce and making the structural changes needed to support women and people of color to succeed?” If so, it will take radical change and a very different set of assumptions about flexibility, what constitutes a career, leadership styles and contribution.

Here are seven things an organization needs to do if it really wants to enable and support women’s success

1. Focus on output and added value rather than on fitting in and face time. Evaluating individuals based on contribution rather than how well they fit or how much face time they can offer can provide the needed flexibility to enable women to excel and succeed.

2. Assure that policies and practices in place create flexibility. Flexibility can be increased through support for on and off ramps in one’s career; part time and job sharing positions while staying on a career track. Create policies that enable women to contribute while recognizing that, at different stages of their career and life, they may need a career track that enables them to address both work and life responsibilities.

3. Develop competent managers who know how to coach and mentor a diverse workforce. Ensure all managers have the skill set to coach, mentor and develop women in the workforce. This includes their ability to manage flexible work arrangements and to support individuals’ career growth in career paths that are cutting edge in the 21st century.

4. Make sure women are working with colleagues and leaders who actively support them. You know who your supportive of a more diverse workplace leaders are—make sure women in the organization are not teamed or paired with leaders who will not actively support them.

5. Broaden the perspective of an effective leadership style to include styles that foster teamwork, engagement and collaboration. Leadership styles need to recognize and reward the different style and approach that women bring.

6. Understand and address that women of color and white women have a differentiated experience. Assure that approaches to women’s success examine and address the differentiated barriers that women of color experience from those of white women.

7. Remove barriers and biases that impact women differentially than men. Some actions to overcome these barriers include ensuring that women receive “stretch” assignments at the same rate as their male counterparts; aggressively auditing women’s and men’s career paths to see if men are progressing more rapidly through the organization; and, auditing compensation to ensure women are receiving equitable salaries. Make sure there are no overt or covert biases impacting women’s success. For example, are women penalized for taking time off for maternity leave or family time?

The conversation about women’s success in organizations has been going on for over 30 years. Many organizations are moving along the path with respect to their desire to retain and promote women, but it’s time to both diagnose the challenges appropriately and to create comprehensive approaches to achieve real and sustainable change.