#BreakTheBias #IWD2022

I’m grateful to be delivering client workshops in celebration of International Women’s Day 2022, with the theme this year being #breakthebias. Researching for my presentation I reviewed McKinsey and Company’s most recent Women in the Workplace report and there was some positive movement with regards to the value of more diverse executive teams. Those companies that have a diverse executive board are 25% more likely to be profitable than those who don’t. And those with 30% or more female executive population consistently outperform companies with less. Women executives are also reported to demonstrate more effective leadership when it comes to managing people’s well-being and ensuring their performance, impacting not only results but also reducing attrition levels.

What is less encouraging is that where women excel in leadership often goes unacknowledged and that when it comes to that all important step up on the leadership ladder only 86 women are promoted for every 100 men. This has a knock-on effect to the talent pipeline further upstream with less women in the running for the more senior executive roles.

Bias plays an all too insidious part here. Not only do women face the embedded bias built into an organisations systems and structures, but they also have to deal with the many unconscious bias that come from their colleagues, as well as their own limiting beliefs and implicit rules about gender.

So how to we address this? The clue is in the “we”. Bias is something that is common to all of us. Its part of the human condition, we all have biases. That’s why pointing the finger at each other is not going to work. Addressing bias requires a systemic approach where we all jointly take responsibility and work together to create workplaces where systems support equality, the culture is safe enough to challenge and offer feedback and people are encouraged to develop their leadership though expanding their self-awareness of their biases. Speaking and acting with increased consciousness, being present and really listening from curiousity rather than judgement provides the foundation for reducing the impact of bias and creating an open and even playing field in their workplace where all genders can thrive.