The Fix

Equality Won’t Be Achieved With The Passing Of Time: Why Younger Generations Hold The Least Progressive Views – with Michelle Harrison

I often get asked by people, surely gender equality will just be achieved in time? Aren’t we becoming more progressive? Won’t younger generations ensure we have greater equality because they hold more liberal views. 
The answer to all these questions is No.  
The belief that we will just achieve equality through the passing of time is one of the reasons we will never achieve equality no matter how much time we have.  
Equality is a practice it is something that we do. Taking action every day to value difference is something we all need to do to build a more equitable working world. 
The starting point for tackling this is being honest about where we are at and the beliefs we hold that inform how we think and the lack of action each of us take to tackle inequality.  
On today’s podcast we are joined by Dr Michelle Harrison, Global CEO of Kantar Public, who is going to be discussing the recently published findings of the fourth and extended edition of The Reykjavík Index for Leadership, which highlights entrenched prejudice towards women leaders. Together we will unpack why societal attitudes have stalled when it comes to advancing gender equality in leadership. 

10 DEI Lessons for 2022 with Michelle King and Kelly Thomson

Over the last four years we have spoken with so many incredible people from all walks of life about how to make a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world.  
During that time I have found there are some consistent lessons that people shared around what it really takes to build a workplace that works for everyone.  
So to help kick off this year in the right way, we will be discussing my top 10 lessons learnt in DEI. This is based off the podcast episodes as well as our four decades of experience and my nearly two decades of researching workplaces. I have not shared these insights anywhere else so this is a first and hopefully you will find it helpful, practical and an inspiring way to begin your year.
So let’s get started with our top ten DEI lessons for 2022.  

What you need to know about the future of leadership: Jennifer Jordan

As the entire world works to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the role of effective leadership has been brought into razor sharp focus. What people need now are leaders with empathy, compassion and an ability to show support, skills that women leaders tend to exhibit more than men. While it may take a global pandemic to finally acknowledge the unique talents and capabilities women leaders offer, companies shouldn't wait until there is a crisis to afford women an opportunity to lead. It's a trend we've seen before. The 2008 financial crisis was a result of irresponsible risk taking that ultimately came down to leadership and organizational priorities. Research examining risk-taking behavior finds that men are more prone to taking higher risks. Increased collective risk-taking behavior contributed to the crisis, which was an outcome of male-dominated workplaces that valued individual achievement and competition rather than collective well-being. Subsequent research found that women tend to adopt a more relational approach to leadership, which is more effective in a crisis compared to the more traditional command-and-control style of leadership typically adopted by men. Overall, women leaders adopt a relational style when leading through a crisis, which is highly effective as they focus on building trust, alleviating fears and managing the crisis at hand. 
Joining us on today’s podcast is Professor Jennifer Jordan,  a social psychologist and Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour at IMD. Jennifer explains the evolution of good leadership and what each of us can do to prepare for the new world of work. 

Communication Agility: How to talk to anyone - Felicity Wingrove

If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that to collaborate either virtually or in person we need to learn how we can bridge our individual and cultural differences and work as one team regardless of our location. We need to create culturally inclusive environments.
Culture includes the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Culture also includes the shared patterns of behaviors, norms, interactions, and understanding that are learned through socialization. One way that culture plays out for all of us is through language.
How we communicate, the words, tone and body language we use all represent our culture and can make it hard for people, who differ from our culture to understand what we are trying to say.
We have always lived in an ethnically diverse society, we are all operating in an increasingly culturally diverse environment where we need to be able to interact, communicate, build relationships, and work effectively with people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Technology has made workplaces diverse and global. To succeed you need to be able to understand and appreciate diversity in its many forms, and to effectively engage and communicate with people from different cultures. But how may of us know how to adapt the way we communicate to ensure we are understood?
Joining us on todays podcast is Felicity Wingrove. Felicity is a leading expert on the applied psychology of language. Felicity will share specific strategies you can use to communicate with anyone, anywhere.

How to stop hating your job - Dr Kathryn Owler

Have you heard of the 'Great Resignation' or the 'Big Quit'? It is an informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number of workers leaving their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While most news articles are covering the 'Great Resignation' in relation to the United States, the problem is happening on a global level and it is thought to be the result of many different factors, notably employees dissatisfaction with current working conditions and post Covid reassessment of the lack of career and home life integration.  
This month in the United States, according to Guardian 2.9% of the workforce quit their jobs. Nearly 1.2 million jobs were open in the UK in the most recent quarter, with 15 of 18 sectors reporting record numbers.
People cite all kinds of reasons for quitting. They want a better work-life balance, they want more challenges, better conditions, more meaning. For employees who are left behind and those who want to make the move but are worried they are trading one job they hate for another it is critical to understand how we can love the jobs we are in.
Joining us on today’s episode is Dr Kathryn Owler, a happiness at workplace coach, who will share her research findings and advice for how to enjoy your job and have a meaningful career.

How to move from being a bystander to an upstander – Rohit Bhargava and Jennifer Brown

Recently a male colleague asked me what he could do to support women at work, and I told him to start by being an ally. Simply speaking up when someone makes a derogatory comment about women, even if it seems innocent enough, is how men can practice this. When one of his colleagues made a comment to him about the size of their female coworker’s breasts, he spoke up. He said, “Don’t do that. Don’t speak about her like that. It’s not cool.” While this might seem like a small action, it is really an incredibly powerful way to create equality at work. By speaking up, my male colleague instantly reset the standards for how men speak, think, and interact with each other and the women in that office.
 The challenge with allyship is it generally involves spending your privilege. It is uncomfortable. It requires speaking up. Taking action. Calling out inequality, even if you benefit from it.
The intervention of bystanders often acts as the crucial brake on acts of bullying and discrimination. We can help bystanders become upstanders or allies by making them aware of the problem of inaction.
 Joining us on today’s episode is Rohit Bhargava and Jennifer Brown, authors of the book 'Beyond Diversity', who will share the difference between bystanders and upstanders, and how you can take action to tackle inequality when it plays out at work.

The Status of Fatherhood – Gary Barker

Men’s ability to financially support their family is equated with their identity and self-worth. Living up to this requires that men have a job, conform to the 1950’s ideal worker image, and advance at work. This is the expectation we all hold for men, and it limits men’s freedom to explore their identities outside of work.
We need to let go of the idea that women’s careers are somehow expendable, but men’s careers are not. This is not just good for women, it’s good for men. For example, a 2016 study found that men are better able to accommodate their dual identities when their wives work because they get to define success outside of just the breadwinner role. Sharing the burden to provide for the family frees men up to rethink their identity. The greatest challenge men face in straying from the breadwinner role is the risk of losing their self-worth and social status. When men don’t work, they forgo their place in society. Men can no longer build their confidence through their work, so they need to find this somewhere else. Research investigating how men deal with job loss finds that not only do men carry a heavy financial and emotional strain when they are let go, but they also struggle with the sense that they are no longer real men. We look down on men who are not breadwinners because they are not fulfilling what society deems men’s role should be. Research also finds this can be painful for men, especially if they are stay-at-home dads and their wives take on the breadwinner role. Men may try to rebalance this perceived loss of masculinity by being less supportive when it comes to childcare and domestic chores.
To unpack this issue we are joined by the Report’s author Gary Barker, who will start us off by sharing how the role of fathers has changed over time.

The Wellbeing Case for DEI - Dr Marlette Jackson

Over the last two years health and wellbeing has become front and center in organisational life, thanks to the pandemic. We have all heard of the business case for DEI but what about the wellness case for DEI?  It is becoming increasingly apparent that without compassionate, inclusive, people-centred workplaces, health and wellbeing suffers and, in turn, so does productivity. If we want more innovative, collaborative and productive workplaces, we need to put wellbeing front and center, not just for some employees but for everyone.  
Employee wellbeing on the one hand and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on the other have a symbiotic relationship. Taking a diverse and inclusive approach to wellbeing within a business will enhance employees’ feelings of inclusion and belonging, which in turn improves their mental and emotional wellbeing, which further enhances their sense of belonging. And so the cycle goes on.
To understand how we can put wellbeing at the center of our DEI efforts we are joined on the show today by Dr. Marlette Jackson the Global Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Vigin Pulse. Dr Jackson discusses how diversity and inclusion are intertwined with employee health and wellbeing,  because when employees feel like they can be their true selves, they use fewer sick days, stay longer at their company and are happier and more engaged in their work.  She will also share how Virgin Pulse is putting wellbeing at the center of its own DEI efforts.