Navigating #MeToo in the Workplace: Reframing Common Assumptions
By Kelly Watson Not “knowing how to act around women anymore” in response to #metoo could set men back as much as women. I heard a man recently say he “didn’t know how to act around women at work anymore,” in response to #metoo. It seems to have become a common refrain, coupled with shrugs and hands thrown in the air. Others have said they fear mentoring women or meeting with them one on one. Mike Pence has notoriously said he won’t [...]
Bring on the Male Allies: Accelerating Inclusive Organizations
By Jodi Detjen and Daffany Chan In the wake of the #Metoo movement, people are buzzing about inclusion and gender equity in the workplace. But women are still not advancing to leadership positions at the same rate as men. 1 in 6 male managers are hesitating to mentor women. The state of women in the workplace is clear: Women’s progress is stalled. So what’s an organization to do? It’s time to bring on the male allies. Male Allyship, defined as men supporting women in the workplace, can be a powerful force for change in an organization. Male allies [...]
Q&A on Strategic Gender Equality with Jodi Detjen
Orange Grove Consulting Managing Partner Jodi Detjen was recently quoted in a Boston Globe article about getting women into the top ranks of leadership. In the article, Jodi says that, “commitments to increase leadership consist of, say, sending employees to the Massachusetts Conference for Women. Instead, firms should be taking a more strategic approach, such as revamping performance reviews and tracking promotions by gender.” In the following Q&A, Jodi elaborates further on how organizations can take a more strategic approach to gender equality. Q. How do you revamp performance reviews? A. Jodi Detjen When we [...]
Women Can Have it All: 10 21st C. Skills for Success
By Jodi Detjen, written in conjunction with the Third Path Institute. Why do women find work-life balance so hard? Why is “having it all” such an elusive quest? Why haven’t women yet reached equality in the leadership ranks? Many professional women on the pursuit of career success identify themselves through their work, abandoning their own needs and exhausting themselves in the process. After time spent on this path, many women might reach burnout and begin to opt out of their career. But the truth is that [...]
Ready to Be a Male Ally? Try Looking Through These “Ally Lenses”
As we launch our Male Allyship survey, we wanted to present a male point-of-view on the topic. We turned to one of our diversity partners, Eric Ratinoff, to share his view of Male Allyship, and what he thinks men can do to support women in the workplace. Ready to Be a Male Ally? Try Looking Through These "Ally Lenses" By Eric Ratinoff If you’re ready to become a better ally for women in your workplace, the Internet is loaded with recommendations of specific [...]
Women-Only Leadership Training: Why it Matters
One piece of the gender parity puzzle that we concentrate on at Orange Grove Consulting is women’s leadership development. The most common response we receive: “Isn’t separating out women exclusive and unfair? Men don’t get that opportunity.” I recently spoke at the Society for Women Engineers’ annual conference. Engineering is extremely male-dominated (only 18 – 20 % of engineering students are women). But being at this conference — surrounded by 12,000 other female engineers — was empowering. For the first time in their careers, many women experienced connectedness rather than [...]
Dispelling the Top 5 Myths About Women in the Workplace
By Kelly Watson and Jodi Detjen Myths are stories we believe are true but are in fact not. In our research, and work with companies and women, we’ve consistently found that women are being held back because of myths. These assumptions keep women from advancing in their careers and in the leadership pipeline. We want to shift that. From their capabilities to their ambitions, check out the common assumptions that women face in the workplace and ways to reframe them. Myth #1: Women [...]
I’m Tired of Walking on Eggshells – Diversity Fatigue: What it is and How to Avoid it
One of the most discouraging things for a Diversity and Inclusion leader to overhear is frustration expressed that including diversity in the workplace is “too hard” or worse, that “we’ve gone too far.” The fervor around the Kavanagh hearings, which has some fearing a massive wave of false accusations and the firing of NBC’s Megan Kelly over what she felt was an innocuous blackface comment, has put workplace diversity initiatives under pressure. Worse, the politicization of these issues threatens to silence the conversation [...]
Women in Leadership Training – 5 Steps to Figure Out What Works for Your Company
There are so many reasons why women-only leadership programs exist, all of which focus on career development and progression. Among these benefits are that these programs: Give women a supportive environment to take risks within a group of people that often have similar perspective and experiences within that workplace. Provide a platform for women to build relationships and share a common experience with others across the organization to improve their network. (Which, in many cases, is required for advancement.) Enable women to be [...]
Ignoring Women’s Voices Isn’t Just Annoying – It’s Bad For Business
In the course of our work, we hear a similar refrain from women in many organizations that their voices are often shouted over, ignored, or dismissed. They cite as evidence the number of times a man will make a point in a meeting that has already been made earlier by a woman, and the idea is credited as new. There is also a chorus of women who tell us that they get feedback they “use too many words” or story-tell, instead of [...]
Managers: Here are 3 Things You Can Do to Promote More Women
Feeling the pressure to increase the number of women promoted across your organization? There are three key ingredients to understanding why women aren’t making it to the next level at the pace or numbers possible. We’ll share a few of those barriers, as well as an approach to overcome them. 1. Most women don’t leave to stay home; they leave for a better job. Women want to be promoted. Forget the ambition gap. Women want to be promoted just as much [...]
Men’s Fears of #metoo Showcase Conflicting Gender Perspectives
“I want my female colleague to stop touching me.” At a recent session with men, I was asked why women seem to be able to freely connect physically with male colleagues, whereas men fear losing their job or harassment lawsuits when they communicate physically. This frustration reflects a fear men have that #metoo will go - if it hasn’t already - too far and turn into false accusations or ways of penalizing men for otherwise “innocuous” behavior and a double standard. Our discussions [...]
Why Some Working Mothers Quit — and What We Can Do to Help
Last week, one of our clients told us about a recent hire. The candidate in question was top-notch: Ivy-educated, willing to work long hours, thoughtful and outspoken around the conference table. And then she quit. In her exit interview, the woman confessed that “it was harder than I thought to arrange family plans this summer.” And that was that. Another highly-qualified female struggling to figure out how to balance children and work. The Challenge Despite flexible work spaces and “work from [...]
Why So Much Focus on Women?: 5 Steps to Addressing Men’s Concerns about Gender Equity
While working with our clients on Women’s Leadership Development, we have encountered pushback from some men. They seem bewildered that women are getting so much attention and some even feel threatened by the focus. They defend their workplaces as a meritocracy, a truly American belief-system that rewards ability and effort with success. “If women just worked harder, or wanted it more, they would be promoted.” While it’s easy to cite numerous studies disputing the above statement, we must acknowledge the strength of [...]
“You Look Nice Today” The New Language of Gender Bias
On any given day, our news feeds are littered with stories of high-profile firings or resignations related to sexual misconduct, harassment, and gendered language in the workplace. Instances of sexual misconduct and harassment are egregious. Upon this, we all agree. Corporate leaders should not use power and influence to prey upon subordinates. It is not okay. But gendered language is trickier. It can be difficult to know where the lines are drawn. Something that seemed acceptable to say 10- or 20- years [...]
Myth: Women Just Need a Seat at the Table
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #12 of our blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. Myth # 12: Women Just Need a Seat at the Table There is this idea out there that if women can get themselves into high-powered rooms – be they boardrooms or situation rooms – the struggle will be won. Once in that room, a woman can simply turn on whatever wisdom, charm, or acumen got her there in the first place, and not only [...]
Join us Sep 15 and Declare Your Value
JOIN US on September 15 and Declare your Value - or send your female leaders and impact your pipeline.
Myth: We Are Diverse. We Have One Woman On Our Leadership Team.
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #10 of our 16 blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. Myth # 10: We are a diverse organization. We already have a woman on our leadership team. In 1980, there were no female senior executives in the top 100 businesses in America. In 1994, there were no female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Since then, obviously, much has changed. In 2014, women held 19% of the board seats in S&P 500 companies. In 2015, [...]
Myth: Recruiting From The Best Schools Will Promote Diversity In Our Organization
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #9 of our 16 blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. Myth #9 – “Recruiting from the best schools will promote diversity in our organization. There are plenty of top-notch colleges and business schools that attract talented students. And companies have historically relied quite heavily on that talent pool. According to research by Florida State political scientist, Thomas Dye, 54% of America’s corporate leaders are graduates of the same twelve elite institutions. Those highly selective [...]
Myth: Keep Your Head Down. Work Hard. And You Will Be Rewarded.
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #8 of our 16 blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. Myth # 8: Keep your head down. Work Hard. And you'll be rewarded. (And Find out how to self-promote at our 2nd annual women's leadership event Sep 15.) We really want this one to be true. We want to believe that if you go to your job every day, and sit at your desk, and get your work done, good things will happen. Promotions [...]
Myth: Women Are Natural Networkers
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #7 of our 16 blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. Myth # 7: Women are natural networkers. We hear this a lot: if you set women up with a network, networking will happen. Because women are social beings, right? They form book clubs and go to one another’s trunk shows. They buy raffle tickets and attend charity events. All of this camaraderie and friendship nurturing must make women good networkers. However, the reality is [...]
Myth: She Quit To Be With Family
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #6 of our 16 blog-series helping you to retain, promote and hire more women. Myth # 6: Women quit because they can't manage work and family Overheard: “She quit because she wants to spend more time with her family. No wonder we can’t get more women in management.” True? Think again: Women quit because they aren’t being paid sufficiently. Women leave to find better opportunities. When we label it as she quit to [...]
Myth: The Best Negotiator Deserves The Raise
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #5 of our 16 blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. Myth # 5: The Best Negotiator Deserves the Raise. Women are regularly counseled to negotiate more (and our research suggests that women assume that they “shouldn’t”). But there’s an underlying assumption being made: Why are raises distributed based on someone’s ability to negotiate? No one has found a link between ability to negotiate and ability in a job but organizations regularly pay more based [...]
Myth: Women Have To Sacrifice Their Careers For Their Spouses
2 Minute Read | Women's Leadership Myths Welcome to Myth #4 of our 16 blog-series highlighting women’s leadership myths. For this week, list to this podcast where Jodi Detjen was interviewed for both the myth and the reframe. What do you think? http://www.thebroadexperience.com/listen/2016/4/5/episode-81-money-vs-fulfillment Try This: Over the next day, imagine what work would be like if both men and women’s careers mattered equally. How would you envision work? What could the experience be like? Thoughts/Comments? Post your ideas here.
Myth: She Doesn’t Want The Promotion
Have you heard that women just aren’t ambitious? Women are happy with where they are. Men ask for a promotion all the time but women? Hardly ever. Recent research suggests that women are equally as ambitious as men but often get frustrated and blocked by existing corporate structures… so this percentage drops precipitously two years in and even more when they start a family. Many believe they “shouldn’t” make career their first priority because family is “most important.” There’s no time for [...]
