Versatile

Today is Basils birthday. He’s our 4 year old German Shorthaired Pointer and effectively our third child! This is a little tribute to him and an opportunity to share some insights he's given me on learning & leading.

What’s a GSP?

For those of you who don’t know what a GSP (German Shorthaired Pointer) is, here’s a brief explanation…

Originating funnily enough from Germany, the GSP emerged from deliberate cross breeding over 100 years ago. German estates found themselves shooting with kennels of dogs for different purposes and wanted a single breed that could do everything, principally Hunt Point & Retrieve (HPR). In particular they wanted a faithful companion that would be as happy at home with the family as out in the field shooting.

The GSP was brought back to the UK both in WWI and WWII by returning servicemen and is now the most popular HPR breed in the UK.

Versatile?

Basil is versatile and bred for that purpose, that is to hunt, point & retrieve as well as fit in with family life. He’s very intelligent (17^th most intelligent breed apparently) and can multi-task. Ok not quite in the way my wife thinks but fundamentally he can do an awful lot.

Why write about a versatile dog?

Apart from the fact it’s Basils 4^th birthday and he is very much part of our family life, Basil has taught me loads and continues to do so…

Fulfilling your Purpose

Basil is bred for a purpose, namely to Hunt, Point & Retrieve. When he fulfils this purpose, using the abilities he was bred for, he comes alive and is fully content. When he isn’t used for his purpose, regardless of the number of walks he gets, he becomes bored and unruly.

Makes sense really but think about this in the work context. If we’re doing what we truly desire to do we come alive. If we don’t we probably become bored and unruly.

What Am I?

Basil is our pet right? Yes, but we must see him as an animal first, a dog second and a pet last. Often the problems owners have with their dogs is down to them the wrong order of pet first, dog second, animal last.  The result? Indulged & confused dogs lacking the rules they need and unhappy and sometimes angry owners.

There’s something here about the workplace too. The people we work with are humans first but often organisations see the human last and the function first. Guess what the result often is? People who are indulged or confused, and unhappy and sometimes angry management.

You are my leader

There’s nothing stronger and more obvious than a dog looking to its owner for leadership. You can see them asking for it in their eyes. The role is demanded of you - undeniably. The only alternative is utter abandonment.

In the workplace, such expectation may not be obvious in the eyes of your team, but I think that if you look carefully enough you can see it. Nonetheless the role is demanded of you - undeniably. The only alternative is utter abandonment.

Actions speak louder than words

Training a gundog you become used to using a whistle for commands. This helps the dog hear you at a distance. Perhaps more importantly it takes all emotion out of what could have been a spoken command.

Dogs are attuned to your emotions and the hormones you produce. If you are stressed, even if you try to control your voice, the dog knows. He may even stay away from you. If you are calm and quiet, guess what? The dog pays even more attention to you.

Beyond voice, a dog will even read your body language – at the subtlest of levels. Basil looks for this direction. If I pay attention to a piece of ground, at a distance, he will notice this and go to cover that piece of ground. No voice or whistle required. He’s doing what he is best at and I’m supporting him with direction.

As humans we rely very heavily on the processing of spoken language, yet we can’t escape from the fact that we have intuitive ability to read peoples body language. In a leadership sense I think the parallels are clear :

·         Your role is to support the team with direction.

·         They are the specialists – let them do what they are best at.

·         Your spoken word always conveys more about you than just those words.

·         If you are calm and quiet, people will listen to you more attentively.

·         In close proximity, at some level people detect stress hormones such as cortisol.

Happy Birthday Basil!

So on Basils Birthday, I want to thank him for the lessons he teaches me and I hope some of the above prompts thought about what we can learn from the people we lead in the workplace. Happy Birthday friend!

If you’d like to find out more about HPR breeds and the GSP then I can recommend the following:

http://www.gsp.org.uk/

http://www.norfolk-suffolk-hpr-ftclub.co.uk/about/breeds/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Shorthaired_Pointer

Worlds Apart

Having put it off for some time, last weekend we finally succumbed to the attraction that is Disneyland Paris.

I have to confess that I can’t really be doing with large crowds and lengthy queues... life’s too short and they always seem to bring out the worst in humanity. However, it was the right time for the kids and a break in France was attractive.

Of course, we had a fantastic & exhausting time but this is not a review of Disneyland Paris. What I’d like to share are some reflections from the journey about the different “worlds” we inhabit...

Walts World

Walt & Mickey are clearly the kings immemorial of Disney. In the park, Walt stands proudly on a pedestal welcoming visitors telling us this is his kingdom, his creation. Alongside him and throughout the park appears Mickey. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say that Mickey wears the crown in Walts World.

Yet they play very little active parts in the rides and amusements. They are more like a standard or a symbol of what you can expect to experience. A standard and ethic that is visible everywhere saying loud and proud “This is who we are and this is what you can expect from us!”. You may not get a sense of the Disney organisation but you do get what you came for.

In Walts World they are the Masters of Delivery, providing pleasure on tap at a price.

Walloon World

Belgians are mad. Not my viewpoint but those of two lovely Belgian journalists we had dinner with en route at this fab hotel. Apparently, their Royal Family with the exception of the King are an embarrassment. There is no decision making government in place. The country is irreconcilably divided along French (Walloon) and Dutch (Flemish) lines in a perpetual stalemate.

Does all of this matter? Not really. The country ticks along fine. The journalists have something to write about. Tourists still come for the architecture, beer, chocolate & diamonds. The European Union makes them significant. Nothing is likely to change anytime soon.

In Walloon World they live happily, knowing that they are broken but unable to change.

Wantwit World

In the UK we like to think that we are considerate and fair. Yet regardless of nationality, when faced with the prospect of photographing their kids with Mr Incredible some parents turn into right Wantwits.

With no queue or ticket, they give themselves permission to thrust their kids to the front. It’s OK to trample others to pursue your own cause. A photo with a faceless actor, who is wearing a costume of a character from a cartoon, is more important than showing your child how to behave.

In Wantwit World only the selfish survive living off momentary & meaningless gratification.

Wonder World

OK, here’s the confession... There were rides that the kids wanted to do that both us parents were scared to do. On some occasions the height limits saved us, on others the 100 minute queue dissuaded everyone. However, you can’t always run away!

Together we tried different rides and attractions, learning what was fun and how little was in fact scary. We stretched ourselves and learnt together – you can read more of my thinking on this here. We trusted our sense of adventure and were not disappointed. We found wonder in our shared experiences.

In Wonder World unforgettable trust reigns. New experiences & difficult journeys are shared. Fears are overcome.

*Image by Wysinger at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Boundaries

As a parent, you help your children understand the boundaries and social norms that you believe are appropriate.  Family & friends help reinforce these views.  Our children will inevitably be exposed to behaviours which we don’t favour but it is all part of the learning process.

To have a boundary you need to know what is on either side.

So what do you do when your 6 year old comes home from school with swear words that your 10 year old doesn’t even know yet?  We’re dealing with this right now.... 

Whose fault is it?  Not the children’s.  The teachers of course don’t ever permit swearing.  Each family has their own boundaries and acceptable behaviours.  TV & radio shows broadcast language I find inappropriate for children before the accepted watershed.  Blaming society is largely pointless.  At some stage they will inevitably learn a multitude of swear words and their application!

I can’t fully prevent them being exposed to bad language or behaviour.  In fact, perhaps they need to be aware of some bad language or behaviour so they can develop their own personal boundaries and ethics.  My role is to help them learn how to form and develop appropriate boundaries and ethics.

Who helps us form and develop appropriate boundaries and ethics in the workplace?

As adults, we largely assume that we have well developed personal boundaries and ethics.  We assume that these unspoken boundaries & ethics that we bring with us to work are fit for the job.

Unfortunately, experience shows that this is not the case... just look at those cases of insider trading, discrimination, harassment.  Yet most discussions with staff focus on performance of task rather than the most appropriate boundaries and ethics for their workplace.

What do you think?  Is there a place for more discussion at work regarding boundaries and ethics?  Would love to hear your thoughts, views and experiences.

The Foretelling

28 years ago today, The Black Adder sprung onto our UK TV screens in the first episode “The Foretelling”.  This perfectly set the tone for the loveable but awful anti-hero known as Edmund Blackadder through the different incarnations of the series.

This first story describes how the useless son of Richard of York, Edmund, late for the Battle of Bosworth, having slept in, kills his own King Richard III then proceeds to cover up the whole sorry episode whilst hiding the enemy Henry Tudor!  Of course in all of this he ably supported by the more hapless Lord Percy and also by his turnip obsessed servant Baldrick.

Anti-establishment; ironic but witty; the humour of Blackadder probably appealed most to those who we would now characterise as “Generation X”.  I find it particularly interesting that typically Generation X are seen as challenging, rule-breaking, and sceptical – not dissimilar to the Blackadder stories.

So on this anniversary of “The Foretelling” I have two questions for you :

1. What are your best moments or memories from Blackadder?
2. What are your views or even foretellings on generational differences and the comedy that is informing the teenagers and twenty-somethings of today?

For those of you who missed it or would like to reminisce then you can see this first episode and how Edmund took the name "The Black Adder here" on YouTube.  Although I think the humour is as described above others may find it offensive at times - you've been warned!

Florence Thompson – A story in a story

I recently bought a second hand copy of “The Arabian Nights” which is full of magical stories.  I remember reading it as a child and I wanted to both re-read and share its magic with my two sons.  The copy I bought is a 1923 hardback with fantastic illustrations scattered throughout.  In the front cover is the following sticker:

Florence Thompson in Class I was awarded this prize at Xmas time in what seems to be the end of her first term at Walsingham Grammar School, in North Norfolk.  The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve been interested in the story of Florence.

Florences Story

From doing a bit of research I know she was 9 years old at the time – she was born 10^th May 1914 just before the Great War.

What had she done to have received such a valuable prize at the end of her first term at Grammar School?  I assume she must have done very well and shown a lot of promise.  Perhaps this isn’t surprising given the survival and resilience required of those remarkable times.  Many men from her part of the world would have gone to war and not returned or even succumbed to the Spanish Flu outbreak.  This killed 5 times as many people as the war itself.

What happened after she left school?  After school it appears she married Frank Martin in 1938, after the depression just before the Second World War.  Her husband is quite possibly the Frank Martin from the Royal Norfolk Regiment who died in 1943 as a Prisoner of War in Kanchanaburi – the death camp for the infamous Burma Railway.

Without much further research it’s hard to tell the rest of her life other than the fact that she died in Norfolk in 1991.  I hope she had a full & happy life and I hope her husband wasn’t the Frank Martin mentioned above.

Remarkable times seem to create remarkable people and their effect, no matter how subtle, can last forever.

The book must have brought that 9 year old girl lots of joy in Xmas 1923.  I’m proud to be its custodian and to share its joy.

I want to live in Wales

Actually, what I’m really saying is that I want to live in Gower, in South Wales.  I wasn’t born there or even near the sea for that matter.  Where I live we do sometimes make the 45 min drive to the beach with the boys but it’s not the same.

You see we’ve just spent a fantastic week on the Gower Peninsula with the family – the first time we’d all been there together.  I know it’s easy to think we can see our everyday lives through the rosy coloured lens of our short holidays.  To imagine that we could magically transport ourselves and move to a different place, a different life even.  The trouble is we could do it – easily.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love where I live.  It’s not our dream home but it is a great home and the boys are settled.  Actually they are so settled that any thought of a change of home is quite disturbing to them.  They love new things & experiences but the fundaments of their lives are something they naturally don’t want to change.

But there’s something in the Gower landscape that we all connected with.  Perhaps it’s just the exploration & adventure of the holiday.  If we lived there maybe we’d not appreciate it in the same way.  Daily life would get in the way.

So what will we do.  Nothing.  We’re happy and content even though we miss each other now that we’re not on holiday.  We love where we live.  It could be better but we are fortunate and sometimes when you see something better you need to admire it from a far.

We’re back into our routines now.  We’re not walking & exploring so much but we’ll correct that at the weekend when the boys aren’t at school.  I’ll have stopped pining by then and Daddy won’t be in London.

Todays post was from Basil (Andsal Chico) the German Shorthaired Pointer.  Naturally teaching his master David to be a better leader, teacher, trainer and person.

A Question of Ethics

What do you think is ethical?  Big question but social norms probably influence all of us to the extent that generally our personal ethics are not that dissimilar.

So what are your professional ethics?  Have you written them down anywhere?  Do you share them with your clients, colleagues or even your manager?

For the Coaching & Mentoring work that I do, I believe that it’s critical to share with clients the code of ethics that I abide by.  This happens to be the European Mentoring & Coaching Councils Code of Ethics.  This includes :

• Assuring Competence
• Understanding the Context
• Understand & Manage Boundaries
• Act with Integrity respecting confidentiality
• Act with Professionalism

What I find compelling about this code is that not only do I believe in it but I’m also very glad to be held accountable to it.  It is congruent with how I practice and along with Supervision it helps guide me through the ethical dilemmas we sometimes face in coaching & mentoring.

What Code of Ethics or Professional Standards do you hold yourself accountable to?

How could Supervision (in the coaching & mentoring sense) support you with ethical dilemmas?

I'd love to hear from all professionals!

Where now Michelangelo?

At the recent EMCC conference, John Campbell from Primeast spoke about the journey “From Competence to Mastery”.  The analogy he used for mastery was the craftsman working a piece of wood or Michelangelo who “saw an angel in the stone and carved to set it free”.

In his supporting paper, co-authored with John Holt & Benita Treanor, competence and mastery are defined thus:

‘Competence’ is related to the acquisition of skills and carrying out work without mistakes, or without ‘compromising principles’.

‘Mastery’ is described in artistic terms and a master craftsman would compromise principles for the greater good (“what is needed here right now?”), with an intuitive feel for those things that are inviolate and those that are not.

Unarguable really, but in the workplace we often seem to focus exclusively on the former.  In fact, we usually look at competence through a model, process or measurement to show that anything else would be wrong... 

There are three fundamental perspectives which have stuck with me since:

1. Labelling & codification does not create best practice.  It creates orthodoxy.
2. Processes & models can show competence.  By design they can also constrain & exclude.
3. Mastery has an artistry and intuitive fluency about it.  It goes beyond competence and measurement.

Thinking of Michelangelo again, the mastery that we aspire to involves understanding what is in front of you, the vision of its future and then being able to draw on a range of practised techniques to inform what you do next.  Perhaps more importantly being able to trust your intuition and break some of the rules of those techniques.

Perhaps those unorthodox, rule breaking experts in your organisation are more important than you think.  Perhaps this truly represents great leadership.

So don’t constrain them.  Instead ask “Where now Michangelo?”.

Black & White

Yesterday was my 10year olds first chess congress.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but he was delighted at the prospect and specifically wanted me to join him.  Surprisingly this was not the fear of separation but actually recognition that he’d have my undivided attention for a constant 9 hours!

Having driven the hour or so to the coast, we arrived at a Primary school venue to find a melee of children all very excited to be there, back in school!  Of course they were there for fun but the irony was not lost on any of us.

The congress was superbly organised by a small group of volunteers funding free drinks and snacks with a raffle.  So taxi duties completed and totally captive all I had to do was sit around for 7 hours.

Actually, this proved to be a great opportunity to catch up on work and reading.  Though the reality was that being my Saturday I couldn’t quite summon up enough the same diligence as I would normally... so I also chatted and watched the kids and parents...

Most of the children were obviously keen to play chess but also very relaxed about their performance at the tables.  Some were jubilant but there’s no place for soccer heroics after you've swiftly beaten someone at chess.  In between round the kids played or read or made use of the free snacks!

The day finished and awards given we headed home to find an empty house.  The rest of the family rather than staying at home had gone to an impromptu kids party!

Reflecting on this day of chess, so much of what we expected was different but still enjoyable.  The environment made that happen and there was joy in the unexpected.  Little in this world is black and white even if you think it is.

This is a short but sweet post on my Saturday at a chess congress but I think there are parallels with what we do each day of our week.

So what are you doing to create the environment for the unexpected?  How much does your expectation influence your experience?  Would love to hear your thoughts & experiences!

Waking up with strangers

The chances are that you commute to work.  Many of us will use public transport to make that journey.  For some of us that could be quite a long journey by train each morning, slowly waking up with strangers all around us.

No one is in the mood to engage in conversation with the other commuters around them are they?  It’s just not done.  Instead we politely jostle to create our own space that no one else will invade.  Don’t even think about stretching out your legs under my side of the table.  Get your arm off my arm rest!

Once settled into our little safe haven amongst all these strangers we probably used to read a paper or a book, maybe even snooze.  Now we crack open the black box or the smartphone and hey presto!

Suddenly we enter a world where we’re engaging with a myriad of strangers!  Sending emails to people we work with but probably don’t really know.  Tweeting with other people who we may never meet but building relationships and friendships.  Talking without speaking.

Feels great doesn’t it?  We’re working, learning, sharing, reading – fulfilling some essential needs in a way that we choose.  Forget the boundaries we’ve put around our physical space – come over to my side of the table!

And next to us the person who got on at the last stop has just started snoring quietly.  She’s fast asleep and I don’t mind.  It’s funny the strangers we wake up with.

Two halves equal a whole

I recently read @sarahwelfare blog “Is there always a pay penalty for working part-time?” over on XpertHR.  This raised some interesting comparisons of earnings, highlighting gender differences.

However, looking at the related data in the Equality & Human Rights Commission's “Gender Pay Gaps” briefing I was struck by 2 tables showing the mean & median earnings of full-time employees by age in the UK for 2010.

What these showed quite starkly was that full-time earnings stay largely similar until our 30’s.  Thereafter, men’s average earnings continue to grow for another 10-20 more years, whereas women’s actually start to decline.  The effect of this is a significant gender pay gap for those over 40, but significantly less so for those under 40.

It can be hard to relate the macro to the micro, and even compare like for like but I'm really struck by this dynamic.  I actually thought that the gender pay divide was more evident across the generations.

Two halves perhaps?

I’ve never believed that gender should make a difference in terms of pay or opportunity.  However, there is an evident gap which many of us are keen to see made transparent and the gap closed.

My immediate reaction to this data was to assume a primary relationship here with parental responsibilities, especially as the average age of first time mothers is now close to 30.  In fact I’m certain there is an impact here playing out in the data.

But looking at the dynamics between these age groupings could there be more… What about generational differences?  Could there be another longer term influence playing out?

The opportunities that founded women's early careers have changed over the years with a growing expectation of equality in the workplace.  For those people now in their 30's (born in the 70s & early 80s), their career opportunities and aspirations were quite different than a decade before or possibly even now.

Investing for our Children

We don’t know how the impact of changing generational attitudes of both men & women could manifest itself over time.  I also don’t want to detract from dealing with the issues of work-life balance & childcare and existing male cultural environments.  However, perhaps we’re starting to reap what previous generations have sown a bit more than we realise.
So what are you going to sow for future generations?

"The most unselfish thing you can do with your life is to plant a walnut tree. If you plant a walnut tree, you won't see it fruit for many years - you're investing for your children. You are planting something for generations yet to come. At the end of your life you need to be able to say, 'I planted a walnut tree."  Trevor Waldock

Appreciation of Authenticity

Twice this week I’ve been bowled over by messages of appreciation.  Neither occasion was it expected.  I hadn’t tried to please or garner such feedback.  In fact I’d not even been sure that I was right.

However, I had trusted my own intuition, thoughts and experiences and had spoken from the heart.  I had just been myself – my inner self.  I had also been willing to risk being wrong.

Authenticity suits you

Sometimes the question of “being authentic” at work feels a little abstract.  How do I achieve authenticity, the real me, my inner self?

Looking to Wikipedia there’s a great initial definition which for me captures the broad essence of authenticity :

“Authenticity refers to the truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions.”

Not your common business parlance is it…  However, doesn’t it capture the essence of how we’ve been raised to live our lives?  I’m not talking about righteousness but about being true to ourselves; being sincere; upholding our commitments; ensuring our intentions are good.

So actually being authentic is very straightforward – we’ve been raised to be authentic.  Most of us will live our social lives exactly in this way.  All it requires is for you to speak and act truly about your own feelings, thoughts, and intentions.  That can’t be hard can it?

Am I willing to risk being wrong ?

Often what stops us being authentic is the fear of failure, the fear of being wrong.

In today’s business environment the immediacy of knowledge and the “fight to be right” can sometimes suppress instinct and even wisdom.  We strive to eliminate errors and reduce risks through carefully planned processes and procedures.  Failure is seen as weakness not a learning opportunity achieved.

As a consequence, we are cautious, we conform, we find safety in numbers.  We are less willing to risk being wrong.

Yet all our learning has been through trial & error.  We have learnt through taking risks and trying to get it right but willing to be wrong.

Ask yourself “Am I willing to risk being wrong?”.  Check that you are not suppressing your own intuition, thoughts and experiences with the fear of failure.

When you take that risk not only will the authentic you be more apparent but the chances are you won’t be wrong!

Being Human

Reflex Praise

A recent blog from Doug Shaw on Employee Recognition talked about the importance of immediacy and authenticity in recognising achievements at work.

I think that at the heart of employee recognition is a true appreciation of the individual and a need for reflex praise from the organisation.  Reflex praise is akin to the praise and feedback that we all received as children as we took our first steps or uttered our first words.

Reflex praise is about being human and recognising in others what they can achieve as much as what they have achieved already.

Are you being human?

So as a manager or leader what do you think of your employees?  Are they just a resource to manage your business processes or have you chosen to work with other humans with potential?

Your view of your employees is fundamentally this simple.  It will drive your actions and behaviours and ultimately the performance that you can expect from your organisation.

“My people are just a resource.”

We are often employed to perform a particular range of tasks or business functions but do you see your employees just as resources to achieve these needs?  Do you behave and act in this way?

If this is how you see your employees, then aren’t the softer aspects of organisational management irrelevant?  You will want to monitor and measure performance of course.  After all you want to know that your employees are managing the business processes properly.

However, wouldn’t anything further be unnecessary?  An Employee Engagement survey wouldn’t be of any benefit would it?  You won’t be great at it, as you don’t believe in it, and your employees will see it for what it is - irrelevant.

If you think that you employ people as a resource to manage your business processes, then why would you try to behave as if you don’t?

If you don’t believe that you employ people as a resource to manage your business processes then don’t act as if you do…

“I’ve chosen to work with other humans with potential.”

It might feel like a fluffy statement but actually it’s a fundamental statement, especially for a manager or leader.

We choose who we work with.  Sometimes the choice might be compromised by circumstances, lack of information or even our own poor decisions.  However, we do make that choice and must take accountability for it.

The people we chose to work with are human like ourselves, like our family, like our friends.  Our relationships are not the same but they are human, have needs and enormous potential.

So why wouldn’t we behave in a way that recognises employees as humans with needs and potential?  Why wouldn’t we behave in a way that recognises the consequences of the choices we make as managers or leaders?

Yes, it requires that we are to some extent open and vulnerable but we can still maintain the professional relationship that we’ve chosen to undertake.

More importantly we can be human.

Three tips for Leaders & Managers

1. Think about your organisation.  Will it achieve its best results by seeing employees as resources or by treating them as humans with enormous potential?
2. Look at the way you manage & lead and think about how your actions are perceived.  Are they congruent with your beliefs?
3. Look at the processes your organisation uses with its employees.  Do they support the above or are they in conflict?

An Expectation of Equality

The Institute of Leadership & Management recently published their member survey on “Ambition & Gender at Work”.  The responses of nearly 3,000 practising leaders and managers provide a meaningful reflection of gender issues in the workplace:

• 73% of women managers believe that there are barriers preventing them from progressing to top levels compared to 58% of men;
• 70% of male managers have high or quite high levels of self-confidence, compared to 50% of women;
• 17% of women believe that raising or caring for children has presented barriers to career development, compared to 7% of men.

We all expect organisations to provide fair and equal prospects for both men & women.  However, women currently account for only 12.5% of FTSE100 board positions.  At the current rate of change it is expected that it would take over 70 years to achieve gender-balanced boardrooms in the UK.

A Question of Balance

We know that the issues around gender inequality in the workplace are complex.

The most significant of these issues revolve around work-life balance & childcare, which is a constraining factor for women, and existing male cultural environments which accommodate men more than women.

Working to counter these long standing issues are positive, enabling actions focussed on supporting women in the workplace, as well as modern expectations of equality.

Increasing workplace opportunities and support for women through networks or tailored development activities are the right things to do.  However, they will be working against the constraints that are imposed around work-life balance, childcare and existing male cultural environments.

Addressing gender inequality is a question of taking action on all of these aspects to create greater balance.  This means taking action to reduce the effects of the constraining aspects as well as promote and nurture those actions, attitudes and behaviours which support women in the workplace.

An expectation of equality

Whilst I’ve been writing this, Lord Davies report ‘Women on Boards’ has been published.  Calling for a greater focus on gender diversity in the boardroom, it is expected that women in board positions should exceed a target of 25% by 2015.

Although this expects to double current boardroom gender diversity, it also represents an ongoing expectation of gender imbalance in the workplace.  Is this the expectation of newer generations of managers?

Actually, there is a marked differences in the ILM survey responses between the over 45s and the under 29s, the Baby Boomers (over 45s) and the children of baby boomers (Millenials).

I think this reflects a combination of optimism as well as a generational difference.  My own experience of working with younger generations of managers in particular is that there is an increasing expectation of equality that is held by both men and women alike.

This expectation of equality, especially in men, is going to be significant in creating greater balance and in particular countering existing male cultural environments.

"What gets measured gets done"

Targets & quotas can force change but rarely ever address underlying behaviours.  At best they suppress old negative behaviours during a period of transition.  Indeed, this in itself can be valuable as new behaviours are allowed to flourish.

In the worst cases, old negative behaviours perpetuate in greater secrecy with targets achieved through careful manipulation.  We can all think of failures in highly regulated industries where this has been the case.

Measuring the gender diversity of FTSE100 boards will I'm sure meet the 25% target by 2015.  Perhaps having more women on the boards will in itself reduce gender inequality further across their organisations.

Ultimately though, it will take both men and women to create an equal environment through an expectation of equality.