Diversity initiatives are not just the right thing to do, but rather a business imperative. Diversity of thought, approach, action and style produces superior results and is a win-win for every organisation. Men who understand this are easily engaged and, in fact, eager to participate and support gender initiatives. Key to the success of diversity initiatives is the buy in of leaders of an organisation, and the reality is that men comprise a majority of individuals in formal and informal leadership positions. That is why engaging men in diversity initiatives should be high on the agenda of gender diversity programs – without committed male allies, these programmes will be of limited success.
An often unspoken barrier to engaging men in gender initiatives is the mistaken notion that women are seeking to take something away from men – 're-slice the pie', so to speak. In reality, gender initiatives are seeking to 'grow the pie' for the benefit of all in an organisation. Gender initiatives are one way to ensure a high return on investment on talent recruitment and retention and can be a natural incubator for new ideas and thought leadership, all of which in turn can lead to increased profitability.
Shearman & Sterling has a steadfast commitment to advancing women, evident from the buy in of senior management on gender initiatives. For the past two years, the firm has been using social media to build strong relationships among women in law and business. Even more critical is the firm's strong group of senior women who hold positions of influence (eg practice leads, industry and client leads, firm leadership) and have focussed the firm on the importance of gender initiatives and their impact on the bottom line. As such, Shearman & Sterling employs a global, holistic and integrated approach to internally and externally-focussed gender initiatives addressing recruitment, retention, promotion, leadership and most importantly client service and engagement.
So how to engage men in women's initiatives? In my experience, the best way is to keep talking to both men and women regarding the importance, benefits, barriers and challenges of gender initiatives, both to the organisation and the individual. The barriers include the unconscious bias that encourages all of us – men and women – to choose to work with people who are 'like them'. Another common barrier is stereotypical notions of what constitutes acceptable behavior for women – women in the workplace are expected to be 'tough as nails' yet 'as warm as toast'. Female behaviours that fall outside this narrow band are often labeled ineffective or worse. Organisations should consider whether this is an issue and if so, how best to address it. Finally, men should feel safe sponsoring, and not just mentoring, a female colleague when they believe in her talent and ability to contribute to the organisation. Doing so sends a powerful message, as a sponsor goes out on a limb and puts their personal and professional reputation on the line to promote someone else and signal that this person truly has what it takes to succeed.
The truth is that gender initiatives that do not engage men will be of limited success. Men have been excluded from discussions on gender diversity, which, ironically, is keeping wellmeaning allies from speaking up and taking action. Too many people still think of gender diversity efforts as a zero sum game, a pie with a set number of slices. The savvier perspective is that once we commit to working together to grow the pie, there will inevitably be more opportunities for success for all involved.
Originally published by IFLR Women in Business Law Group's latest Best Practice Series on inclusiveness.
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