IT’S NOT ABOUT MEN VS. WOMEN
Gender diversity in the workplace is about tapping into the power of collective genius, writes DDI CEO TACY BYHAM
Who has more potential to succeed in a leadership position or a STEM job (science, technology, engineering or math)? A man or a woman? In the aftermath of Google engineer James Damore’s memo to his colleagues questioning the benefit of gender diversity, this has become a fundamental question as companies evaulate how they should invest resources in the recruitment and development of their employees.
The big fallacy is that gender equality in the workplace is a matter only of social justice. While it’s true that women want, need and deserve equal opportunity to make a living, Mr. Damore asked Google to put aside the moral angle of diversity for a moment and discuss the issue only as a matter of efficiency and effectiveness.
Suppose we indulge in this thought experiment and consider the two overarching questions he posed: 1) Are women scientifically less qualified for leadership and technical jobs, and 2) Is it worth it for a company to go out of its way to offer programs that support women when qualified men are waiting for the same jobs?
In terms of qualifications, many studies have shown little difference between genders across key skill sets. At my company, DDI, our team of industrial-organizational psychologists compared leadership-assessment results of 15,000 men and women leaders worldwide. We found no significant differences between men and women. On average, women were just as strong at stereotypically male skills, such as negotiating, delegating and strategizing. Likewise, men were equally capable of excelling in the “softer” side of business, such as communicating, planning and building teams.
The one gap is confidence. Women tend to rate themselves as less effective leaders, particularly regarding digitization, despite no evidence that they lack skills in comparison to male peers. In other words, they perceive themselves to be less capable, but their behavior tells a different story, a story of strength.
This lack of confidence makes women less likely to seek out leadership or tech positions in which they do not feel supported by peers. This is why, even though some say Mr. Damore was simply voicing an opinion, his memo and the enormous publicity it generated will stoke the fires of self-doubt and further dampen women’s confidence in achieving success.
When women pull back from certain jobs, the resulting lack of diversity poses a problem for businesses. A study published in Science in 2010 showed that teams with more women made better decisions. These findings were not related to the IQs of the team members, which surprised the researchers. They found that teams with more women — regardless of the IQs of the individuals on the team — consistently made better
decisions.
These findings are supported by studies showing that organizations with more women leaders tend to deliver better financial results. We analyzed 2,000 organizations worldwide and discovered strong evidence connecting a higher percentage of women leaders with better financial success. Among companies in the top 20 percent of financial performers, 37 percent of leaders were women, on average. Companies in the bottom 20 percent averaged only 19 percent women leaders. Organizations with at least 30 percent women leaders were 12 times more likely to be in the top tier of financial performers.
Over and over again, research proves that, when it comes to diversity, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Diversity produces increased innovation, deeper engagement, crisper execution and better results.
For this reason, it’s obvious that the answer to the second half of Mr. Damore’s question — Is it worth a company’s time and expense to offer programs to support women? — is yes.
The irony is that Mr. Damore already knew the value of diverse opinions. He began his memo with a call for diverse viewpoints, suggesting that Google was locking itself in a liberal echo chamber and rejecting valuable opinions from a conservative perspective. But he failed to consider that women might likewise bring valuable insight and perspective.
In today’s increasingly digital world, perhaps the biggest mistake any organization can make is to undervalue human potential.
From Silicon Valley to Wall Street, it’s time to stop pretending that gender diversity in the workplace is only about social justice or avoiding discrimination lawsuits. And it’s certainly time to stop thinking that diversity is about choosing a woman over a man for a particular job.
Instead, it’s about recognizing that diversity unleashes a collective genius that delivers financial value far beyond what each individual contributes.
Organizations that figure out how to recognize and nurture talent from diverse backgrounds and leverage the potential of diverse groups are the ones that will win the game of capitalism. Those that cling to exclusionary practices will be left with dried-up talent pools, which will hit them right in the bank account.