A woman doesn’t need to be a man to succeed at work

There are leadership differences between men and women, which make for gender diversity in the workplace.

Women comprise more than half the workforce. Yet, less than 20 percent of C-suite executives are women and only five percent of CEOs are women. A study by DDI identifies three personality differences between the two sexes — inquisitiveness, sensitivity and impulsiveness.

Does this mean, a woman should act more like a man at work to be more successful? “The quick answer is no—except when it comes to confidence,” says Tacy M. Byham, CEO, DDI.

“Women need to do a better job of declaring themselves and becoming their own advocates—speaking and acting confidently and mentally promoting themselves to a future-focussed role. With this mindset, their own behaviours change. This strengthens a woman’s impact and improves her ability to get that seat at the table,” she adds.

The study by DDI reveals that women are less confident and less likely to rate themselves as highly effective leaders as compared to men. On the contrary, men highly self-rate their own leadership skills and their ability to tackle management and business challenges.

As per the study, only 30 percent of women rate themselves amongst the top 10 per cent of leaders, in comparison to 37 per cent of men. At the senior level, 63 per cent of men rate themselves as highly-effective leaders compared to only 49 per cent of women.

Women were less likely to have completed international assignments, or played leadership roles across countries or geographically dispersed teams, all of which make up important development opportunities. Leaders who had access to global and more visible experiences are more likely to advance.

Normally, we tend to focus too much on differences, which are actually few and far between. The fact is that there is no disparity in competence levels between the two genders. Building high-performance cultures; engaging employees; cultivating a customer-focussed culture; creating alignment and accountability; enhancing organisational talent; building strategic partnerships and relationships, driving process innovation and driving efficiency, are all activities effectively handled by both men and women.

The research shows that men are 16 per cent more inquisitive than women, possibly due to their tendency to gravitate towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers that reinforce inquiry.

Women are interpersonally more sensitive than men (13 percent more), which can be an advantage in cultures where leaders are valued for demeanor and interactions with others. Men are also more impulsive than women (11 per cent more), which could result from the reinforced ‘just do it’ attitude, where women are nurtured with the outlook ‘don’t do it unless you can do it right’.

The study reveals that the lowest number of women in leadership roles—15 to 30 per cent— are in the consumer products, transportation services, computer software, technology, chemicals, energy and utilities, construction, industrial manufacturing, automotive and transport industries.

And industries such as health care, education and retail industries, where women leaders are in large numbers (43-47 per cent) have more female-dominated workforces.

Industries with a moderate representation of women leaders include: food, banking and telecommunication services. The number of women employed and leading in an industry influences the opportunities for women, to advance and develop, and has implications for the future too. Industries with shortages of women in leadership suffer due to fewer role models and mentors to provide encouragement and guidance, to encourage younger generations into leadership roles.

© 2015 HR Katha
Credit: http://www.hrkatha.com/news/632-a-woman-doesn-t-need-to-be-a-man-to-succeed-at-work

How ‘design thinking’ can be an effective tool for human resources

Design thinking draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be, and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user,  be it the customer or the employee.

Click on the image to enlarge

All successful marketers claim to know their customers well. It’s the understanding of the customer’s needs that enables them to design products or services, and also the communication plan to reach out to the customers. If this was true to its core, there would not be any failed brand in this world.

Can we say the same about human resources? Does HR know its entire workforce well? If it does, there would be zero attrition in a company with 100 per cent productivity!

This is where design thinking comes into play. It’s a methodology, which allows HR to understand people’s needs and motivations – what they see, experience and feel.

For instance, let us say we are designing a drilling machine and our study says people want smaller machines, say quarter-inch drills. We will be completely wrong because people aren’t bothered about the size of the drills. Rather, they need quarter-inch holes. To be even more precise, they are only interested in the hole because they want to hang a picture.

This very realisation — the ability to understand what customers want, or in case of HR, what the employee really wants— comes with design thinking. Otherwise, it’s a half-hearted embrace of innovative approaches.

Similarly, design thinking can be used to work through problems to find meaningful solutions for people. This is something that does not happen in many HR projects.

Abhijit Bhaduri

Abhijit Bhaduri, chief learning officer, Wipro says, “When you are working on one policy that fits all, design thinking is a must.”

Bhaduri adds, “This methodology is not just applicable for conceptualising serious policies, it can be effective while designing simple stuff as well.”

In simple words, ‘design thinking’ draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be, and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user, be it the customer or the employee.

Bhaduri cites an interesting example, “Suppose one is designing a cafeteria in an office. How will one organise the seating arrangement? Will it allow different groups of three-four people to lunch together like silo teams, or should the design be such that there are chances of further interaction between these groups? If we understand the needs of the employees better, we will be able to effectively design the cafeteria as well.”

Design thinking helps the HR to understand its people better and also come up with better solutions.

In fact, design think can turn out to be an effective tool in terms of training and development or even talent management.

It basically prepares one well with the ‘go to customer’ strategy and in case of HR, the ‘go to people’ strategy.

“Suppose when one is designing a cafeteria in an office -- how will one organise the sitting arrangement. Will it be in a way where different groups of three-four people can lunch together like silo teams, or should we design it such a way that there are chances of further interaction between these groups. If we understand the needs of the employees better, we will be able to effectively design the cafeteria as well.”

“The CHRO has to build credibility in the function. He also has to earn his proximity to the CEO and the leadership through sheer functional excellence and value creation for the business and the end customer. Design thinking in people processes in terms of organisational structure, work flow, high performing org (HPO), leadership development and talent architecture can add tremendous value. It can ensure simplicity of execution and drive clarity of purpose and output,” says Rajesh Padmanaban, director & group CHRO, Welspun Group.

For instance, design thinking can be quite effective in preparing the leaders of tomorrow. A leadership design of business need and creation of leaders will drive making leaders of tomorrow versus today. Clearly and consequently, the curriculum design to build effectiveness of today and scalability for tomorrow.

“Design thinking enables a systematic way of doing things and simplifies the collaborative way of functioning,” adds Padmanabhan.

Rajesh Padmanabhan

As per the Global Human Capital Trends by Deloitte, design thinking is emerging as a major trend in HR. The report identified HR’s attempts to ‘simplify’ the work environment as a response to the overwhelmed employee situation.

Innovative HR organisations are taking their efforts a step further by incorporating design thinking into their approach to managing, supporting, and training people. Instead of building ‘programmes’ and ‘processes’, leading HR organisations are studying people to help develop interventions, apps, and tools that help make employees less stressed and more productive.

As per the Deloitte survey, 79 percent of executives rank design thinking as high priority when it comes to meeting talent challenges. While only 12 per cent of respondents, overall, believe that design thinking is prevalent in their current talent programmes, 50 per cent of those executives who rate their talent programmes as excellent state that they apply design thinking well. Self-identified high-performing companies are three to four times more likely than their competitors to be applying design thinking to their people practices.

“Design thinking in people processes in terms of organisational structure, work flow, high performing org (HPO), leadership development and talent architecture can add tremendous value.”

Infosys is one company, which is using design thinking workshops to empower and change the mindset of its 170,000+ employees. In the last one year, the company has trained over 36,000 employees, including 500 senior executives on design thinking principles.

For instance, in a normal workshop, most participants will say nothing more than a few words during the entire session. However, a workshop based on design thinking will have an integrative approach, with participants being significantly more agile and active.

For HR, design thinking enables new HR processes, roles and IT systems. In other words, it facilitates user-centricity. The users are, above all, the managers and employees of the company, as well as the experts in the HR department. Besides, with design thinking, the potential for innovation in the company can be tapped and HR can take on a pioneering role.

© 2015 HR Katha
Credit: http://www.hrkatha.com/news/633-how-design-thinking-can-be-an-effective-tool-for-human-resources