Diversity & Inclusion in Technology

Top 5Inclusion Megatrends

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Contents

Introduction 3

Diversity in Tech – the Stats 4

The Top 5 Trends in Tech 5 - 9

High Performing Teams 5

Mergers & Acquisitions 6

Millennial Myth Busting 7

Embed, Embed, Embed! 8

Internet of Things9

So…what can you do? And how can we help?

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Contact Details 12

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Introduction

Companies in the technology sector are under continued pressure to diversify their workforce. Many of the big players in this field are now making great strides in diverse hiring, looking beyond their ‘normal’ tried and tested talent pool with interesting partnerships & in new regions. Cisco’s funding of $100 million to train students in India, and Microsoft’s DigiGirlz are just two such initiatives. This is supported not just because it’s the ‘right thing to do’ but also because the research supporting the notion that diversity brings improved business results grows every day.

What we’ve seen at PDT Global is a real focus on talent acquisition, and the whole hiring process (which is to be celebrated). However, based on our global, cross-sector experience, it’s not until you give retention as much focus, awareness, and understanding as recruitment that companies really start to see a shift in culture. A diverse workforce is not by definition an inclusive one.

Indeed, this is supported by the fact that those companies who have been doing diverse outreach for some time may not be seeing the dial move all the way up the pipeline. For us, this is because too many organisations have focused on ‘diversity’ rather than true inclusion. You can have the most diverse pool of talent coming through the door, but if the culture is not an inclusive one, those that do not ‘fit’ simply will not stay.

This isn’t just about a war for talent (though in the digital world, this will be a key driver), this goes much further – it’s about which technology companies will have the competitive edge to innovate, disrupt, and collaborate to create leading products, reach new markets and thrive in the future.

This booklet highlights the 5 megatrends we are seeing across the tech sector:

High Performing Teams

Mergers & Acquisitions

Millennial myth-busting

Embed, Embed, Embed

Internet of Things

But before we look at each one in more detail, let’s have a quick look at some of the stats…

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Diversity in Tech – the Stats

Currently only 17% of people working in UK’s technology sector are women. Pair that with the fact that the UK is already experiencing a digital skills gap that is forecasted to reach 745,000 workers by 2017 and one million by 2020.

Women represent just 20% of CIOs at Fortune 250 companies.

59% of employees in the 13 largest technology companies in the world are white…

…and only 37% ofall employees are women.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, female employees fill fewer than 25% of STEM jobs.

59% 37% 25%

20%

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The Top 5 Trends in Tech

High Performing Teams

We are seeing a real shift from focusing on developing individual leaders (or leadership cohorts), towards nurturing teams as a whole, and driving ‘high performing teams’ (HPTs). The recent research from Harvard and Google showed just how hard it was to define what makes a team perform as effectively as possible.

Google struggled to identify factors that were common across HPTs. Then they began to look at 'cultural norms' - two in particular stood out:

- First, the teams that performed well had roughly equitable contributions from team members overall. If only a few spoke out/dominated the team’s performance was worse.

- Secondly, the HPTs had higher social sensitivity i.e. they were skilled at intuiting how others in the team felt.

Together psychologists referred to these two elements as "psychological safety". Harvard professor Amy Edmondson describes this as "shared belief held by a team member that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking." PDT Global describes this as "an inclusive environment where people can be themselves."

As Google noted, when data-driven organisations seek to optimise performance, they often look to data and easily overlook the more human factors. Google’s data showed that above anything else, psychological safely was critical to making a team work. In other words, inclusion is critical to building high performing teams.

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Mergers & Acquisitions

As EY’s initial 2016 M&A report showed, tech M&A isn’t slowing at all, in fact Q2 of 2016 was “the third-highest-value quarter ever, with more deals at or above US$1 billion than in any previous quarter.”

Often when we talk to clients going through M&A, they don’t want to talk about inclusion – arguing rather that it is a concern post-merger. What we’ve found is the complete opposite. If companies are going through an M&A process, there is always a strategic reason for the merger – and therefore there will be a need to align your culture (and D&I plans) to the new, combined strategy.

Another common occurrence post-M&A is a preoccupation with ‘legacy’ –i.e. which company one originally belonged to. This is unhelpful for all involved, and keeps people rooted in the past of their organisation rather than driving forward. When two organisational cultures combine, there will be pros and cons of each. It’s crucial to communicate the new purpose, strategy, and values of the combined businesses and to work inclusively and collaboratively. This often means having some tough conversations and allowing employees the space to ask questions about their future in the new organisation. Only an inclusive environment allows these conversations to take place and leaders need to be brave to really drive this and address the fears associated with change.

To read more on this, see our blog on Inclusion in a Post-Merger world.

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Millennial Myth-Busting

Many tech companies will already have a huge proportion of millennials within their business. Companies need to pay attention to the many studies (such as Deloitte’s Millennial report) in order to engage and retain this generation of talent, and indeed to wider changing attitudes about the way we work.

So what do millennials want? Some common themes across various millennial research show a need for: - Development of leadership skills early on - The ability to work flexibly (why else have all the tech?) - An interest in CSR/social purpose of the organisation - An ability to see a non-linear career path…to name just a few!

Organisations with more traditional performance review and reward systems may need to take a long hard look at their policies and processes to retain younger top talent, as more agile companies hold an advantage.

Interestingly, if the studies are right and millennials are likely to switch roles every 2-4 years, we are also seeing clients developing more robust ‘alumni’ networks. This is an interesting concept and one worth considering – what if these millennials come back into the organisation after some time elsewhere/ running something for themselves? Think of the diversity of thought you might welcome back into your business if you can be open to this. Technology is going to require whole new ways of thinking (see Internet of Things, page 9), and cross-sector experience could be invaluable.

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Embed, Embed, Embed!

Diversity training has been challenged recently, however in many of these studies it’s not clear exactly what kind of training is being discussed. Is it simply a compliance exercise? Is it a piece of e-learning? Is it unconscious bias awareness training or is it a more legal-based training regarding the protected characteristics? And importantly, what else was being done to support the learning? For us, this last question gets to the heart of why diversity training may have been unsuccessful for some organisations.

Firstly, every manager in the business (not just the Exec or SLT) needs to be able to articulate why the business is committed to inclusion. This goes beyond talent, to their core strategic drivers – which markets/customers/products will not be reached if you remain in the status quo. In addition, managers are crying out for practical tips to combat unconscious bias and to be more inclusive day-to-day. Offsites and one-off training days can be valuable for longer discussions, but it’s everyday practices that need to change and people need guidance to do so.

Secondly, all those involved in Talent, Leadership Development, HR and similar functions should be upskilled (and supported) to have difficult conversations with their business counterparts, and also to include inclusion learnings/actions in all that they do. For example, this might mean 5-minute reminder videos or guides before every performance review. Simple, effective messages that are consistently used to bring awareness to the fore, and to remind the business that inclusion is not a standalone HR activity, but rather critical to the organisation.

Lastly, to really embed inclusion, you need a detailed, multifaceted plan for the next year to three years. This takes support from the leadership. Utilise existing surveys, events, learning & development platforms, company initiatives to reinforce messages about inclusion. Often the trainings that ‘fail’ (as some research is suggesting) are ‘one-and-dones’ and not part of a consistent, business-driven plan, with a sustained follow-up set of activities and messaging. If you want to embed inclusion, look ahead and get planning!

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Internet of Things

The project of ‘The Internet of Things’ (IoT) is a mammoth one. Of all the things that could be connected, approximately only 1% are. Therefore, advancing the IoT is about connecting as much of the remaining 99% as possible. Companies that attempt this without simultaneously working on inclusion are likely to “come a cropper”. What got companies to where they are, simply won’t get them to where they need to be.

Organisations seem to be taking note and we are seeing new alliances emerge. Dell has partnered with Microsoft, GE, SAP and many more to help customers navigate the fragmented IoT landscape and identify the right technologies to develop their IoT solutions’. Similarly, Cisco has teamed up with IBM to “help organisations make real-time informed decisions based on business-critical data that was often previously undetected and overlooked.”

From an inclusion perspective, it will be fascinating to see how these companies truly partner and work in new ways. New talent and skills will need to be found, and the pervading bias in any of these talent acquisition processes must be addressed. To connect the world’s devices, tech companies simply must welcome true diversity of thought and perspective to challenge our current world-view of technology.

This is new territory and therefore relying on what we think we ‘know’, won’t cut it. Leaders will need to be willing to have difficult and sometimes uncomfortable conversations to push their teams and their businesses to new horizons. True inclusion, where people are able to achieve their fullest potential, can only help advance our move towards the IoT.

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So…what can you do? And how can we help?

As a thank you for downloading this guide we are offering a complimentary 2-hour virtual workshop! PDT is running a range of different workshops, both as face-to-face sessions of virtually (using Skype for Business® and WebEx®), that are designed to give you and your team word-class, interactive diversity and inclusion training. Some of the areas we specialise in include:

Inclusive Leadership (Strategic Inclusion for senior teams, to first-

time managers)

HR Masterclass Talent Acquisition

Masterclass

Leveraging Inclusion to drive effective change

High Performing Teams

Women’s Leadership

Leadership that Supports the Progression of

Women (for Managers)

Unconscious Bias Awareness

Suite of Embedding Packages

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www.pdtglobal.com

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info@pdtglobal.com

+44 (0) 20 3011 5569

www.pdtglobal.com

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