2017 wasn't a great year of headlines for women. We've been reminded just how morally bankrupt people in positions of power can be. But we've also seen how much power one individual voice has. As we improve workplace culture for women, we can't stop after defining what "bad" looks like or after determining how to root it out at the core — we must also create a vision for what it will take for women to thrive.
Here are five things advocates and allies of women can do in this moment of #MeToo to improve workplace culture for women:
1. Build Social Capital
Social capital is an important but unwritten rule of success. It's the result of being let in and being able to create connections with people. It's those relationships and their advocacy that create opportunity via a new project, promotion or job. The truth is, hard work matters a lot, but for those well outside the majority power center (women and minorities), social capital can be difficult to gain. We need to establish cultural and social norms that give women the connections and context they need to succeed and move up. Women can create new norms, build new groups to cultivate connections and walk into the room and invite other women once there. Men can open the door, be flexible toward new norms and fight the fearful #MeToo backlash of being alone with a woman that will only create barriers for women to build social capital.
2. Gain Influence
In short, influence is power. It's power to affect change, to mobilize people, to implement a strategy and to deliver results. One of the most powerful ways of gaining influence is from asking questions. I’ve noticed that in meetings and at large events, it's common to see the majority of questions come from men. Asking questions in a group is a subtle but powerful way to establish influence among peers and those senior to you. We need to convey to women the importance of asking questions and encourage their more active and public participation. Women should encourage each other to ask more questions at team, company and public meetings. Men can be allies by encouraging a woman to express a great idea he knows she has, by acknowledging an insightful question and even by asking to work together on a resulting project. These kinds of subtle guiding cues and positive reinforcement are important.
3. Raise Voices
One of the most powerful levers we have to help women stay and thrive is the way we communicate. I've found the simple tactic of "inviting others to speak" to be useful. When you are in charge of the room, you have a lot of authority to make room for others. Leaders need to notice when someone has that spark of an idea but doesn't have room to get started. Or notice that someone tried to start but got interrupted and cut off. Leaders especially, but anyone in the room — men and women alike — can invite those voices to the table. When we have a vibrant exchange of ideas, it increases our collective intelligence, ability to succeed and confidence toward ongoing participation.
4. Develop Awareness
It's hard to be a great corporate citizen when you aren't aware of the kinds of issues that someone different from you faces, or when you are doing something that negatively affects others. As leaders, we have to find ways to raise our everyday awareness of those around us. Last year on International Women's Day, we designed a company exercise to help raise the awareness of the different feelings and experiences of our co-workers. Over lunch, we held an exercise called a "privilege walk." A group of colleagues — men and women — stood in a circle while the host read a series of statements, like: "I've had to think really hard about what to wear to a job interview," or "A manager has asked me when I plan to have kids" or "I've been unsure about whether I was on a date or at a business meeting." It was eye-opening for all of us to see who stepped forward to acknowledge that they had been in that situation or felt that way before, not only because of the stark gender differences that emerged, but also the generational differences.
5. Push To Potential
Harvard Business Review conducted a study of 25,000 Harvard Business School MBA alumnae a few years ago on the 50th anniversary of the school allowing women into their MBA program. They found that the gap of women in leadership roles was not because they "opted out" to care for their family. In fact, only 11% chose to care for their children full-time. HBR found the belief that women value their careers less than their male counterparts or the notion that mothers don't want high-profile, challenging work simply untrue.
We need to acknowledge that women want challenging and fulfilling careers as much as men and need to be equally pushed to their potential. A #MeToo world has had a backlash effect of men being overly cautious with tough, critical feedback for women. What a shame — as feedback is a fundamental requirement for achieving one's full potential. The more we engage in tough feedback, the stronger we become. Sanitizing the workplace of true candor is counterproductive because it denies women the very feedback they need for their own personal growth.
In 2018, we can all find one thing to do to help women thrive in the workplace. From women to men, from leaders to managers and peers — each of us can be an advocate, ally and amplifier.
