More than Awareness

0:00Welcome back to the Peggy Smedley Show, your voice for our connected world with your host Peggy Smedley. Welcome to Peggy Smedley Show. As always, I'm your host Peggy Smedley. As many of you know, we have just wrapped up Black History Month. So it's an exciting month, but for one month we paused intentionally to reflect on our history that is often too overlooked. Now, stories are too often untold and contributions that have shaped our nation in very profound ways. Black History Month is not just about the past. It's about understanding how policy, opportunity, I like to think education have evolved, and in some cases how it is not evolved enough. It's about recognizing the leadership in every field and it's a moment for businesses to look inward. And now we're entering into women's history month.

1:03Now this month ahead invites us to recognize the achievements, resilience, and influence of women across generations. It's a powerful time, and it's a celebration of innovation and even leadership. Like Rosie the Riveter, women have expanded their presence across industries once very close to them. They have founded companies, even lead research breakthroughs, shaped public policy, and driven economic growth. Take a moment just to think about that, and yet representation gaps remain particularly in senior leadership, and in industries like we've talked about so many times before in construction and in manufacturing. This month is not only about looking back at milestones achieved.

2:06It's about examining the systems that shape opportunity today and tomorrow. So this is the perfect time to reflect, to learn, and perhaps even most importantly to honor the achievements of those leaders, the educators, the innovators, and even the change makers, which I get so excited about, who have come before us, and really think about that. And it's an opportunity to recognize the contributions across every industry, every discipline, and perhaps even most importantly, every generation. But now I've been thinking about this, and I want us all to give some thought to this. I really want you to think about this.

3:06What happens when the awareness month ends? So just think about that for a second. I just want you to think about that. I want you to race past the answer of this. What happens when all the panels conclude? What happens when all the social posts slow down? We don't see them rolling and scrolling through all of our inboxes? And when all the commemorations wrap up, and the hype and marketing will only take us so far because all the companies are hyping it all up, and we're all talking about it right now. But this is what I really am thinking about. This is what's crossing my mind, and this is what we have heavy on my heart. And what needs to happen next is we need to take this enthusiasm that we're feeling right now, a diverse workplace, and we need to practice it every single day.

4:06We need to mentor it every single day. While awareness is important, awareness alone is now progress. It's just hype. The real question is what do we need to do with all this awareness, all this excitement? How do we translate, and this is what I'm thinking about, how do we translate that into hiring practice, into leadership development, and into, let's say, culture? And that's why I'm bringing back this idea of mentorship, leading the next generation into future generations who are the best leaders who we inspire. But before we answer that question, let's back up just for a minute. That's what I want us to do. I always like to back up and think about this. Why are diverse workplaces so important? Again, I want us to think about this. Today's organizations are very complex. This is true across many industries. Now we could say it's true against manufacturing, it's true against construction, it's true against energy, logistics, supply chain, whatever industry you name it, that's absolutely true.

5:25Complexity, as we think about it, requires innovation, creativity, it requires intensity, and people who see problems differently. Without any doubt, we all can agree with that. But how long have I been touting the importance of soft and durable skills in the workplace? You're probably tired of hearing me say it again. But this will be key as we move forward into what we talk about the next generation of leaders in our workforce. So think about it this way. Diversity ideas, opinions and thoughts in the workplace will come from diverse workplaces. Now if we were saying we want diverse conversations now, I don't think we can honestly say we can have that. Because what I think honestly happens, let's be honest, if you're watching or listing right now, you know you're not honestly saying in your workforce what you feel.

6:29Because honestly you're afraid of what someone else is going to say or the argument that's going to arise because you can't even do it at your own home at the dinner table. But if you don't believe me, consider the statistics. Now I'm going to give you some of the statistics because I'm a statistics kind of gal. That's what I go for. 70% of employees feel included at work when their company has diverse leadership. That's when they feel but an employees in inclusive workplaces are 2.3 times more likely to report higher job satisfaction. Further diverse teams are 35% more likely to meet project deadlines. That's wonderful. We got that. Why? Why is that happening? Let's peel back those onions a layer of the onions and there's a myriad of reasons for this. But the reality is diversity and opinions and thoughts will likely solve problems faster. Generate new ideas and lead to better business outcomes. That makes sense, makes sense to me.

7:44And if you're listing, you're watching whatever, you get it. But the reality is not everybody gets it because you know what? We don't want diverse ideas. We just say, let's just get the job done. Do what I told you to do. But how then do we build workplaces that are actually collaborative? That's the real question. So let's explore three practical steps because maybe that's what we need to do. Maybe we again need to take a step back, take a deep breath. First, create space for every voice. There's some people are very quiet that don't get those voices heard because they're afraid they don't want to be heard. So collaboration does not happen by accident and it does not happen truly in a vacuum. You've heard that before. Leaders must guide this charge. There's no question. They can try round rob and brainstorming sessions. They can ask for specific perspectives. Some people don't like to raise their hand. It's got to encourage that momentum to occur.

8:51And then people will feel invited into the conversation. New ideas will flow and you'll see a lot of change. This starts by having a diverse team who will share unique ideas. The bullies in the crowd can't dominate. That's when you change and you see the diverse ideas start flowing. Second, measure collaboration. Just not output. That's a big thing you got to consider. As I always say, what gets measured gets managed. You got to measure it. You got to manage it. You got to see what's happening. So this is where technology can provide some real value. We got to look at all of this. Metrics can be tracked for everything. I love when we track things. I love about the data. I love it. Yes, even mentorship. Okay, remember this. Knowledge sharing and collaborative projects. That's what we're talking about here. So we've got to look at all the information. You must make sure to keep an eye on your soft skills. Not just the hard business objectives. Now isn't that an interesting thing we're saying.

9:56You got to look at it all. And sometimes when we think about this, we're like, I never even thought of that. Well, guess what? Now you are. And that's the creative idea here. We're thinking. We're learning together. We're all in this together. And that's the collaborative approach. Now finally, what I'm going to share with you here is move from mentorship to sponsorship. So this is that idea. We say, all while you're maintained, you need a mentor. Well, now you're sponsoring someone. You're taking someone under your wing. And so let's talk briefly about the difference here. And this is what I like about this one. Mentors just give advice. But sponsors create opportunity. Now Gallup outlines this kind of discrepancy. But let's talk about it. The difference here is a sponsorship usually involves a senior leader actively using their power and influence to directly promote an advanced protégé's career. Now mentorship is guidance, sponsorship is action. Now in some people they might say, well, is it one in the same?

10:58But if we really want more equity in the workplace, we must be intentional about who gets certain assignments. That's very important. So are they words? You just need to be intentional. So let's think about this. This is certainly been on my mind this week, which is why I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts with you. Because I think this is so important because we have to be very intentional in every action and every step we take here. So black history month reminds us of the cost of exclusion. Women's history month reminds us of the power of persistence. It's really interesting, but they both remind us of this. And this is where I think is so powerful for us. Progress only happens when people who were once left out are invited in to be heard, not just for a month, but every single day.

12:00Think about that every single day. And so as we begin women's history month, let's do more than celebrate. More than celebrate. That's wonderful. We're celebrating. Let's build. Let's build. Let's build teams where different perspectives are expected. Let where disagreement is respectful. Let's think about where collaboration is measured. And where opportunity is shared. Think about the opportunity is shared because diversity of thought is not a trend. It is a business imperative. Think about that. And the work starts now. It starts now. Let's start by asking some of the tough questions this week. That's what I like to think about this. Our advancements path transparent. Are they? Are you thinking about that? Are they transparent? Are caregiving responsibilities acknowledged and supported? Are our compensation structures equitable?

13:07Our diverse leadership styles valued. That's important. Perhaps maybe even what metrics do we track related to retention, promotion, and even pay equity? If we want to solve tomorrow's complex problems, we must have a diverse workforce. I'm going to say it again. If we want to solve the problems, we must have a diverse workforce. That means every generation, every gender, every race, everything. We need to work together to build a better tomorrow right now. And it starts today. So I'm excited. I hope you're excited. Okay. Listers, that is all the time we have for this beautiful segment we just talked about. Make sure to share and subscribe to your episodes each week. And follow me on X and continue the conversation or on LinkedIn or on YouTube. And continue everything we've talked about. I hope you'll share some ideas with me and everything that we're doing.

14:07Remember, we broadcast live, every Tuesday, both together. This is the Peggy Smiley Show, your voice for our connector, world and remember. With great technologists and great responsibility.