Women in Financial Services
The Opportunity
Study after study has shown how a more inclusive workplace benefits everyone - Many men are now realising that, far from being a threat, inclusion and inclusive organisations actually benefit them personally as well. Along with happier, more successful workplaces, inclusion creates better health and wellbeing outcomes.
By freeing some men from the “straightjacket” of conforming to outdated male stereotypes, inclusion enhances opportunity and choice.
Not all men feel this way, though. Many of them feel threatened by these changes and actively resist them. Others are simply passive, thinking
that inclusion has little or nothing to do with them.
Accidental Sexism
If 50% of your team are experiencing accidental sexism* illustrated in the diagram below on a daily basis, how much is that affecting their performance and potential?
How much is that costing your firm? Men for Inclusion helps those in majority groups take responsibility for changes to culture, accepted behaviours and values that they
own, to step forward and to step up to improve diversity and inclusion.
Research shows that these are the lived experiences of lots of women and people from underrepresented groups. As a Woman or as someone from an underrepresented
group you will recognize most of them. Men, if they do recognize them, tend to underestimate the impact they are having. They are blind to their relative advantage.
Men for Inclusion is the go-to solution where organisations can unlock the competitive advantage of an inclusive workplace.
*Ground-breaking research conducted at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, by Men for Inclusion co-founder Dr Jill Armstrong to establish how men and women can work together to transform workplace culture.
The Change Journey
Developed by Men For Inclusion, the proven “ADUCE” model helps organisations and their employees to understand, adopt and embed new behaviours and values that have a positive impact on all - particularly those from under-represented groups. We create a safe space where men can explore their feelings around inclusive culture, allowing them to develop their own ideas without any sense of guilt, prejudice or judgement. Here, men can voice their opinions and fears and address any ideas they are uncomfortable with, or feel challenged by.
Our workshops typically consist of a two x two hour workshops for up to 10 men followed up by 3 inclusion clinics. Delivered virtually or in person. The benefits will be:
Helping deliver a shift in culture by sharing understanding of the under-estimated extent of accidental sexism and discrimination and its impact on equity of opportunity
Setting priorities for action that will enable the leadership to create a coherent set of values and messages about the benefits of inclusion
Co-creating ideas on how leaders and teams can act as allies to build a more inclusive, high-performing culture
The workshops are based on Academic research on the challenges faced by women and our work with many organisations on accidental sexism and gender inclusion suggests that the following are the types of key issues that could be discussed.
- How can we define our expectations of 'good performance' in a way that men and women are more likely to think are clear and fair?"
- How can we ensure that the way we judge the ability and potential of all our people is equitable?
- How can we expand social networks to include women so they have equitable access to opportunities and the unwritten rules of how to succeed at our firm?
- How can we address fears about positive discrimination (women getting unfair advantage)?
- How can hiring managers get more, talented women into interviews?
These issues are a start-point for discussion with you prior to the final design of the workshops.
Senior Leadership Workshops: 2x2 hour workshops for up to 10 senior male leaders with the following objectives:
- Create a shared understanding of the way behaviours, rooted in everyday accidental sexist gender bias (that male leaders are less likely to see), that impact the career progress of female colleagues
- Encourage motivation to act to remove barriers for women
- Discuss the role of senior leaders (especially white men who are in the majority group) in acting as allies and role modelling inclusive behaviours
- Share ideas to help the leadership team determine their priorities on how to build more inclusive everyday practices
- Identify the key commitments to individual action for each of the delegates who attend
The expectation would be that the workshops will be 1 week apart to aid reflection.
Inclusion clinics: 3x1hr sessions which will allow the leadership team to:
- Discuss the outcomes of putting new inclusion practices in place
- Seek clarification and additional coaching on specific areas of gender balance
- Explore further research into the impact of accidental sexism and similar non-inclusive actions
Our Corporate Events typically consist of a 40min keynote talk on Male Allyship and Accidental Sexism plus a 20min Q&A all delivered virtually or in person. The benefits will be:
- Helping deliver a shift in culture by sharing understanding of the under-estimated extent of accidental sexism and discrimination and its impact on equity of opportunity
- Providing ideas on how leaders and teams can act as allies to build a more inclusive, high-performing culture
Objectives
- To discuss what we have learnt about diversity and inclusion whilst leading change within other organisations that engages men to become advocates for gender balance
- To share ideas about the role of men, especially white men, who are in the dominant group, in role modelling inclusive behaviours
- To review ideas on what everyone can do to act as allies and build more inclusive everyday practices
We have two standard options for the keynote:
Keynote Option One will cover the topic quite formally and include:
- What’s the problem? – The latest gender based data
- Our research on the obstacles created by accidental sexism
- Why this really matters – the business case & the personal case
- Where do we start – how to break the barriers to change
- How to get men engaged
- What men really think about gender equality
- Practical approaches – building inclusive teams, hiring, retaining talent and managing careers, promotion and compensation
Keynote Option Two will cover the topic in a story telling way, by focusing on the Ball Organizers ( Men) rather than the women in the metaphor “Diversity is being invited to the Ball, Inclusion is being asked to dance and Equity is dancing like no one is watching”.
We take the audience on the Ball Organizers journey from arranging the Ball to comply with the business case, to arranging it as an inslusionist and the steps in between.
THE ACCIDENTAL SEXIST
GET YOUR COPY
Diversity and inclusion are vital for any successful organisation, but experience shows employers, particularly male managers, rarely know how much gender bias impacts the women in their workplace.
This practical guide offers real-world insight on how to include more men in diversity and inclusion efforts and how to build stronger, more motivated teams.
Book Summary
Now is the time to focus as hard on inclusion as diversity. By inclusion we mean the sense of belonging and being valued which everyone should expect but that has to be worked at to achieve. Inclusion for anyone who feels excluded by the majority culture. Without that feeling of belonging and sense of being assessed fairly for their contribution, many of your diverse hires will get demoralised, disengaged and they will disappear, taking with them your opportunity to improve performance that relies upon successful teamwork.
Yet, gender inclusion in particular is all too often thought of as a women’s issue. Men are rarely part of the conversation when they need to be part of the solution. That’s because the many ways in which women don’t experience equality of opportunity are not obvious to men. Fundamentally, the idea that women working alongside them have experiences that are different to their own, most of the time, does not even occur to men. It is not deliberate, it is not even thoughtless, it is a void of thought. That’s why we have called this book The Accidental Sexist.
The Accidental Sexist is a practical handbook (not a manual!) written for men who want practical ideas and tips they can follow as individual managers to create an inclusive workplace and to set up a male ally group in their department or organisation. You will learn:-
- Why gender inclusion is so important for organisations
- How to talk to men about inclusion and making an organisation more welcoming to women
- What men say (and think) about including women in the workplace and how we can build on men’s motivation and address points of resistance
- How to set up and run a male ally group
- How individuals can change their behaviours in small ways to make big differences
- How managers can solve challenges in keys areas such as hiring, promoting and developing the careers of women
It would be great if this book is read by women too. Women who have thrived as well as women who have experienced ‘career death by a thousand paper cuts’.
This book is based on the experience and insight of Gary and Stephen, two senior leaders who set up a successful global male allies network co-authored with Jill, a researcher and expert in inclusion - in the spirit of working alongside rather than ‘helping’ women. Women have obviously also been influenced by deep-rooted social expectations of the roles of men and women and inclusive cultures need to be built by us all, together.
- The men in your Male Ally Groups already know and understand the benefits to them of being agents of change:
- Improved Emotional Intelligence
- Better leadership skills producing improved outcomes
- Enhanced personal relationships
- Better personal resilience
- More fun and less needing to live up to stereo types.
In short more opportunity, more choice and a happier life.
Men for Inclusion are bringing together individual men who already understand the benefits of diversity and want to accelerate towards a more inclusive world and workplace. Together we can learn and co-operate with each other through our events and workshops. Together we can be agents of change supporting our under represented colleagues, and doing so help accelerate progress.
Join our community, we are just getting started but already you can:
- Join in on our monthly events and workshops
- Collaborate with other members in our exclusive WhatsApp and LinkedIn Groups
- Wear the Men for Inclusion Badge (Linkedin in profile)
- Get our expert help and advice
We offer corporate discounts to male ally groups: for 5-10 Men £50 each(plus VAT), For 11-50 Men £40 each plus VAT.
Contact mark.freed@e2w.co for more details.