Ensure that employees from underrepresented groups are provided developmental work opportunities and are included in leadership training programs, committees and task forces.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Outliers, he investigates why some people become outstanding successes while others with similar talents do not rise above the pack. He found that a key success factor for the most successful – the outliers -- was being given opportunities to practice new skills. For example, Bill Gates had an extraordinary opportunity to do real-time programming as an eighth grader in 1968, when most colleges didn’t even have computers. As they say, the rest is history.
A similar phenomenon has been documented regarding employee work performance. Employees who are given developmental opportunities (and encouragement) feel more confident, become more engaged, and improve their performance. Conversely, employees who do not receive opportunities feel stuck, become disengaged and their performance declines.
While it may sound simple, providing equitable opportunities does not always come naturally. The Principle of Social Similarity has demonstrated that people tend to feel most comfortable with and more attuned to the capabilities of people who are similar to them – in background, gender, race, age, work style, personality, etc. So there is a natural tendency to favor some employees over others. Additionally, some managers have preconceived notions about employees’ abilities, based on stereotypes that are still quite common in US culture. While these biases may be unconscious and even unwanted, they can cause managers to give employees subtle messages – through tone of voice, body language, etc.—that undermine employee performance.
A few simple tools will help ensure that you are providing encouragement and opportunities equitably:
Assume you may feel more comfortable with employees similar to yourself than with others. Challenge yourself to move outside your comfort zone.
Try to become more aware of your non-verbals such as tone of voice, eye contact, gestures, etc. Make sure you are not inadvertently giving negative messages to some employees.
Think about each of your direct reports and identify development opportunities that would be “in the zone” for that employee. Assignments that are too easy result in boredom; assignments that are too challenging can be set-ups for failure.
Periodically review the assignments given each employee to make sure that no one is being unfairly overlooked.
Check back again for information on another best practice!
|
