As I read Michael Watkins’ article, I began to think about the various organizations of which I am a member. What sort of cultures do they have? How do I contribute (or not) to the fostering of that culture? What do I like and dislike about each? I have been reflecting lately on how lucky my wife and I both are to have jobs which allow us to work from home during the pandemic. While both jobs have their fair share of stress, I find that my company has been much better about establishing a work\/life balance. This comes directly from the CEO, who has been an advocate for such a balance prior to the pandemic. Moreover, since the beginning of self-isolation, he and the rest of the leadership team have been emphasizing the importance of self care during this time. This includes taking time away from work to focus on one’s physical, emotional and mental health.<\/p>\n
The McKinsey report on diversity immediately reminded of the diversity discussions we’ve had at work. In particular, during the last several IT leadership conferences, there have been presentations and discussions around the company’s efforts to improve diversity at every level of the organization.<\/p>\n
I found one such presentation particularly memorable. The speaker acknowledged that while most discussions on diversity focus on such important areas such as race and gender, diversity of thought and experience are equally critical to an organization’s success. To illustrate his point, he displayed a diagram representing a small team. The team was made up of six boxes. He then told us that leadership were interested in adding some diversity to the team. On the screen popped up a number of circles, triangles, rectangles, ovals, etc. This represented the candidate pool. Leadership decided to hire the triangle, and a new team diagram was displayed. This time there were six squares and the triangle.<\/p>\n
The next slide simply said “One Year Later”, before switching to another featuring seven squares. The speaker then shared a warning. It was of course wonderful to strive for diversity. However, without an openness to different perspectives and a willingness to try new ideas, organizations run the risk of converting triangles into squares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I read Michael Watkins’ article, I began to think about the various organizations of which I am a member. What sort of cultures do they have? How do I contribute (or not) to the fostering of that culture? What do I like and dislike about each? I have been reflecting lately on how lucky … <\/p>\n