One of the many secret ingredients for successful career steps for women, is male allies. Only we haven’t always called them allies, instead they are colleagues and bosses who have mentored and sponsored us at different stages of our careers, either as the first step up or to gain a particularly desired new role. In today’s world, most men are ready advocates of women in the workplace, but few feel comfortable to wade into the D, E & I agenda.
To explore the answer to these questions and others, we turned to Mark Freed, the founder of E2W, a firm who specialise in supporting women to flourish and succeed in their financial services careers and helping firms to source female talent via its recruitment arm. Passionate about inclusion and increasing the speed of change, Mark co-founded Men for Inclusion. In our virtual event on 22nd November, we started by hearing Mark’s story in Financial Services and how he decided to come back to his family roots for inspiration where he was surrounded by strong female role models.
“Like most men who are passionate about D, E & I, it was a personal experience that started me on my journey. In my case it was being brought up in a very inclusive home – both parents worked, and both took equal responsibility for the upbringing of my sister and me. We were both taught to cook and clean, to change tyres and light bulbs. My first day at work was a shock to see that what I experienced at home did not transfer to the workplace,” said Mark.
Mark was keen to talk about the importance of inclusion in the workplace. Today, many organisations talk about the importance of diversity and have targets for teams and management grades as they recognise the downsides to group think and improved work environments for the many. Few organisations are yet at the point of focusing on inclusion as their goal. Mark believes that organisations need to get through the diversity targets to start to focus on inclusion which is the ultimate goal.
“I just want to be known as Mark, not defined by the fact that I’m a white, middle-aged man. None of those facts define who I am and how I think,” said Mark. And it is the focus on what is going on in someone’s mind, not their physical appearance which really creates both diversity and inclusion. Hiring someone for their talent or their unique contribution to fill a gap in the team must be our nirvana.
The advisory group at WiAS and I, are keen to engage a wider share of male voices within the network, valuing their contribution. Mark gently pointed out that the website and our ethos may not be as welcoming to men as we might imagine. This is something that we need to address in 2023. We do not wish the network to be a female only talking shop!
So, the practical bit; how do men put their support into practice. We have come a long way in the last 100 years, but there is still a long way to go. Blatant sexism in the workplace experienced in previous decades, is very unusual today, however the micro cuts exist, and it is the recognition of the more subversive levels of sexism or ‘accidental sexisms’ as Mark calls them, that need to be more widely acknowledged.
One clear and common example is where a woman (let’s call her Jane) ventures an idea in a meeting, a little hesitantly and as a possibility. It is then seized on by a male colleague (John) who articulates it more clearly in a more confident style, but without building on it as Jane’s idea. The idea transitions from Jane to John and he is unfairly credited going forward. The second impact is that Jane does not see the point in voicing future ideas and the value of the entire team is diminished. Such examples may go noticed or unnoticed by members of the team and the messages another individual takes, has a wider detrimental impact. Mark calls for training in the workplace – for men and women – to call out issues such as the example above, in appropriate ways. Training inclusion champions is one way of doing this. We have spent years coaching and mentoring the quiet voices to speak up, we now need to help leaders hear all the voices in the room. It is very hard for men to find their role in the D, E & I agenda. They are often treated as the enemy, the receiver of the great levels of relative advantage and therefore their thoughts are invalid. Nothing could be further from the truth if we want to genuinely create an inclusive workforce for the whole of the next generation.
Mark believes in the power of the carrot over the stick. He talked eloquently about the importance of being known by our name and treated as an individual, not sub-dividing us into groups who are restricted by gender, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. And if we want more men in our networks, then we must show ourselves to be just as inclusive as we are striving for in our workplaces.
After all, 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 benefit them personally too. Along with happier, more successful workplaces, inclusion creates better health and wellbeing outcomes. By freeing some men from the ‘straitjacket’ of conforming to outdated male stereotypes, inclusion enhances opportunity and choice and creates diversity of thought
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.
It’s time to really think about how much is inequality costing your organisation? Men for Inclusion is one group where organisations can go to learn how to unlock the competitive advantage of an inclusive workplace. You can contact Mark here or visit his website below.
