Khalid Raza, a 2016 winner of Workforce’s Game Changer Award, is now a talent acquisition leader at EY. As someone who’s been recognized for his achievements in human resources, Raza answered some questions for Workforce.com about his career in HR, the rise of data analytics and the importance of constant curiosity for a well-rounded talent professional.
Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?
Khalid Raza: Career is not a destination but a journey where evolution happens with each experience. The growth of a professional is a story of continuous transformation stemming from experiences, interactions, reactions and self-reflection. Success and failures contribute to the depth of learning.
I had the luxury of being surrounded by visionary and compassionate leaders, talented team members who always set the bar higher, and my family which stood by me at all times. My professional growth has been fueled by curiosity to learn, do and achieve more.
WF: How has your career changed?
Raza: [As] someone who gets bored of [the] mundane, I moved roles within HR frequently, allowing me to appreciate and inculcate an understanding of every function and role. The organic accumulation of knowledge has helped me be more effective at all times. I am fortunate to not have a unidimensional career.
WF: What are some of the trends you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?
Raza: Equipped with data and analytics, HR now takes more informed decisions and provides measurable business solutions.
WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?
Raza: The only advice I have is to be more curious about the business we work for. HR exists to support the organization. Isolated efforts yield amputated outcomes.
WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?
Raza: People are the key to success. Organizations that understand this theme continue to grow through tough times, too. Humans are not resources. The most successful teams are [successful] because of the people driving the transformation.
Raza: I see more real-time analytics impacting outcomes [and] more open organizations, allowing leadership to tap and leverage mutual knowledge of all the employees. Those days are gone where a bunch of suit-clad executives decide in a boardroom what the strategy of the company should use, oblivious of the fact that the next big idea may come from a desktop engineer.
Impact of changes need to be understood in real-time through sentiment analysis.
Tailored bouquet of compensation structures.
Skills and value-driven compensation and growth.
More focus on inclusion than diversity.
WF: What are some things that you value most about your career field/position?
Raza: Talent or HR as a function deals with people, and as I alluded earlier, people drive companies to success or failure. I value the impact HR makes to the organization’s growth.
WF: Do you have any advice for HR professionals?
Raza: Yes, I’d [like to share this] guidance to HR professionals:
Be Curious.
Strive to learn more at all times — people, experiences, struggles, success, and failures — there is always a lesson to be learned.
Don’t network. Build relationships. Adding random people on a social network is of no use unless you have built relationships with them.
Always find a mentor who can guide you — be it a career mentor or a skill mentor.
We’ve been anticipating a seismic shift in the world of work for years. With factors like digital disruption, climate change and divergent geo-politics, it is no surprise that the “future of work” has finally arrived.
But did we expect it to arrive on these terms? A pandemic is eviscerating our communities, emerging with little warning and threatening lives and the global economy. The sorrow is pervasive.
At first, we at PwC were workforce strategists living under a cloak of sadness. But we found relief through creativity.
I’ve been socially isolated in New York for almost a month. I’m finding that by dedicating some right brain thinking to my daily schedule, I’m working in new ways. Not only does my “creativity break” help me relax each day (particularly when it involves paint, glitter and crayons), it helps me re-energize and solve work problems from a new perspective.
Daily, my daughter and I take a break and do an art project together. I have found that the quality of our art is getting better each day, and with that grows our confidence. This is showing in how I engage with my work when I’m inspired to try new things — like testing out a new automation tool in PwC’s Digital Lab or communicating with a client using a new technology.
I tested the impact of creative release with my team, which is why we made QUARANTINE DAYS, a collaborative art project involving a collection of drawings and doodles. In my career, I have worked with clients to solve the most complex workforce issues — but QUARANTINE DAYS is one of my most prized projects. It gives me joy to admire what we have built as a team, through times of fear, anxiety and sadness.
Step 1: Know your audience. To make a project like this work, choose an audience that is willing to demonstrate vulnerability. For many, doodling is not a natural pastime. It helps if there is an established level of familiarity across the group.
Step 2: Establish collaboration tools. We created a virtual chat room called “doodle madness” that allowed us to share drawings in a no judgement zone and did not distract from formal business communications.
Step 3: Define roles. You need a leader who can sponsor the project and is willing to embarrass themselves sometimes and demonstrate vulnerability. The sponsor will share the first doodle of the day to encourage others (and in our case, set a very low precedent for artistic talent). You need a project manager to encourage participation and collate the artwork.
Step 4: Give encouragement. A deliberate effort to recognize individual contributions is important to long-term participation. We have promoted QUARANTINE DAYS on social and external channels to give our collaborating artists recognition for their part in this creative process. This has also served as a subtle motivator.
When our project ended, we sought results on how the creative process made participants feel. Most loved the distraction and the intellectual liberties they experienced by letting the right brain take over. Some loved how their drawings made people laugh — providing comic relief in taxing times. Others thought it helped us connect as a team and get to know one another on a deeper level.
Hearing this, I am not surprised that Harvard Medical School found that casual doodling not only improves attention span but also relieves psychological stress. I think in the future, I might ask my teams to draw and present their ideas when we problem solve for clients — instead of scribbling down messy thoughts on a faded whiteboard.
I love this creative depiction of the process from my colleague, Anna Leiman.
Employee feedback about the challenge
Staying human, especially during a crisis, matters. It may seem obvious, but creativity is an outlet, and in times like COVID-19, we need it.
Not everyone likes to draw. Some like to cook, play instruments or dance in the living room. It doesn’t matter what outlet people prefer. The point is that we are human, and even if we can’t be together physically, by sharing in creativity and using these periods of social isolation for gratitude and reflection, we’ll get through COVID-19. And by engaging employees this way, we’ll come out of it stronger and more connected than ever before.
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Many thanks to the contributing artists from PwC’s Financial Services People & Organization team for their contributions to QUARANTINE DAYS: Bhushan Sethi, Julia Lamm, Jenna Jackson, Alex Spira-Gutner, Christy Wade, Mona Jolly, Taylor Goodman, Alexandra Hom, Lauren Hammond, Andrew Pallotta, Caroline Brainerd, Meg Connelly, Stefanie Goldberg, Stephanie Madarasz, Stephanie Sullan, Smital Patel, Nick Hladek, Jay Sharma, Anna Leiman, Rebecca Leopold, Nicolette Sortisio, Olivia Hewitt, Madeline Bryke, Zachary Horowitz, Dina Finkel, Charmaine Chan, Carolyn Tomlinson, Nicole Pollack, Armando De la Flor, Jamie Burke, Neil Patel, Alexandra Reyes and Victoria Sulenski.
Thank you also to members of the critical services workforce, including medical staff such as doctors, nurses and hospital administrators who work tirelessly to prevent the spread and destruction of COVID-19.
Rachel Druckenmiller, founder and chief executive officer of Unmuted, started her HR and leadership journey long before receiving the Game Changer award in 2019. In this Q&A, Druckenmiller tells Workforce what she has learned along the way, and gives advice regarding how to keep pushing forward in the face of change.
Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?
Rachel Druckenmiller: I’ve learned how to discover and use my strengths. I have pursued learning and development opportunities every year, whether it’s reading a book, attending a conference or training, taking an assessment, or learning from teachers, coaches and mentors. I’ve pursued what my dad calls “interest-driven work.” I became a health coach in the midst of dealing with my own health challenges. I went back to school to study my field more intensely and earned a master’s degree in health science in my late 20s. I have completed trainings and certifications in the area of workplace culture, well-being and professional speaking. I’ve worked with mindset, performance, improv, writing and vocal coaches who have helped me show up more fully and boldly.
Just over a year ago, I started to more intentionally pursue training that would ultimately give me the confidence to start my own business as a professional speaker and trainer. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had to grow and learn and will continue to pursue growth by challenging myself and immersing myself in new ways of thinking.
WF: How has your career changed?
Druckenmiller: I started at a small company as an intern in 2003 and transitioned to full-time in 2007. It was there that I had the freedom to become an intrapreneur, someone who has many of the traits of an entrepreneur but does so within a company and with a stable paycheck and benefits. I started primarily as a consultant working for an employee benefits consulting firm. I’ve morphed into a thought leader in the field of well-being and a speaker who is focused on humanizing the workplace. Last year, I made the decision to follow in my parents’ entrepreneurial footsteps and launch my own company as a speaker and trainer. I’ve never felt more fulfilled or free. It’s been wonderful.
WF:What are some of the changes you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?
Druckenmiller: I’ve been encouraged to see the trends toward humanizing the workplace and putting people first. For a while, it seemed that policies, procedures and perks were what mattered most, but much of that was surface-focused. HR was tasked with “fixing” workplace culture, but we’ve now come to realize that it’s not just HR’s responsibility, it’s everyone’s responsibility to shape the culture of their organization. HR recognizes that having a great culture goes beyond the perks like ping pong tables and rock-climbing walls and is really more about how we can make people feel seen, heard and valued.
I’m seeing more of a focus on creating memorable and meaningful experiences from employees throughout the employee life cycle. Whether they’re using scavenger hunts as part of the onboarding or team building process or incorporating more pulse surveys to gather ongoing feedback, there is more intentionality than ever before. HR is committed to fostering connection, especially among dispersed workforces. Using video conferencing technology allows remote workers to feel more connected and to see their colleagues.
I’m seeing HR become more integrated into the strategic discussions within their organization instead of being viewed as “the people police” in their own little silo. They’re being incorporated into more learning and development conversations and strategies, as companies embrace more customized, micro-learning approaches. They’re often the ones bringing attention to the importance of upskilling in the area of emotional intelligence, something that is lacking among many leaders today. The strategies progressive HR leaders are putting in place are helping organizations brand themselves as best places to work and employers of choice.
In the field of well-being, which has been an increasingly important aspect of HR strategy, there has been a shift. The focus is on the value of investment and genuinely caring for people’s well-being instead of just focusing on the immediate financial return on investment. I’m grateful to see that shift. I’m also encouraged that HR and other business leaders are embracing a whole person approach to well-being, one that incorporates financial, career, social-emotional, community and physical health components. The increasing focus on mental health, humanized parental leave policies, flexible work schedules and sabbaticals is exciting. It’s been a long time coming for us to truly put people first and to make decisions that will benefit all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Employees expect employers to care, and HR realizes that and sees the need to respond.
WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?
Rachel Druckenmiller, founder and CEO of Unmuted
Druckenmiller: Keep showing up. Sometimes we show up and don’t know that anyone is noticing what we’re doing, whether that’s speaking up in a meeting, creating and sharing content or coming up with new ideas. We don’t always see the immediate impact of our contributions, but the key is to be consistent. Keep showing up, even when you don’t feel like it.
Trust yourself and trust the timing of your life. You have committed to years of training and development and honing your skills. You have an important message to share, and if you keep sharing it from a genuine place sharing with the intention of serving others versus serving your ego, it will pay off. Everything will unfold in its proper time. What is meant for you will not miss you.
You will gain confidence as you continue to do your work. Do the inner work, do the relational work, be open to feedback and be open to changing what’s not working. Doing the hard work builds strength and will help you sustain yourself when things are hard.
Spend more time with those you love. Work is important and it will always be there. There is always more work that you can do. But we can’t replace the moments we miss with the people we love. Go on weekend getaways with your husband and your friends. Have more lunches or dinners with your parents. If you are successful at work but depleted at home, then you are not going to be happy. Invest in relationships.
Ask for help when you need it. You’re not a burden. You’re not weak. You’re not going to be seen as incompetent. You are a human being who has limitations. Open up to people and share your struggles. Let other people help you and support you. Whether it’s seeing a therapist or asking for more support at work or at home, speak up for what you need.
WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?
Druckenmiller: Focus on the good in people. So often, HR professionals can become jaded because they’re often dealing with all of the dysfunctional aspects of a workplace. Remembering why we are in this space — to serve and support people and to create workplaces where people can thrive — can encourage us to keep going and to keep showing up.
Reach out to your peers when you’re struggling or need input or insight. You are not a burden and you deserve as much support as anyone else. You are a helper and giver by nature, but if you constantly pour out from your cup and don’t fill it back up, you won’t be good for yourself or for other people.
WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?
Druckenmiller: I have a platform that gives me the ability to use my voice to speak up, speak out and spark transformation at work that carries over to our lives at home. As a speaker and trainer, I’m finding that my messages around humanizing the workplace, igniting intentional leadership and unmuting our voices are resonating with people in all levels of leadership. It’s an exciting time to be in a field that celebrates and elevates the human side of work. As one of the founding members of the Baltimore Chapter of HackingHR and as a member of the online community Humans First, I’m encouraged to see all the good that is happening around the world as HR and well-being continue to evolve.
Nate Thompson, vice president of strategy and innovation at OppenheimerFunds, said that in order to be successful in the HR industry, letting go of traditional approaches and learning how to adapt to change is a must. In this Q&A, Thompson reflects back on his journey through HR while highlighting his accomplishments and the most important lessons that he’s learned along the way.
Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?
Nate Thompson: The biggest theme in my career has been reinvention. I pay close attention to disruptive trends, external and internal, and try to stay ahead of the game. This approach naturally helps me expand beyond a single function or discipline, such as HR. By bridging multiple disciplines — in my case tech, HR and transformation work — I dramatically increase my value as the organization inevitably changes. In my view, ultralearning and versatility are essential in a world that is changing faster than ever before. Whatever you are working on now is going to change dramatically very soon, so we all have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
WF: How has your career changed?
Thompson: Over 20 years ago, I started my career in technology and loved it, but quickly figured out that tech is highly perishable and technologists routinely hit a glass ceiling if they don’t build strong soft skills. That realization led me to leave one of the top tech companies in the country, Qualcomm, to voraciously pursue a suite of skills that are essential to being a strong leader today. After spending a decade in HR and learning and development work, I was uniquely prepared to take that work back into technology, most recently strategy and innovation. It really doesn’t matter how good you are at your specialty if you don’t understand the disruptive forces changing your industry and can’t see or influence the bigger picture. This is why I created and speak on a model called the well-rounded professional to help people evolve beyond being a one-trick pony. Again, when the world and industry are in a state of non-linear change, you can’t take a traditional approach and hope to survive as a professional or as an organization.
WF: What are some of the changes you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?
Thompson: To put it bluntly, traditional HR and traditional learning and development are dead. Today, we need a dynamic, digital and data-driven HR that is deeply aware of the disruptive trends, rapidly experimenting, learning and stepping up to be a strategic thought leader in organizations. This is scary, hard and requires a lot of courage. This is about helping to co-create a new shared strategic narrative, driving the future of work, culture transformation, experimentation, innovation, enabling alignment, engagement and empowerment, reinventing talent programs to enable autonomy, mastery and purpose, moving to real-time immersive cohort-based learning and ultralearning in future skills. That’s why some business leaders don’t want to work with HR and create backdoors. Future leaders in HR are humble enough to release the old idea of control and establish a growth mindset of dynamic strategic partnership with their various business partners. Future leaders in HR are humble enough to release the old idea of control and establish a growth mindset of dynamic strategic partnerships with their various business partners.
Nate Thompson, vice president of strategy and innovation at OppenheimerFunds
Thompson: HR is fighting irrelevance and the path forward has to be a fundamental transformation. This will be deeply inclusive of the future of work and the new technologies reshaping all industries. Technology is amazing and powerful, the most powerful organizations in the world are technology companies. In fact, almost every company is becoming a tech company because tech is the backbone and universal language of business. The most valuable resource in the world is data. But let me be clear, this is not about the shiny penny of technology. People are still the heart and soul of our world, communities and organizations. Culture is still the operating system of our companies and culture is the output of leadership behaviors. This is still deeply about people, leadership and culture transformation. HR has a remarkable opportunity to step out of the shadows, lead this transformation, help their organizations surf the waves of disruption and thrive in the future.
WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?
Thompson: Making a powerful difference in people’s lives. That’s what matters most. Inspiring people and helping them to achieve their potential while co-creating transformation — especially now. Leaders and employees are scared. The future is uncertain. What is next for me? What is next for us? What does it mean to be human now in an increasingly digital and automated world? We are wrestling with huge challenges and the future is undefined. While it is scary, this new era is such a gift. I openly admit that I don’t have all the answers, but I know that if I deeply care about people and create a space where we can authentically and transparently talk about what’s happening, we can come to a shared understanding and vision of the future, lock arms and navigate this new frontier together.
WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?
Thompson: Nate, people are going to say you are crazy, just know you are years ahead of where everything is heading. Go fast and be courageous because when the third decade in the 21st century hits, it will be glaringly obvious how far behind most are and how vital these years will have been in defining your approach to fundamental transformation.
WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?
Thompson: HR leaders and professionals are good people trying to do good things, but the traditional approach has fallen too far behind. It’s time for a reckoning and revolution. There is no time to waste, this conversation of reinventing the function should dominate the HR conversation for the next five years. Let go of old HR dogmas, cut the old waste and irrelevant programs now, look outside for new ideas and spend your time reinventing in alignment with the disruption reshaping your industry and business. If your current HR leaders can’t lead that, you need to hire some inspiring leaders who can — and they might not come from HR.
In this Q&A, Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence and New York Times bestselling author, discusses the changes that have occurred throughout his career and the HR industry, as well as what innovations are to come in the near future.
Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?
Dan Schawbel: Every experience I’ve had and every person I’ve met has helped shaped my career path since I started over a decade ago. In my early career, I wanted to try everything and today I’m focused on what I’m best at and the audience I can add the most value to. Growth has given me clarity in my career.
WF: How has your career changed?
Schawbel: In the first phase of my career, I helped individuals build their online personal brands, then I transitioned to focusing on managing a multi-generational workforce. Now, I’ve transitioned to topics like the future of work and being human in the age of technology. Throughout each phase of my career, my goal has been to advise companies while being a champion of the worker. By serving both audiences, I can make a bigger impact.
WF: What are some of the changes or trends you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?
Schawbel: The biggest HR trends over the past few years are the rise of employee activism, the use of artificial intelligence, the skills gap, the mental health, and loneliness crisis, internal mobility sustainability and the emphasis on the employee experience.
Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence.
WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?
Schawbel: The biggest advice I would have told myself is that change is already happening, even if it’s not universally seen and felt. The workplace trends we talk about are already happening and in order to prepare for the future, we have to adapt in the present.
WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?
Schawbel: I’ve learned that almost everyone in HR has an unorthodox background, which makes sense because you can’t major in HR in undergraduate college. This means that all HR professionals have a unique lens that allows them to add value to workplace programs.
WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?
Schawbel: I had two choices of career paths to pursue when I was focused on personal branding; marketing or HR. I chose HR because I wanted to help people achieve career success and I saw HR as the path to doing so. My theory is that if we improve the workplace, we improve a person’s entire life since one-third of our lives are spent working.
WF: What do you foresee in the future of HR?
Schawbel: Based on my research, it appears that HR departments will be consolidated in the future. HR administrative roles will eventually be removed from the economy, while the more strategic roles will maintain as long as professionals build the right alliances in their companies. If you’re in HR and you feel like you’re working “like a robot,” you will more than likely be replaced by a robot. Think about getting experience outside of HR to protect your future within the industry.
Tiffani Murray was one of the first recipients of the Game Changer award when the program launched 10 years ago in 2011. In this Q&A, Murray discusses her journey through HR, what she has learned and how the industry has changed over the years.
Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?
Tiffani Murray: I was about 10 years into my career when I was nominated for the inaugural Workforce Game Changer award. I had established myself in human resources and HRIS about five years prior, and had taken my background in computer science and industrial engineering into a crash course of a career change from that of a pure IT project manager. There was so much to learn about employment processes from talent acquisition to sourcing candidates and compensation, benefits, diversity, performance management and succession planning. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to work for the most recognized brand in the world, Coca-Cola, and to learn from some of the best.
Over the next 10 years I’ve continued to grow in my career, expanding from my initial specialty area of applicant tracking and recruiting systems to now include everything under the sun when it comes to HRIS. I’ve implemented learning management systems, rolled out performance management programs and technology, upgraded total rewards tools to allow HR to provide new benefit offerings and allow for precise compensation management. To round things out, I’m currently working on a new payroll implementation. I’ve also been afforded new responsibilities and scope, moving from a new manager to a senior management position and landing in a director role reporting to the chief human resources officer.
WF: How has your career changed?
Murray: My career has changed overtime because I’ve been afforded unique and challenging opportunities. I have gone from a consumer products company to contracting at a fast-casual restaurant chain known for customer service and a great chicken sandwich. I have been able to work for one of America’s top homebuilders and
took a turn as a consultant for one of the world’s beloved luxury sports car names. I’m now working for a hometown furniture retailer with 135 years of history behind it that has taken the stance of making HR technology a priority for the business and its employees.
WF: What are some of the changes or trends you have seen in HR over the past few years?
Murray: Technology, technology, technology. Since being named a Game Changer, the shake-ups in the HR tech world in terms of mergers, acquisitions and IPOs were plentiful. They have slowed down and we are left with major HCM solution providers and niche players. Organizations will continue to swap out one for another and other organizations, believe it or not, are still making the move from manual disparate systems to one or two core solutions. There are still companies doing basic HR work, including recruitment processes, on paper, but this has decreased over the last 10 years. Many companies are still not on top of their HR technology strategies. Vendor selection, implementation and core HRIS strategy will be discussion points at the HR executive level and you’ll see more partnership between HR and IT here.
HR processes, including performance management, training, recruitment and assessments are all moving away from desktops and laptops and are essential needs for organizations to have accessible on their tablets, phones and devices. There is also a push for more employee engagement through workforce social channels that allow for informal mentor-mentee relationships, provide an opportunity for formal and informal feedback.
Tiffani Murray, 2011 Game Changer recipient
Artificial intelligence has also been emerging on the scene over the past several years. How HR can use AI most effectively still remains to be seen, but companies are starting to explore this most readily in recruiting and also learning technology.
HR organizations have to now deal with a dispersed workforce that has three or four different generations represented in it. How do you cater to the needs of your outgoing employees who are close to retirement while still attracting the talent of tomorrow to take the lead? You’ll see HR organizations taking a look at benefits plans and programs, specifically vacation and paid time off, including parental and adoption leave and paid volunteer time. Companies that may have once had more of an “in-the-office” culture will need to assess how to roll out telecommute and work from home policies that are fair. You will see more HR teams scrambling to make life easier by adopting what many west coast companies already have.
WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?
Murray: I love my career as I truly think I have a job that fuses the best of both worlds — working with a company’s most valuable asset, the employee population and also having the opportunity to implement and leverage some cutting edge technology to make processes simpler. Adding this type of value does have a bottom line impact for a business, whether it’s decreasing cost per hire or identifying ways to train employees real time, thus making them more productive to sell or provide services to customers more effectively and efficiently while increasing revenue.
WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?
Murray: I have learned that HR is almost always looked at as the least valuable part of the business. Despite working across a myriad of industries, this has been the same. In every HR department, we have had to work hard to prove our value and worth to the business. I almost expect this now in any new role. I do think that over the past decade the climb has become less steep, but it’s still a climb.
In most organizations today, leadership competencies are being revised due to the impact of the changing dynamics of globalization, technology advancements and demographic shifts.
Among these revisions, there is a significant focus on inclusiveness as a distinguishing leadership competency.
It is my contention that inclusiveness is not a new leadership competency. Leadership hasn’t fundamentally changed, and inclusive ways of working have always been a part of the traits and skills that leaders need to exhibit.
Many aspects of inclusive leadership are connected to more traditional leadership competencies:
Open-mindedness: Inclusiveness is characterized by having a mind both open and attuned to differences. Inclusive leaders value differences, exhibit curiosity to know more about the world around them and are not opposed to being proven wrong in the spirit of learning.
Pritika Padhi
This is not very different from the learning agility that we expect leaders to demonstrate, in terms of quickly grasping and adapting to changes. Understanding the limiting nature of beliefs (whether their own or that of others) helps leaders be open to change and more diverse experiences that can expand their beliefs and views.
Freedom to dissent: The role of a leader is critical in fostering an inclusive climate at the workplace. This entails creating an environment where employees feel safe and empowered to dissent with and challenge each other.
Not surprisingly, this has always been a leadership requirement as it promotes divergent viewpoints that are fundamental to sustaining innovation and creativity in the organization. The courage to question norms and the freedom to take risks is also a characteristic of teams and leaders that zealously guard their integrity.
Awareness and understanding: Inclusiveness begins with a better understanding of self. There is a need to be conscious and mindful of our biases (conscious and unconscious) and mental blind spots.
Checking for biases is not just good for a healthy work environment. Biases are threats to clear judgment, and any decision-making or critical thinking competency has an aspect of developing awareness of one’s biases.
However, enhanced self-awareness is not enough. There is also a need to accept and respect others’ beliefs and choices. Respect is a fundamental leadership trait that cuts across several competencies like collaboration and interpersonal effectiveness.
Empathy: Empathy is the ability to view things from different perspectives. It is a step above acknowledging or respecting differences. Authentic inclusiveness stems from an ability to place oneself in someone else’s shoes to understand their point of view and their approaches and challenges.
This is a fundamental trait that helps people relate to each other on a deeper level and is a building block of effective communication. Even with a homogeneous team, an empathetic leader is likely to connect with the team members more effectively than an unempathetic one.
Inclusiveness, then, is not new. Neither is diversity, for that matter. This should be reassuring for leaders and stakeholders invested in employee and leadership development. The focus on inclusiveness is not a fad. It is not a half-baked reaction to emerging workplace developments. It is a fundamental leadership challenge about bringing people together with different personalities, backgrounds, mindsets and ways of working in a way that allows them to contribute their whole selves, leading to significant competitive advantage over homogeneous or conforming teams.
Conversations on developing greater inclusiveness at workplace today are centred heavily on changing the attitudes and ways of working of the groups that have majority representation in the workforce. That makes sense because the onus of inclusion cannot be on underrepresented groups that may not have the power or influence to bring about change.
But that does not mean that underrepresented groups need to sit around helplessly until the work environment changes substantially to make them feel included. There is plenty that they can do, in their own limited spheres of influence, to make themselves heard and even help their leaders make the workplace more inclusive for them.
Bolster your voice – The most obvious idea is to start or participate in employee resource groups. These are groups of employees with shared backgrounds or life stages that come together to support each other by sharing experiences and aiding in personal and professional development.
If your organisation doesn’t have one that meets your requirements already, it is not a bad idea to take initiative to build one. More likely than not, management would be happy to provide resources to help your group interact as it will help them understand more about your group and its needs.
An ERG is not the same as informal corridor conversations with employees of your background. It needs to have a formal structure to provide an effective forum for employees to come together and discuss issues and ways of supporting each other. It can also be a great way to brainstorm further on what actions the group can take to make the workplace more inclusive.
Question assumptions – At the root of all biases and misunderstandings are ill-founded assumptions. It is a human fallacy to jump to conclusions quickly, and we don’t always have the time or mind-space to think through our impressions in detail.
Question these assumptions, both those of others or your own. Ask clarifying questions to others when their behaviour does not seem inclusive to you. “Why do you say that?” or “Is this the reason why you think this way?” Are they operating out of biases or do they have other doubts in their mind? Provide clarifying information to help bust their assumptions and see the other sides of the story.
This is also a good way to test your own assumptions. Are you assuming that the other person is viewing you in a certain light, without checking with them on their actual opinions? Even if your assumptions get confirmed, you will gain more information and insights as a basis for further exploration.
Pritika Padhi
Speak up when you see behaviours that exclude – It is dangerous to be a silent bystander to an act of exclusion. Silence often implies condoning. If you see someone behave in a way that excludes you or a colleague, call it out.
This need not be confrontational. Use your situational judgement to gauge how best to address it tactfully. You can speak in private to the person who acted that way, use humour to diffuse the tension while bringing the person’s attention to their behaviour, or be firm about stating openly that the behaviour was not okay. If you see your colleague at the receiving end of such behaviour, then check-in with them on how they are feeling and how you can support them. At the same time, you will also have to be open to feedback from others on your behaviours that may make feel them excluded.
Interact with different people – Workplace interactions often get limited to departments or colleagues who are physically seated close to you. It is a good idea to walk around and introduce yourself as well as initiate interactions with people from different areas across the organisation.
If this seems daunting to those who are more introverted, then you can also create planned forums to help diverse employees come together. This is the opposite of an ERG, where you are encouraging interactions with people from different backgrounds. Take time to talk about things outside of work in these interactions or forums. This is a great way to understand other people as individuals and build relationships that ease the flow of communication. Being inclusive is easier if we understand each other better and feel more connected with them.
Also read: The ROI of Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
Be a part of a mentoring relationship – Being in a mentoring relationship gives you the opportunity to influence another person’s thoughts and behaviours. It is a fantastic way to share experiences and learn each other’s viewpoints. Irrespective of the topic you choose to mentor someone on, there is always room for you to help them understand what behaviours, in the domain that they are working in, can help promote inclusion. Alternatively, as a mentee, you can take the lead in some reverse mentoring by helping your mentor understand what inclusion means to you.
Inclusiveness is a two-way street. While majority groups have a long way to go in terms of behaving in more inclusive manners at the workplace, it is also important that underrepresented groups get proactively involved in the dialogue so that they feel heard and are able to contribute positively.
As I think about the workplace issues faced by my clients, I can’t help but reflect on my personal life and how there might be some parallels. Supervising a toddler’s play date through the corner of an eye, holding my newborn in one arm while typing this opinion piece with the other and a light bulb switched on for me. To authentically reflect this chapter of my life and the workforce issues that matter most to me right now, I have to blog about flexibility. For me, there is nothing else so top of mind.
Since 2007, I’ve advised firms around the world on all kinds of workforce issues including flexibility. Over the course of my travels, I’ve had world-class mentors, both men and women alike.
Within this group, there is a set of common traits that I strive to emulate. They successfully balance the three important attributes of the trifecta: love, life and career.
If you are career-oriented, balancing the three components of the trifecta is an important condition for living a happy and fulfilled life. And, when done properly, it improves your chances of success in the workplace.
In the United States alone, despite relatively low levels of violent crime and unemployment, coupled with steadily rising income per capita over the last few decades, general happiness within the population is declining. The 2019 World Happiness Report describes this relationship as the Easterlin Paradox, where despite rising standards of living, happiness levels trend inverse. This is attributed to a variety of factors, one of which includes digital advancement — ironically, an urgent business opportunity for most executives.
Another reason for the Easterlin Paradox could be the growing workload faced by many employees in today’s workforce. In fact, HR leaders (particularly in North America) consider unmanageable workloads a key risk to their people experience. In response, several firms have prioritized wellness strategies as a means to remediate. To do so, establishing the link to flexibility is key. Wellness and flexibility cannot be decoupled. They go hand-in-hand.
Good flexibility programs help employees balance the trifecta.
Empower employees to spend meaningful and undistracted time with their loved ones and to invest in starting and/or growing loving relationships.
Give employees adequate opportunities to enjoy their lives by engaging in leisure activities, pursuing personal passions and participating in social and/or community networks.
Create a professional environment where love and life are celebrated and where making investments of time in these two components of the trifecta will enhance an employee’s career, as opposed to harming it.
The equation is pretty simple: Organizations that offer flexibility are more likely to have engaged workers. Engaged workers are more likely to be productive. Productivity leads to heightened levels of business performance. Performance strengthens the employer brand. Top talent likes top brands.
In a job seeker’s market where, at least in the United States, there are more open positions than available talent, firms cannot afford to be inflexible if they want to gain the competitive advantage in a growing war for talent.
But where to start? Consider these five tips for paving the way to a flexible future:
Establish flexible HR policies. Consider a work from home or casual dress policy. Think about an unlimited or mandated vacation policy and how this might impact well-being. Offer flex-time so employees can adapt their work hours to complement their lifestyle (to honor family, health and spiritual commitments).
Lead by example. Flexible HR policies are meaningless when not adopted. Sometimes, workers do not take advantage of these policies in fear of retribution if leaders do not walk the talk. It’s important that leaders give employees permission to partake by taking advantage of these policies themselves.
Consider diversity. Flexibility means different things to different people. For example, what might flexibility mean to a parent? How about someone transitioning to retirement? A caregiver? Someone with standing religious commitments? A single person?
With more diversity in the workplace than ever before, it’s important to take into account diverse needs when designing flexibility programs. A one-size approach to flexibility could offer an inflexible result.
Invest in technology. If the goal is to free up more time for employees for their personal use, offer state of the art technology that enables efficient work from home and mitigates unnecessary travel to the workplace or to meetings (particularly, where distance/air travel is required).
Monitor well-being and flexibility. To understand the return on investment in flexibility, establish a correlation to well-being metrics and other business outcomes and monitor this over time. Also, review the unintended consequences of “unsupervised” flexibility and put the necessary controls in place. For example, monitor patterns in remote working periodically to make sure people are still coming on-site to work and collaborate when necessary, while taking advantage of the policy when it’s not.
There are many ways to bring more flexibility to the workforce. However, as is sometimes the case with people programs, efforts to enhance flexibility will be futile when leadership support is not in place. While these are best enabled by HR, visible C-suite sponsorship is critical. Remember this before getting into tactics, as getting the leadership team on board first will be a worthy and very important next step.
Khalid Raza: Career is not a destination but a journey where evolution happens with each experience. The growth of a professional is a story of continuous transformation stemming from experiences, interactions, reactions and self-reflection. Success and failures contribute to the depth of learning.
