WERKIN is launching a new series, “Leaps x Bounds”, profiling change and change-makers. WERKIN Ambassador Shalini Chudasama explores what we have in common with Zara Rutherford and her incredible around-the-world journey.

Zara Rutherford, a 19-year-old, recently became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. At first glance, this may not seem like an impressive accomplishment given how ubiquitous commercial flight is today. However, the challenges she faced, ranging from physical safety and logistics because of climate change and the pandemic, to the burden of being the youngest women to do this, are emblematic of a world that is rapidly changing in some respects while not changing quite fast enough in others.

A turbulent path

Due to Zara’s aircraft’s design and specifications, she couldn’t fly through clouds (unlike a typical commercial plane), meaning she often had to fly under them. Given that, she was impacted by weather patterns throughout her journey, which, as has been documented, have only worsened due to climate change. Zara had to navigate storms in Florida during hurricane season, smoke in her cockpit from Californian wildfires, smog in India, and typhoons in the south Pacific. Keep in mind, she was handling all of this from a ~300 kg single-engine, 2-seater plane (for comparison, a Boeing 747 is more than 600 times heavier).

Winging it along the way

Worsening weather was only one of her obstacles — there were also complications brought about by the global pandemic. She was originally planning to fly through China, but then couldn’t fly in its airspace as part of a pandemic protocol. Strangers welcomed her during emergency landings during a time when we have had to be careful about letting even our closest family into our homes.

Exclusive flight club

It wasn’t just strangers that she met along the way, she also had a chance to connect with role models and other female aviators, like Shaesta Waiz. Zara lists a few of her inspirations on her website, such as Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, Lillian Bland, and Valentina Tereshkova (look these women up if you aren’t familiar!). She states her mission as “to inspire young women and girls to pursue whatever they may be interested in, even if that is seen as traditionally male.” In the aviation, ‘traditionally male’ equates to the fact that 95% of commercial pilots are men.

Reaching great heights

While not many of us have flown solo around the world, Zara’s journey captures what we face today as individuals and communities — all the ways in which the pandemic, climate change, and issues of representation have shaped our personal or professional (or at times for Zara, physical) trajectory. It’s why her journey will continue to matter, not just for the merit and value of her impressive achievement, but the context in which she achieved it. It’s inspiring on so many levels and provides a dose of hope and excitement that whatever headwinds (pun intended) we face today, that we can take them on with the same level of poise, grit, and determination as Zara.

This post was written by WERKIN Ambassador, Shalini Chudasama, and originally appeared on the WERKIN blog at https://www.getwerkin.com/blog/zara-rutherford

All employees can be focussed on growth.

With the exception of well funded startups, we all know that nothing happens until a sale is made. There is no company and there is no job.

If you are running a large business with huge year on year growth, you likely have a big team of dedicated functional specialists who do their specific job, possibly without even fully understanding their role in the entire customer value chain. Many small to medium businesses however, require employees to be more agile and to wear multiple hats simultaneously. Regardless of whether the company is big or small, it is in your interest to ensure every employee understands the value they create and feel like they can actively contribute to the success of the business.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every employee will be a trained sales professional directly tasked with sourcing leads, developing prospects, and bringing business into the company. Not at all. What I am suggesting is that you establish a “growth culture” within your company where all employees feel empowered to play a role in helping to drive revenues, improve profitability and retain clients.

All of your employees can influence the growth, and success, of your company:

• The receptionist who answers the phone and greets the visitors that come into the office (if you still have one that is!).
• The person (likely your receptionist) responding to your general company email address and answering queries coming through your messenger apps and other virtual channels.
• The accounts receivable employee who speaks with clients about collection matters.
• The technicians who are in the field attending to service issues.
• The software engineer who blogs about tech innovation to the wider development community or unearths a nugget of data that leads to closing sales more quickly.
• Any employee talking to other people about where they work and what your company does.

So what is a ‘growth culture’?

Rather than focussing purely on financial performance management linked to reward and recognition programs, a high growth culture values the ability to develop, learn, and grow through curiosity and experimentation. Employees feel able to take risks, leading to breakthrough innovations and business growth.

Business growth is a sustainable outcome of a successful growth culture. Focusing on growth rather than performance which is fear-based, is also a healthier and more sustainable way to go, because it’s built by the people who drive.

According to HBR there are 4 key components of a growth culture:

1. An environment that feels safe, where leaders take responsibility for their shortcomings.
2. Dedicated focus on continuous learning through inquiry, curiosity and transparency.
3. Time-limited manageable experiments with new behaviors.
4. Continuous feedback across the organization through shared commitment to helping each other grow and get better.

How can I establish a growth culture to fuel business growth?

This will depend a bit on where you are at in your journey…

Your current environment

If you already have an open and inclusive environment, where all employees feel comfortable voicing their opinions, you’re ready to start experimenting. Be mindful that a few loud voices are not taking more than their share of air time or drowning out the views of others. A growth culture needs to include everyone.

If there is still work to be done to build the right environment, start by creating some open forums where people can share their ideas. Holding a regular town hall with smaller breakout sessions around key topics, is a great way to do this. Adopt an approach such as Edward de Bono’s ‘six thinking hats’ to ensure all ideas are given the appropriate space to develop. In hybrid working situations, make sure you have inclusive digital tools that to support this approach.

Start experimenting

This is where things get really exciting. You may have specific business issues you’ve been itching to solve, or growth areas you want to explore, but just haven’t had the time or resources to address. Keeping it open could surface up ideas that take your business in directions you had not even dreamed of.

Under the assumption that your people are already clear on who your customer is, what your company values are and where you are trying to get to as a business, formalise an approach and some guidelines for testing new ideas. If employees would benefit from more clarity or need to understand the latest changes to your business strategy, first use the forums mentioned above to get everyone on the same page and aligned with your business goals (you may also find your business strategy actually improves with their input).

When deciding on your approach, I recommend you look at the the method developed and used by Brian Balfour (former VP of Growth at HubSpot) and his team. It is a comprehensive, yet lightweight scientific framework, for designing, executing and measuring growth experiments. The framework was designed for HubSpot, so it’s perfect for a tech product, online business or crafting the right content and social media outputs, however, it can be easily adapted to any kind of business. Brian goes into it in detail in this video. The high level process is:

1. Brainstorm — backlog of experiment ideas
2. Prioritise
3. Design tests for those
4. Implement
5. Analyse
6. Take successful ones and systemise them

Anyone can run an experiment, but to be able to compare and evaluate which ideas you want to systemise in your business going forward, you will need a consistent, scalable and repeatable process. A centralised view of the tracking and reporting of your experiments will also ensure you are not doubling up on efforts.

Share the learnings and the stories

Remember that terrific open and inclusive environment you built? Play the wins, the learnings and the outcomes back into your growth culture and keep going.

Prioritising a growth culture creates an opportunity for all employees to come to the table with new ideas — without fear of ridicule or retribution, knowing that curiosity and experimentation (under the right conditions) is valued and encouraged and this in turn, drives innovation and performance. And to top it off, employees who feel valued and purpose driven are more likely to be engaged and therefore stay with your company.

Get growing

Need help building a growth culture?

Running a mentoring program in your company will allow you to create a safe space to start building those inclusive learning behaviours. WERKIN can help you design a program, or support your existing program with our technology platform.

Ready to create and sustain momentum for growth?

Sign your team up for a free trial of WERKIN’s Growth Bootcamp Series. It’s a punchy 14 day challenge that will focus your team on growing your business and reap huge rewards. The first 30 days are absolutely free.

This post was written by Angella Newell and originally appeared on the WERKIN blog at https://www.getwerkin.com/blog/are-you-at-risk-of-being-overlooked-for-a-promotion

Need to grow your business in tough times? Make every employee a part of your growth engine. was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Do any of these feel familiar?

“My work should speak for itself”

“I don’t want to brag or come across as arrogant”

“My boss doesn’t want to hear me talk about myself”

“Team players don’t take credit”

“I just don’t feel comfortable promoting myself”

These are all limiting beliefs that prevent us from taking that important step. To get past them, we need to reframe the way we view self-promotion and learn how to do it well.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, those who advance the furthest and fastest aren’t necessarily the most talented or deserving. It’s highly likely that what they are actually really good at, is effectively communicating their impact and value to others in their organizations.

Talent doesn’t equal recognition

Unfortunately just sitting there and doing a great job is not enough. It won’t get you noticed or propel you to where you want to be. Decision makers in your organization won’t always make those connections by themselves. Particularly now as we shift to more of a hybrid working model, people are dispersed, access to senior leadership requires different strategies and technology is fundamentally changing how we work. Many high-performing individuals are at risk of being overlooked without the right self-promotion.

Reframe how you view self-promotion

It is important to see that self-promotion is a leadership skill (Forbes). “It is essential in both the ascent to leadership and once you are already there. As a leader, it is your responsibility to talk about what you and your team have achieved, not only for your own benefit, but also for the team and the company. It’s how to create influence. It’s how you sell your ideas across the organization. It’s the basis of building relationships with key stakeholders and gaining access to the power networks”. Viewed from this lens, self promotion takes on a different purpose: one where you are delivering value, supporting others and everyone can win.

5 steps to good self-promotion

1. Be yourself

There are some fundamental ingredients for effective self promotion and authenticity is one of them. Be honest and open and deliver what you promote. You don’t need to be someone you’re not and the message will always land better if you are coming from a credible place. This builds trust.

2. Think about your audience

Whenever you are trying to communicate something you need to think about who will hear it and why it is important to them, this will allow you to frame your message. Learn to summarize your successes. People are too busy to listen to all that you do — keep it relevant and punchy. As a leader you need to understand what it is that people value in a leader and then exhibit those leadership behaviours.

3. Talk about your win and the specific steps you took

Promote the steps taken and your role in achieving the objective. Facts and figures help to take the focus away from personalities.

4. Frame the win around the benefits to your team, department or company

Not only does this demonstrate big-picture thinking, it will soften the impression that you’re more concerned about promoting yourself than the success of your organization.

5. Be a team player

Recognize the work of others on your team and share the limelight with your colleagues. Reference specific individuals and their contributions whenever possible. Use “we” instead of “I.”

Download this free worksheet

We’ve created a one-page step by step worksheet on ‘Mastering the art of self-promotion’ that guides you through each key step to craft the right message. Use this to prepare and practice until it becomes second nature.

This post was written by Angella Newell and originally appeared on the WERKIN blog at https://www.getwerkin.com/blog/are-you-at-risk-of-being-overlooked-for-a-promotion

How to be comfortable with (and good at) self promotion was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With four months to go until the 2019 UK gender pay gap deadline, 6% of employers have already submitted their numbers. This early data shows a median pay gap of 11.4%, a slight improvement from 11.8% a year ago.

Research by executive recruitment company Spencer Stuart also reveals the proportion of women on FTSE 100 executive committees has slid backwards from 18.6% in 2018, compared with 19.4% in 2017. Meanwhile, the percentage of all-male executive committees has more than doubled from 7.6% to 15.7%.

It seems progress on narrowing the gender pay gap has stalled. Commentators say these mixed results show a need for employers to submit action plans, targets and narratives alongside their numbers.

According to the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission report:

• Only one in five employers sampled has produced an action plan to close the gender pay gap.
• Only 11% had set themselves targets that would enable them to measure progress of their plans year on year.

Lack of progress impacts employee retention

Most corporate leaders now understand companies must achieve diversity if they want to acquire and retain talent, build employee engagement and improve business performance.

According to a new survey of 2,000 UK employees by Boston Consulting Group, 46% of female respondents said no progress had been made in their organisation in the past three years. Not only that, UK workers are more likely to leave companies that fail to make progress on diversity and inclusion.

Invisible barriers to progression: unconscious bias

Clearly, companies have not made much progress in their ability to deal effectively with diversity and the problem is acute at the leadership level. BCG’s data shows most company leaders — primarily white, heterosexual males — still underestimate the challenges diverse employees face.

When BCG asked diverse employees if they see obstacles to diversity and inclusion at their company, more than a third said yes. Also:

· Half of all diverse employees stated that they see bias as part of their day-to-day experience at work.

· Half said they don’t believe their companies have the right mechanisms in place to ensure that major decisions, such as who receives promotions and stretch assignments, are free from bias.

Evidence-based actions for employers

Knowing what works is the first step. The Government Equalities Office has partnered with Professor Iris Bohnet, author of What Works: Gender Equality by Design to publish a guide to improving gender equality in organisations.

“To move the dial on equalising pay, we need to de-bias systems, not people. Human resource management must be based on rigorous evidence of what works to level the playing field, treat everyone fairly and benefit from 100 percent of the talent pool. Evidence-based design of hiring practices, promotion procedures and compensation schemes help our organisations do the right and the smart thing, creating more inclusive and better workplaces. This guidance is an important step towards helping employers know what works.”

Dr Iris Bohnet, Roy E. Larsen Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School

Ideas for actions

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published several recommendations to include in a good action plan:

• Provide a clear brief, including diversity targets, to any recruitment consultants and executive search firms.
• Introduce women’s networks to develop peer support across the organisation.
• Develop mentoring schemes for women to build skills and encourage development.

Mentoring to move the dial on your metrics

WERKIN’s tech-enabled mentoring platform uses algorithms to impartially match mentors and mentees across large organisations. WERKIN’s approach reduces bias by identifying employee skills, achievements and interests using technology rather than human instinct.

• Managers can set goals and schedule regular meetings as mentees work towards achieving learning objectives.
• Push notifications and optional geolocation connect mentors and mentees across global teams, helping them to meet for a coffee should they find themselves in the same city.
• Team leaders can also assign stretch assignments based on development needs rather than who is visible in their immediate circle.
• At the close of the financial year, dashboards showing the number of mentoring meetings, milestones, stretch assignments and promotions is available for stakeholders and shareholders, demonstrating progress towards gender pay gap targets.

Although the UK Gender Pay Gap is heading in the right direction, there is still a lot that can be done to provide women access to the same development opportunities as men in the workplace. Studies show building a pipeline of qualified women requires reducing bias in the selection process for promotions, stretch assignments and mentoring. Technology can level the playing field by minimising the influence of unconscious bias in these decisions.

WERKIN combines behavioural science research with technology to deliver a solution that reduces bias, streamlines workplace processes and provides measurable results. What is your company doing to move the dial? Tackling a complex problem like the gender pay gap, WERKIN helps organisations define metrics to track progress towards building more equitable workplaces.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

Widespread financial discrimination, deception, and lending bias all related to structural racism have contributed to financial inequities faced by African Americans. Black Americans of all incomes are much less likely to own a home today because of racial inequities in intergenerational wealth, credit and lending discrimination. Yet homeownership is a leading factor in building wealth.

Many black families were disproportionately impacted by the 2008 housing crisis, having been targeted by subprime lenders and losing their homes. The subprime mortgage industry steered black borrowers towards high-cost loans, resulting in five times more over-priced loans compared to white communities (Gerardi and Willen 2009). Financial institutions continue to target African Americans for products and services that are higher-priced, further reinforcing distrust.

National research on financial practices suggests that financial institutions need to work harder to build trust and open up services for America’s black communities.

As a result of their negative experiences, African Americans prefer to navigate financial decisions through relationships, valuing “respect, trust, safety, security and a sense of belonging” (Sawady and Tescher, 2008). However, these informal networks often lack the expertise of formal financial institutions; according to the Center for Financial Planning Board (CFP), less than 3.5% of all the 80,000 certified financial planners in the United States are black or Latino.

To put it another way, there are just 1,200 African American CFP Financial Planning professionals in the entire US.

The Importance of African American Wealth Advisers

Justin McCurdy, who is black, is an Executive Director at Manhattan West Asset Management, a notably diverse wealth management firm within a predominantly white sector. McCurdy’s passion to educate and empower communities locked out of financial institutions initially attracted him to the financial planning industry. When asked why more African Americans should enter Financial Management, he replied:

“It’s my belief that the more African-American advisors there are, the more educated the black community will be about finance. This will only lead to more wealth accumulation and preservation within the community.”

In an interview with Black Enterprise, McCurdy attributed to the low numbers of wealth advisors of colour to many African-American children not having the opportunity to see successful Financial Advisors of colour. It’s difficult for them to envision themselves taking that career path. McCurdy wants the next generation to see wealth management as a viable career opportunity for all sectors of the community.

Meeting the needs of increasingly diverse consumers

Last year, the CFP surveyed 2,276 financial planning stakeholders including planners, employers and consumers to find out how to create a more diverse financial planning profession.

The survey uncovered three trends widely seen as contributing to the current situation:

• Economic inequality and cultural norms for people of colour, resulting in less personal or family experience with long-term financial planning, leading to lower levels of confidence that one will be accepted in the profession.
• Firms’ hiring and onboarding practices, with an emphasis on bringing in candidates who already have a strong network of potential clients.
• Clients’ implicit biases: Consumers’ unconscious preferences for working with professionals who have similar backgrounds.

56 percent of respondents agreed that a formal mentoring program was necessary to boost diversity in the financial planning profession.

Survey results show polarised perceptions

The study also found strong disparities between what African American and non-African American CFPs thought were the reasons behind fewer people of colour in the Financial Planning sector.

• 27% of black CFPs cited companies’ reluctance to hire or promote people of colour as the broad reason.
• By contrast, 58% of non-African American or Latino CFPs claimed people of colour are reluctant to pursue jobs in the industry.

Compared to all the survey respondents, black financial planning professional respondents ranked:

• Prejudice from firms
• Firms’ beliefs about clients and ethnicity
• Firms’ assumptions about lack of cultural fit
• Fewer opportunities

…as higher than average when asked about causes for the underrepresentation of people of colour in financial planning.

The importance of mentoring

In a 2017 publication, Creating a Culture of Mentorship Heidrick & Struggles surveyed more than 1,000 professionals in North America to discover why mentoring is critical in supporting, developing and retaining talented people.

Their findings show companies that offer effective mentoring have a competitive edge in the fight for talent. Potential employees are attracted to development opportunities represented by mentoring programs. Organisations can unlock the potential of mentorship to attract, develop, and retain a diverse workforce.

For African Americans, seeing themselves represented in an organisation will encourage them to apply.

The significance of wealth managers of colour

The financial planning industry needs to change its compensation practices to attract African American talent. Currently, many firms only take on new clients who are ready to invest a minimum of $250,000. In 2016, white families had a median net worth of $171,000, compared with $17,600 for black and $20,700 for Latino families.

Financial planning firms also assess new recruits on the potential of their networks and their sphere of influence: a sizeable obstacle to many people of colour whose networks earn less than the US national median.

According to James Brewer, the future of the financial planning industry “is to bring in less wealthy people with potentially decent income,” to better reflect the customers they serve. Most Americans have incomes between $50,000 and $100,000.

Diversity among financial planners will also yield more professionals equipped to understand the unique needs and fears of clients from a similar background, building trust and respect with communities that have been marginalised from financial services.

A tech-enabled mentoring platform

A lack of visible role models, networks and mentoring programs for people of colour in financial planning reinforces underrepresentation in the industry. When the industry attracts, recruits and retains planners who represent the diverse needs of their customers, they can build stronger connections with marginalised communities.

For financial planning organisations seeking more inclusive hiring, promotion and retention processes, a formal mentoring structure aided by technology can match employees with mentors and guide them towards their goals. Mentoring programs give underrepresented groups access to senior-level executives, who in turn are able to see the potential of junior staff.

WERKIN’s tech-enabled mentoring platform uses algorithms to impartially match mentors and mentees. The software enables leaders to set goals and schedule regular meetings until learning objectives are achieved. Team leaders can also assign stretch assignments based on development needs rather than ‘who the mentor knows’.

The Center for Financial Planning identified formal mentoring programs as the number one strategy to help attract and develop talent among black Americans in the financial planning sector. WERKIN is an effective mentoring platform that can help diversify the industry by impartially matching relevant mentors. WERKIN’s technology can help accelerate career development for underrepresented groups in the financial planning sector, addressing structural inequities in financial security at large.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

How Diversity in the Financial Planning Industry Can Build Wealth Among African Americans was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In its The State of Fashion 2019 report, McKinsey predict the coming year will be shaped by “shifts in technology, social causes, and trust issues alongside the potential disruption from geopolitical and macroeconomic events.” Only those fashion brands that accurately reflect their customers’ needs and have the courage to innovate will thrive.

McKinsey’s 2018 report, Shattering the Glass Runway, revealed the fashion industry is sustained by women yet run by men. Women spend three times more on clothing than men yet fill the majority of entry level jobs. Fewer than 50 percent of well-known womenswear brands are designed by women and only 14 percent of major brands have a female executive in charge, despite women comprising 85 percent of the fashion customer base.

In their report, McKinsey partnered with Glamour and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to find out why. They surveyed 535 and interviewed 25 US-based professionals across the industry, both women and men at various tenure levels. The Glass Runway study explored both the sources of gender inequality and ways to overcome them.

The study found four primary sources of gender inequality:

· Ambiguous success criteria

· Disparity in sponsorship and mentorship

· Constraints of work-life balance

· Lacking awareness and commitment

The findings for the first two stand out for their clear double-standards.

Ambiguous success criteria

According to the survey, 80 percent of senior vice presidents and vice presidents report the criteria for career advancement in the fashion industry is clear. Yet only 65 percent of their female counterparts agree. Many more men at that level also report getting promoted without asking, though they are twice as likely to ask for a promotion.

Disparity in sponsorship and mentorship

The report also found women receive less career advice than men do. Across all levels, only 22 percent of women report getting advice to advance their careers, versus 33 percent of men. At the VP level, the gap widens markedly to 27 percent of women versus 45 percent of men.

Nike exited executives amid workplace misconduct

In April last year, amid complaints of a “boys’ club” culture at the sportswear giant, CEO Mark Parker announced an investigation into workplace misconduct. Four executives were asked to leave in an attempt to shakeup their corporate culture.

The following month, Nike’s head of HR Monique Matheson announced internally Nike has “failed to gain traction” in hiring diverse talent and that Nike’s leadership is still mostly white and male. Matheson introduced a number of measures to diversify its management, which she said would have a trickle-down effect to lower levels of the company. These include changing hiring practices and creating new development programs to invest in diverse talent.

Council of Fashion Designers partners with PVH

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and PVH (the parent company of brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger), have also partnered to examine the need for Inclusion and Diversity in the American fashion industry.

Their report found although there is evidence of more racial and ethnic representation on fashion runways, magazines and brands, there is still a systemic lack of diversity and inclusion in the business of fashion.

“There is a continued lack of opportunity and access for people of underrepresented backgrounds in the fashion industry. It’s a systemic issue tied to the homogeneity of industry leadership. Until fashion leaders across all categories become more diverse, we will continue to only progress at the surface level.”

Erica Lovett, Manager, Inclusion & Community, Condé Nast

In 2019, the CFDA plans to focus on Peer-to-Peer Mentorship, Business Networking Opportunities, Educational Programming and Leadership Skillset Training to advance Diversity and Inclusion in the American fashion industry.

Tech-enabled mentoring

WERKIN’s tech-enabled mentoring platform provides learning and development opportunities to employees across large organisations, reducing barriers to access this support.

Algorithms impartially match employees with missions, stretch assignments as well as suitable mentors. Real-time notifications alert mentees when their mentor is nearby for quick meetings. Team leaders can set development goals, assign mentors and schedule meetings.

The American fashion industry stands on the threshold of another year marked by flux. Technology, social responsibility, trust and disruption have the potential to disarm even the biggest players. The best opportunity lies in driving gender equality in middle management and senior leadership to reap the financial rewards of diversity and innovation. Tech-enabled mentoring can accelerate career development for women by using algorithms to reduce bias. When 85 percent of your customer base are women, it makes sense to ensure women feature equally at all levels to better address consumer needs so your brand stays relevant this year and into the future.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

How Technology Can Help Diversify the US Fashion Industry was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A prolonged period of expansion in the US manufacturing sector combined with near-historic low unemployment is fuelling record numbers of job openings. Yet organisations are unable to fill the growing number of vacancies or provide workers with the new skills they need. According to Deloitte’s new 2018 Skills Gap study, global manufacturing executives rank the search for skilled talent as the number one driver of manufacturing competitiveness.

The skills crisis in US manufacturing may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions vacant in the coming decade. According to the report, job openings have been growing at double-digit rates since mid-2017, during one of the tightest talent markets in recent history. If the skills shortage continues as customer demand grows, it could potentially create a GDP shortfall of US$454 billion by 2028.

“With nearly 2 million vacant new jobs expected by 2028, compounded by 2.69 million vacancies from retiring workers, the number of open positions could be greater than ever and might pose not only a major challenge for manufacturers but may threaten the vitality of the industry and our economy,” said Paul Wellener, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP, and U.S. industrial products and construction leader.

The factors driving the workforce crisis are multi-faceted. They range from a negative perception of the future of work in the manufacturing sector, to a lack of available skills.

Yet despite widely held fears technology will take manufacturing jobs in the future, the reality is technology will create more jobs than they replace. Executives expect the demand for these five skill sets to boom due to advancing technologies:

• Technology/computer skills
• Digital skills
• Programming skills for robots/automation
• Working with tools and technology
• Critical thinking

Workers will increasingly work alongside robots and machines. A critical focus will be helping workers adapt to an environment where automation is embedded across functions.

According to the study, manufacturers are taking the following steps to solve their workforce crisis:

1. Build Agile Teams. In the US, the pattern of work is shifting away from permanent, full-time work towards contingent, part-time or gig work. More than 40 per cent of workers of all ages and skills are now employed in these alternative work arrangements. Yet Deloitte’s research shows most companies are not ready. Manufacturers can leverage this workforce sector to help close the skills gap. Technology platforms can build, connect and enable agile teams to communicate and collaborate.
2. Leverage Mentoring. An entire generation of highly experienced workers are set to retire in the next decade. Tapping into their knowledge and sharing it with a multi-generational workforce. This is a competitive advantage. Linking newer team members with experienced workers for regular mentoring meetings can grow the collective intelligence of the entire organisation. This will ensure their experience will continue to influence the organisation.
3. Increase Diversity and Inclusion. Deloitte’s 2017 Women in Manufacturing study reveals women constitute one of US manufacturing’s largest pools of untapped talent. Women totalled about 47 percent of the US labour force in 2016, but only 29 percent of the manufacturing workforce.

The Manufacturing Institute, APICS, and Deloitte surveyed over 600 women in manufacturing to assess their job satisfaction. They interviewed nearly 20 executives to explore how the sector can attract, recruit and retain women.

Women are underrepresented in nearly every manufacturing sector in the US. They rarely appear in senior leadership roles, compared with the proportion of women leaders in other sectors.

A common theme among manufacturing executives is they must drive organisational accountability of increasing diversity and promoting a culture of inclusion. Strategies discussed include:

• Setting clear goals
• Using analytics to assess and develop the talent pipeline
• Incorporating inclusion practices to maximise all employees’ potential
• Fostering sponsorship of female employees
• Promoting continual personal development
• Providing challenging assignments

Creating workplaces where women and men have equal opportunity to advance and lead will narrow the gender gap in US manufacturing. Accessing a rich data set to monitor these initiatives will help drive learning, development and agility in the sector.

Tech-Enabled Mentoring

WERKIN’s tech-enabled mentoring platform enables team leaders to match employees with stretch assignments and missions on the go with their mobile devices. Team members create digital profiles of their skills, experience and achievements. Leaders set goals such as business challenges and missions. The technology assembles teams to deliver a mission, evolves as the project progresses and dismantles when the goal is achieved. Algorithms also match seasoned expertise impartially with skills gaps. Push notifications guide mentoring pairs through stages of development. Complementary skills and knowledge flow within and through networked teams. This enables organisations to thrive in the most volatile environments.

Many industries claim they are experiencing a ‘talent shortage’. Yet when we look more closely at the statistics behind the lack of candidates, we discover it is a mindset issue. A talent crisis can be solved by creating an environment where workers of all ages and skills, in all types of work arrangements, can access challenging work assignments. It also involves capturing the experience of retiring workers within mentoring partnerships to ensure their expertise lives on in the organisation. Finally, it involves attracting women to the sector and then valuing, supporting and rewarding their contributions to the organisation to ensure they stay and grow.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

3 Ways Technology Can Drive Competitiveness in Manufacturing was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PwC has released its annual Manufacturing Report 2018 and revealed 38% of UK CEOs find it difficult to attract the right kind of digital talent. The sector accounts for £186 billion of the UK’s total economic output or 10% of UK GDP, yet reports a skills shortage increase of 29% since 2013. In fact, Randstad shows the sector will need to employ 186,000 new engineers each year until 2024, a shortfall of 20,000 graduates each year. It is without doubt, a skills crisis unprecedented in history.

According to John Corven, Senior Value Proposition Consultant at Canon, part of the problem is the widely held view the manufacturing sector is low paying and lacking in creativity. He says, manufacturers must address this negative perception by creating a strong employee brand identity and experience. This would help attract more young talent and retain existing workers. It’s also important for the industry to keep evolving its work practices in line with the ever-evolving technology that is reshaping the future of manufacturing and its workforce.

The Need for Continuous Learning

In his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab explores the forces destabilising the manufacturing sector: cyber-sensing machines, mobile computers, data collecting sensors and machine learning. This convergence of trends means workers will need to learn and adapt continuously. It will also result in one of the biggest social impacts of all: Empowerment. Specifically, how enterprises relate to their employees.

Employees: From Employee to Partner

Manufacturing companies traditionally employed long-term, full-time employees and gave them little autonomy. Workers in our current Industry 4.0 climate expect to feel empowered, developed and influential in their jobs. Barry Libert writes that organisations need to think of their workforce as partners in the work of customer value creation. Empowered workers think for themselves and contribute more to innovation.

Lack of Diversity Fueling Skills Gap

According to a major report from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) published last year, the UK’s lack of diversity in engineering and the technical workforce could be fueling the chronic recruitment shortage.

The IET undertakes an annual survey of UK engineering employers to gauge the state of engineering and technology skills in the sector. The survey reports current and planned engineering recruitment, identifies skills shortages and skills gaps and explores issues around diversity in the workforce.

The majority (87%) of companies surveyed do not have LGBT/BAME diversity initiatives in place and only 15% make particular efforts to attract and retain women in engineering and technical roles. Just over one in ten (11%) of the UK engineering and technical workforce is female.

So how can manufacturing organisations evolve their work practices to help their employees learn continuously, feel empowered, contribute to innovation and support diversity?

Technology-enabled Learning and Development

WERKIN’s technology-enabled mentoring platform enables team leaders to match mentees with mentors impartially, using everyday connected devices. The technology reduces bias in workplace processes like onboarding, learning and development, and promotion. Team members create digital profiles of their skills, experience and achievements. Leaders set learning and development goals. Algorithms match seasoned expertise with development needs and guide mentoring pairs through meetings and objectives. Team leaders can also assemble multi-disciplinary teams with complementary skills instantly.

Although manufacturers are laser focused on digitising their operations and processes, they must invest in talent strategies that attract, support and retain workers to drive the new business model. Modernising work practices by embedding learning and development in daily activities and supporting diversity will improve brand perception and employee experience in the sector. Investing in employee development, engagement and diversity is critical to the future of the UK manufacturing sector and the growth of the economy as a whole.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

How Evolving Work Practices Can Reduce UK Manufacturing Skills Shortage was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There’s a lot of talk about toxic masculinity these days: how it affects parenthood; its validity as a concept; its link to crime, politics; and more. But how does this concept play out in the workplace? Most scholars use the term “toxic” masculinity to refer to stereotypical gender roles that restrict boys and men to only portray certain masculine emotions and expect them to live up to the social expectations of playing the role of dominant “alpha” male. Such toxic masculinity in the workplace includes domination and control, devaluation of women, misogyny, homophobia and subtle sexist comments that have severe effects on female employees physically and mentally.

The need of the hour is to ensure and enforce a culture of non-toxic masculinity in the workplace. Creating a safe space where there’s equality and equity, visibility and a mutual respect will be a stepping stone to eradicate this systemic concept of toxic masculinity. First of the many ill- effects of toxic masculinity is the toll it takes on an employee’s mental health. Mental health impacts the economy each year through its cost to employers:

• lower productivity
• less creativity
• sickness and absence
• lower staff turnover

To combat this, a lot of corporates today are taking steps to focus on mental health and how to make it an indispensable part of their company culture. For instance, António Horta-Osório, the CEO of Lloyds Bank talks about ending workplace taboos around mental health. He describes how he’s made mental health a big focus for his company due to his personal experience. He talks about how we need to give mental health the same importance and treat it as we treat physical illnesses. “A change in mindset is needed,” he says, “with a culture of adequate support and sufficient time off, an employee can return to work with confidence and without embarrassment”.

Another instance where toxic masculinity seriously harms employees is in the way it causes psychological damage to employees’ self-esteem. When traits of hegemonic masculinity are displayed by employees, the work that female employees do can be disregarded or dismissed, female talent is overlooked. Such small but subtle instances can seriously harm an employee’s belief in their own self in addition to not being noticed or seen in the first place.

Toxic masculinity is partly spread because of the way we’re socialised, and this in turn reinforces potentially damaging workplace norms. What we need is to support open and encouraging dialogues about the diverse experiences of employees. Environments that encourage individuals to bring their whole selves to work encourage a form of masculinity where men aren’t afraid to express their full range of emotions, be sensitive, display their authentic personalities and most importantly understand the value of respecting women.

WERKIN is helping build more inclusive and supportive company cultures through mentorship, connecting employees through shared experiences and diverse skills. WERKIN’s platform raises the visibility of underrepresented groups at large global organisations.

The corporate culture needs individuals who are held accountable for their actions, where underrepresented groups, including women are given roles to take action and be change makers instead of only being a secondary character that holds the narrative and not controls it. WERKIN is helping bring diverse teams into the mix, changing who managers see and what they do.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

Building a Culture of Non-Toxic Masculinity in the workplace was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Research psychologist Anders Ericsson’s concept of Deliberate Practice is the theoretical framework that underpins much of our understanding of human performance. Ericsson studied expert performers in a range of endeavours to understand how people become great at what they do. He discovered thoughtful solitary learning is critical to talent and expertise. Anders argues that many characteristics once believed to reflect intrinsic talent are actually the result of focused practice.

Speaking with Susan Cain, Ericsson elaborated by saying:

“In Deliberate Practice, you identify the tasks or knowledge that are just out of your reach, strive to upgrade your performance, monitor your progress, and revise accordingly. Deliberate Practice is best conducted on one’s own because it involves working on the task that’s most challenging to you personally. In an ideal world, you’d also have the guidance of a coach or teacher so you don’t get stuck.”

Getting stuck and feeling frustrated in the workplace is how we know we have encountered an obstacle to higher performance. The discomfort is inherent to learning a new skill. When we hit a snag in our workplace learning, studies show targeting the challenge with a mentor is the most effective approach. This process channels the team member’s efforts to the areas most needing work, making the learning process more efficient.

The process of stepping out of our work and sharing our challenges with a mentor to broaden our pool of ideas and then returning to reflect on the points of discussion facilitates creative thinking, problem solving and deep learning. This is the power of the one-on-one learning model.

In large organisations, it can be difficult to find the right mentor and the time to address team members’ individual needs and enhance performance. Technology can now streamline the process.

WERKIN’s tech-enabled mentoring platform helps team leaders to match mentees with mentors dynamically, using everyday connected devices. Team members create digital profiles of their skills, experience and achievements. Leaders set learning and development goals. Algorithms impartially match seasoned expertise with development needs and guide mentoring pairs through meetings and objectives.

Technology can now enhance the one-on-one learning model by addressing individual learning needs in the moment they are required: When team members are in the workflow. The quality of team members’ learning is directly influenced by two different approaches: one to gather ideas within the environment and the other to synthesise these inputs and change behaviour through quiet reflection.

Originally published at getwerkin.com.

How Mentoring Can Unlock the Power of Deliberate Practice was originally published in WERKIN on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.