Of Broken Wrists and Making Progress: 3 Things My Injury Taught Me About Building a Global Movement

Before I start, I need to tell you that I do not play tennis. But I have wonderful friends who love the game, and who made me want to love it, too. So, in December of 2016, I secretly started taking tennis lessons to surprise everyone with my newfound skills.

Things didn’t go according to plan.

In January of 2017, I took a bad fall while returning a serve and severely broke my left wrist. Following major surgery and many weeks in a cast, I started occupational therapy (OT) to get movement back in my hand and fingers. Many months later, I am still going to therapy several times a week and, though I’ve made tremendous progress, there’s still a lot I can’t do. The road to getting full use of my left hand again is a long one.

So what does this have to do with SAP’s Business Beyond Bias initiative — and our desire to create a global movement for more inclusive workplaces for all organizations, starting with our own?

Well, with every OT appointment, I am reminded of how much I used to take for granted. With every bit of progress, with every small degree of improvement I have made, I also realize how lucky I am. All of this talk of getting motion back in my hand has made me realize that building a global movement is not that different.

Often, an idea is born from an issue that touches you (or your company) on a personal level. In my case, a desire to learn a sport unfortunately led to a painful injury. In the case of SAP, we saw the impact that a lack of diversity could have on our own organization and wanted to use our global reach and technology to do something about it. SAP has long-established Diversity & Inclusion efforts — with a strong global leader and a team that has achieved incredible successes in areas including gender equity, inter-generational support, and LGBT awareness. Our focus on differently-abled individuals has received global recognition through our ground-breaking “Autism at Work” program.

SAP launched the “Business Beyond Bias” (BBB) initiative in 2016 to complement and scale ongoing diversity efforts by connecting them with the capabilities of our leading SAP SuccessFactors machine-learning technology. We saw a great opportunity to share our learnings with a wider audience, especially our customers.

As with any bold goal, you can’t go it alone. You need to have smart, supportive people involved — for me, a great surgeon, awesome occupational therapist, and amazing family & friends; for SAP, a dedicated, integrated BBB team, passionate and hands-on executive sponsors, and thousands of engaged employees committed to making the world run better and improving people’s lives.

It’s also important to establish milestones for yourself, to stay accountable and focused along the way. For myself, I want to be able to play in a family golf tournament in September. For SAP, we want to create a more diverse, inclusive workforce, as we know it makes us a more innovative, customer-focused, and successful organization.

One of SAP’s first milestones was the commitment to have 25% women in management by the end of 2017. We recently reached that goal (six months early) — and now have set the bar even higher to ensure greater diversity throughout our company. Additionally, we put our technology into action with bias-identifying software that will not only change our own organization, but will help our customers and their customers be more inclusive in their HR processes.

The good news about Business Beyond Bias? It’s resonating.

Our employees, customers and industry experts agree we are onto something and bring a unique solution to a complex problem.

So, as we continue to beat the drum for Business Beyond Bias — and strive to encourage all organizations to be more inclusive — here’s what my injury has taught me about trying to turn an idea into a global movement:

It’s Hard and Doesn’t Happen Overnight — But Worth the Pain

Anyone who’s undergone surgery and/or a recovery process knows the pain factor — and sometimes the therapy is worse than the initial injury. But when you see yourself making progress, you know it’s worth it. The same can be said of taking a stand on something that you know is the right thing to do (and is good for business). You need to gather the internal and external support to make it happen and go “all in” to drive it forward. It takes a lot of patience and hard work, and there will be hiccups and missteps along the way, but when an organization truly believes in something and comes together, they can be unstoppable.

Don’t Let the Doubters Stop You

Let’s face it, the world is full of skeptics. Whether it’s people around you who think you’re “not ___ enough,” or competitors who doubt your intentions or want to see you stumble, it’s easy to give into the cynics. But don’t. Remember that what you’re doing is too important. People are sometimes surprised when they hear that SAP’s vision is to “make the world run better and improve people’s lives.” But the desire to have a positive impact has always been at the heart of what we do. Working to enable a Business Beyond Bias for ourselves and our customers is a global aspiration — one that we’re proud to stand behind. Doubters be damned.

Celebrate the Big and Small Wins…and Then Keep on Going

There won’t be progress every day and sometimes you move backwards. That doesn’t mean you stop trying. Every day provides an opportunity to make progress and to cheer for those dedicated to moving the needle. People want to be a part of something that helps make a difference in the world — and positivity can be contagious. Celebrate when things go well; give a shout-out to supporters…and then prepare to jump the next hurdle.

Each achievement brings new challenges and certainly when it comes to reducing bias and improving diversity, the journey is long. But every global movement starts with taking just a few first steps. Like recovering from an injury, a big part of the battle is the perseverance to try to get a little better and stronger every day.

Peg Kates is a proud member of SAP’s Global Corporate Affairs Integration team and a Business Beyond Bias champion. She can be reached at peg.kates@sap.com. Though her wrist is much better, she’s sticking to running!