Communications of the ACM
Diverse Leadership: Whose Responsibility Is It?
Deconstructing the organizational belief system will make it more agile and open to women and people with different backgrounds, mindsets, and skills.
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Discussions of how best to enhance workforce diversity often gets mired in a debate about whether the responsibility for change lies with the individuals or the organization employing them. Should individuals have to adapt to existing norms? Or should the norms change?
"Both," says Emma McGuigan, who leads Accenture Enterprise and Industry Technologies, and has run a number of programs to encourage teenage girls to consider a STEM career. Both of these involve challenging the patriarchal belief systems that perpetuate homogeneity, inculcate imposter syndrome in women, and lead women to remove themselves from the top table.
Breaking down traditional hierarchies of organization models is critical, she says.
Metrics are also important, she says. "With all the programs you run, you need to measure that you're driving the right outcome. And that does involve calling people out when they don't do the right thing. You have to actively drive change or you'll never get to 50/50 at the leadership level."
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