creating space for people to be awesome

Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager

People, Careers & Diversity In The Trenches:

CREATING SPACE FOR PEOPLE TO BE AWESOME

Highland Fling: Sessions Edinburgh, 19 April 2014


hNp://www.flickr.com/photos/kodomut/3667608102/


WE ALL HATE BAD BOSSES WE DESCRIBE THEM AS •  Clueless •  Empty suits •  Pointless •  Seagulls


hNps://twiNer.com/Caterina/status/6715084157


GOOD MANAGERS ARE BULLSHIT UMBRELLAS.

BUT THEY ARE ALSO A LOT MORE

THAN THAT.


TradiZonal management beliefs are a pile of crap

hNp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephant_Dung.JPG


WHAT DOES WORK? Sooo….


Across industries, across countries, the

best performing teams answer certain

quesZons posiZvely


Predictors of High Performance 1.  Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2.  Do I have the materials & equipment I need to do my work right? 3.  At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? 4.  In the last 7 days, have I received recogniZon or praise for good work? 5.  Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? 6.  Is there someone at work who cares about my development? 7.  At work, do my opinions seem to count? 8.  Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important? 9.  Are my co-‐workers commiNed to doing quality work? 10.  Do I have a best friend at work? 11.  In the last 6 months, have I talked with someone about my development? 12.  At work, have I had opportuniZes to learn and grow?


UNDERSTAND MOTIVATION •  Purpose •  Autonomy • Mastery


MOTIVATION = + PURPOSE (Do I believe in WHY?) + AUTONOMY (Do I get a say in WHAT?) + MASTERY (Am I proud of HOW?) -‐ ANY NEGATIVE FACTORS THAT DETRACT


Predictors of High Performance (remix) PURPOSE •  Does the mission/purpose of

my company make me feel like my work is important?

AUTONOMY •  Do I know what is expected of

me at work? •  At work, do my opinions

seem to count?

MASTERY •  Do I have the materials & equipment I need to do my

work right? •  At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do

best every day? •  Is there someone at work who cares about my

development? •  Are my co-‐workers commiNed to doing quality work? •  In the last 6 months, have I talked with someone

about my development? •  At work, have I had opportuniZes to learn and grow?


And What Else? OTHER FACTORS: •  In the last 7 days, have I received recogniZon or praise for good work? •  Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? •  Do I have a best friend at work?

ESSENTIALLY, AM I RESPECTED & REWARDED HERE? CAN I BE MYSELF AND SUCCEED HERE? I CALL THIS INCLUSION.


CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR PEOPLE TO BE THE BEST THEY CAN BE

Your job as a manager…


FIND & SHAPE SPACE WHERE YOU CAN BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE

Maybe you’re not a manager. As an individual, you need to…


As An Individual, Ask Yourself •  Do I believe in WHY we are doing this

work? •  How can I shape WHAT we/I do here? •  How am I genng beNer at HOW I do

things? •  Do I BELONG HERE?

(PURPOSE) (AUTONOMY) (MASTERY) (INCLUSION)


As A Manager, Ask Yourself •  Do my people know WHY we are doing

this? •  Do my people get a say in the WHAT? In

doing the right thing? •  Do my people get opportuniZes to do the

thing right? And to get beNer at the HOW? •  Do we do a good job of making all our

different people feel included & like they BELONG HERE?

(PURPOSE) (AUTONOMY) (MASTERY) (INCLUSION)


SO WHAT’S NEEDED?


PROTECT PURPOSE

BE A TRANSLATOR – MAKE PURPOSE, STRATEGY & DIRECTION MAKE SENSE

CONNECT WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING (AND

CAN DO!) TO OVERALL IMPORTANT PURPOSE


ENABLE AUTONOMY & MASTERY

Skills/Knowledge

Direction


Skills/Knowledge

Direction

Know what to do, don’t have all the skills to do it

Know what to do and equipped to

do it

Got skills, need direction

Huh? Where are we? What are we

doing?

CLUE / SKILLS MATRIX


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SKILL DEVELOPMENT UnconsciousIncompetent

ConsciousIncompetent

ConsciousCompetent

UnconsciousCompetent


DELIBERATE PRACTICE •  You must be moKvated to aNend to the task and exert effort to improve

your performance.

•  The design of the task should take into account your pre-‐exisKng knowledge so that the task can be correctly understood aper a brief period of instrucZon.

•  You should receive immediate informaKve feedback and knowledge of results of your performance.

•  You should repeatedly perform the same or similar tasks.


IS YOUR WORK DESIGNED IN A WAY THAT MAKES IT EFFECTIVE DELIBERATE PRACTICE?

Ask yourself…


SWEAT THE “SMALL” STUFF Autonomy, mastery & purpose can’t overrule or compensate for poor tools / environment / lack of

inclusion / lack of caring forever


CULTIVATING INCLUSION •  If you’ve got Purpose, Autonomy & Mastery, then what else maNers?

•  Making sure that all different kinds of people are able to succeed as themselves, authenZcally, is what culZvaZng inclusion is about.


LET’S QUICKLY DIGRESS

BEFORE WE CONTINUE


I’m A Bit of a Diversity StaZsZc q  Woman… q  Gay… q  Foreign… q  Employed (this is a bad thing if you’re foreign…) q  MulZ-‐lingual q  Disabled… q  Atheist…

q  BUT grew up hugely aware of (unasked & undeserved) privilege I had

growing up white in Apartheid South Africa.


My childhood was FULL of

signs like these

Horrible & horrific but impossible

to escape


I CANNOT DENY THAT PRIVILEGE In fact, the most useful thing I can do is assess, understand & acknowledge that privilege


Check out the original arZcle from Peggy McIntosh: hNp://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html

In Apartheid South Africa, ALL systems were set up to acZvely & blatantly give

advantage to white folks and disadvantage non-‐whites.

We are less good at sponng this when it isn’t so blatant.


“We have to aggressively, and uncompromisingly, aNack the pernicious lie that the technology industry is a meritocracy. PerpetuaZng this myth only serves to bolster the egos of those who have succeeded already, at the expense of saying that people who are underrepresented in tech today aren’t present because they aren’t good”

– Anil Dash


NOT DISCRIMINATING IS IMPORTANT Legally, if nothing else


BUT TOLERANCE IS A TERRIBLE WORD Would YOU want to be tolerated?


WOULDN’T A FULLY INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT BE BETTER? PROTIP: Helps Everyone!


Diversity is a Spectrum

AcZve hatred & discriminaZon (*isms)

Micro aggressions

Indifference AcZve inclusion

Tolerance


“A micro-‐aggression is telling young boys that they are very smart, and telling young girls that they are very pre(y. ” -‐ Faruk Ates @kurafire


So How Do We Move Right Way? 1.  STOP allowing underprivileged groups to be pushed

away (ac,vely/deliberately OR passively/uninten,onally)

2.  START building acZvely inclusive environments


Some Things That Work… (some of these surprised me)


Reduce Fear Increasing opportuniZes is worthy & important.

But reducing fear is equally so.

(Zps: reduce impact of failure, risk of humiliaZon, acknowledge risk IS DIFFERENT for those in

underprivileged groups)


hNp://xkcd.com/385/


EDUCATE YOURSELF & OTHERS ABOUT PRIVILEGE & IMPLICIT BIAS If you keep doing what you always did, you’ll keep genng what you always got


Privilege 101 The number one thing that privilege gives you is a belief that you CAN. (… go to university … work in the industry you want … marry who you want to … get out of bed each morning…) BELIEF YOU CAN IS A PART OF PRIVILEGE.


Privilege 101 The other thing that privilege convinces you of is that you are there because of your skills & abiliZes. BELIEF YOUR INNATE SKILLS GET YOU WHERE YOU ARE IS A PART OF PRIVILEGE TOO.


Implicit Bias Very interesZng Harvard research into implicit bias – we don’t realise it, are not ACTIVELY but rather PASSIVELY discriminaZng There is a site with tests you can do that reveal your bias: hNps://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/


Check If Systems are Loaded Companies that assess effecZveness / performance and then AUTOMATE pay rises based on this tend to reduce the gender pay gap. One interpretaZon: “Pitching for a pay rise” inherently favours men, who tend to be more confident in their abiliZes and more comfortable talking up their results.

Shy/humble guys suffer too.


Johnny Clegg They taught us to forget our past And live the future in their image

… They said

“Learn to speak a li(le bit of English, Don’t be scared of a suit and ,e.”

Learn to walk in the dreams of the foreigner. I am a third world child.


MOST ADVICE READS AS “BE MORE LIKE A LOUD STRAIGHT CIS AMERICAN WHITE GUY” Finding a way to be successful and sKll be yourself is important


Frame Guidance AltruisZcally •  Advice which focuses on how to “do beNer for yourself” has a very limited appeal. (a la “steal more pie”)

•  AltruisZc advice (a la “bake more pie”) appeals to a much broader audience (including non-‐individualisZc cultures…)


When We Reframed Networking…


The Most Important QuesZon Best predictor of recruitment AND retenZon? Someone’s ability to agree with:

“Someone like me can be successful here”


Role Modeling MaNers •  When a woman presents/represents at recruitment events, more women apply

•  When you present a monoculture, people make assumpZons you won’t like


“Did You Always Know You Wanted to Be So Senior?”

Men leaders tend to say: “Yes, I always knew I could do more.”

Women leaders tend to say: “No, but my mentors believed in me, and I trusted they were right.”


TELL THE PEOPLE YOU BELIEVE IN THAT YOU BELIEVE IN THEM – THAT THEIR SKILLS & THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE VALUABLE

If You Only Do ONE Thing Differently


As much as 40% becer Much energy is spent if you have to hide your private life, or pretend to be something you’re not


PAY ATTENTION TO ENERGY

Positive

High

Low

Negative

SHINEWHINE

toast coast


CARE ABOUT

PEOPLE

And the Most Important Thing…


SPACE TO BE AWESOME = + PURPOSE (Do I believe in WHY?) + AUTONOMY (Do I get a say in WHAT?) + MASTERY (Am I proud of HOW?) + INCLUSION (Do I BELONG HERE?) -‐ ANY NEGATIVE FACTORS THAT DETRACT


GO! FIND/SHAPE/MAKE SPACE

BE AWESOME BE INCLUSIVE

And thank you for listening J Any quesZons?

creating space for people to be awesome

Leadership & Management