Diversity

The Story of The Red Knowggets

by Semira Soraya-Kandan on 11. Januar 2012

To the traditional business mind the philosophy of sharing and giving is foreign. For it conceives of giving as giving something away and thus becoming poorer. Yet, instead we can think of giving as a source from which we can take and by that gaining something new, creating, co-creating something.

Increasingly, leaders recognize the relevance of collaborating across cultural and organizational boundaries for creating more innovative and meaningful workplaces (Ibarra & Hansen, 2011 - Manuscript as pdf; Bene Trend Report: “New Work Spaces”, 2009).

During my whole professional life, I have always learned tremendously from colleagues and clients. And more recently, I have learned a great deal from people often only loosely connected or even only digitally connected. I cherish their work, their thoughts, their blogs or other publications.

It is impossible to name them all. But I would like to refer to at least three of my twitter companions who recently wrote blog posts on topics related to diversity and leadership being the wider topic of the first volume of The Red Knowggets.

www.twitter.com/raesmaa
http://raesmaa.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/trust-based-collaboration-and-cultural-differences/

www.twitter.com/marionchapsal
http://geronimocoachingnow.com/?p=4070

www.twitter.com/timkastelle & www.twitter.com/ralph_ohr
http://timkastelle.org/blog/2012/01/the-intersection-of-human-and-organizational-innovation-capabilities/

One way for me to “pay” to back some of these rewards is to share some of my thoughts and experiences from work I have done. Twitter and this blog are one way of doing this. Although twitter has received much more attention from my side as it is faster, more immediate and more interactive. Writing a blog has been a new experience to me. Having been trained in academic writing I put too much time in research and finishing, so sufficient frequency of publishing was a big challenge. Last year, I decided to change the blogging style to shorter posts, as you can see in my last post. This gives hope for more blogposts in 2012.

Anything more elaborated or dense will be published elsewhere. This is how the idea of a new digital paper series came about:

The story of The Red Knowggets

Now, you may think, what a strange word that is. It does not exist. I made it up. Or, I was hit by it. Seriously. Multilinguals are often accredited to be more creative. Being quasi-bi-lingual in English, I observed myself several times last year using this word that does not actually exist. I seemed to have lacked an appropriate expression, which in German could have been “Wissensschätze”. But “stores of knowledge” or “stocks of knowledge” are not really part of my active vocabularly. So I made something up: : knowggets… like in knowledge and nuggets.

New words can make new ideas come through. Once I had decided for a new digital paper series, I started looking for a name… and one evening at a bar… I was hit again and saw the knowggets lying in the trunk… the rest is a story of co-creation with my much appreciated graphic designer Christoph Betzler at MAGENTA Mannheim:

Sharing is the new currency in a connected world!

The first volume of The Red Knowggets has the title: “German Leadership Dates Diversity“.

This topic has been at the heart of my research and consulting: The relationship of diversity and leadership. I have been observing both fields very closely since my studies in the USA 1989/90. At that time they had not even met in the German corporate world. Now, more than twenty years later, they are finally dating. In the paper, I share my reflections on this journey and what primary challenges I identify.

Enjoy The Red Knowggets! I am looking forward to your feedback and our exchange.

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Leadership, Diversity and Leid(t)kultur – a German Backlash to Multiculturalism or Prospects for Political Innovations?

by Semira Soraya-Kandan on 30. Dezember 2010

This summer’s World Cup with a German Sommermärchen of a special kind (http://soraya-kandan.com/2010/07/05/the-german-sommermaerchen-changes-our-country-international-soccer-some-lessons-for-managers-politicians/) seems long ago. Since then, we have had intensive debates on migration and integration issues in Germany. The increased attention in the media was partly due to the surprising growth after the economic crisis and Germany’s rising need for more international workforce to support this growth.

It is also owed to the much contested book publication by the former board member of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Thilo Sarrazin, last August. Public statements and everyday conversations have since increasingly lost sensitivity and even been openly xenophobic. German Media have difficulties reflecting upon their own contributions to an exclusive language use. They use e.g. expressions like “Germans and Muslims” or terms like “Kopftuchmädchen” (“headscarf girls”) without quotation marks.

The various debates prompted by Sarrazin’s publication are a topic in Jürgen Habermas’ article on “Leadership and Leitkultur” in the New York Times this October (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/opinion/29Habermas.html?_r=2).
Habermas pursues the development of the debate since the summer and concludes the term “Leitkultur” to be a definite misconception:

We had, and apparently still have, to overcome the view that immigrants are supposed to assimilate the “values” of the majority culture and to adopt its “customs.” That we are experiencing a relapse into this ethnic understanding of our liberal constitution is bad enough. It doesn’t make things any better that today leitkultur is defined not by “German culture” but by religion. With an arrogant appropriation of Judaism — and an incredible disregard for the fate the Jews suffered in Germany — the apologists of the leitkultur now appeal to the “Judeo-Christian tradition,” which distinguishes “us” from the foreigners.

These are at first seemingly contradictory movements: a new multicultural consciousness and pride of the German national soccer league with its many management analogies to successful team development across all kinds of publications on the one side, and a rising xenophobia, particularly islamophobia, on the other side. In my view, the latter may well be a backlash to the former.
Frank Mattern, German CEO of McKinsey, states in today‘s Handelsblatt: „Beim Thema Diversity hat die deutsche Wirtschaft in den Führungsetagen einen geradezu tragischen Nachholbedarf …” -„Regarding diversity, the German economy has an almost tragical backlog in its leadership …”.

Diversity is indeed quite a challenge for German business leaders. Yet, whereas German political parties and the public debate resurrect the sufferable concept of a Leitkultur, regurgitating much of the debate of the early nineties, German corporations have at least started to realize the relevance of a cultural diversity and an inclusive organizational climate for the international and long-term attractiveness as employer, brand and for the success of business development in a global context, see e.g.: (http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/bst/de/media/xcms_bst_dms_22186__2.pdf).

Thomas Sattelberger, Chief Human Resources Officer of Deutsche Telekom AG, has been a trailblazer for diversity issues with the introduction of a women’s quota (http://soraya-kandan.com/2010/04/08/women%e2%80%99s-quota-paving-a-path-to-power/ and http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/koepfe/reformer-des-jahres-thomas-sattelberger-vorkaempfer-einer-kulturrevolution;2718307). Whereas women are a top focus in current German business debates about diversity, we must not forget, diversity issues are multicultural issues.

Many German corporations make some efforts towards changing their organizational culture to make it more inclusive for all employees. Diversity is increasingly recognized to be more than a defensive reaction to the Guidelines of the European Commission and the respective anti-discrimination laws (AGG). It is increasingly seen as a strategic business dimension.

Given these global economic and social realities, politicians increasingly seem detached from society. Although distancing herself from Sarrazin’s publication, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, stated that German multiculturalism had failed (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/17/angela-merkel-german-multiculturalism-failed).

This is a strange statement from a diversity, respectively multicultural, point of view. For, the wider understanding of multiculturalism entails all kinds of minorities, including not only ethnicity, race, or religion, but also other dimensions like e.g. gender, age, sexual orientation, or social class. For Merkel herself and the current government incorporates diversity like no other German Cabinet ever before: she, herself of East German origin being the first female German chancellor; Ursula von der Leyen, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, is a mother of seven; Guido Westerwelle is Germany’s first homosexual Foreign Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of Finance, moves with the aid of a wheelchair, and finally, Phillip Rösler, Minister of Health, has an Asian background. And, last, but not least, President Wulff had, as the premier of Lower Saxony, been the first to appoint a German woman of Turkish origin as a member of his cabinet.

Jürgen Habermas concludes his NYT article by calling upon the political class:

What is needed in Europe is a revitalized political class that overcomes its own defeatism with a bit more perspective, resoluteness and cooperative spirit. Democracy depends on the belief of the people that there is some scope left for collectively shaping a challenging future.

There is indeed much potential for political innovation in the German society. I am curious to see how much of it we can unearth in 2011. My wish for the New Year: German business leaders making their contribution to the integration debates by innovating their own leadership to be more inclusive.

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Women’s Quota – Paving a Path to Power and Diversity?

by Semira Soraya-Kandan on 8. April 2010

The discussion about introducing a women’s quota is highly controversial. In Germany it has mostly been rejected, in public administration as well as in industry. Many argue that a quota weakens women’s positions in the workplace rather than strengthening them. Women’s successes will be attributed solely to the quota, not to their achievements. Mostly you hearonly yes or no answers to the quota. I myself was never in favor of it.

On March 8th of this year, the world commenced the 99th International Women’s Day. India introduced a women’s quota for its parliament. – The upper house of India’s parliament has approved a bill which reserves a third of the seats in the national parliament and state legislatures for women.

Deutsche Telekom Introduces a Women’s Quota

The very same week, the Deutsche Telekom announced the introduction of a 30% women’s quota for their middle management by the year 2015. Wow, I thought and wondered what their arguments will be.

Summarizing Thomas Sattelberger, member of the board of management for HR, their main reasons are:

  • All measures taken so far have not brought about the change we sought for.
  • The glass ceiling needs to be broken, this is what we want to achieve.
  • It is a necessity with respect to fairness in society.

And René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, clearly states: “Having more women on the top will improve our performance.” (my own translation)

Currently the Deutsche Telekom has overall roughly 11% women in leadership positions, internationally 24 %, yet in Germany itself only 18%.

The decision sparked off a lot of news coverage, even in the international press.

Let us look at the context:

Women’s Careers in Germany

According to a study published by the DIW (German Institute of Economic Research), there were only 2,5% women on boards of the top 200 largest German corporations in 2009, the only chairwoman of a German board being IKEA’s Petra Hesser. On the board of Germany’s 30 DAX corporations there is only one woman: Barbara Kux, a Swiss working for SIEMENS.

Dr. Sonja Bischoff, an economics professor at the University of Hamburg has regularly investigated the situation of women’s careers in Germany since 1986. On March 8th, Dr. Bischoff reported on her fifth round of her study “Who leads in(to the) future?”.

Her latest results show:

  • the number of women in middle management has multiplied by four
  • almost every 5th manager in German companies is female
  • women in leadership position have risen from 4% to 18 % mainly leading in the fields of HR, finance and marketing

Another larger study published by Hoppenstedt shows that the upper levels of management (level 1 and 2) have a continuously increasing number of women: doubling from 1995 with 8,17% to 19,56% today. Yet, in larger companies this increase is less and slower from 3,2% to 5,9%, and even less with increasing size of the company.

This supports Bischoff’s results showing that a majority of women leaders are self-employed respectively entrepreneurs who can self-organize a flexible workplace.

Apart from the considerable lower average pay, Sonja Bischoff sees the greatest barrier to women’s careers still to be “prejudices against female superiors”. In her study, 24 % of the 370 women participants experienced a lack of trust in their leadership competence. She concludes, “personal experiences of discrimination are as much as they were in 1986”.

This is a very bad resume for German business.

Given these numbers, the decision by the Deutsche Telekom definitely has a signaling effect.

As a first matter of fact, a majority of girls currently finish school with better grades than male peers. Two thirds of current students in business administration are women. They are very successful right up to entering the professional world and the beginning of their careers. Why should their performance decline with age and professional experience?

As a second matter of fact, the top 100 largest corporations have 526 board positions. Only 7 are women.

This is hardly due to lower performance, maybe rather to a reluctance to compete.

A majority of German corporations are still against any quota. Yet, according to a study published by Odgers Berndtson almost half of the 49 women in the top management of Germany’s top 500 corporations even favor it with some reservation.

A Diversity Outlook

In my view, the question of a quota cannot be answered with a simple yes or no any longer. With respect to dimensions of time, society, economic and international development, organizations will have to come up with a pragmatic response to questions like:

  • Do we have a realistic chance of hiring and developing enough qualified and talented women in our business fields?
  • What do we risk by potentially loosing higher qualified male candidates?
  • Can we afford to miss out the women given the demographic developments?

And less defensively:

What do we gain – short term, midterm and long term – by implementing a quota

  • a) with respect to changing career paths in the long run?
  • b) with respect to increasing diversity in management?

I do believe, “diversity wins“, as Tom Peters likes to say.

The quota will not win by itself. It can only be effective with corresponding measures, as e.g.:

  • recruiting and developing talented women and men in support of diversity thinking,
  • offering systems that sustainably improve flexible workplaces in support of family lives of all employees, women and men
  • finally, develop leaders to meet the requirements of growing diversity

As with most leadership decisions, we will be able to judge the success of such measures only retrospectively.

A women’s quota may not be a simple and easy path to power and diversity. But promoting women in leadership is not a simple question of pro or contra quotas any longer. There are more differentiated perspectives to the issue on the agenda today.

The media reports and the discussions I have had with various collegues and clients around the Deutsche Telekom decision made me change my mind. I believe it also show that this change is already taking place on a wider scale.

What do you think?

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