1. “We have an opportunity and I think we have a responsibility, quite frankly, to look to young people who are coming into our businesses now because they are the ones that are going to really drive the change next.” – Shaina Riley, Partner Growth Lead & Lead Black Googler Network, Google Canada
2. “We know when employees feel psychologically safe, not only do they thrive, but they actually increase their output, and there is also the added benefit to society as a whole.” – Karlyn Percil-Mercieca, Founder & CEO, KDPM Equity Institute
3. “Recognize that while reconciliation is important, it’s also integral because it’s going to help us solve the problems that we have today so that we can all have a tomorrow.” – Richel Davies, Director, Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples, Scotiabank
4. “When you support and uplift one group, you just naturally support and uplift other groups and other individuals so as an organization, when we’re talking about diversity, equity and inclusion, all boats rise.” – Simone Alleyne, Senior Director of DEI, Culture & Change, McDonald’s Canada
5. “What became very, very clear is when you have women and people with diverse mindsets impacting your decision making, that elevated your performance.” – Teresa Resch, President, WNBA Toronto
6. “I know for myself for so long growing up, I didn’t feel welcome in a lot of sporting events and even talking about sports because I always got really talked down to, and I know what I’m talking about when I talk about hockey, but a lot of men don’t think so.” – Sarah Nurse, Professional Hockey Player, PWHL Toronto & Canadian National Team
7. “If it’s truly mission critical, if giving our employees the opportunity to express themselves, to be part of something, to make change, to lead the grassroots movement, then it has to be in the same category as everything else that we do that is mission critical – to delivering the best value for our customers, delivering the best value for our shareholders.” – Jodie Wallis, Global Chief Analytics Officer, Manulife
8. “Diversity in general breeds creativity, breeds innovation, breeds productivity.” – Valeriya Yesypenko, VP, Global Data Governance, Manulife
9. “We need to have our DE&I representation, those folks at the table at the beginning as we implement the AI projects.” – Pamela Pelletier, Country Leader & Managing Director, Canada, Dell Technologies
10. “When we get this right, when organizations support associates to navigate the complexities of caregiving in ways that are supportive and humane, it builds loyalty, it builds capability. It’s win-win.” – Moira Klein-Swormink, Principal, Branch Development, Edward Jones Canada

The post Top 10 Quotes from Catalyst Honours 2024 appeared first on Catalyst.

At our recent enERGize virtual event, nearly all of our speakers, regardless of the subject of their particular session, mentioned that securing the buy-in of senior leaders is crucial for employee resource groups (ERGs) to thrive. And since much of the corporate world’s leadership is still made up of White men, this group of potential allies, advocates, gender partners, champions, and sponsors, is crucial to connect with.

Read on to learn why White men and other dominant culture groups are falling through the cracks and how your ERG can send the right messages.

Affinity is important, but so are allies.

Catalyst works to create resources for the betterment of ERGs because they can be invaluable to their members. When done well, ERGs can provide community, a space for grassroots organizing, and a structure for sharing resources, knowledge, and advice. ERGs are places where members can be themselves, where they look out for one another, and where they work for the collective good of the group.

But they can always do bigger and better things with the help of others:

• With an executive sponsor, an ERG can secure funding that will help members create or sustain programming and events. Executives don’t always belong to affinity groups.
• With champions, the accomplishments of the group can be mentioned in the right places at the right times. Their voices can be amplified and their impact widened.
• Advocates can devote time to you and your members. They may help you set up programs, mentor one or more of your leaders, and use whatever influence they have to represent the interests of your ERG in their business area.
• Allies at all levels of the organization can actively recruit new members and help bring in new allies. They can also begin conversations in spaces where they otherwise might not take place.

Sponsors, champions, advocates, and allies can uplift your ERG. You can do without them, but you’ll do a whole lot more with them.

Empathize with the feeling of exclusion.

We shouldn’t be surprised at the current backlash against DEI. For so long, inclusion efforts have been focused on women, LGBTQ+ communities, and people from diverse racial and ethnic groups, leaving straight White men out entirely. While some understood that their presence as allies was needed and joined DEI spaces, others felt excluded, alienated, and even vilified.

It’s an unfortunate fallacy that if efforts are put into helping some groups of people, anyone else must therefore be at a disadvantage. If members of an ERG are special, what about everyone else? Are they now less than?

And since DEI teachings include terms like “privilege” and it is generally agreed that White men have most of it, they may feel specifically not welcome in spaces meant to create safety and community for groups that have suffered historical oppression and disadvantages. They may want to get involved but it might feel wrong. Just as many women have historically felt excluded from the “boys’ club” and “frat house” cultures of workplaces dominated by men, many White men feel unsure of themselves in ERGs whose members are exclusively women or exclusively Latine or exclusively Indigenous.

Everyone knows this feeling. Ever gone to meet your significant other’s whole family for a holiday dinner or reunion? Or been the plus one at a wedding?

On an individual basis, we can feel each other’s discomfort and our empathy kicks in. We take our partner’s hand and introduce them to everyone. We sit a single person at a table with people who we think they’ll get along with.

Even if a given coworker isn’t in the best possible mindset to be an ally yet, they certainly won’t get there if they continue to feel like they’re not allowed to be part of DEI efforts or that your ERG doesn’t want their help.

Let allies know they are welcome and needed.

Brian DeMartino wouldn’t have volunteered on his own to join a women’s ERG. He didn’t know that he could or should. But when he was invited, it changed his career for the better. At Catalyst’s enERGize session “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: ERGs as the Impetus for Gender Partnership,” DeMartino, now Global HR Operations Manager at Bechtel Corporation, told the story of how he became involved with a women’s ERG there early in his career. Though they are now known as business resource groups (BRGs) at Bechtel, at the time they were ERGs, and he was approached about becoming cochair of the newly forming Glendale, Arizona chapter of the “Women at Bechtel” ERG.

He now encourages others to explicitly invite people who don’t identify with their affinity group to join as allies. DeMartino said, “It wasn’t just a resource group focused for literally what the name implied, which is women at Bechtel, but really a group that was also meant to bring in our male allies as well, to help with some of this conversation around equity and inclusion and knowing that all of us play a role. I’m very aware sitting here today, looking at myself in the camera, that I’m not the face of diversity and inclusion from the standpoint of, I don’t meet the qualifiers of being a part of an underrepresented group. That said, everybody has a role in this conversation.”

Provide ample opportunities for allies to engage.

Speaking at enERGize, Justin Banninga, Planning Manager, Stations Work Program Management at Hydro One, gave his unique perspective as cochair of a men’s ERG called “Men as Allies.” Hydro One empowered the men in the organization to identify and act as allies to other groups. He confirms that a lot of men are still on the outside looking in at ERGs and other diversity and inclusion efforts. He gave an example: men working out in the field.

He said, “They don’t really get the messaging, right? Like, a lot of them don’t even have access to email all the time. And a lot of this stuff comes out through…email communications or big, corporate-wide telecast or online telecast.”

DeMartino offered a solution, saying, “Not everybody’s going to be able to attend every one of the lunch-and-learn programs that you have, but if you tailor them at times that are going to be accessible, again, not only from thinking about it from a geographic difference perspective but also just from being able to attend and access this material.”

Banninga added, “I think, you know, meet people where they are and try to connect them to the human stories. And I think it brings those folks, those men in the field especially, into those conversations in a way that they feel included as well. And I think you’ll find that they are doing a lot of these things anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.”

Once allies have come in, keep them steady on common ground.

Connecting people seems to be the simplest way to drive out fear of the unknown about each other. Once your ERGs have brought men into women’s groups, or White men into ERGs for different racial and ethnic groups, making them stay and engage comes down to what we all have in common. What do we all want? What can we all work toward together? What do we all struggle with? In what ways do we all need each other?

Often, that’s all any of us needs to thrive in unfamiliar territory. Banninga said, “What I encourage [men] to do is just listen to the stories of others, and listen to the stories of women that are attending these sessions with you and people from diverse backgrounds that are attending, and start to see that there are a lot of common threads outside of the more theoretical DEI language that connects you. […] We’re all human beings. We all want to be able to be ourselves in a safe place at work, a psychologically safe space.”

Moving the needle on your company’s culture takes the whole company, not just the underrepresented groups that usually make up ERG memberships. White men can be a great resource for allyship, advocacy, and gender partnership, so long as they are made to feel that they are welcome, too.

Download the full checklist

The post ERG leader’s guide to gender partnership appeared first on Catalyst.

But depending on a company’s size, structure, broader culture, and internal communications channels, all the great work ERGs do can get lost in the shuffle. As an HR or DEI leader, you want to be a strong advocate for these important groups and make sure that their efforts are recognized, particularly among senior leadership. Experts at Catalyst’s enERGize 2024 shared the following tips to help you elevate the ERGs in your organization:

1. Remind leaders to engage with ERGs every day, not just during special occasions

   Stay informed about the work of your organization’s ERGs so you can speak about their activities when their members are not in the room. Ask to be on their mailing lists and calendars and subscribe to their newsletters. This will ensure that you know what they are doing year-round.

   “Our diversity groups and our ERGs are present and alive and acting as our authentic selves 365 days a year,” said Nicole McCormick, Senior Manager – National Assignment & Indigenous News Team at CityNews in Toronto, part of Rogers Communications. “So please don’t treat us like the flavor of the month. […] As allies, […] I need you to recognize […] that we need your support and your love and your friendship and your everything all of the other months of the year as opposed to just say, Indigenous History Month. And I think most of the ERGs will feel that, too. […] We’re human and we’re doing the work all of the other months, too.”

2. Start small with senior leaders

   Both our expert speakers agreed that getting company leaders involved in ERG efforts is important, noting that anyone can help bring leaders into ERG conversations or events.

   McCormick emphasized that senior leaders’ involvement, even in little ways, can amount to a lot. She said, “Just ask them for their time. A lot of the leadership, they’re thinking big, which I think they should. But what can they achieve in their day? So, is it coming to an event for 15 minutes? Is it saying a land acknowledgment? Is it them reaching out to say, ‘How can I support you?’, (which I often encourage leadership to do)?”

3. Amplify ERGs’ wins
   Helping to promote heritage dates, educational opportunities, and ERG events before they occur demonstrates great allyship — but remember to celebrate their successes after the fact as well.

   Inform business leaders about how well those events were attended, what people had to say about them, and what the ERGs will do next. Encourage them to join events whenever possible because when leaders have firsthand experience with ERGs, their participation and passion will inspire others to join them or become active allies themselves.

   Jamie Bergeron, Associate Director, Americas Diversity, Equity, & Inclusiveness Center of Excellence at EY, advised leaders to show up as allies not only in times of distress and times of celebration but also in the moments in between. “Everyone can be an ally, and everyone can use an ally, including our leaders,” she said.

Modeling allyship and advocacy for ERGs is a great way to help them gain visibility with senior leaders and across an organization, and it can also create meaningful opportunities to connect. As an advocate, you can build valuable relationships across all levels of the organization. Through sharing ERGs’ accomplishments year-round with your organization’s leaders, you will elevate their important work and encourage allyship.

If you want resources and insights on allyship, advocacy, ERGs, and more delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for Catalyst’s newsletter.

Get the Latest Insights

Sign up to receive the C-Newsletter with more thought leadership, tools and events

The post Encourage ERG allyship with these 3 tips appeared first on Catalyst.

On September 18, 2024, during Hispanic Heritage Month, Catalyst gathered a panel of experts for a webinar “Let’s Hit the Accelerator for Latine Women in the Workplace.” Here are some highlights from the engaging discuss about effective strategies to not only attract Latina talent but also to create inclusive environments that support their long-term success and advancement.

Concentrate on Culture

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” says Eddie Coronado, Founder Upskill HR, when discussing how to recruit Latine talent. “It really starts with culture…If your company does not have a values or mission statement that aligns with their identity, you’re less likely to attract that type of people into your organization. And so it’s really important before you even try to come up with any recruitment strategies that you align internally, that your organization is building an inclusive environment from the top down.”

Employ recruitment strategies.

“While culture does eat strategy for breakfast..I think strategy is very important and I think the culture builds off of that,” says Janet Sandoval Director, Global Corporate Social Responsibility Avery Dennison. “We try to present a pool of screened and qualified candidates to be considered to interview and out of those candidates, we have at least 50% female. And for North America, that’s at least one candidate that identifies Hispanic or Latinx and one candidate that identifies as Black / African American.”

Another way to increase a company’s talent pipeline is “partnering with organizations that have big pools of Latine talent,” Coronado says.

Build inclusion into the fabric of your organization.

Having strategies, programs, and policies like anti-bias training are important but “make sure they’re not just lip service,” cautions Ana Jaramillo, DEI Engagement Specialist Moneris. “It’s making sure that you have middle management buy in. It’s making sure that there are not silos or pockets of the organization that are not being authentic to those values and to those strategies of inclusion,” she says. Jaramillo points to Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and sponsorships and mentorships as being valuable resources and strategies to foster inclusion.

Recognize and address barriers

“We’re taught to not toot your own horn,” Sandoval says about a cultural barrier to success that some Latine women face. Jaramillo shared a saying that she says many Latine women hear throughout their lives: “’Calladita te miras mas bonita,’ which means like ‘If you’re quiet, you’re prettier,’” and says “how much that permeates the way that you continue to behave even within the corporate context.”

She suggests that a way to address this reticence to self-advocate is to ask managers to step in. “Sometimes you need an open offer. Sometimes you need leadership to tap your shoulder,” she says.

Another barrier to success is a lack of opportunities, Jaramillo says, referring to access to educational and networking opportunities and to role models. “How many of us are the first in many ways?” she asks. That’s where mentorship and sponsorship can make a difference. However, our panelists cautioned leaders to recognize the differences in these roles and to set both parties up for success by educating them about expectations and best practices.

Sandoval brought up the point that “Latine women have a lot of disproportionate caregiving responsibilities, and so what policies and practices do you have in place to help people navigate that? Do you have any programs for returnship?”

Invest in Talent.

To prevent the high cost of replacing Latine women talent, Sandoval advises to “continuously invest in their growth … imagine if it is the glass cliff, these are senior level positions that you’re then having to replace because maybe you didn’t give that person a raise, maybe you didn’t provide that person executive coaching or additional support or maybe they got so tired of being the only and fighting for having a voice in in those C- suite meetings that they decided to become a consultant or an entrepreneur.”

Take Action

Latine women face numerous barriers to workplace success, but organizations can take steps to attract and retain Latine talent.

• Have a clear and inclusive mission statement to attract potential candidates.
• Understand unconscious bias and its impact and address internal, interpersonal, and organizational biases.
• Employ recruitment strategies like partnering with select organizations and prescreening applicants for interviews to include candidates from historically marginalized communities.
• Build a supportive company culture that values diverse perspectives and experiences
  through resources like ERGs.
• Recognize and address barriers to success by encouraging leaders to guide Latine women forward.
• Invest in talent by providing support throughout employees’ careers such as executive training, mentorship, and sponsorship.
• Avoid tokenism by ensuring that all levels of leadership have a presence at programs and events.

To learn more about proven DEI training programs and strategies, click here.

The post Strategies to support Latine women in the workplace appeared first on Catalyst.

Toronto, September 17, 2024 — Sarah Nurse, Toronto Sceptres star forward and two-time Olympian, and Teresa Resch, President of the WNBA Toronto, will keynote a fireside chat at the 2024 Catalyst Honours Conference & Dinner on 7 October. They will discuss the unique challenges, gender disparities, and systemic barriers in athletics that have impeded equity in women’s sports. Catalyst Honours is hosted by Catalyst, the global nonprofit promoting gender equity and workplace inclusion, in Toronto and online for a global audience.

Nurse is a professional hockey player for the Canadian Women’s National Team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League Toronto Franchise, the Toronto Sceptres. She won Olympic Gold and Silver and is a three-time International Ice Hockey Federation World Champion. Off the ice, Nurse is an entrepreneur and advocate. As one of the only women of colour in a male-dominated sport, she is a leading voice on diversity and inclusion in hockey.

Resch is the inaugural President of the WNBA Toronto franchise, which will begin play in the 2026 season. She has been a leader in basketball development at the global scale for nearly 20 years. For 11 seasons she was a senior leader at the Toronto Raptors, bringing basketball to the forefront of Canadian sport.

Additional just-announced sessions and speakers for the conference include:

• Demystifying AI Bias: Empowering Canadian Workplaces With Equitable AI, featuring a conversation with leading CEOs moderated by David Morgenstern, CEO, Accenture Canada.
• Rising Innovators: Women Leading the Charge in STEM, Tech, and Trades, focusing on stories and real-life examples of the positive impacts of recruiting and developing women in male-dominated fields, especially in frontline industries, moderated by Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar.
• A Call to Action: Indigenous Reconciliation and Inclusion in the Workplace, examining the current landscape of Indigenous representation in the Canadian workforce and exploring strategies for meaningful reconciliation and inclusion in the workplace.

Catalyst will also recognize nine Canadian corporate leaders who have been named Catalyst Honours Champions for 2024. Each individual has made an immense impact accelerating progress for women by championing workplace inclusion.

Launched in Canada in 2010, Catalyst Honours recognizes exceptional role models for inclusive leadership practices. Each year, individuals are nominated by colleagues and leaders within their organizations. Final decisions are made by a selection team of Catalyst experts.

The 2024 Catalyst Honours Conference & Dinner will take place in person at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and online. This year’s theme, the Catalyst Effect, is a call to action to collectively commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Hundreds of professionals from global corporations, professional firms, governments, NGOs, and educational institutions are expected to attend the conference, sponsored by TD Bank Group, and the dinner, chaired by Canada Life.

Manulife is the 2024 Platinum Sponsor. TD Bank Group and Canada Life are Gold Sponsors. Accenture, Linamar, BMO, and Scotiabank are Silver Sponsors. Air Canada, Deloitte, Edward Jones, Element Fleet Management, Johnson and Johnson, and Shell Canada Limited are Bronze Sponsors.

Ticket packages and individual tickets are on sale now for both the Conference and Dinner events.

Contacts

Mariana Vanin
Director, Global Communications
Catalyst
mvanin@catalyst.org

The post Sarah Nurse, Canadian Hockey Star, to Keynote 2024 Catalyst Honours appeared first on Catalyst.

The land now called Canada has been stewarded by a diverse community of Indigenous Peoples for millennia. The settling of European colonizers in the 16^th century, however, began a series of events that ultimately resulted in a methodical and comprehensive campaign to systematically strip Indigenous Peoples of their land, culture, belief systems, and even children. In many ways, the oppression of Indigenous Peoples has become embedded in Canadian culture and continues to this day in various forms. But people in Canada and the rest of the world are increasingly expanding their awareness of this history, including the injuries and scars that Indigenous communities bear, and how they play out in today’s world. If you want to learn more, we recommend starting with some of the resources listed below.

Catalyst Resources

• Report: Building Inclusion for Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Workplaces
  This Catalyst report shows Indigenous Peoples pay an emotional tax at work and experience low levels of psychological safety. It points to actions that managers and team members can take to build the understanding, relationships, and work environments necessary to help Indigenous Peoples belong, contribute, and thrive in the workplace.
• Women in the Workforce – Canada
  Read statistics on the demographics of women in Canada, as well as their education, participation in the labour force, and leadership positions, and the size of the gender wage gap.
• Must-Read Book on Racism, Colonialism, and Indigenous Life in Canada

Other Resources

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Truth and Reconciliation coverage from APTN

Interactive Maps

• Native Land Digital
  Explore this interactive world map to learn which Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties are associated with your location.
• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
  Click the map to see dates in which residential schools, events, and hearings were active.

Land and Treaties

• Territory Acknowledgement Native Land Digital
• Unceded Lands Okanagan College Library
• Vast Indigenous Land Claims in Canada Encompass Parliament Hill The New York Times
• Treaties and Agreements Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
• Treaties, Reconciliation and Indigenous History in Canada CBC video
• ‘We didn’t sign that treaty’: in Canada, the Anishinaabe fight for land they never gave up The Guardian 

Racism

• Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health
• Painful Discrimination Still Confronts Too Many Indigenous People Macdonald-Laurier Institute
• Canada Has a Long, Documented History of Racism and Racial Discrimination. Don’t Look Away The Globe and Mail
• Canada’s Dark Side: Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s 150th Celebration Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective
• Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City Tanya Talaga

Residential Schools

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre The University of British Columbia
• Residential Schools Amounted to ‘Cultural Genocide,’ Report Says The Globe and Mail
• Truth and Reconciliation Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
  A moving series of articles focused on the challenges and opportunities of reconciliation.
• Sugarcane Documentary Explores Residential School Intergenerational Trauma and Resilience CBC
• Secret Path
  An album, graphic novel, and film based on poems by Gord Downie, inspired by Chanie Wenjack, a child who died in 1966 after escaping from a residential school in Ontario.
• Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket
  A 90-minute video documenting artist Carey Newman’s creation of a “witness blanket” that incorporates and honours objects reclaimed from residential schools.

Sixties Scoop

• Sixties Scoop Indigenous Foundations
  An overview of the Sixties Scoop, “the mass removal of Aboriginal children from their families into the child welfare system, in most cases without the consent of their families or bands.”
• CBC Podcast Solves Decades-Old Mystery of Saskatchewan Girl Lost in Sixties Scoop CBC
• ‘The Sadness That Never Goes Away’: Sixties Scoop Survivor Battles to Be Recognized as Indigenous Ottowa Citizen

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

• Annual March Honours Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women CBC
• Missing or Murdered – and Dismissed University of Toronto Magazine
• Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
• Indigenous Women Are Preyed on at Horrifying Rates. I Was One of Them The Guardian

Police Brutality

• CHRC Concerned by Findings into Overrepresentation of Indigenous People in Prison Canadian Human Rights Commission
• Why Are Indigenous People in Canada So Much More Likely to Be Shot and Killed by Police? CTV News
• Police Brutality in Canada: A Symptom of Structural Racism and Colonial Violence Yellowhead Institute
• Black, Indigenous People Overrepresented in Fatal Police Encounters in Canada CBC News video
• Canada’s Prisons Are the ‘New Residential Schools’ MacLean’s
• Jaskiran Dhillon Draws Attention to Indigenous Youth Tangled in Colonial Institutions The Manitoban

Terminology

• Why We Say “Indigenous” Instead of “Aboriginal” Animiiki
• Indigenization Guide: Aboriginal, Indigenous or First Nations? BCcampus

Allyship

• Indigenous Allyship: An Overview Wilfrid Laurier University
• Build Together: IndigAlly Booklet  Canada’s Building Trades Unions

Explore Further

• Sign up for Indigenous Canada, a free 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course taught by Tracy Bear and Paul L. Gareau of the University of Alberta.
• Pick a book from #IndigenousReads to immerse yourself in a new story.
• Check out CBC’s Unreserved podcast to hear from Indigenous change makers across Canada.
• Explore Indigenous Issues 101 on âpihtawikosisân, Métis writer and educator Chelsea Vowel’s website about Indigenous law, language, and culture.
• Visit the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC, either online or in person to experience the art and culture of local Indigenous communities.
• Plan an online or in-person trip to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, MB, to honour and reflect on the rights of people from Indigenous communities.
• Watch a variety of films and documentaries on First Nations and Métis as well as Inuit subjects hosted by the National Film Board of Canada.
• Watch A History of Indigenous Languages—And How to Revitalize Them, a 13-minute TED talk by Indigenous linguist Lindsay Morcom.

Return to Ask Catalyst Express.

The post Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Ask Catalyst Express appeared first on Catalyst.

Today she is a Law Clerk, National Legal Claims Project Department at Intact Financial Corporation. But the road there wasn’t easy.

Growing up it was challenging for Sunjka to get to school and to eat three meals a day. “People don’t talk about it because it’s embarrassing,” she says. Then, just as she was entering high school Sunjka’s parents passed away. During this challenging time, a community of people including her “aunties”, teachers, and other supporters rallied around her.

Sunjka succeeded in becoming the first in her family to graduate high school. As she stepped onto the graduation stage, the crowd erupted in cheers. Reflecting on that moment still makes her emotional.

Marie was initially drawn to Intact’s education policy, benefits, and commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion. These benefits were important steppingstones that allowed her to build her career and stable home life.

Every day Sunjka works to pay-it-forward and champion access to policies that promote personal and career growth. She has become a confidant and guide for many at Intact. She has mentored more than a dozen women at Intact, fostering career progression, and inspiring others with diverse identities to pursue development opportunities.

As a proud member of the Oji-Cree nation of Ontario, Marie is part of Intact’s national Indigenous DEI Network. Always open to helping her colleagues be culturally sensitive and respectful regarding Indigenous culture, she integrates Indigenous practices such as land acknowledgements and ensures that her business signature has pronouns in both English and Oji-Cree (She/Her/Kwe).

Marie recently earned Intact’s premier level of recognition, a Bravissimo Award specifically for “Actions to Support Truth and Reconciliation at IFC.”

To hear Marie Sunjka and other gender equity and DEI champions, attend Catalyst Honours on 7 Oct, 2024.

Why she’s a Next Generation gender equity champion:

• Indigenous Circle of Inclusion: Marie co-founded and structured Intact’s Indigenous Circle of Inclusion, addressing retention issues through innovative initiatives such as Indigenous Healing Circles, enhancing employee well-being, and preparing the groundwork for broader network integration.
• Driving Intact’s Reconciliation Journey: Marie played a pivotal role in launching Intact’s Reconciliation Education Program, ensuring over 7,600 employees received culturally relevant training; and she also contributed significantly to organizing a successful National Day of Truth and Reconciliation event.

The post Marie Sunjka: Indigenous leader championing equity appeared first on Catalyst.

Many talented Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) women are prevented from reaching their full potential at work due to a combination of cultural stereotypes, unconscious biases, and organizational barriers. Although AANHPI employees are far more likely to have completed a higher education degree, Catalyst research found that only 6% of roles within three reporting levels of the CEO were held by AANHPI women, the lowest of any group studied.

By elevating AANHPI women, businesses can tap into a wealth of talent and experience, enhance employee morale, and strengthen their reputations as inclusive employers. However, building workplaces that are supportive and empowering for AANHPI women means first understanding the unique challenges and biases faced by this population.

Join our panel of experts to discuss:

• Personal testimonies of the “bamboo ceiling” and the unique challenges AANHPI women face in the workplace
• Programs tailored to recruit and retain AANHPI women at every level of an organization
• Strategies for creating clear pathways to leadership for AANHPI women

Note: Please log in to the website with your Catalyst Supporter organization email to access registration. If you are NOT a Catalyst Supporter, please email us to proceed with payment and registration. For questions, please contact catalystevents@catalyst.org.

Catalyst is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.

The post Paving the Way to Success: Elevating AANHPI Women to Leadership Positions appeared first on Catalyst.

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 led to calls for racial equity at work, organizations eager to demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion hired more Black women into leadership positions. After decades of facing barriers to advancement and leadership — a concrete ceiling — it seemed like Black women were finally making progress. But many of them were set up to fail and placed in unstable positions in organizations that were floundering. These experiences are characteristic of the glass cliff, a phenomenon where women and people of color are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions during periods of organizational crisis compared to those of stability and growth.

Leading an organization through a time of crisis is a difficult job for any leader, but Black women face additional burdens navigating (in)visibility, the pressure to perform and intersectional stereotypes,

Black women in leadership roles contend with both hypervisibility and invisibility. As studies show, they are penalized more harshly for failures, and their performance is scrutinized more than others. This is especially true when Black women are the first of their race and/or gender to be in a leadership role. There is an increased pressure to perform because of how it could reflect on other people like them. At the same time, Black women leaders deal with invisibility and must work harder to be seen and taken seriously as a leader because they do not match the prototype of the white male leader. This can make it more difficult for them to gain respect, buy-in, and support from their peers and subordinates.

Additionally, because of racial and gender stereotypes such as the “strong Black woman” and phrases like “Black girl magic,” two tropes that portray Black women as uncharacteristically strong and resilient, they may be expected to take on impossible tasks without the support and resources they need to succeed. Given the additional barriers that Black women leaders face, many work twice as hard to be successful, sacrificing their mental health and experiencing increased stress and burnout.

What causes the glass cliff?

The causes of the glass cliff are complex and varied, but these are two reasons that stand out: status quo bias and stereotypes about gender and leadership.

Status quo bias. When an organization is in crisis, leaders want to signal a change from the status quo and use the appointment of a “new kind” of leader (e.g. a non-white man) as a symbolic demonstration of that change. In support of this theory, researchers conducted an experiment and found that the glass cliff effect only surfaced when a company was described as historically male-led. When the company was described as historically led by women, the glass cliff disappeared.

Stereotypes about gender and leadership. It’s been well documented that people tend to associate stereotypically masculine traits, such as assertiveness and independence, with leadership more so than stereotypically feminine traits like cooperation and caring — a phenomenon called “think manager-think male.” Interestingly, research also shows a “think crisis-think female” phenomenon where leaders with stereotypically feminine traits are seen as more suitable to lead an organization in crisis. This sets women up to be appointed to glass cliff positions.

How can organizations prevent the glass cliff?

Organizations can mitigate the glass cliff phenomenon and give Black women and employees from other marginalized groups a fair chance to succeed in leadership positions. They must be willing to do three things: make a long-term commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through succession planning, address barriers and biases in hiring, development and promotion, and create accountability structures within the organization.

Develop inclusive succession planning. Future-thinking companies create a strategy to identify and develop high-potential talent to take on leadership positions when they become vacant. Organizations that do not have a succession plan are most at risk for perpetuating the glass cliff because they must make a quick decision to fill a role with little planning and preparation — a perfect recipe for bias.

Even when companies have succession plans, failure to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion into the process can perpetuate barriers and inequality that keep women and people of color from advancing into leadership positions. An inclusive succession plan recognizes the need for a diverse and dynamic workforce and actively works to identify and develop high-potential talent from marginalized groups. It seeks to remove barriers to advancement and provide support through leadership development programs and access to sponsors and mentors.

Ultimately, this planning builds an intentionally diverse pipeline of talent to choose from when a leadership position becomes available, helping organizations avoid subjecting Black women to the glass cliff, make consistent progress toward their diversity, equity and inclusion goals, and create smoother transitions between leadership.

Root out bias from hiring, performance appraisals and promotion processes. Evaluation processes such as hiring, performance appraisals and promotion are susceptible to bias that can disadvantage people from marginalized backgrounds. So, it is important to create clear guidelines for how to evaluate others. The more subjectivity there is in the evaluation process, the greater chance there is of bias, so it’s key to base decisions on objective, measurable and job-relevant competencies and criteria.

For hiring, evaluators can use structured interviewing, a human resources tool where candidates are all asked the same competency-based questions and then rated using a rubric to assess their performance on each competency. Bias can also be present during the performance appraisal process. Studies show differences in the amount and quality of performance feedback that employees from marginalized groups receive. Black women in particular receive the least amount of quality feedback compared to other groups.

Equip managers with the skills they need to be objective by hosting training on how to evaluate performance and give high-quality feedback that is clear, actionable and focused on behaviors instead of personality traits. Creating bias-free evaluation processes can help organizations mitigate the glass cliff by shutting down stereotypes and bias.

Measure and track progress. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. Collecting data and tracking progress is also a great way to create accountability and transparency for diversity, equity and inclusion goals, both of which are essential for success.

It’s important to assess the disparity between demographic groups across all facets of the employee life cycle so you can evaluate what is working and what is not. For example, in analyzing performance appraisal and promotion data, it is important to consider whether rates of promotion are similar across demographic groups and whether the quality and amount of feedback is similar. Take it a step further and take an intersectional approach to the data, considering whether there may be disparities across more than one axis of identity.  Measuring and tracking progress can help to proactively identify challenges that could lead to a glass cliff scenario.

The bottom line

Restricting Black women’s advancement opportunities to times of poor organizational performance is not a sustainable business or diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. Organizations play a crucial role in ensuring that Black women have access to the same opportunities for development, advancement and leadership as white men. The glass cliff is not inevitable. We can make it an outdated notion.

The post Black women still face a glass cliff, but fixing workplace systems can change that appeared first on Catalyst.

But that understanding will require careful consideration of the risks and biases AI tools and processes tend to exhibit—from gender and racial biases to flat-out inaccuracies in output. With that foundation of awareness, business leaders set themselves up for success in creating a workplace that is fit for inclusion in the new era of work. 

Watch this webinar to hear our panel of experts discuss: 

• How companies are tackling AI and the future of work, from AI councils, committees, and chief officers.
• The landscape of AI and business strategy, including legislative regulations, common biases, and risks.
• The invigorating prospects for success in leveraging AI to support a holistic approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Speakers

Cathy Cobey, Global Responsible AI Co-Lead, EY

Noelle Russell, Chief AI Officer, AI Leadership Institute

Michael Thomson, Executive Vice President, Edelman

Moderator

Julie Cafley, Executive Director, Catalyst Canada

Recording Available only to Catalyst Supporters. Please log in to watch the recording.

The post Webinar Recording: How to Use Generative AI Free of Gender and Racial Bias appeared first on Catalyst.