For engaging comms go mobile

Want more engaging comms? Go mobile.

Karen Rayner Diversity & inclusion, Employee experience Leave a Comment

Want to be able to talk to all of your employees? Prepare to go mobile. Most adults own a cell phone, so it follows that most workers will have a mobile device of some kind. And we always have them close at hand. The average person checks their phone 110 times a day, and frontline workers use messaging apps up to six times a day. Great news, right? We can just use mobile channels to communicate with workers and get a read on engagement. Not so fast. Communication in companies isn’t fabulous to begin with: 80% of US employees feel …

Finding CQ in Leaders

CQ: finding culturally intelligent leaders

Laura-Jane Booker Diversity & inclusion, Leadership Leave a Comment

For a brief introduction to Cultural Intelligence (CQ) please read the first article in this series: Leading diverse teams: the importance of cultural intelligence. Given the growing multi-cultural nature of today’s global business world, it is crucial to develop culturally intelligent leaders. These are leaders who capitalise on the differing opinions, ideas, and tactics that diverse people and teams offer. It is one thing to have a diverse team with differing backgrounds and experiences, but actually using those differences effectively is another thing entirely. Where do you find high CQ leaders?  You’ll be delighted to know that CQ is a …

LGBTQ+ D&I - thanks for the rainbow logo

LGBTQ+ D&I? Thanks for the rainbow logo… but let’s do better.

Leah Chaney Diversity & inclusion, Employee experience Leave a Comment

I’ve spent the last decade of my leadership career and my entire professional career being an out lesbian, and along the way, I’ve experienced a range of responses to who I identified as as a person. I’ve worked on teams where I was respected as an individual, and others where I felt like a check on a diversity and inclusion checklist. I’ve learned along the way how to understand what it looks like to support the LGBTQ+ community — what a true advocate and champion looks like — and how to weed out imposters. Does the company do what it …

Confessions of a flex worker

Confessions of a flex worker: leading the way to culture change

Donna Jones Diversity & inclusion, Employee experience, Organizational culture Leave a Comment

It’s 6:30 on a Sunday morning and I’ve just tiptoed downstairs, made a coffee and sat down to write. I am Donna Jones and I flex all of the time. I know the business case for flexible working – higher engagement, greater attraction and diversity of applicants, greater employee wellbeing, productivity and safety outcomes etc.  From a retention perspective, workers value their personalised flexible working arrangements over salary increases; women are more loyal when they have this invaluable agreement in place.  All of this sounds great! But why are we, the transport industry, still designing staff rosters around the sole …

Cultural intelligence

Leading diverse teams: the importance of cultural intelligence

Laura-Jane Booker Diversity & inclusion, Engagement, Leadership 2 Comments

So you’ve probably heard about emotional intelligence (EQ), a key tool in a leader’s toolkit. But what have you heard of cultural intelligence (CQ)? It’s equally important but it’s a largely unrecognised leadership tool. For those unfamiliar with the concept, here’s what you need to know: Components of cultural intelligence CQ is a person’s capability for successful adaptation to new cultural settings. Leaders with high CQ are culturally competent and have the skills, attitude, and behaviours to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings. CQ consists of 4 components. Leaders with high CQ will possess all 4 components. Cognitive …

The alpha female

The plight of the alpha female: why women say they prefer working for men

Sandy Burgham Diversity & inclusion, Leadership, Organizational culture 3 Comments

Recently a colleague was relaying a conversation she’d had with another woman regarding how they both prefer working for male CEOs. She and her friend had both experienced working for male and female bosses. “We were just saying that female CEOs are always having to prove themselves… the trouble with alpha females …… they have something to prove …and they show their insecurity” she bemoaned. While I like to think I am a good listening ear, I cut her short. In fact, to be honest, I might have even talked over her and started womansplaining what was going on. Over …

12 Step Program for Culture Change

Your 12 step program for organizational culture change

Sandy Burgham Diversity & inclusion, Employee experience, Organizational culture Leave a Comment

I was curious when approached to contribute to EX Journal as usually I am banging on about Diversity and Inclusion. Yes, remember that? Or was that “soooo last year”?  Certainly I detect that it’s a lot more fun hanging with the cheery folk chatting about EX. It feels, well, a tad more millennial. I mean, all this obsessing over diversity statistics has lead to nothing but the jaw-dropping climactic revelation by the WE Forum earlier this year that it will take 217 years for the global gender gap to close. Gosh, what do we do now? Keep talking, shut up, …