HeForShe: Diversity, Millennials and what do we all do next?

With the number of conferences and seminars on almost any topic available in Shanghai every day, it is hard to follow them all. In this column, I will present several simple and bright thoughts that moved me at one event or the other.

HeForShe: Diversity, Millennials and what do we all do next?

Inspired by AmCham conference March 28, 2017
“You have a problem if your team looks too much like you”, – Aina Konold, CFO, Gap Greater China.

Diversity is easier said than done. We can look at the quotas and percentages, but it all comes down to culture within our own teams. Diversity is not just a correlation of different gender representatives or passport holders, it is also a diversity of opinions, outlooks, ways people think and operate.

The team could be perfect according to the company HR’s profile with their leader at the same time working hard to install his mindset into heads of his potential successors. The first step to diversity is to look around and ask yourself

• Do you surround yourself mostly with the people who think like you?

• Do you tend to promote only those who share similar approach to getting things done?

• Does your team look or think exactly like you?

A young manager recently shared with me his frustration with his team that had much slower processing habits than he did, weren’t we all guilty of that at a certain point? Take a first step to diversity by celebrating someone who is different from you in gender, nationality, age, religion, political beliefs or ways of processing information.

“We should be highly thankful to Millennials or people who behave like Millennials. They were catalysts for many improvements we’ve overseen. They opened many doors…”, – Norbert Ehlert, HR Leader Greater China, Procter&Gambler

As a Millennial Coach I hear lots of frustration from earlier generations of managers who consider the newcomers too demanding and lacking commitment. As in any relationship issue, both sides have a part of responsibility for the gap in mutual misunderstanding.

What the earlier generation is finding hard to accept is the underlying feeling of unfairness – why do we have to change so much for these new kids, we had to work extra hours and endure the hardships to get where we are, so should they!

Now is the time to embrace the wonderful gift the Millennials are bringing to the companies – challenging the status quo! Weren’t we all thinking the same but never dared to ask?!

• Do we really have to work in the office all the time?
• Do we really need that unproductive meeting every morning?
• Does being successful professionally really means forgetting about private life?
• Can we actually demand from our boss to be our mentor and coach as much as direct manager?

The Millennials might be spoiled, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. I always thought that human laziness is what drives the progress and innovation, otherwise why would we have home remote controls, delivery systems and mobile payments?

“People jump from place to place, and that for me is a sign that mentoring system is down”, Li Qiang, Co-Country MP China, DLA Piper

Much related to what we’ve discussed earlier, high employee turnover is no longer a new phenomenon, but a familiar chronic pain that many organizations endure. As numerous researches have shown, many younger employees think that their leadership talents are not developed at their current workplace.

As a solution many turned to coaching, a powerful tool to develop hidden potential and empower growth. A number of companies here in China hosted almost compulsory coaching skills trainings for their management team just to discover that the skills were not used on a daily basis and didn’t bring the promised results.

And the answer is within this quote. It is the whole mentoring system that is down, and repairing the system takes more than demonstrating the skills to certain elements of it. Establishing coaching/mentoring culture might sound like too big a task, but it is essential to secure company’s future by creating the ultimate conditions for keeping and growing the best of the talents.

“Have that cup of coffee with a colleague, make an introduction, mentor or coach someone, open a new door – it might be a small thing for you, but it will make a world of difference for that other person”, – Celina Chew, President Bayer Group Greater China

The most powerful thing said at the end of her empowering speech by Celina Chew, the inspirational President of Bayer Group Greater China – “we all can do something, a small step to influence another person life, to help someone, to bring diversity into our lives and our companies. And it can start with very small actions that would turn into greater results, we don’t know the ripple effect that some act of help or encouragement might have on the other person.”

This is how I got to become a Millennial coach – by a small referral from one great woman to another, and years later a cup of coffee with a fascinating man who has passion to set others for success. And even I have so many things to learn, I also feel like it is time for me to start noticing those around me whom I can help by a conversation, new connection or a powerful question. And I invite you to join!

Mila Dorosh

Millennial Coach

BLV Coaching