As the workforce becomes more diverse, workplace strategy consultants Matrix360 says businesses need to abandon the old-school approach to talent management and disband the “boys clubs and tea parties” that restrict opportunities for diverse and underrepresented people.
While organizations often talk about the importance of an inclusive workplace, male-dominated cliques still exist in many workplaces. Of 1,500 working women polled in a recent survey, 54.1% said they have worked in a company with a boys club culture.
“Unfortunately, boys clubs are still impacting employees around the world,” said Chandran Fernando, managing partner of Matrix360. “We want business leaders everywhere to take a critical look at their organizations and see how they can improve. Leaders in power should acknowledge their privilege and seek equity solutions to build better pathways for diverse and underrepresented women, specifically women of color, so they, too, have access to achieve the level of success achieved by white male colleagues.”
Harvard University research has found that male employees are promoted at much faster rates than other groups under male leadership, which contributes to the ongoing gender pay gap.
A boys club culture typically forms when an organization is led primarily by men to the detriment of women and minorities, a result of the antiquated belief that the office is a man’s domain and that women are stepping into a man’s world, Fernando said.
A tea party culture typically forms when leaders within organizations operate from antiquated belief systems that are steeped in stereotypes, assumptions and role expectations that affect all groups of people, be it gender, race, age, abilities and orientation.
As a result, a particular avatar is created and perpetuates narratives that uphold a mindset that White, male, heteronormative and able-bodied is the norm, while limiting organizations by driving away talented employees and ignoring the unique skills that diverse and underrepresented groups offer workplaces, Fernando said.
How organizations can tackle a boys club culture
Workplaces are built on boys club and tea club mentalities that influence how people are welcomed and included in the DNA of organizations. It is essential that leaders are proactive in transforming workplaces. Steps they can include are:
- Examining talent management strategies to recruit, support, advance and grow employees
- Build larger leadership tables to include the diversity of voices and experiences of all employees
- Commitment and dedication towards awareness and education of the inequities within workplaces
- Moving away from allyship to partnerships, where leaders champion and advocate for diverse and underrepresented communities
- Creating brave spaces, where diverse and underrepresented employees feel comfortable in sharing experiences
- Creating learning opportunities and embracing the journey of understanding how assumptions, biases, prejudice and bigotry influences behaviors within workplaces
- Addressing any problematic behaviors that impede, alienate or marginalize diverse and underrepresented groups in workplaces
- Understand the importance of intersectionality. It is imperative to recognize that employee engagement is not a matter of one brush stroke with one paint color. Three are many factors that contribute to perspectives and experiences held by each and every individual.
