INCLUSIVE DESIGN FOR TALENT SYSTEMS: PART 2 THE “REFERENCE MAN” RULES Why one size fits all leaves most of us out. In a hyperdiverse world, the white, straight, and able- bodied male can no longer be the default for talent systems design.

2 In the first paper of this two-part series, Asleep at the wheel: Why a singular focus on unconscious-bias is driving diversity and inclusion off the road, we considered the case for structural inclusion and introduced the three pillars of equality, equity, and inclusive design.

Visit https://infokf.kornferry.com/asleep-at-the- wheel.html to download a copy.

Here we explore inclusive design, the third pillar and methodology of structural inclusion, and look at how organizations can apply it to their talent systems.

Meet the Reference Man. This person, or rather this concept, has influenced your life in more ways than you can possibly imagine.

First introduced in 1975, the Reference Man concept was initially devised to simplify calculations on radiation exposure, although it went on to be used consistently in research models of nutrition, pharmacology, population, and toxicology. Intended to personify all of humanity, the Reference Man was in fact defined in very specific terms: A 25 to 30 year old male, weighing 154 pounds, standing 5 feet 6 inches tall,1 Caucasian, with a Western European or North American lifestyle.2

1 70 kilos and 1.7 meters. 2 International Commission on Radiological Protection. (1975). Report of the Task Group on Reference Man.

3 Your thermostat is sexist.

The bias toward young, white, able-bodied Unfortunately, it would appear that talent men can be found in every corner of the systems have been as susceptible to design designed world. Ever wondered why the line biases as any of these other examples. In the for the women’s toilet is always much longer past, many HR leaders embraced a one-size- than the men’s? It’s because the design of fits-all approach to talent systems, convinced women’s toilets does not take women’s needs that it would be the most efficient and into account. Women tend to use the toilet effective way to manage hiring, performance, more frequently and for longer than men (and advancement, and reward, particularly as often with recalcitrant children in tow), yet the organizations grew and became more global. provision of toilets does not often allow for this. And indeed, they also believed it would This leaves one wondering: How have the create equality. needs of 50% of the human population been Perhaps inevitably, the one size in question neglected by building planners and designers turned out to be HR’s equivalent of the for so long? Reference Man. In this way, unconscious biases The same biases can be seen in thermostat were built into talent systems and have served settings in office buildings, the height of to preserve glass ceilings and to perpetuate top shelves, the position of light switches, unequal outcomes in access, opportunities, the size of safety masks, and the shape of body support, and rewards. armor, not to mention crash-test dummies, clinical drug trials, and research into chronic diseases. They have even made their way into many elements of digital hardware and software design, from smartphone grips and keyboard key size to voice-recognition algorithms.

4 The world is still built for men.

Voice-recognition devices. Fitness monitors. Many voice-recognition systems One study of 12 of the most common fitness are designed to recognize a male monitors found that they underestimated voice. After five failed attempts of steps during housework by up to 74% trying (and failing) to get a voice- and underestimated calories burned during recognition system to make a call, housework by as much as 34%. Today women one female user lowered the pitch still do the majority of the housework, so this of her voice, and it worked first time. really matters.

Apple’s Siri. When Apple launched their artificial intelligence system Siri, Car seats and safety. it could help you if you’d had Modern car seats are designed based on male a heart attack, but if you told crash-test dummies and are too firm to protect it you’d been raped, it replied, women in accidents: the seats throw women “I don’t know what you mean forward faster than men because the back by ‘I was raped.’” of the seat doesn’t give way for women’s on average lighter and smaller bodies.

Map apps. Women also tend to sit further forward when Map apps fail to account for women driving, making their legs more vulnerable in who may want to know the safest an accident (given the angle that their knees in addition to fastest routes. and hips sit). And they have less muscle in their necks and upper torso, making them up to three times more vulnerable to whiplash. Health-monitoring systems. When Apple launched its health- So while more men than women are involved monitoring system in 2014, it in car crashes, women are 17% more likely to boasted a “comprehensive” die in one. health tracker. It could track blood Abstracts from The deadly truth about a world pressure, steps taken, blood alcohol built for men – from stab vests to car crashes. level, even molybdenum and copper intake. But Apple forgot one crucial By Caroline Criado-Perez.3 detail: a period tracker.

3 Criado-Perez, C. (2019). The deadly truth about a world built for men - from stab vests to car crashes. The Guardian. https://www. theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/ truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes

5 Inclusive design is the antidote.

Concerns about the ethical and commercial Inclusive design rejects the Reference Man perils of the Reference Man are not new. paradigm and recognizes instead the simple and Early pioneers include Jutta Treviranus, obvious truth that there is no such thing as a the founder and director of the Inclusive default person. As the Microsoft Inclusive Design Design Research Center (IDRC) at OCAD team explains in their manual: “The interactions University in Toronto, who began exploring we design with technology depend heavily on the dynamics of exclusionary design in digital what we can see, hear, say, and touch. Assuming products way back in 1993. Focusing initially all those senses and abilities are fully enabled all on disability inclusion, the IDRC developed the time creates the potential to ignore much of a set of inclusive design principles that went the range of humanity.” on to influence thinking at companies such The answer, whether you’re designing a as Microsoft, ultimately leading to the formation workplace, a transport system, or a virtual- of the Microsoft Inclusive Design team, whose reality headset, is to address the needs of own set of best-practice standards are now all potential users, starting with the most available open source.4 marginalized and excluded populations. This then allows you to produce more elegant and streamlined designs that benefit all. The Microsoft team again: “Everyone has abilities, and limits to those abilities. Designing for people with permanent disabilities actually results in designs that benefit people universally.”

4 Fast Company. (2018). The No. 1 thing you’re getting wrong about inclusive design. https://www.fastcompany.com/90243282/the-no-1-thing-youre-getting-wrongabout inclusive design.

6 7 8 The wider benefits of inclusive design have already been discovered in some places. Just think how those curb ramps for people with disabilities have made life better for joggers, cyclists, and parents with strollers as well. Closed captioning, which was created for the hard-of-hearing community, now enables everyone to follow the action in loud sports bars or crowded airports. The high-contrast screen settings that make it possible to read in bright sunlight were originally made for people with vision impairments. And what do you think inspired remote controls?

Above all, inclusive design is the antidote to exclusion. As Kat Holmes, one of the leading thinkers on inclusive design writes in her book Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design: “Ask a hundred people what inclusion means and you get a hundred different answers. Ask then what it means to be excluded and the answer will be uniformly clear: It’s when you are left out.”5

5 Holmes. K. (2018). Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design.

9 Four core principles of inclusive design for talent systems.

Inclusive design principles have been applied Here we share our four core principles of to everyday products and services to make inclusive design for talent systems, adapted them more accessible for users with physical from the work of the Inclusive Design abilities. Those same design principles can Research Center. also be applied within organizations to create talent systems that are inclusive of all human differences.

1. 2.

Define equality. Unearth inequities.

The value of equality is enshrined in most Many of today’s organizations are inadvertently vision statements, codes of ethics, and creating and perpetuating disparities through non-discrimination policies. But what does their talent systems. Our second inclusive equality actually mean? The answer will vary design principle is to unearth those inequities from organization to organization. Inclusive and discover whether there are any “faults in design journeys should therefore begin with the default”. This can be achieved by examining an explicit, self-reflective exploration and the data and by exploring the experiences of declaration of what kind of equality the different talent groups—experiences that can organization stands for and how it manifests be difficult and even painful. Is the organization itself in talent management practices and living up to its commitments on equality? processes. The organization must then ensure Do leaders reflect the full diversity of talent that its aspirational statements, guidelines, and pools? Is all talent being paid equally for policies all support this declaration. They also equal work? must be clear about the non-negotiables that are expected of every leader, manager, and employee, and about the rules, standards, and guidelines that will ensure that no one is favored or unfavored on the basis of who they are.

10 3. 4.

Learn from diversity. Solve for one, benefit all.

The only way to break away from the Reference Science and experience are showing us— Man and ensure that inequities are not and features such as closed captioning prove— perpetuated is to modify or create systems that if we can make something work for the using input from all users—from the mainstream exception then we will end up with a better to the overlooked user. This requires a human- design for all. Similar successes can be achieved centric and empathetic approach. Designers in talent system designs if we specifically must be curious about people’s vast differences address the needs of overlooked users— and consider the needs, wants, and aspirations those whose experiences, mindsets, and of the most excluded user rather than simply visibility are in the minority. assuming similarity and building their solutions around the lowest common denominator.

11 Equality achieved? Access Do employees have equal access By applying these four inclusive design to resources, leaders, programs, principles, organizations can develop talent and other tools they can leverage systems and processes that are free from to achieve their full potential? legacy inequities and inclusive of all human differences. The ultimate aim, of course, is to Opportunity create equality for everyone. But how do you Do employees have equal opportunity know when you have achieved it? to apply, and to be tapped and To measure the effectiveness of an inclusive considered, for short-term, design approach, we recommend asking high-visibility developmental yourself if equality has been achieved across projects or job postings? the following four work experiences. Support

Do employees get equal support to be coached when learning new skills, provided with constructive and honest feedback, mentored in navigating the political environment, and sponsored and advocated for behind closed doors?

Rewards

Do employees enjoy equal rewards to those who have had comparable impact, and are contributions to the organization always recognized?

12 13 Case studies: Inclusive design for talent systems in the real world.

So that’s the theory. Now what about the practice? On the following pages we look at how these inclusive design principles are applied in practice, with case studies from organizations that have used the principles to achieve improved structural and behavioral inclusion in the areas of attraction, advancement, and retention.

14 Solve Define Unearth Learn from for one, equality inequities diversity 3. benefit all

Attraction

Case study 1: A growing number of large companies dropping college-degree requirements

One systemic barrier to greater diversity in In a New York Times interview, Laszlo Bock— positions of influence and leadership has been the former senior vice president of people the requirement for a college or university operations for Google—reported that the tech degree. Societal biases have, for example, giant had rejected grade point averages and tracked women and racial/ethnic minorities test scores as worthless criteria for hiring, away from STEM (science, technology, because they “don’t predict anything.”7 At a engineering, and math) education or even recent White House session of the American away from college for many years. The result Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting, has been an underrepresentation of women Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton added, and racial/ethnic minorities in pools of STEM “All too often, job requisitions will say they college graduates, thus perpetuating the lack require a four-year degree, when in fact there’s of diversity in organizations. nothing about the job that truly requires a four-year degree—it merely helped our hiring There is plenty of diverse, skilled talent with no managers sort of weed through the crowd college degree that organizations are missing and get a smaller qualified candidate group.”8 out on. So leading organizations have begun to Today there are fifteen companies that no drop this requirement for roles few would have longer require college degrees. ever imagined could be done without a degree. In this case, the initial intent was to remove Tim Cook recently said that about half of the inequity in recruitment of underrepresented people Apple employed in the US last year talent. But it ultimately resulted in a more did not have degrees.6 He reasoned that many inclusive design for everyone who might not colleges do not teach the skills business leaders have college degrees but does have the needed need most in their workforce, such as coding. aptitudes and learning agility. It therefore solved for one and benefited all.

6 Eadicicco, L. (2019). Apple CEO Tim Cook Explains Why You Don’t Need a College Degree to Be Successful. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-why-college- degree-isnt-necessary-2019-3?r=US&IR=T 7 Bryant, A. (2013). In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/in-head-hunting-big-data-may-not-be-such-a-big- deal.html?module=inline 8 Akhtar, A. (2019). Apple, Google, and Netflix Don’t Require Employees to Have 4-Year Degrees, and This Could Soon Become an Industry Norm. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/top- companies-are-hiring-more-candidates-without-a-4-year-degree-2019-4?r=US&IR=T

15 Solve Define Unearth Learn from for one, equality inequities diversity 3. benefit all

Case study 2: Busting the myth that “there aren’t any.”

The mantra that “there aren’t any,” when Lockheed Martin is a company that has cracked used as the excuse for why there is not more the code. After several years of learning from the diversity in sourcing and hiring pools, is a diversity around them, in 2018 they attended debilitating one for both those saying it and three young-professional STEM conferences— those hearing it. Giving the benefit of the two for Latinx people and one for women. One doubt for a moment to those who say it, it is of those, the national convention of the Society true that what is getting sourced by the talent of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), had acquisition function can often fall short of over 8,000 recent Latinx STEM graduates and expectations when organizations declare that early-career professionals; Lockheed walked no hiring can happen until there is diverse away having made around 100 offers. slates of candidates. But it wasn’t just about turning up. Preparatory But for those hearing it, there is a cognitive steps to build behavioral and structural dissonance. Given the upward trend of more inclusion into Lockheed’s approach ahead of women than men getting undergraduate and the conferences included the following: graduate degrees, and the rising demographic ƒƒ Securing top financial and logistical numbers of racial/ethnic minorities and their sponsorship and arranging for top higher educational attainment compared executives to be speakers. to their parents, there would seem to be ƒƒ Sourcing and identifying strong candidates plenty more diversity in the talent pools that who were going to be attendees. organizations need to tap. ƒƒ Scheduling final interviews to take While acknowledging that available talent place at the events. pools need to be defined not just by sheer ƒƒ Bringing hiring managers to the conference demographic numbers but also by having and briefing them on the candidates as well the right set of education, skills, and as on unconscious-bias pitfalls ahead of time. experiences, there is still clear evidence that ƒƒ Hosting an inclusive and hospitable organizations are overlooking a lot of talent, reception party for all the candidates on-site. leading to inequities in sourcing and recruiting. ƒƒ Making offers on the spot.

16 No surprise, then, that Lockheed was recognized as the Company of the Year by SHPE.

The ripple effect to all from this more inclusive design approach? It is now being used to source other hidden talent among veterans, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, and more.

17 Solve Define Unearth Learn from for one, equality inequities diversity 3. benefit all

Advancement

Case study 3: Extending differentiated development to all.

A professional services firm had discovered But then the benefit extended even further inequities in the retention and advancement when the organization realized that some of the of racially/ethnically underrepresented talent. very principles that workers were benefiting By learning from the diversity around them, from to overcome their unique challenges they gained deeper insight into shared would be beneficial for all. challenges that members of these groups In effect, while the causes of the barriers faced within the organization. The challenges that women or racial or ethnic minorities were specifically due to the ways in which experienced—racial animosity, sexism, these workers were different, and they needed xenophobia, unconscious biases—were unique, support to be able to talk about and wrestle some of the key remedies within one’s own with these unique challenges. personal power to respond to adversity could To address inequities, the organization be universal. For example, being clear about introduced differentiated development one’s short- and long-term goals, developing programs for African American, Latinx, and strategic plans for achieving them, resilience— Asian talent, to help this talent better grasp these could be beneficial to any professional what they were going through and why. regardless of their background.

After a number of years running the programs, the company realized that many of their employees who represented the majority populations were also interested in learning about the headwinds their colleagues in the minority groups were facing. As a result, the company extend their differentiated development programs to all employees to foster a greater sense of empathy, so that all could learn from and about human differences and how to better reduce the impact of unconscious-bias.

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Case study 4: Informal processes masking structural inequities at a financial services company.

While this company did not have formal To learn from diversity, the organization development processes, it was phenomenal conducted focus groups to hear firsthand at informal development. A diversity and how this was affecting the performance and inclusion diagnostic revealed that lateral moves inclusion experiences for members of these in the form of short-term assignments, expat underrepresented groups. As a result, they deployments, and high-visibility projects were changed the key accountability metric for culturally endemic throughout the organization. managers from representation or promotions In fact, a deep quantitative diagnosis revealed (both examples of lagging indicators) to a that there was a strong predictive pattern key short-term metric of lateral movement that four lateral moves consistently led to of underrepresented talent (a predictive promotions to a certain level, and six moves, leading indicator). to the level above that. How did the more focused inequity findings But when a structural inclusion equity analysis and the inclusive design that followed benefit was performed, it revealed a good amount of all? Managers became much more aware of opportunity disparity. And in looking at the how they can, in their informality, overlook all informal horizontal movements more closely, kinds of talent, not just among those who are it appeared to be white men who consistently traditionally underrepresented. and disproportionately got more of those assignments. Women were two times less likely to get those moves, Latinx employees six times less likely, and black/African American employees 14 times less likely.

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Retention

Case study 5: Inclusive parental leave.

Parental leave is a textbook case of As the result, a number of progressive where designing for the one benefited all. companies including HPE, Vodafone, Spotify, Aviva, Novartis, Netflix, Microsoft, TIAA, Twitter, The one in this case was working mothers. and IKEA have adopted a more inclusive Though it took too long for companies to design referred to as parental leave. This acknowledge the complicated realities of leave is neutral with regard to gender, sexual working mothers, eventually there was a orientation, and child arrival method. recognition that to attract, retain, and support women with children, they needed to provide Companies such as Cisco are pushing parental benefits that addressed those realities. But by benefits even further, beyond the nuclear family its very name—maternity leave—this policy left to those who have become grandparents out a whole bunch of people from a benefit as well as those who need to care for elder that at its essence is a recognition that human loved ones at the other end of the cycle of life. beings have others in their lives who at critical Addressing the needs of one group—working times depend on their focused support to mothers—led to a design that could be used to survive and thrive. be inclusive of all.

And oh yes, there are fathers too. And so paternity leave was added at an increasing number of organizations. But then how about same-sex couples who have children? Did they have access to this benefit? No. Adoptive parents? No. Foster parents? No. Parents via surrogate birth? No.

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Case study 6: Ensuring that talented women weren’t lost through poor people management.

A tech managing consulting firm was having While this affected both men and women, difficulty retaining many of their female the structural inclusion reality was that it consultants, despite hiring at nearly 50/50 disproportionately affected women because male/female parity among recent-college- of the lack of informal systems working for graduate hires. them. With technology still a traditionally male- dominated field, women were either being shut The organization was quick to tie the intensity out of the boy’s club or being asked to adapt of their consultancy demands to their high to a more male-influenced culture. This was attrition of talented women consultants. compounded by the lack of effective people The answer, they were sure, lay in developing managers, who lacked the tools to coach their policies that allowed for more work-life balance. people into optimal performance and career But a diversity and inclusion diagnostic revealed growth and were even further disconnected that this was a tertiary issue. The women they from understanding gender inequity dynamics. were attracting were just as ambitious as the men and working just as hard. The pivotal No wonder women were leaving at a higher root cause of losing so many women after rate. Corrective action then became about five to seven years was something different: enhancing the manager selection process, poor people management skills on the part onboarding, and adjusting development and of people managers. rewards. Embedded in that would be training on unconscious-bias and conscious inclusion. This was because professionals who excelled technically were rewarded with promotions But this in the end did not benefit just female that required them to also manage people. talent. As managers got better, many more Most of them did not relish the managerial people benefited, because bad managers have responsibilities—nor were they given any a debilitating effect on all. training or development for it. Further, talent development systems were nearly nonexistent, meaning that the organization did not have the tools or processes to help managers manage their people well, and those managers were not held accountable for doing so. 21 Solve Define Unearth Learn from for one, equality inequities diversity 3. benefit all

Case study 7: Progressive pronouns.

There has been a lot of conversation both The link to inclusive design? A sigh of relief for in organizations and in society at large about many employees with unusual, non-Western, the inclusion of transgender and gender- or gender-neutral (Chris, Pat, Adrian, etc.) nonbinary colleagues through the use of their names who for years have been wrongly preferred pronouns. In some forward-leaning addressed as Mr. or Ms. By adopting the environments, employees have started to practice of adding their pronouns to their own use their preferred pronouns in their email signature lines, they are able to put an end to signatures (he, she, they), which has sparked the guessing game and be addressed by their discussions around identity and allyship. This in correct gender salutation, thus avoiding the turn has motivated many cisgender employees awkwardness of having to correct colleagues to become allies by adding their own pronouns and clients. to their signature line, even though they identify with their gender assigned at birth, with the goal of making the practice more common.

22 And let’s not forget behavioral inclusion.

These stories, and many more like them, illustrate the power of inclusive design. But just as unconscious-bias training fails without structural inclusion,9 so inclusive design cannot be sustainably and consistently applied without also addressing potential behavioral inclusion gaps.

For example, managers may use conscious and unconscious biases about gendered roles to exert pressure on the men on their team to reduce the amount of parental leave they take.

Or hiring managers may dismiss resumes of those without college degrees even after recruiters have deemed them suitable.

This reinforces our fundamental point of view that it is vital to design structural and behavioral inclusion interventions that reinforce one another.

9 For more on behavioral and structural inclusion, see: Tapia, A., Polonskaia, A., Kirtzman, F., and Gisbert, G. (2019). ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL: Why a singular focus on unconscious-bias is driving diversity and inclusion off the road. Report. Los Angeles, CA: Korn Ferry.

23 24 Conclusion

What does it take to achieve the deeply desired, yet elusive transformation of more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations?

Yes, it requires addressing legacy inequities And after all that, it requires the will to see through a combination of structural and changes through, acknowledging that the behavioral inclusion interventions that are transformation takes more than just one great mutually reinforcing. Yes, it involves applying training experience or high-profile initiative. inclusive design principles to prevent new The will to change entrenched but exclusionary exclusions from being codified into the cultural norms—and to sustain those changes organizational DNA. over time.

But at an even more profound and human level, Ultimately, it’s about inclusive leadership— it requires courage and will. because organizations can only hope to achieve sustained structural and behavioral inclusion Courage to ask if inequities are present and, through inclusive design if they have the when they are confirmed, confront the past motivated, skilled, and outcome-driven leaders wrongs and make them right. Courage to enter and managers who can lead the way. the environments of those who are different from us, see things from their perspective, and be curious about how they think, feel, and act. Courage to share stories of our own journeys and the ways they have shaped how we view and live in the world.

25 Contributors Andrés Tapia Fayruz Kirtzman Senior client partner, global Senior principal diversity and inclusion strategist Korn Ferry Korn Ferry t: +1 212 984 9473 t: +1 773 372 3782 e: [email protected] e: [email protected]

Alina Polonskaia Gustavo Gisbert Senior client partner, global Senior principal diversity and inclusion Korn Ferry practice leader t: +1 312 526 0520 Korn Ferry e: [email protected] t: +1 416 365 4001 e: [email protected]

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For more information on how we can help you apply Korn Ferry’s Inclusive Design for Talent SystemsTM to your organization, please get in touch.

APAC LATAM Alicia Yi Cecilia Pinzón t: +65 6231 6220 t: +571 313 1400 e: [email protected] e: [email protected]

EMEA North America Margot Zielinska Alina Polonskaia t: +44 20 7024 9162 t: +1 416 365 4001 e: [email protected] e: [email protected]

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm. We work with organizations to design their organizational structures, roles, and responsibilities. We help them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward, develop, and motivate their workforce. And, we help professionals navigate and advance their careers.