To facilitate larger roles and high-profile participation for employees, hand them opportunities to develop impactful skills, especially employees from underrepresented populations. This must be an intentional effort where people are fast tracked through skills training to facilitate their contributions on off-task, project work to better secure their attainment of higher paying roles and promotions.
I was recently talking to my first CEO direct manager; a man who owned a biotech company with big revenue growth and fast and innovative product development. We spent time reflecting on that work environment and the dynamics of the work relationships. When I was preparing for this meeting, I had identified many aspects of that work environment that fostered growth in the business and in me. That being,
Customer needs drove innovation and growth
Primary capacity development
People development, including frontline workers
Employee engagement and collaboration
Distribution of power (devolution!)
Organic diversity and inclusion
Risk taking
Simplicity where possible
Revenue generation with cost control
Limited constraints on growth
Pluralism (in thought, approach, people, products, customers)
I was lucky to have this environment for my first management experience. Daily, I had nearly countless opportunities to learn and develop communication skills, expand management capacity, problem solve, and develop leadership, strategic thinking, and employee and customer engagement and collaboration skills. My skills gap for senior level roles was narrowing as I was handed opportunities to learn, projects to manage, and situations to navigate. I also had mentors, coworkers, bosses, and employees who supported my growth. I was not a special case; most of our supervisors, managers, and senior leadership were internal promotions.
As I progressed in my career, my leadership and management skills created similar growth contexts and structures, and even increased my depth in aspects like organic diversity, devolution, engagement, collaboration, and pluralism. Work gave me opportunities to travel the globe, learn with, and be trained by the best, lead million-dollar projects, and manage some of the greatest people on earth. I worked hard; but my early management fertile ground was directional in the scope and rate of my professional development.
In a previous post, we looked at USDOL data that demonstrated with all the corporate discussion and promises, we are failing to diversify in higher paying positions, and we are not establishing management inclusion. A 2022 McKinsey & Company report "Race in the Workplace: The Frontline Experience" reinforces this notion. It found that three out of four front-line workers want to be promoted, but fewer than one in four succeeds. In this study, front-line worker is defined as those who work directly with customers or are directly involved in making or selling a product or providing a service. As you can imagine, the workers that don't advance are more likely to be women and people of color. Why is this?
Simply put, underrepresented populations have less opportunities to learn and develop skills, and then hone them while directly contributing to successful outcomes. This skills gap is more pronounced if disparities exist before employment, as well. The reasons for this lack of opportunity and professional progression will vary, but some big issues are:
The number of front-line workers versus higher paying positions is prohibitive to advancement. In small businesses, it isn't unusual to have employee-to-manager ratios of 25:1 and higher. In many of these work environments, the only move you can make is to another front-line position, or to another employer.
There is no formal, practical training in problem solving, communication, collaboration, or project work. Additionally, there is little practice or exposure to roles where employees lead problem solving and collaboration.
Coworkers and managers don't see the capability and interest of employees from underrepresented populations. Many times, front-line workers are only in contact with other front-line workers, with minimal contact with higher-ups. This is especially true when front-line supervisors are not trained in the benefits of engagement and collaboration of their employees or feel threatened by the advancement of others.
There are few to no supporters and sponsors taking them "under their wing". This can be related to limited visibility and interaction with upper management, but also a shortcoming of leadership.
Mischaracterization of blunt communication styles of front-line workers that are more open with feelings and "talking it out". This is sometimes a cultural or generational issue that results in unfair and inaccurate perceptions of negativity or uncooperativeness.
Also contributing, is the front-line worker themselves due to their:
own lack of confidence keeping them from working on off-task work and projects.
lack of understanding this type of work is where you network and demonstrate your creativity and abilities to decision makers.
succumbing to peer pressure to not participate or give extra effort at work.
feelings of isolation, and low expectations with negative reinforcing biases creating bad habits.
This becomes a reinforcing cycle of negative bias that these employees aren't capable of higher work. It makes for unhappy, unengaged employees who see no other outcome aside from a lateral move to another front-line position or leaving the company. This is a real shame, since talent will walk, or just be underutilized. Figure 1 is a graphic representation of the reinforcing negative bias, which leads to minimal, or no opportunities in these populations.
Just hiring underrepresented populations in higher numbers is not going to solve any of this. In fact, with no other action, it would worsen the situation and lead to lower engagement, less management inclusion, and worsening corporate performance.
Here are some actions that can be taken to increase employee engagement across the board, and improve the success attainment of front-line employees of underrepresented populations:
Funnel underrepresented populations into training programs in problem solving, communication, team participation, engagement and collaboration. This needs to be intentional action to target training dollars to these groups to boost their knowledge and skills base. With the right approach, this is a real investment in individual and group motivation and morale that reaps tremendous benefits for the organization.
Develop inclusive professional development programs. Traditionally employers use these programs to attract recent college graduates to feed their management pool. There should be alternate paths to management, created, formalized, and communicated, where employees can work towards a management role through internal training, development, and participation in important projects and rotations. This should be a deliberate effort with program enrollment, even if the timelines are extended due to the ground to cover during development.
Restructure compensation to elevate the level of work for higher pay outside of a promotion. Formalize project work and group participation tying it to higher hourly pay. Develop a pool of trained front-line workers ready to support an initiative or event. Don't inhibit participation. Invent spaces for people to increase their participation in an elevated part-time role with non-traditional characteristics that would contribute to project and company success, increase participation, and elevate the level of work for higher pay (e.g., facilitator, cartographer for systems mapping, point person, researcher, etc.). These bonus roles would pull off-task work from managers and project managers, allowing them to focus on higher-level tasks, increasing the value of the company's payroll dollars.
Add more formal roles with higher pay. Identify new roles to decrease the ratio of the front-line to higher-level roles. This may mean driving down high-level work from one senior role, that you eliminate, to a couple of lower-level roles. Alternatively, you increase corporate capability through new roles for step-ahead outcomes.
Increase group option access to generate more great projects. The more off-task work you have that gives people the opportunity to shine, the more benefit there is to the company.
Develop in-house sponsors and mentors. Good managers know they are ethically and professionally responsible for developing others. They remember what they overcame and also have their eyes and arms open to those who have more to conquer. Employees of underrepresented populations need to feel supported and see a path of development and progression. If your managers are not acting this way, you need to address this today (see the next action)
Impactful culture and DEI training. Administer training that is tailored to your environment and changes mindsets and company culture to value diversity of thought, not just "check a box". This is important as the US population changes its demographic distribution. If your company isn't welcoming and nurturing to others, your company will probably not survive.
Also, target training dollars to high-network positions. Similarly, if you improve the collaborative leadership, problem solving, communication, and systems thinking skills of the employees with high-interface ratios (number of daily contacts with other employees), this has an osmotic benefit to the entire organization with permeating impact. If your critical operations managers understand the value in engagement and collaboration, you will be significantly more successful and profitable.
The development of underrepresented populations is critical to the survival and success of your business. What you need to do to make real change will depend on your business environment and culture. PLS Management consulting has engagement training for managers and frontline workers. We further collaborate with you to provide consulting, coaching, and training specifically focused on your unique issues and areas where progress must be made.
Lori G. Fisher, PMP
PLS Management Consulting
Purpose | Leap | Surge
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