Finance Monthly September 2019 Edition

36 www.finance-monthly.com WOMEN IN FINANCE - EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE with female team members. This is an incredibly important point to make – as much for management as it is for employees. We cannot have a situation where men are reprimanded for talking openly about how they feel. We’ve seen examples of individuals losing their jobs for opening up. If we allow this to take hold, it’s clearly the women who will suffer as they become side-lined. But perhaps the most important step businesses need to take is making the workplace more human. People shouldn’t have to worry about how to behave in the office. It’s vital everyone can have open, honest and human conversations and bring all of themselves to work and not leave the fun and empathetic side of themselves at home. This can be achieved through simple techniques. A great place to start is consciously thinking about “how to be” at work, and not just on “what to do.” At the start of meetings, attendees can set ground rules about how everyone should interact. What would make their time together most effective? What does everyone need to bring to be their “best selves?” For example, explaining what they want the tone to be. Or what type of behaviour is needed. Or what each person might need to consider when contributing. These are little things, but if done consistently, they produce change at an organisational level and they will create an inclusive culture. Finally, my brilliant colleague and co- founder of Shine for Women, Anna Baréz-Brown often gives people a pretty direct piece of advice – if in doubt, don’t do or say anything to a female colleague that you wouldn’t say if she was your boss. It sounds almost over-simplistic but then again, all the best ideas are the simple ones. And it makes sense. It’s all about respect. If we can create this renewed feeling of collaboration and openness, then we can create businesses where women have the opportunities to thrive. And this isn’t just a matter of equality and diversity, it’s a matter of commercial sense. With more diversity in management, businesses are proven to be more innovative . Furthermore, companies with above-average diversity on their management teams also report revenue from innovation is nearly a fifth greater than those with below- average leadership diversity. In conclusion, if #MeToo and Time’s Up have taught us anything, it’s that we need to have more open and transparent conversations at work. We need to make the office more human. We need to break down barriers, not build them up. We need to empower men just as much as women, and we need to do this quickly, cut through the corporate etiquette that frightens us and remember that this cannot be a man vs. woman issue. Because men and women can energise one another by fuelling each other’s strengths. And because we’re better together. About Caroline Whaley and Shine for Women: Caroline Whaley is the Co-founder of Shine for Women, a human, refreshingly straight-talking and confidently optimistic career coaching organisation. She previously held senior global marketing positions at Nike and the Nike Foundation. Her clients now include ITV, Channel 4, EasyJet and WPP. Over 6,000 women from 75 nationalities have gone through the Shine for Women programme. Now in its fifth year, the business is on track to hit million-pound revenue in 2019. “ “ For more information, please visit: https://www.shine4women.com If #MeToo and Time’s Up have taught us anything, it’s that we need to have more open and transparent conversations at work.