At Mondelēz International is a global leader in snacking foods. When it comes to their HR policies, wellbeing has always been a priority.
The company is keen on focusing on valuing people for all they are. They want to recognize them for who they are, both as professionals and as people.
In September 2020, they were working remotely through the pandemic. The company decided to start working with Lifeed, opening up the initiative to all those who work in their Italian offices. It was an opportunity for people to journey with the company, recognizing the value that caregiving brings.
The fact that they launched the project during a time of emergency helped people to feel ‘seen’ in their multiple roles, more aware of their value and welcomed by the company in sharing their experiences with others.
“We started a kind of osmosis with Lifeed. Especially the idea of valuing people for all they are, and not just as employees”, explained Olga Lo Conte People Lead, Labor Relations Italy at Mondelēz International. “Today, talking to caregivers is a key pillar of our inclusion policy”.
Gallup called it “The Wellbeing-Engagement Paradox of 2020”. Over the past year, Gallup looked at a lot of concepts built over the last 100 years, relating to how companies listen to people.
Here’s the paradox: traditionally, where people’s wellbeing increased, their engagement with the company also increased. Through Covid, there’s been a worrying amount of poor wellbeing, but engagement levels have stayed stable.
Especially for those that have been working from home, we can see two key trends: American workers have worries more (passing from 37% to 47%) and felt more stressed (growing from 48% to 59%), but engagement levels haven’t taken a hit. In fact, they’ve even grown a couple of point during the summer of 2020. What’s more, poor wellbeing has been more prevalent amongst those working from home, but engagement went down for those working physically in the office, inverting the trend.
Gallup explains it as a positive outcome of all the policies that companies have put into practice. But it’s not just that. We know that different sectors and companies have adopted different strategies. The common thread is that this phenomenon has been so clear, and that people have felt close to their working role. Has their engagement “resisted” poor wellbeing?
“Employees were thankful to have jobs, experienced the benefits of increased flexibility and autonomy resulting from remote work, benefitted from strong leadership efforts to engage them, and rallied with coworkers to keep everything afloat. In short, employees were inspired by and united under a shared sense of purpose“.
This is all well and good, but Gallup also goes on to ask why engagement levels have fluctuated in line with political events in the US, such as the death of George Floyd, to then rise again just weeks afterwards to record highs of 40%? The explanation can be found in the science of transitions.
Throughout transitions, people need to to make a new map, identifying where they are in space of time. They feel the need to outline their territory, more than they do under “normal” conditions, when all of this was taken for granted and rested in the background.
When we go through transitions, uncertainty and change takes centre stage. This has an impact on us, on who we are and “why” we are here. We need points of reference: we need to be able to check that our network is still there, and that we’re able to see those who are “there”. We need to know where we belong.When this happens, when individuals are going through an important life event, such as a separation, maternity leave or grief, companies tend not to notice their need to feel like they belong. Most companies carry on as though nothing was happening.
But this transition couldn’t be pushed to the sidelines, because it’s complex and personal. This transition has bought everyone together, and companies have experienced it alongside their people. They’ve stayed close by. This closeness is important during transitions, because it speaks to a very specific need. It’s important because it comes at a time when people are redefining themselves. And if the company is there, its people will certainly be there too. Maybe it’s not visible in the middle of the transition, when we’re in the trenches of learning and managing uncertainty and complexity. But it’s visible “afterwards”. The new beginning always follows the transitional phase. It’s where the closeness will be repaid with people’s engagement, proactivity, self-efficacy when they “return” to work.
So now we can work on a different way of listening to our people. We can value the different aspects of themselves that they’ve revealed over the past year. Their poor health and values, attitudes, orientation, ability and desires. We can work on being there and helping people to feel seen now, rather than waiting for the “after”. Companies are now planting seeds that are falling in fertile ground. They are making way for needs and natural resources that will be able to flourish in the long term.
This article was originally written by Riccarda Zezza and published on the Il Sole 24 Ore blog, Alley Oop. To read the original article (in Italian), please click here.
Every traveller knows that workplace diversity enriches us. Parents recognize the same, as they discover their children’s diverse characteristics and traits in their everyday ‘journeys’ together. Those who have a sibling know the same to be true. Just like those who care for elderly parents, those who live in multi-ethnic societies or those who build relationships with those from a different generation.
But how can companies transform Diversity&Inclusion into an opportunity for growth?
That’s exactly what Lifeed asked participants of the recent workshop Do you know your company’s attitude towards D&I? Find out with HR Analytics organized as part of the 50th Aidp National Congress, the Italian association for human resources.
Workplace diversity offers opportunities to enrich the company. But only if it’s managed. Otherwise, initiatives risk conflicting with each other rather than reaching their full potential. Teams only reap the value when they are aware of it. From this point of view, companies can’t react with setting quotas to work towards gender equality and a better work-life balance. Increased representation (such as employing more women or people from different ethnic backgrounds) doesn’t go far enough. Not when that’s the only part of the policy that changes, when D&I is treated like a passing trend. As Harvard Business Review notes, when something becomes trendy, we stop asking ourselves questions. We adopt more simplistic solutions and we stop searching for innovation. But D&I is so much more than that.
60% of managers interviewed in the Lifeed workshop said that workplace Diversity & Inclusion strategies are useful for attracting new talent. It helps teams to listen to different ideas and help employees feel welcome. But it’s also good for the brand’s reputation, social responsibility and for stimulating innovation. Often, managers are drawn towards hiring employees that share similarities with themselves. In the short term, similarity is the easiest route. But it’s only when we invest and work on our differences that we can see significant and “rich” cultural changes.
To reach this point, we need training. All skills need to be trained, even transferable ones. When we don’t think we have those skills, we’re often searching for them in the wrong role.
Think about the numerous transitions that we go through throughout the course of our lives, just like the pandemic. Each one changes us, even if it’s over the course of a few short weeks. According to recent Lifeed research, we all go through a transition around every 14 months. Each one unleashes an explosion of energy and enriches our soft skills. In order to maximize those skills, we need to guide them. The things that characterize us as a partner, child or parent can also be applied across other roles in our lives, such as professional ones. That’s because we already have these characteristics, and we’re already using them in other areas of our lives.
But these characteristics need to be recognized, we need to be aware of them and adapt them to our professional context. It’s what we call transilience. When we come home from work, we don’t stop being a manager or teacher and flip into being mothers, fathers, children, siblings and friends. We are the same people, in our complexity and entirety: we just need to learn to transfer those characteristics from one role to another, from personal contexts to professional ones, and vice versa.
Diversity enriches organizations, but only if they can learn from it. The key word is ‘learning’. We need to learn about workplace diversity, without denying it or reducing it, to transform it into a richness for the company. Diversity needs to be seen, recognized, underlined and thought about. We don’t learn from the experience itself, we learn by reflecting on that experience.
Historically, HR has often taken a less analytic approach within companies. But when we use real data we can improve organizations through applying tangible insights. What’s more difficult is asking the right questions, ensuring that data analysis doesn’t limit the company or become counter productive. Starting with those questions, Lifeed People Analytics speaks to people in their entirety, not just as employees. It promotes self-narration, changing top-down pulse surveys for a continual data analysis. It’s about embracing a constant flow of insights rather than periodical points set by the company.
“Big data” is usually preferred by companies. Alongside this, Lifeed People Analytics also looks at subjective data, which can also be called “Small data”. If we imagine an iceberg, Big data represents the tip that pokes out of the water. But if we look below the surface, there’s a whole world of personal and professional characteristics, soft skills, aspirations, talents, identity dimensions, emotions and values. Productivity, engagement, corporate wellbeing and behaviors at work all stem from these aspects. It’s only when we become aware of this that we can truly value workplace Diversity as something that enriches our company, contributing to people’s wellbeing and the company’s success.
Over the past year, we’ve learnt a few things about the way we work. While we were discovering them, we’ve learned to manage these revelations, run for cover and find things to do. But when we do so, we risk hiding behind their consequences, when we really should be highlighting and celebrating these “new beginnings”. It’s a change that has been in the wings for years.
They were seeds of ideas buried in our everyday routines, behind the normal way of doing things that made change efficient and rapid. Before new beginnings emerge, they are anomalies. They present themselves as problems, as elements that the system didn’t expect. So usually they are pushed back, because they put everything else into question. As individuals, we know that to be the case. But as a society and organizations, we often keep them at arm’s length – at the limit of what we’ll allow in.
The pandemic has highlighted certain aspects and has allowed some of these seeds to flourish. We’re now paying the price of that – physically, emotionally and psychologically. But maybe we can also see them as something that we can be grateful for, because we needed this unexpected, vast and intense life event to make us change our ways.
From the fatigue and new routines, and all the unexpected things that go along with that, new initiatives are born. Projects like the one launched by IBM’s CEO, Arvind Krishna – who posted a pledge on LinkedIn to support his fellow workers. Seven principles to help them face the new challenges that Covid19 has bought to the workplace. But when we look at them, isn’t this the way that we would like and would always have liked to work? Wouldn’t we like to work like this when “everything is over”? Maybe this is a change in the right direction?
I want everyone on a video call with me to know that if they have to put a call on hold to handle a household issue, it is 100% OK. No one wants a loved one getting hurt, falling, or breaking something because you were on video.
When we go back to the office and to in-person meetings, will this still be the case? Have we really seen that life is always present, and that parents, relatives and caregivers hold roles that don’t disappear when they’re out of sight? Will we still be “excused” when something comes up?
I acknowledge we are all balancing our work and personal lives in new circumstances. I encourage those homeschooling, providing care to others, or addressing other personal needs to block time on their calendar during the day to be able to focus on those activities, as needed. And, I pledge to respect those boundaries when scheduling meetings.
It’s at this point that millions of women might just faint. Maybe he means that we won’t take it for granted when people work until 8pm? That managers have given up on the “always on” culture and won’t make their teams follow that culture when all they want to do is have their own lives? That we can work better with less time, just by organizing ourselves and respecting shared rules? That the flexibility that technology has given us over the years will also translate into our culture?
I will not ask people to turn their cameras on while on video calls. While I encourage the use of video during meetings so we can feel more connected, there will naturally be times when it’s just not feasible given home circumstances. During these times, I want everyone to feel comfortable that they can simply turn the video off as needed. Again it’s 100% ok.
The pandemic has called out Zoom fatigue, and it’s not always possible to have the camera on. It’s about giving space to everyone to make their own decisions, while respecting others.
I will keep in mind that I am “showing up” in others’ homes for the first time and want to be a good guest. As I meet members of my extended work family, I’ll roll with it with empathy.
This is crucial: when work enters our personal lives, it’s always a big thing. It’s always going to work better if we do it with kindness and respect for each other. Even when work won’t physically come into our homes it will still be the case. Work will always been an important commitment in our lives, and it’s part of the mosaic of life itself.
I will use new time limit boundaries for meetings, recognizing video fatigue is real and a new phenomenon for all of us.
Let’s be honest: meetings are draining our souls. Something isn’t working. It didn’t work either before. There are too many, they are too long, and too many that just aren’t useful. If video fatigue is bringing this problem into a new light, let’s take the opportunity to reevaluate how we do meetings, and how we can maximize this transformation.
I will create space for connection by asking people about their and their loved ones’ health & safety in 1:1 settings.
Maybe we took it for granted, and maybe it didn’t happen for a while before Covid came onto the scene? We noticed it’s absence when we no longer saw people in the lift, but meeting somebody else’s eyes isn’t just a theme for the pandemic. And it’s not a given that it will happen again when we return to the office, unless we are intentional about it. Now that we know how much we miss other people, will we find the time to seek them out “afterwards”?
I will make it a priority to take care of my physical and mental health. What’s more, I will stand up frequently, stay hydrated, and try to get the sleep I need. I will block out time on my calendar to have lunch and dinner AWAY from my workspace. Where possible I will get outside each day. I’ll look for opportunities to change my routine while ensuring social distancing.
If we take this promise out of context, it might seem like an innovative promise from a CEO. Like one of those people leading by example, turning away from the expectation to be “always on”, for the sake of their own health.
We all know how important it is to have points of reference in life, and seeing a CEO that takes a walk in his lunch break, that goes back to his kids at 6pm, that takes a half day to go to the hairdresser or to start his weekend… how much good would that do to our working lives?
We need to recognize that we all have rich and complex lives. The boundaries between those areas are always going to be thinner or more blurred, which could benefit our lives by enriching each area and transferring energy between them. We have the opportunity to live these roles with flexibility and care, by being more aware and kinder with ourselves. It’s a chance to realise that there’s so much within and around every one of us, that complexity births strength in terms of who we are and what we can do. The same was true “before” Covid, but it was difficult to see, hidden by the stereotypes that made it seem impossible for things to change. Now we’ve seen it, we know it. But we all need to be aware of the coordinated and collective effort needed to change that into a new beginning, something that helps us to flourish in the post pandemic era.
This article was originally written by Riccarda Zezza and published on the Il Sole 24 Ore blog, Alley Oop. To read the original article (in Italian), please click here.
Our Life Based Learners certainly don’t have writer’s block. They’re constantly sharing reflections, ideas, new realizations, values and abilities with us. It’s because the Life Based Learning method is at the heart of Lifeed. We encourage self-narration through guided questions.
Reflecting and writing allows each of us to name the phases of the transition that we’re currently going through. It allows us to familiarise ourselves with what’s happening. What’s more, it allows us to see the bigger picture and see things more clearly. It’s a chance to rebuild our personal narrative.
There are so many studies that confirm the benefits of self-narration, both for our physical and emotional health. For example, it improves the way we regulate emotions, strengthens our immune system and cerebral health (Petrie et al. 2004). By writing about past trauma, we reduce our stress levels, lower our blood pressure and calm our heartbeat (Pennebaker, Hughes e O’Heeron 1987). Self-narration makes us happier and improves our relational skills (Pennebaker & Graybeal 2001, Baddeley & Pennebaker 2011). It improves our overall wellbeing and cognitive function (Barclay & Skarlicki 2009).
All these benefits come naturally and immediately in our private and working lives. It’s confirmed by those who have studied Lifeed: 74% feel they know themselves better, that they are more aware of themselves and their resources, while 64% say that the Lifeed method “helps them feel better”.
“This experience came along at just the right time. It’s leveraged my emotions, that are usually kept hidden away. But they are essential for activating change”, explains one participant. Another said “Lifeed has ‘authorized’ me to focus on myself before anything else, so I can give the best of myself at work”.
Thanks to the new Portfolio section, you can now re-read your reflections and explore the awareness that this life experience has bought to light. You can also re-write or add new reflections.
In the “Skills” section of the portfolio, you can see which skills you’ve already trained through Lifeed programs and Real Life Missions. What’s more, you can also see which skills you still need to train to better focus your training journey moving forward.
So, parents, caregivers and all those that are going through a life transition right now have the opportunity to get the most out of their Life Based training.
As the outside world continues to bring uncertainty, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manage change. Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, or in the midst of a personal or professional transition, soft skills are critical in helping you to effectively respond to uncertainty.
With the mobile version of Lifeed, you can develop your soft skills anywhere, anytime.
That’s because with Lifeed…
Lifeed adapts to your life stage and rhythm. With the mobile version, you can use your spare time to get inspired by videos or readings, answer questions and reflect, or share your insights with the community. All those small steps really add up when you’re going through the multimedia microlearning units.
Choose the skills that are most relevant to you right now, and practice them with Lifeed. Take some time to observe your family, the people you care for, or yourself – all while keeping up with your responsibilities and the unexpected events in everyday life. Then, immediately apply what you learn. Do you have a Real Life Mission to complete? Don’t waste time: go and write down all you’ve learned and how it made you feel.
Access Lifeed from multiple devices, including PC, smartphone or tablet, when it’s most convenient for you. Resume your training where you left off, without losing your progress. You can also replay your favorite webinars or those you missed, re-read and update your stories and reflections, get your final certificate or even start over.
If this is your first time accessing Lifeed from mobile, it’s easy: just click the link that appears on your app.lifeed.io homepage after logging in. If, instead, you’ve already used Lifeed from mobile but haven’t saved it to your smartphone, follow the steps below.
If you have an Android smartphone, open your browser, like Chrome, and type in app.lifeed.io. Open the menu on the right (or tap the 3 dots in the top right corner) and scroll down until you find the option “Install app” or “Add to Home screen” or similar.
If you’re an iOS userIf you’re using an iOS device, open your browser, like Safari, and type in app.lifeed.io. Tap the Share button (square with the arrow pointing up) and click the Home icon on the list. Lifeed will be added to your smartphone.
After saving it, you can move Lifeed like any other app, place it in a folder or on another page.
Good luck with your Lifeed training!
The return to the office and hybrid ways of working in the post-covid world present HR teams with new challenges. In the midst of the pandemic, people were physically distant for a long time, and now more than ever they need to be ‘re-boarded’. It goes beyond inclusion, it’s innovation. Riccarda Zezza, Lifeed CEO, explored the topic in a recent event Cultural mix and re-inclusion. How to reinterpret diversity in a phase of uncertainty organized by HRC.
When people go through transitions, just like the pandemic, they feel more fragile but also more aware and stronger. As we move through this phase of uncertainty, it’s important to listen to the emotions that employees express through self-reflection, as it favours the gradual move towards a ‘new normal’ and helps to piece together the puzzle, both at an individual and a collective level. Listening can stimulate us to re-elaborate the transition.
Over recent decades, we’ve tried to bring life into business with tailored services. During the pandemic, the reverse has happened – work has entered our home lives. Now, we need to rebuild the corporate image founded on shared values and missions. We also have the opportunity to psychologically support the people who need it most.
It doesn’t stop there: if the physical presence at work created value, now we need to continue to find that same value through hybrid working, focusing on communication and digital channels. What’s more, we need to consider that lots of people have been hired through periods of lockdown and have never visited the office. It’s also key to rethink the physical spaces, so that headquarters can be places that bring people together, giving people a reason to come to the office and collaborate.
These ideas emerged from a discussion with: Alessandro Agosti from Findomestic; Antimo Ricciardi from Almirall; Andrea Rubera from Tim; Maria Cristina Bombelli from Wise Growth; Ilaria Polvani from Baker Hughes; Doriana De Benedictis from EY; Federica Confalonieri from Heineken; Paolo Dolezzal from Watts Water Technologies; Anna Torri from Starbucks; Lucia Melcore from P&G.
Throughout the pandemic, companies have started speaking about changing the way they work, communicate and collaborate. This transformation directly involves HR teams. They are called to listen to their people in a new way. Listening tools can allow data to guide management. All employees can become responsible throughout this transition phase.
The new normal could be the right moment in time to ‘revolutionize’ the way we manage people. But it’s not an easy task, because the ‘system’ tends to resist change. It’s human nature for people to return to what they already know. However, by doing so we risk that people management never really changes. That’s why “HR is heroic”, according to Riccarda Zezza Lifeed CEO. She delved deeper into the topic at a recent HRC event ‘Have we really changed the way we do HR?’
When people and society go through identity transitions, listening can’t be partial. If it was, it would reduce the amount of resources available to us. We need listening tools, including digital ones, that allow us to widen the map. Open questions become a powerful tool in reframing situations and breaking down old stereotypes. They have the power to allow people to talk about their identity dimensions.
And what about HR managers? They can transform this complexity into opportunities. By using Artificial Intelligence, they can translate available data into actionable insights to benefit companies.
HR teams have changed their processes, as highlighted by Donatella De Vita, Global Head of Development, Learning, Engagement and Welfare at Pirelli and Miriam Spezzacatena, HR Business Partner at Pirelli. Through the pandemic, certain dimensions have been reduced (think contact with corporate spaces). But geographical boundaries have also been broken down, allowing companies to reach more people all over the world. “This change has presented many opportunities. We’ve learnt how to value our people more”.
The way we lead has also changed. According to Annalisa Sala, Global Chief People Officer at Arcese, “traditional leadership models have been questioned. We need leaders with a new mindset and different skills to guide people”. As a result, HR teams must change too. They’re called to “guide this process with initiatives that help train and raise leaders, through dialogue, engagement and interactions with people”.
Right now, the world surrounding us is changing. HR teams have an extraordinary opportunity to “leave the ‘sidelines’, and become ‘Napoleons’ at the heart of the scene”. Graziano Marcuccio, Chief HR Officer at De Nora believes that “this is the working equivalent of the French Revolution”.
Compared to the past, HR has an important seat at the table. For Mauro Ghilardi, Direttore People & Transformation at A2A, it’s an opportunity to focus on “involving managers, syndicates and those who are designing the future of work. It’s also a chance to use listening tools. We need to find the value in being physically in the office”. And most importantly “we need to treat everyone as adults. Rather than seeing the company as a parent, it’s a club where everyone decides whether they want to take part”.
Fabrizio Tripodi, Regional HR Director, Emerging Markets Division-Europe & IMEA at Brown-Forman highlights how the pandemic has made them “more agile in making decisions, more vulnerable and more authentic”. He underlined the importance of care and active listening activities with people. “We’re maximising our time to be more productive and dedicate more time to people”.
Organizations are now more flexible. They’re fast and focus on what’s important. What’s more, they’ve also been more open to experimentation and listening to others. “We’ve opened an emotive window that also involves HR teams”, says Marina Capizzi, Co-founder at Primate. “HR’s purpose can evolve towards new leadership models with increased independence, and more responsibility. It makes things more sustainable, going beyond hierarchies that no longer work”.
Does fatherhood transform the way you lead? We spoke about this further at the Life Ready Conference: The era of father leaders – New styles of leaderships one year into the pandemic. Here’s what our panel of senior management and father leaders had to say.
“Just like fatherhood is evolving, leadership is evolving too. At the start of my career, leadership was very formal. Managers wanted a lot of control, there wasn’t a lot of discussion or shared communication. Today, everything has changed. If we want employees to journey with us, we need to comunicate, share information, be empathetic and help them to know they are part of something bigger. We’ve moving from the idea of being authoritative to being influential. It’s an important step forward.
There’s not a universal recipe though. Everyone’s character is unique. We also need to be able to understand the person we have in front of us and adapt our behaviour accordingly. Now we’re working remotely, these skills need to be developed even more. We don’t want to do our employees’ work for them. We want to be able to support them to do their best work.”
“Why is it so important that we ask new questions? Fatherhood brings a sense of responsibility for our families, it’s our power. The same thing goes for leaders. We’ve seen that old leadership models don’t work any more. We need to break the barriers that stop us from bringing these attributes to work and vice versa. Leaders have the opportunity and responsibility to do so. We need to ask ourselves new questions in every context.”
“When we find ourselves in a flat organisational structure, humility becomes quite natural. If everyone believes they’re at the same level, it’s like being part of a big family. You need to listen to people and develop constructive relationships. Of course, if you don’t experience that in the office, your own home and children become a great training ground.
I think it’s important to realise that we all make mistakes. It’s not a problem if you make a mistake – the problem comes if you keep making mistakes on purpose. Mistakes can also bring innovation and change within a company. You can try this out at home with your children. Children have to try new things, make mistakes and try again. This concept becomes key when we apply it in the workplace. It’s about being unafraid to make mistakes.
We need to be a role model for our children. We need to show them the way that they need to go, to motivate them to energise them. When we apply that concept at work, it changes the way we lead our teams. In emotional leadership, people look for safety, direction, support and energy.”
“I agree, leadership is changing. The era of authoritative leadership is over. This style of leadership doesn’t value diversity, and therefore doesn’t promote the company’s survival. What’s more, we need to make space for new experiences and different voices to enrich our companies. It’s as if every individual person is a colourful decorated tile. When we truly come together, we can create a beautiful mosaic that brings out the rich hues and fine detailing of those around us.”
This blog is part of a series on leadership and fatherhood. Excerpts have been translated from our recent Life Ready Conference held on the 17th March 2021: The era of father leaders – New styles of leaderships one year into the pandemic.
The pandemic has changed our working routines and rhythms. But it’s also pushed us to look at ourselves more, understanding our daily challenges and strengths. It’s pushed us to reflect on the socio-cultural changes that are happening around us. When we look at the challenges that working mothers have faced over this time, society can learn what needs to change to evolve and adapt to the people that we’ve become.
This is just one of the points that emerged from the virtual Life Ready Conference 2021 organized by Lifeed in partnership with Il Sole 24 Ore and AlleyOop, moderated by Lifeed CEO Riccarda Zezza. Six managers who are also mothers took part in the panel.
Starting with the Lifeed survey results, we started discussing the question: “How have working mothers reacted to the pandemic?”. The data painted a picture of mothers that have become stronger through the experience. After all, mothers are used to facing transitions throughout their personal life. Riccarda Zezza highlighted that “this period of pandemic has revealed the natural leadership skills that mothers have”.
When asked “Has this transition improved your leadership skills?” addressed to new parents, 71% of the participants answered yes. In particular, in mothers the perception of improving their leadership skills through their care roles is higher (74%) and in new mothers it reaches 79%.
As the whole world is going through a phase of transition, women’s change management skills have been incredibly useful for the business world. We now need to change the cultural and social paradigms: giving women a better representation in management roles to truly change the world of work.
Our centre of gravity has shifted to focus on relationships. Shared responsibilities are perceived differently, according to Giovanna Della Posta CEO at Invimit: “I’m a working mother, but I prefer to say we’re a family that works. When we move the family’s centre of gravity, the mother’s ability to react becomes the family’s ability to react”. A change that can come through working on how aware we are of new milestones. “We can change this world by putting women in the driving seat to change these processes. It’s our job to change the culture, taking a step forward each day”.
Maria Laura Garofalo CEO at Garofaolo Health Care believes that women have the advantage in the pandemic. They’ve been able to react to uncertainty with “greater certainty, courage, sacrifice and empathy, in a practical and transferable way”. Attitudes that are needed to change the world of work, as well as building a more efficient and productive country. A system that excludes women from high levels of management and that doesn’t value them based on their professional worth. Real change can only happen “through greater awareness and sharing cultural points of view, as well as a system that honours people based on their merits”.
Teams are built on shared objectives and needs. Only those that are on the team can really make a difference to the culture, that “requires everyone to contribute – even those who are most privileged”, says Angela Paparone HR Lead Italia at Microsoft. An opportunity to become a positive role model for women, but most importantly to be there. “When we’re there, we need to have the courage to say hard things”. An active presence can generate change. “We need to be strong and aware of what we can contribute. We need to give a voice to new ways of working that can help women through their complexities”. Social responsibility that drives change.
A social, political and cultural change to drive our economies in a new direction. That’s why Francesca Polti, General Director at Polti Group has invited entrepreneurs to re-evaluate their human resources “because teams must be seen as true resources to bring variety to the company and understand the skills that working mothers can bring to the workplace”. It’s about rethinking our working and family models, “educating both genders” on positive models of shared responsibilities. As Francesca says, “we need to speak directly to the dads out there”.
Polti then asked mothers to believe in themselves more, expressing their abilities at home and at work. “Don’t be scared to show off your skills and let them be recognized”. According to Polti, we need to focus on anti-fragility, or rather the “ability to grow, improve and strengthen ourselves, not being afraid of change but learning to manage it, seeing risks as opportunities”.
Working to break down stereotypes is something that’s familiar to Luisa Todini, President at Comitato Leonardo and Green Arrow Capital. She underlined the importance of teaming up with other women to share in the same experiences. “Being a working mother is like a master’s and a PhD rolled into one. No academic training can teach us and leave a positive trace like being a mother can”.
The pandemic has been a sort of stress test for all. Women, above all working mothers, “have reacted with strength, revealing a natural disposition to face the changes that are born out of transitions”. As we gradually return to some form of normality, we’ll need “suitable structural tools that focus on long-term planning and less bureaucracy”.
The need to multitask means sharing tasks with our partners, as well as being patient with our family rhythms. But it also means managing our working time differently. For Laura Villani Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, the pandemic represents a social watershed that “even in difficult times, it’s bought positive elements to the table and has confirmed how reactive women are”, when facing emergencies. Finally, Villani believes that we need to see time as being valuable: “I’d like to see a world that values time more, a world that gives everyone the opportunity to be a leader. A world that recognizes that everyone has something good to offer to the world that surrounds them”.
