The Invisible Implications of Collaboration Could Be Causing Your Burnout [Here’s 5 ways to do it right]

The Invisible Implications of Collaboration Could Be Causing Your Burnout [Here’s 5 ways to do it right]

Apr 12, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

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The Invisible Implications of Collaboration Could Be Causing Your Burnout [Here’s 5 ways to do it right]

But it’s often just because simple things are done ineffectively

14 April 2022 3 min Read

FOFO business leaders not listening

Our brains are getting overwhelmed given the perpetual move toward greater collaboration and enterprise connectivity. Here’s 5 takeaways to do it right…

Recap of new book and MIT Sloan’s Review: Easing the Invisible Burdens of Collaboration. A new book delves into collaboration practices and offers creative suggestions to transform them.

Your collaboration efforts could be hurting your organization, but it’s often just because simple things are done incorrectly or ineffectively. Three important questions that will be reviewed in this article recap:

  • What precisely do we need in collaborative interactions?
  • What are we trying to get out of them?
  • How can we optimize our time together?

Download the full report at the bottom of this article ↓

Author and MIT Sloan Management Review contributor Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College, explores these questions in his new book, Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being (Harvard Business Review Press).

MORE KNOWLEDGE  |  LESS TIME

The Two Minute Takeaway

Rob Cross’ new book, as noted above, is focused around a methodology called organizational network analysis; this maps the often-invisible informal working relationships through which collaborative work typically gets done.

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

Invisible implications of the collaborative footprint are increasing burnout and reducing impact.

Cross has found that general collaboration efforts increased the burnout rate because of the invisible implications that put more pressure on people.

“A task may look easy on the project plan, but if it requires you to coordinate across three time zones with two leaders who dislike one another to secure resources from somebody with misaligned incentives — that’s huge in terms of time. And that’s what’s been invisible.”

– Rob Cross

The actual collaborative footprint of work needs to be understood to make collaboration less difficult and have more of an impact. Seeing the invisible elements that take a lot of time is extremely essential to be successful in collaboration. And companies must now create better ways to collaborate in this hyper-connected world.

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

Taking on too much (for accomplishment or status) can cause collaboration bottlenecks

When you hit bottlenecks (or the “mid management roadblock” as was mentioned in our last recap here) when trying to collaborate and the creation of new processes and systems to support these efforts, it doesn’t mean that people want to be roadblocks. Rather, what Cross found is that they’ve taken on more than they can handle. People’s internal battles with themselves can cause a whole slew of headaches within an organization.

The “leader who takes on too much” is mentioned frequently in Cross’ book. Many people feel like the collaborative overload/issue is something that’s out there somewhere (external) when the reality is that the internal need for accomplishment or status, or fear, or something else internally that is causing issues to arise.

KEY TAKEAWAY 3

Hold each other to account when hitting roadblocks. 

Sometimes when hitting roadblocks, it means that we need to confront colleagues. And as many of us know, confronting colleagues is difficult (let’s face it, confrontation in general is difficult).

Cross recommends this diagnostic tool here to use with your teams to discuss what you should be holding each other accountable for to help alleviate unnecessary roadblocks.

Its something Steve Jobs insisted upon at Apple- always assigning responsibility for everything, so everyone knew who’s responsible for what. This approach called the “DRI” (Directly Responsible Individual) famously helped to avoid roadblocks by assigning personal accountability, and delivered breakthrough collaboration results. 

KEY TAKEAWAY 4

Collaboration works when you pre-plan how to communicate

Communication is another big issue. Cross recommends creating a formal agreement on what exactly to use and when for communication and collaboration efforts. Asking these questions and building a document (an excel document or whatever is best) is best to ensure everyone is crystal clear on the answers. Answer these following questions:

  • What are the five positive things we want to do in these [communication] modalities?
  • What are the practices we want to agree to?
  • What do we not want to do to each other?

Eliminate confusion about usage and agree on whatever will work for the team and configure the EXACT way that communications need to go out and what tools will be utilized.

KEY TAKEAWAY 5

Meetings do need to happen- so increment how to make them efficient and effective.

Meeting efficiencies and dealing with this hybrid and/or fully remote workplace situation today is causing more headaches for many teams. Your company must figure out the best ways to have meetings (because meetings do matter and they must happen). Figuring out the best use of people’s time is important today.

“We need to think more, and more carefully, about what we’re bringing into these meeting formats and what can be made more efficient.”

– Rob Cross

In-person meetings have been found to be preferred by many people, but that may not always be possible. There are ways that teams can connect despite being physically distanced from one another, so it’s important to get creative in how to meet to collaborate, and devising new strategies to make the invisible work become less stressful. And, it’s critical to analyze the tools you need for innovation to help make this easier.

There are ways that teams can connect despite being physically distanced, so it’s important to get creative in how to meet to collaborate, and devising new strategies to make the invisible work become less stressful.

Why This Matters

Invisible constraints on a person’s workload causes issues in the workplace and at home. These are not things that we can separate because stress affects the body no matter where a person is located.

Cross’ book brings up important points that collaboration for the sake of collaboration is not constructive, but intentional and purposeful collaboration can be, if done correctly.

Using Swae can help reduce the pressure of collaboration by putting things into a dedicated format, process and workflow. Lots of the ‘thinking behind the thinking’ has been refined by our platform over the years, leaving the creative thinking, innovation and problem solving to your team- thats where great ideas emerge and become the best they can be. 

Summary and Next Steps

When it comes to collaboration, organizations need to act to help employees avoid burnout, and the inevitable HR retention issues we are seeing in the ‘Great Resignation’.  

The world has changed and collaboration is more remote, complex and digital than it ever was. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t expect to change overnight, but a small amount of planning beforehand, and some great digital tools (like Swae) can pay dividends in day to day collaboration. 

Where is your organization seeing overload burnout due to collaboration bottlenecks. 

How can you alieveiate collaboration issues in your organization using the 5 tips above?

Comment below, we’d love to know…

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This Article references: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/easing-the-invisible-burdens-of-collaboration/ by Deborah Milstein @debmilstein interviewing Rob Cross, @RobCrossNetwork the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College.

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and generate tomorrow’s strategy. Our clients are finding that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce.

We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can help you find your next winning ideas…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

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Tips on how to make Remote Work work for you [It’s here to stay] 

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How to make Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives your secret weapon

How to make Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives your secret weapon

Apr 5, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

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How to Make Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives Your Secret Weapon

DEI Initiatives Need Action, Not Lip Service

5 April 2022

FOFO business leaders not listening

Recap of the MIT Sloan Study, DEI Practices That Have an Impact

As many organizations strengthen their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, leaders need clarity on specific positive actions they can take. For more info- read on or watch this clip:

When it comes to DEI programs and initiatives ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t work.

MORE KNOWLEDGE  |  LESS TIME

The Two Minute Takeaway

How many organizations say they have “strong DEI programs” yet fail to execute anything truly game-changing for their people?

We would say way too many if we would guess, and we all know that actions speak louder than words!

“We have decades of research saying how fraught diversity, equity, and inclusion can be. How do we change that?” asks Stephanie Creary, an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, who co-authored a large-scale research study that shows what practices underlie positive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) outcomes.

Research from Creary’s May 2021 report she co-authored at Wharton is called “Improving Workplace Culture Through Evidence-Based Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practices,” which describes evidence-based insights that identify which specific actions lead to which kinds of changes.

Download the full report at the bottom of this article ↓

This study states to meet in the middle so that everyone can sync around immediate concerns to address. Many DEI programs are “one size fits all,” and when it comes to DEI programs and initiatives, that doesn’t work.

Creary’s research found that certain practices are more influential in driving specific outcomes than others, so the job is to assess the deeper issues that need to be fixed and drive the DEI action steps from there.

There must be an overarching goal to strive for, not a templated approach.

In Creary’s Work/22 video presentation of their research, some of the more significant takeaways are:

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

There is much talk about how DEI outcomes could be something undesirable or stressful to address and act on, but there are tools to identify the proper actionable steps to take.

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

Finding the exact DEI tool is vital for the strategy and goal that your workplace/entire organization is trying to achieve around DEI.

KEY TAKEAWAY 3

Middle management engagement: think of them as humans that need to be met where they are versus classifying this segment as “roadblocks.”

KEY TAKEAWAY 4

DEI work needs to be taken as seriously as other work and shouldn’t be stopped like it’s not valuable; there must be committed people and consistent actions.

You can watch her full Work/22 presentation video with the seven workplace practices here: https://youtu.be/Rk6bFxEh-6o

Why This Matters

Swae’s CEO/Founder, Soushiant Zanganehpour, has been researching the “why” behind DEI for a long time, and what is found repeatedly is that many companies like to fill their websites full of marketing fluff that they’re all about DEI. Yet, the actions behind these efforts are often sparse, or worse, lacking altogether.

When it comes to DEI initiatives, companies can’t afford lip service anymore because people are expecting more. Here’s our recap of McKinsey & Company’s research here that states why employees desire more of their companies today to build more inclusive cultures (and what organizations can do about it).

Definition of lip service
:an avowal of advocacy, adherence, or allegiance expressed in words but not backed by deeds

Additionally, data proves time and time again that when inclusive environments are created, everybody wins. If you don’t believe us, believe this research we reported on also from MIT Sloan here with comprehensive insight about why inclusion matters and how it changes the game for all involved (especially the organization that does it right!).

So, how can a company move from DEI lip service to taking DEI actions that matter?

The answer is that it’s crucial to figure out which specific DEI actions lead to which kinds of changes and to start from there. This research provides seven focal points to get started (the report can be downloaded below).

Summary and Next Steps

When it comes to DEI programs, organizations need to act, not just push empty words into their marketing efforts or check off boxes.

The key is to pick one DEI initiative to focus on and keep working on that until it’s done, then select the following strategy and toolkit, and so on.

Trying to do it all at once never works and isn’t practical nor productive for anyone. That’s what sets up a workplace for DEI failure before they even get started.

Where is your organization making positive strides around DEI?

Where can your DEI programs be strengthened?

Comment below, we want to know!

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This Article references: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/dei-practices-that-have-an-impact by Stephanie Creary @stephaniecreary Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and generate tomorrow’s strategy. Our clients are finding that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce.

We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can help you find your next winning ideas…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

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4 Ways to Build a More Inclusive Workplace [Your Employees Desire More]

4 Ways to Build a More Inclusive Workplace [Your Employees Desire More]

Mar 29, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

4 Ways to Build a More Inclusive Workplace [Your Employees Desire More]

McKinsey & Company Study: Understanding organizational barriers to a more inclusive workplace

5 min read, 29 March 2022

FOFO business leaders not listening

Research recap for a McKinsey & Company study: “Survey results show that many employees do not feel fully included at work and want their organizations to do more to advance inclusion and diversity.” 

Inclusion is defined by McKinsey & Company as the degree to which an individual feels that their authentic selves are welcomed at work, enabling them to contribute in a meaningful and deliberate manner. 

“Our survey research finds that respondents of all backgrounds encounter barriers to feeling included—and that women, respondents who are ethnic and racial minorities, and those who identify as LGBTQ+ encounter additional challenges.”

The guts of this research by McKinsey & Company, as our own data has also shown from our clients here at Swae (you can see more on that here), tells us that organizations that make inclusivity a priority can increase innovation, look at and change old ways of thinking (that no longer add value), and improve financial performance. 

People that feel included in their organizations are three times more likely than their peers to feel excited by and committed to their organizations. 

Imagine having a bunch of people working at an organization that feel truly excited and committed! By creating a more inclusive culture, this is how organizations can build teams where there is more trust, and better (and deeper) collaboration. From this point, this is when things can change, and more positive gains can be seen.

There are new generations of workers that are becoming the majority who want to know and feel that they add value, want to be included, and diversity does matter.

There are some common barriers that this study found as to why employees from a diverse set of companies don’t feel inclusion.

1. There are some types of employees that automatically feel less included than others based on their role.

2. There’s a disconnect between the individual capabilities that employees value most and their perception of which capabilities matter most to their organizations.

3. Too many workplace microaggressions happen on a regular basis, which are everyday slights rooted in bias. In every subgroup—by gender, gender identity, minority status, or sexual orientation—more than eight in ten respondents report these indignities.

More Knowledge, Less Time

The Two Minute Takeaway

On the other hand, there are companies that are doing inclusion right! These were 4 of the common threads that this research found of the companies doing it right (this is how your leadership team can start creating a more inclusive culture within your company):

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

Create a more diverse and inclusive leadership team: It’s important to have diverse leaders in an organization and a (real, not perceived) focus on building inclusive leadership. For example, leaders empowering others can change the game because leaders’ actions can nurture inclusion.

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

Build in meritocracy and develop initiatives to increase fairness in performance evaluations: A meritocratic company culture is strongly associated with a sense of inclusion, as are initiatives that increase fairness in performance evaluations.

KEY TAKEAWAY 3

Provide career advancement sponsorship: If colleagues go out of their way to create professional-advancement opportunities for people, then a strong sense of inclusion is felt.

KEY TAKEAWAY 4

Allow substantive access to senior leaders: Employees that can have meaningful interactions with senior leaders that air their career advancement lends to feelings of inclusion.

Why This Matters

Inclusivity, diversity, meritocracy… all of these things matter because data shows time and time again that companies lose when they don’t put any real effort behind these things. In fact, not making inclusion a priority means companies lose out on top talent to-boot.

“Thirty-nine percent of all respondents say they have turned down or decided not to pursue a job because of a perceived lack of inclusion at an organization.”

39% turned down or decided not to pursue a job because of a perceived lack of inclusion

In this time of uncertainty, companies can win and potentially create a much more successful path if their priorities are shifted to focus on their people. 

These are some of the simple shifts that a company can make starting today:

  1. Include all employees in conversations around these efforts that surround creating an inclusive culture. 
  2. Build teams that represent this (diverse and inclusive), and it starts with leadership.
  3. Change behaviors to be more inclusive. Demonstrate inclusivity through actions rather than words.

Summary and Next Steps

People that feel included in their organizations are three times more likely than their peers to feel excited by and committed to their organizations. There are some common organizational barriers that hinder inclusivity, as there are also common ways to do it right. 

And the bottom line is that the new generations of workers that are becoming the majority want to add value, be included, and they want to see diversity in the leadership and teams because it matters to them. If people see themselves reflected in others, they can be more at ease being who they truly are (this is where the word authentic comes into the equation). 

What organizational barriers can you see in your organization that hinders inclusivity? 

Does leadership (or do you) put real actions and efforts into creating a more inclusive environment within your company? If so, how? 

This Article references:

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/understanding-organizational-barriers-to-a-more-inclusive-workplace

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and generate tomorrow’s strategy. Our clients are finding that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce. We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can ‘pay off’ for you…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

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7 ways to improve your Idea Crowdsourcing and Collaboration Strategies

7 ways to improve your Idea Crowdsourcing and Collaboration Strategies

Mar 22, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

7 ways to improve your Idea Crowdsourcing and Collaboration Strategies

Forbes Research Recap: The Future of Crowdsourcing

4 min read, 22 March 2022

FOFO business leaders not listening

This is a recap of Forbes: The Future of Crowdsourcing, defining crowdsourcing as an open collaboration process intended to help solve problems, and we find this to be a straightforward definition that’s easy to understand. 

“Crowdsourcing offers an opportunity to bring together large groups of diverse individuals to solve problems with the assumption that diverse groups bringing a variety of opinions and backgrounds can make higher quality decisions than a small group of ‘experts.’” 

Throwing people into a room to brainstorm without any direction, strategy or intention isn’t how crowdsourcing should be done. The process needs as much finessing, organization, and clarity as possible to ensure that it’s effective and productive for all included. 

Plus, there are many things you can crowdsource around, like crowd creativity, crowd voting, crowd contests and challenges, and crowd innovation, to name some examples.

Technology is a crucial aspect in assessing how it can support receiving large amounts of data to find clues and patterns that people may miss. The strategy portion is also important when starting any crowdsourcing process to ensure that it can be more successful.

More Knowledge, Less Time

The Two Minute Takeaway

Here’s the key takeaways from @Forbes on how your can improve your Idea Crowdsourcing and Collaboration strategies:

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Define a clear process:
    1. Define your goals before you start. To get great participation, there must be intentions set and clarity for all.
      (There’s more great tips in this article How to get better results when Crowdsourcing: Great ideas need a powerful Problem Statement) 
    2. Ask the right questions (don’t skip this simple step)!
    3. Create safeguards to ensure that the process is ethical and productive work for all that are included.
  • Bring in the experts inside or outside of your organization to facilitate. 
  • Provide valuable data that can support your mission you want to solve for so that the time people take to provide their input is effective. 
  • Make sure feedback is given.
  • Create safe spaces for people to feel comfortable in sharing their ideas.
  • Have an open mind, don’t discount ideas as that kills trust.
  • Check intellectual property rights about sharing things surrounding your business (more crucial should you be crowdsourcing with those that aren’t inside of your organization). 

Why This Matters

“In a world where the challenges we face become increasingly complex, finding methods of bringing together crowds, experts, and technology in ways that facilitate creative and beneficial solutions presents exciting opportunities where a great many ‘laypeople’ can engage in activities that they enjoy while solving real-world challenges.”

Crowdsourcing is powerful when it’s done correctly. The outcome we’ve seen with our clients using Swae (as our platform has collaboration and crowdsourcing as core functionalities) is that crowdsourcing helps companies uncover hidden problems and solutions that wouldn’t have been found otherwise, and provides an environment where people desire to collaborate more. The diversity crowdsourcing can bring and the more inclusive culture that this can create can be game-changing!

Crowdsourcing helps companies uncover hidden problems and solutions that wouldn’t have been found otherwise

Giving people a voice or at least a place to be included to vote on new ideas or solutions to problems truly helps people collaborate at much deeper levels. 

Feeling more valued is important to most humans and developing this kind of environment in an organization can be a way to create more trust amongst your people. And creating more trust means more collaboration can happen, so it can also mean more people want to engage. Crowdsourcing is integral in creating a speak-up culture, and in this type of environment, everyone wins. Here’s a great research recap with more insight on the speak-up culture topic.

Summary and Next Steps

Crowdsourcing is a powerful idea and solution-finding process that can enable all kinds of good things to blossom within your company, like deeper collaboration, more engagement, more trust amongst the people involved, and so much more. But there is a well-defined way that this should be done to ensure these efforts can be successful because throwing people into a room to brainstorm isn’t the right strategy (that’s a lack of strategy and won’t give you results you seek). 

Looking at technologies that can help you receive a lot more data and process new insights in an easier way is also extremely valuable. 

How can crowdsourcing empower your team, department, or company? 

Do you need more diverse perspectives and new ideas to solve some significant challenges that you’re hitting? 

(Maybe Swae can help you implement crowdsourcing! If you’re curious, see below to book a demo!)

This Article references: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriscancialosi/2019/11/21/the-future-of-crowdsourcing/

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and generate tomorrow’s strategy. Our clients are finding that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce. We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can ‘pay off’ for you…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

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How to get better results when Crowdsourcing: Great ideas need a powerful Problem Statement

How to get better results when Crowdsourcing: Great ideas need a powerful Problem Statement

Mar 15, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

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How to get better results when Crowdsourcing: Great ideas need a powerful Problem Statement

Get Better Results on Crowdsourcing Platforms, an MIT Sloan Research Recap

4 min read, 15 March 2022

FOFO business leaders not listening

Recap of MIT Sloan’s Research: Get Better Results on Crowdsourcing Platforms

How to get the best results when sourcing ideas and using crowdsourcing platforms.

Let’s define crowdsourcing so that we’re on the same page (we liked TechTarget’s definition):

How do you attract contributors to work on your particular problem:

A well-crafted problem statement

What is crowdsourcing? When an individual or an organization requests specific resources from a group of people (the crowd). Businesses, individuals, and organizations of all kinds have used this process to solicit ideas and raise money as well as consolidate and promote information. These entities leverage the internet, social media, and purpose-built platforms to elicit and receive the knowledge, goods, or services they’re seeking.

MORE KNOWLEDGE  |  LESS TIME

The Two Minute Takeaway

Why has the word “argument” gotten such a bad rap? Simply, because arguing has been equated with fighting and considered to be an unproductive use of people’s time. This research shows otherwise.

Download the full report at the bottom of this article ↓

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

When using a crowdsourcing platform to gather more ideas from a much wider audience to solve for a specific challenge or to get new ideas to drive innovation, a well-crafted problem statement is how you can attract more people to engage in that mission and provide their input.

MIT analyzed 362 unique problem statements posted by 85 companies between the years of 2016 and 2018 and deconstructed these statements word by word so that they could identify the characteristics that attract the most idea submissions.

“Past research has demonstrated the importance of well-crafted problem statements as a means to attract more innovative solutions.”

[ScienceDirect]

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

When writing your statement for the crowdsourced audience, they found that there are best practices to follow. Below is a recap of their list: 

    • Personalize the problem. Address the audience as “you” and make sure that your problem statement “sets the scene” and makes it more personalized.  This helps people relate and more likely to submit their ideas.

    • Challenge the solvers to surpass the status quo. Writing a statement that asks people upfront to improve upon the status quo (meaning, ask them to come up with something better than what is being used or done right now), stimulates more people to respond. Also, they found if you compare what “could be” against “what is used right now” this sparked more idea submissions.

    • Explain what the outcome of the mission ultimately needs to solve for. Emphasizing what the ultimate vision or outcome desire is and tying the statement into needs, actions, and emotions increased overall engagement.

    • Ask engaging questions. Stimulating the mental reflex called intrinsic elaboration in the audience you’re crowdsourcing from is essential. This is done by posing some thought-provoking questions that will get people’s creative juices flowing.

    • Highlight the issues that need to be solved for. By providing more detail around contradictory aspects of a problem, this can also set you up for more submissions. (Note that this is more so the case when you’re crowdsourcing from a more creative audience.)

KEY TAKEAWAY 3

They also found that there’s a fine line when it comes to the length of well-crafted problem statement. They found it’s best to use only 2-3 elements from the above list.  

They also found 4 techniques that you should avoid when writing a problem statement:

    • Don’t use a negative overall voice or example. Using negative terms reduces the number of people that engage. Negative relates to obstacles and dampens enthusiasm.

    • Try not to specify a very narrow market. If you need to focus on a very specific target market (like a country or region, for example) this can deter people from responding if they feel like they know nothing about the narrow audience you’ve defined. If you can keep it more open, then that will help you get engagement.

    • Too much detail decreases engagement. By adding too many details this can cause people to not want to provide input. Reason being, if a person feels like they can’t resonate with the finite details you’ve provided, then they won’t feel like they can provide valuable ideas.

    • If you’re crowdsourcing ideas from outside of your organization to people who don’t know your company, do not stay anonymous. Reveal your company’s brand if you’re crowdsourcing outside of the company so that people know who you are. This increases the trust factor which helps get more people to respond and offer up their ideas.

Why This Matters

Crowdsourcing can bring a lot of positive outcomes and we here at Swae know this to be true. Therefore, the crowdsourcing function is one of the core foundations to what our platform provides. 

Crowdsourcing… 

1. Gives people who matter a voice on the things that matter the most.

2. Provides a way to gain a much wider perspective and allow for bigger thinking, better problem-solving and decision-making. Ultimately, this can create a culture that has more trust and deeper collaboration.

3. Allows for the opportunity to get more out of the box thinking and ensures that progress isn’t hindered by idea stagnation. For example, if it’s only up to a few “at the top” to come up with ideas or solve challenges, then how far can an organization truly progress over time? Fresh perspectives garner more creativity.

Summary and Next Steps

When desiring to crowdsource from a wider audience to get new ideas to innovate from or get better solutions to a problem that you’re facing, this requires writing a well-crafted problem statement. This is the way you can get more people to engage with you in your mission. 

By adhering to some best practices noted in this research, you can mitigate the risk of your crowdsourced mission failing. 

What problems does your company/department have right now? 

Could you use a crowdsourcing platform to get more out of the box ideas/solutions coming your way? 

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This Article references: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/get-more-ideas-from-the-crowd

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and generate tomorrow’s strategy. Our clients are finding that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce.

We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can help you find your next winning ideas…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

Schedule a Demo now
FIND OUT MORE >

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International Women’s Day – Breaking the Bias in the Workplace [Women’s Equality]

International Women’s Day – Breaking the Bias in the Workplace [Women’s Equality]

Mar 8, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

Breaking the Bias in the Workplace [Women’s Equality]

Theme for International Women’s Day 2022 is #BreaktheBias

March 8, 2022

FOFO business leaders not listening

What would a bias free world look like? Swae is on a mission to break the bias… every day.

2022 theme for International Women’s Day:

Imagine a gender equal world.

A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

Together we can forge women’s equality.

Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

It’s hard to imagine a world that’s free of bias, especially when it comes to the most basic of basic things like gender. 

Yet, in the same breath, it also seems virtually impossible that gender inequality is still a thing in 2022, doesn’t it? Centuries and centuries of women revolting around the globe trying to break down or out of the already many broken systems, yet here we are.

As an example, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920, which had ended almost a century of protest. So, how is that OVER a century later after this event, we are still having to talk about this? More so, we have to dedicate a special day to bring awareness that the female gender still doesn’t have the exact same access, equality, etc. as the male gender. 

We here at Swae envision a world where bias becomes less and less of a thing, and eventually has no impact. We see a world where everyone understands their value, and where everyone can feel included and has a voice. Call us crazy, but we’re a bunch of passionate visionaries and big thinkers so we’ll take it! 

RESEARCH SHOWS BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE IS DANGEROUS

Bias has a huge impact in the workplace, and it’s not just about gender bias.

So, it’s not just one bias that causes issues, but rather many that can derail businesses from finding great ideas and making great decisions every single day.

RESEARCH RECAP #1

An article on McKinsey & Company called How biases, politics and egos trump good strategy (you can find that here), stated that cognitive bias eats away at the positivity within a company’s culture. Here are some of the most dangerous:

  • Overconfidence: this type of bias leads people to ignore contradictory information. They don’t hear anything other than their “own voice” and creates unequal conversations.

  • Confirmation Bias: The human tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or valuesOne study found, for instance, that 80% of executives believe that their product stands out against the competition—but only 8% of customers agree.

  • Survival Bias: A cognitive shortcut that occurs when a visible successful subgroup is mistaken as an entire group, due to the failure that a subgroup is not visible.

  • Attribution Bias: the tendency to explain a person’s behavior by referring to their character rather than any situational factor. In essence, it leads us to overestimate the weight of someone’s personality traits, and underestimate the influence of their individual circumstances.

We can add in one last one that has a massive impact and a focus for the day today, International Women’s Day:

Gender Bias: The tendency to prefer one gender over another. It is a form of unconscious bias (though I think many women reading this have seen it firsthand, like me, where it quite often is not UNconscious, but rather 100% intentional). 

All of this bias in a workplace means people can’t think clearly, they’re not listening to other people’s point of view, and they’re unconsciously (or totally consciously) choosing to not see a person’s innate and true value regardless of who they are.  

 

RESEARCH RECAP #2

Another study shows that it’s not just male-dominated companies where gender bias takes place either. Harvard Business Review: Research: How Bias Against Women Persists in Female-Dominated Workplaces 

Simply adding women into a workplace does not change the organizational structures and systems that benefit men more than women.

“Replace competition with cooperation.

Eight studies with 147,000 people show that dominant, competitive leadership has the unintended consequence of zero-sum thinking — the belief that progress can be made only at the expense of others — among subordinates. Such environments disincentivize workers from helping or supporting their colleagues.” 

The good news is that leaders can use these findings to create gender-equitable practices and environments which reduce bias.

 

WHY THIS MATTERS

Neutralizing bias in the workplace should be at the top of every leaders to-do list.

Due to biases, gender inequality, racial inequality (and the list goes on and on), workplaces often cannot develop cultures where people thrive. Instead, cultures are created where people stop caring, they don’t offer up their ideas anymore, people close themselves off, and people shut down.

This is what leads people to stick their heads in the sand, or what we call the “ostrich effect” where no one is looking at what’s really going on in an organization. It’s the FOFO (Fear of Finding Out) Syndrome (you can read more on that here). 

Rigid hierarchies and closed cultures where bias infects the entire organization prevents good ideas and solutions from surfacing easily. This creates a culture where true, deep collaboration and connection cannot take place.

 

An important part of Swae’s purpose is to take the bias out of the workplace so this is something that we strive for every day.

(If you haven’t seen the How Swae Works video, now is a good time to check it out as it explains more you can do so here). 

Swae works to stop bias from seeping into the ideation and decision-making processes. A few examples of how we do this is below, and leaders can follow suit by finding a system that can allow for more voices to be heard and finding ways to neutralize the possibility of bias to get in the way.

  • Offer anonymity. Swae allows users to stay anonymous on the platform so that when people come up with new proposals for their ideas to find a solution, or propose a new way of doing something (driving innovation), they don’t have to say who they are. This type of “anonymous” process can be done outside of Swae, but it’s an important one as it makes people feel more psychologically safe. It also allows leaders to see the idea, not the person (taking bias out, especially that of gender bias!).
  • Create a more even playing field. Sometimes the fear of putting a new idea out there is scary for a person because they’ve been dismissed before based on some kind of bias or some other “office politics” factor. Swae offers proposal generation guidance to ensure that everyone’s proposal looks relatively the same. This could be done in other ways. The importance of this is to allow people to feel like they can create a professional proposal on the platform like anyone else can. So, the one with the the killer graphic design skills doesn’t “win” every time.

 

  • Crowdsourcing and allowing more people to be included. When more people can feel like they have a voice, everyone wins. (Read our recent research recap about this topic here).  This is the basis of inclusive cultures. Breaking the silos in a workplace is one of the best ways to disrupt and crack open creativity and connection. Just because a person works in marketing shouldn’t mean that they can’t propose an amazing idea for the operations team. By allowing more people to be included (one of the easiest things that Swae offers) this can create a more open culture allowing people to build deeper connections and to collaborate better.

Something for you to chew on…

If more voices were heard, if gender bias and all of the other biases were taken out of the equation when it comes to coming up with new ideas or coming up with out-of-the-box innovative solutions, how much more awesome could your company’s culture become?

 

 

 

Let’s all do our part EVERY DAY to make this world a more EQUITABLE place for all… 

“I am a woman / Phenomenally / Phenomenal woman / That’s me.” 



Maya Angelou American author, poet and civil rights activist

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and generate tomorrow’s strategy. Our clients are finding that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce. We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can ‘pay off’ for you…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

Schedule a Demo now
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