News
March 3 2009
IBM Redefining Diversity in the 21st Century: The Globally Integrated Enterprise
Diversity and inclusiveness programs are common today in large organizations, but employees may still not understand why they matter and what they bring to the table—for the business and individual. Buy-in from the C-Suite to the shop floor is crucial for embedding diversity goals in business strategy and making them work for the organization.
No one understands this better than Ron Glover, vice president, Diversity and Workforce Programs at IBM. As a guest speaker at the fall 2008 CAHRS partner conference, Glover talked candidly about bringing diversity and inclusion programs into the 21st century, IBM's current challenges, and how firms can best utilize their diversity to hit rapidly changing targets.
The World is Flat—Really
Glover's premise is simple: the break-neck pace of global economic, demographic and technology change has strengthened the business case for diversity. He would go even further and call it an imperative.
To illustrate this, Glover reviewed global demographic trends many HR professionals have heard but not yet heeded. The United States, Western Europe and Japan have lower birth rates and higher death rates than emerging markets. These regions also face a trend of rapidly aging populations with fewer young people to replace them in the workforce.
In contrast, China and India's GDP far exceed those of the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan and both countries have relatively high birth rates. Soon, China will have the largest, smartest (in terms of IQ) English-speaking talent pool in the world.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the concept of minorities will be drastically altered by 2050. That's when 85 percent of workforce entrants are predicted to be women and people of color, and 50 percent of the population will be what we call "minorities" today.
The Burning Platform
For IBM, another critical issue is the declining rate of U.S. engineering graduates (not nearly enough to even cover the expected demand by 2010). And while that talent deficit continues to grow, IBM (like many other U.S.-based corporations) is in the midst of a massive market shift toward increasing revenue share coming from outside the U.S.
With pressures mounting, Glover is leading the charge to harness diversity in IBM to meet and potentially exceed business expectations. He's fortunate to have IBM's senior leadership team and CEO behind him, as well as a platform of IBM's 50-plus year history of progressive diversity programs.
Glover explains the situation this way: diversity is not an option for 21st century companies. Your workforce is a bridge to the marketplace; the marketplace is diverse—geographically, culturally, ideologically. You'll encounter diversity at every level, and your business' success rests on being able to work effectively across those differences. As he says, it's a choice between just managing conflict and "leveraging your diversity to drive innovation."
A New Charter for Diversity at IBM: Sustaining Relevance, Growth through Redefined Competencies
In July 2008, senior leaders across IBM laid out a new charter for Glover's diversity programs. Its goal is no less than to safeguard the continued viability and growth of IBM on a global scale. It's notable that IBM senior leaders laid this key responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the diversity leader—signaling a strategic shift to broaden the mission of diversity within the company. For any major global players, this leading practice is certainly one to watch.
As part of the new charter, Glover is working with his colleagues in leadership development and in IBM's management teams to revalidate IBM competencies, integrate them into every development and evaluation process, and restructure programs to better align with charter goals. Importantly, those revamped competencies include ensuring employees have a deeper level of cultural intelligence and the ability to collaborate and lead across the globe.
For example, Glover quickly realized typical IBM international assignments weren't meeting those goals. His team then created a new global mobility framework that:
- Clearly defines goals to increase opportunities for a global experience for high potential, next generation, technical and leadership talent from every demographic group
- Defines prerequisites for selection for assignments
- Outlines assignments along the axes of driving "Development Value" and "Business Value"
- Offers more flexible cost options for various units, depending on needs
- Lays out specific transitional support for employees on assignment (including local knowledge, and legal/tax/Visa help), regardless of duration
- Creates processes to maximize the application of employees' experience/knowledge after international assignment ends, allowing organization to immediately use the new knowledge
Diversity 3.0™
CAHRS conference attendees saw first-hand Ron Glover's passion for his work at IBM. That work will certainly keep him busy for a long time and provide ample opportunity for HR to be a key driver for IBM's global future.
While Glover is proud of the progress made to date, he's also quick to point out the challenges ahead. To that end, he suggests a few items every company should have on their 21st century diversity agenda for the global economy:
- Strengthen the connection between your company's diversity strategy and its people/market objectives — in other words, meet the marketplace with your workforce
- Demonstrate company values in practice — embed them in the culture, organizational competencies, development and assessment programs; engage employees to help define the future
- Drive cultural adaptability/competency by using diversity — key characteristics of a productive, innovative workforce for the 21st century and beyond
- Respond to the ever-changing world of work — move beyond work/life balance to work/life integration
Above all, Glover believes companies need to embrace the new reality: the global economy is the talent economy. He envisions a future—what he calls Diversity 3.0™—where diversity programs move beyond legal compliance and quotas to focus on inclusive workplace initiatives and global constituencies. They'll simply be part of the company's strategic fabric for building global competitive advantage.