Diversity and the False Choice

Originally written for the Minnesota Council on Foundations Philanthropy Potluck blog

I recently came across this article on making diversity more meaningful, courtesy of a referral from Rosetta Thurman's blog. It packs a lot of good thoughts into a few pages, but here's one thing that especially stood out to me:

[Economics professor Scott Page] made a remarkable discovery, subsequently elaborated in his 2007 book, The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Not only did diverse teams comprising members who each thought differently about the problem outperform less diverse teams, but they often did so even when the less diverse teams had better individual problem-solvers as members. As Page concluded, diversity trumps ability.

This struck a chord for me because it can be so easy to think of diversity as a laudable goal, but one that competes with other priorities instead of supporting them. We can hire the most qualified candidate, or we can hire one that will make us more diverse. We can take some time to do a diversity training, or we can get that work done that's piling up our desks.

The research mentioned above is a powerful reminder to me that these are false choices. Increasing diversity in an organization is a plus for job candidates precisely because it can make them the best choices, by adding new perspectives and experiences that wouldn't occur to a more homogenous group. An organizational focus on diversity is valuable because it produces better results, by getting us all to consider those different perspectives and inform our work through them.

If you appreciate those reminders about the value of diversity like I do, I encourage you to give the full thing a read. MCF is committed to the principle of diversity in philanthropy, and released a Diversity and Inclusion Action Kit for grantmakers earlier this year.

On a related note, I was glad to see an announcement this week about monthly Diversity and Inclusion Networking Lunches, sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Charities Review Council, and hosted by a variety of organizations doing good work on this issue in our community.

Tell Me What You Really Think: 360 Degree Assessments for Professional Growth

Originally written for the YNPN Twin Cities blog

One of my favorite personal brand definitions is that it's what people say about you when you're not in the room. Of course, that raises the question: how can you get a good measure of your brand when people's most honest assessments take place when you're not around? Well, the most straightforward way is to go ahead and ask them.

I recently underwent a 360°Reach assessment that does exactly that. For one of these assessments, you ask the people in your life—friends, family, coworkers, classmates—to anonymously fill out a short survey. Questions include what attributes they most associate with you, what they perceive your strengths and weaknesses to be, and projective questions like what household appliance you'd be and why. (Interestingly, those last questions can be the most insightful.)

Once you're done, how do you make the most of the results? I posed that question to career and branding adviser Denise Felder. She said there are three things you can do with this kind of information: promote it, change it, or ignore it. Here's what that means for me.

Promote It
I've heard it's good to come up with a three-word personal brand that quickly lets people know what you're all about. That can be hard! How can I boil myself down to three words? My list of top attributes pretty much does the job for me. Some of my top results: Reliable, Methodical, Intelligent, Problem Solver, Collaborative, Detail-Oriented. Good stuff that I identify with and want people to know about me! Denise suggests adding keywords to resumes and social media profiles referring to the results in interviews and performance reviews.

Change It
Another of my favorite sayings is that our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses. Another of my top attributes was “Picky.” Now, I'll wear picky as a badge of honor, but it does point the potential pitfalls of being a detail-oriented problem solver. Many of my results pointed to sometimes being too aggressive, critical, and condescending in pursuing the way I'd like to see things go. Seeing that side by side with my biggest attributes and strengths helps a lot in processing and contextualizing that feedback. The challenge is to be mindful of it while not blunting the ways I do stand out and add value in a team setting. Like my friend Richard said recently, the problem with a sword isn't when it gets too sharp, it's when you wield it in the wrong way.

Ignore It
There were a few things in there that just didn't resonate with me. And that's all right! As Denise told me, “it’s okay to ignore feedback not relevant to your goals and focus on what you find important.” I will add, though, that I think you ignore clear themes in your feedback at your own peril.

Overall, it was a very insightful experience and I'd encourage everyone to give it a try. I think many of us spend more time talking about the strengths and weaknesses of others than doing anything about our own. Exercises like this can kill two birds with one stone, creating space for self-reflection by harnessing those conversations that happen about us when we're not there.

full-size word cloud generated from 360 assessment results here

The Folly of Fearing Facebook

Cross-posted from the YNPN Twin Cities blog

At last week’s Emerging Leaders Network lunch, we talked a lot about how to handle current or prospective employers and colleagues looking you up on social networking sites. Several suggestions bounced around the room: Direct professional contacts to your LinkedIn profile instead of Facebook, restrict certain Facebook updates to a more select group of people, maintain two different Facebook accounts (I’m not a big fan of that last one). And then we started talking more extreme measures: Ramping up privacy settings to 11 to be unfindable, or even altering your name so it doesn’t look like you at all.

It’s clear that there’s a lot of fear out there. And I get it, I do. We’ve all heard those stories about people getting fired for what they put on Facebook. It’s almost a part of the zeitgeist now. But let’s stop for a minute and think about what we lose when we let our actions be dictated by fear.

People as a whole tend to be very loss averse. We’ll do a lot to avoid losing anything we already have, even if it means passing up on potential big gains. In this case, that means keeping a tight lid on our online activities, so we can’t possibly get in trouble for anything we say. However, shouldn’t we also consider the damage done when a potential employer does a Google search on a job candidate, finds nothing but a boring, flavorless LinkedIn profile, and moves on to someone who stands out more?

This goes back to another very important topic discussed at the lunch: The need to establish authentic relationships with the people you work with. No one wants a robot for a coworker. Especially in the nonprofit sector, we’re looking for people who share our passion for our organization’s mission, are excited by the possibilities in front of us, and show that in a hundred different ways every day.

Guess what? It’s not so different on the Internet. If you let that honest-to-goodness genuine side of yourself shine through, it will be noticed, and it will open doors for you. So embrace it! Tweet about your causes and your talents, and create that personal website. Employers searching for you on Facebook? Great, use it! By all means restrict those posts about the ups and downs of your family to friends-only, but consider switching the privacy setting on that post about good news at work to “Everyone”, so it’s the first thing a new contact will see about you. (And if you don’t post about your good news, now’s a great time to start, the people in your life like to hear about those things.)

Believe me when I say that I’m preaching the gospel of the converted here. When I first started using Twitter, I kept it almost exclusively to friends and couldn’t fathom why someone I didn’t know would want to follow me. As time went by, that mental block began to fade away, and I started reaching out more to those people out there who share my aspirations. And wow, what a difference. Strangers became colleagues, and colleagues became friends. I can tell you with 100% confidence that that new attitude has made me better networked, smarter, and dare I say happier too.

In the immortal words of FDR, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Don’t be afraid to be yourself online, be excited for the chance to show what you’re like at your best. That’s the real you, and it’s the person I’d most like to connect with.

#MNnptech

Social Media 101 on Prezi

The 4-step program for successfully networking as an introvert

Co-written with Jamie Millard and cross-posted from the YNPN Twin Cities blog

Networking is important. You know that, and we know that. It’s pretty much a given. But what do you do if just the thought of networking makes you want to crawl into a hole? We’ve both been there, because we are two of the roughly 25% of people who are introverts. 

When it came time for each of us to go to our first YNPN networking event, we debated whether or not to go, and eventually skipped out—leaving a sick feeling in our stomachs. We later did get involved with YNPN; and when we met each other, we realized we had both bailed on the same event. While it had been a lonely experience, neither of us was alone in it, and knowing that was a huge relief. 

So in hopes of helping fellow introverts with their networking anxieties, we’re sharing the steps we took to overcome our own. 

Step 1: Research the group and key people.

The most effective treatment to resolve your networking anxiety is a heavy dose of preparation. That begins with knowing beforehand who is likely to be at the networking event. Most networking groups or conferences will have some sort of online presence where you can begin your research. For example, if you’re going to attend a YNPN event, you could research board members on the website, members in the directory, see who RSVPs to the Facebook event, or who is talking about the event on Twitter.

A good place to start is to find people you share something with. This can be people in your industry (arts, direct service, environmental, etc.) or people who do the same kind of work (marketing, fundraising, advocacy, etc.). Also, it is helpful to identify a “super connector” that makes sense for you to fold into your network.

Step 2: Connect on social media.

After you’ve completed your research and identified the people you want to connect with, it’s a good idea to reach out to them before an event. Social media has made this easier than ever, especially with young and tech-savvy groups. The top site to turn to is Twitter: Making connections to people you should know is part of its DNA. LinkedIn is also a great resource for connecting to new people on a professional level.

If you connect with members of a networking group and let them know you’re interested in joining, it’s a good bet they’ll be glad to talk to you. Whether you keep it to talking online or ask for an in-person meeting, when it’s event time you’ll be glad to know there are people involved who will recognize you and can introduce you to others.

Step 3: Know your talking points.

You’ve researched people, you’ve connected with them on social media, and now you’re ready to dive into conversation, but not until you’ve properly prepared talking points. Talking points can be a combination of referencing the theme of the event and asking simple questions.

Themed networking events, like speed networking or an ugly sweater party, provide more structured activities and fun icebreakers to ease the flow of conversation. These types of networking events ensure that you’ll worry much less about being on the sideline while other people talk.

Whether or not your networking event has a theme, be ready with a list of questions to ask the people you meet. Keep your questions simple (e.g. How did you get involved with this networking group?), so you don’t forget them or get tripped up. Making certain to have questions ready ahead of time reduces anxiety and avoids those uncomfortable long pauses.

Step 4: Set specific goals. 

It’s important to leave a networking event feeling like a success. To do so, come with goals you’ve set for yourself beforehand (e.g. talk to a specific person, network with at least three people, etc.). Once you reach these goals, feel free to excuse yourself. If you go right after an awkward exchange or after you’ve sat in the corner alone for a while, you’re going to feel like a failure and this will strongly deter your motivation to attend future events. If you instead leave after ticking that last goal off your list, you’ll feel accomplished and encouraged to keep coming back.

Introverts will likely always have that initial networking anxiety, but by following these steps, you can learn to master it and become just as successful as the most outgoing extrovert. 

Fellow introverts: What are your best networking tips and tricks?
And for the extroverts: What do you do to help the introverts at networking events feel comfortable?