This piece was deemed by Psychology Today as an "Essential Read" in five categories, namely:

Leadership,
Gender,
Career,
Bias,
Workplace Dynamics.

This post is part of my subseries on how organizations can transform leadership development for women, as described through the eyes of women’s lived experiences and where gaps remain.

In this post, I explore how to engage organizational leaders in challenging conversations about stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination that contribute to women’s under-representation in top leadership roles, through the eyes of Drs. Brad Johnson and David Smith.

Dr. Johnson is a Professor of Psychology at the United States Naval Academy, Faculty Associate at Johns Hopkins University, and a former commissioned officer in the Navy’s Medical Service Corps. Dr. Smith is a sociologist, an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, previous Associate Professor at the US Naval Academy, and 30-year career naval officer.

Together, they have co-authored numerous articles for Harvard Business Review and books including Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace and Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women.

Because they work within a traditionally male-dominated industry, there was a special interest in interviewing them about leadership gender bias. They noted that these challenges were not unique to the military profession:

“We find that solutions across industries are oriented toward the minoritized group, in this case, focused on women… [For example] there are women's leadership programs, conferences, and mentoring programs, all developed with great intent and hopefully are making a difference. But, these programs also have the unintended consequence of sending signals to men that these are not for them, so they don't engage. But we actually need men to be engaged if we're going to create lasting, sustainable change.”

What gender biases create barriers for men to support women in leadership?

David and Brad noted five biases that can become so insidious it may be hard to identify without becoming acutely aware of them:

Discomfort. They note, “Some men are nervous about mentoring and meeting alone with women - they have all kinds of erroneous notions about what the #MeToo movement was all about.” This means helping to dispel myths about what healthy mentoring relationships look like and how to productively engage in them in a way that benefits everyone.
Implicit Bias. “Men in the workplace see women as nice, but they don't see them as future leaders. Gender biases can undervalue women's competence and expertise. Even the language used in performance evaluations can have a significant impact on promotion opportunities and pay bonuses.”
The zero-sum fallacy myth. “Men assume there are only so many resources to go around. It's just erroneous. When we really achieve gender equity meaningfully, the company gets bigger or outcomes grow, there are more positions, more opportunities for everybody.”
The motherhood penalty or “maternal wall”. “Even if they share equal responsibilities, women are often seen as more distracted or unavailable than men due to their parental status, which leads to fewer job offers and promotions and lower salaries.” This gender bias does not seem to be equally applied to men who are also parents.
The narrow bandwidth for what is considered an “appropriate” or “promotable” leadership style. “Men often have more flexibility and leeway in their leadership styles,” note Brad and David. While the newest research suggests that women score higher than men in most leadership capabilities, certain traits such as decisiveness, assertiveness, and ambitiousness are seen as more acceptable when demonstrated by men than by women.

Why should men care?

Brad and David often are asked about the business case for why men should be engaged in addressing gender bias. Here are the top three reasons they shared:

It creates positive perceptions. In their research, Drs. Smith and Johnson found that the top predictor of women’s positive perceptions of gender diversity and inclusion outcomes is “whether or not they see men in their own organization, loudly championing gender diversity. When that's the case 96% of women agree progress is being made, versus only 30% of women [when engagement isn’t visible].”
Men’s emotional intelligence increases. They found that“[men’s] communication skills and their self-awareness improve. And those [skills] continue beyond the workplace. It makes you a better partner, a better parent, and improves relationships across gender broadly – it’s really good for men!”
It improves organizational performance. According to their research, engaging in gender diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts helps us be “more creative, innovative, and profitable, and make better decisions. When women are advancing, we all advance - we're increasing our GDP … making things better for our country for our society.”

Why is now the best time to start?

Is there an opportunity to leverage the post-pandemic crisis to create change? Brad and Dave think perhaps there could be:

“We're looking at research showing that many men are unsatisfied with the status quo and the traditional workplace. They saw the benefit of being home with their kids or more engaged as a partner and they want more of that but they're up against a traditional workplace that doesn’t always allow that to happen. So I think we're reaching a bit of a tipping point.”

What can organizations do to keep up with these trends to support all employees, including women in leadership?

Set the standard and be transparent about it. Deliberately state a desire to advance high-talent women, make it part of your organizational targets, be transparent about expected milestones and methods you want to see used to achieve gender balance at each stage of leadership, create visible pathways, and implement sponsoring programs. David and Brad add: “Investors today are more likely to invest in organizations that don’t just have a nice mission statement, but actually show what they're doing and the progress they're making. So organizations [that are transparent become] a place people want to work at, buy from, [and invest in].”
Measure it. Create accountability for meeting those goals. Brad and Dave recommend the following: “Managers tend to be the ones who are implementing policy, like paid family leave. Organizations need to equip managers with making sure that they're implementing policies in an equitable and fair manner.”
Equip your leaders to make personal connections. Dave and Brad recommend helping senior leaders communicate the value through their personal journeys.“We often find senior male leaders are uncomfortable talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion. And if they're avoiding it [due to their discomfort], nobody knows how important it really is to them and to the organization. We work with them to develop their personal narrative [and] communicate … how important it is personally and authentically, how they connect it to the business outcomes, and why it's important to frontline managers to do this work as well. It makes a big difference.”
Teach men how to be better allies through mentorship. They have found a significant discrepancy between men’s personal estimations and women’s actual experiences of their male colleagues’ allyship. The good news is that men are appreciating the value of allyship. The next step is to help them learn tactical behavior changes: “In order for men to be authentic and not performative, men need to learn how to align our actions with our messaging, give ourselves grace if we don't get it exactly right, and learn and share from our mistakes - that's part of the journey as well.”
Make it a habit. Implementation is only part of the solution. Sustainability is critical to maintaining progress gains. They recommend making this “a part of every everyday practice.”

You can find Dr. Johnson on LinkedIn here, and Dr. Smith here together with their company page Workplace Allies.

Mira Brancu is co-author of the Millennials’ Guide to Workplace Politics, which includes tips like those above and more.