ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2020 - 31

De-bias Hiring and
Promotions
"There's a lot of inherent bias in
companies' hiring practices and
decision making," Anderson says.
"You can't take bias out of people, but
you can take steps to de-bias your
processes." Consider, for example,
your recruiting sources, she says.
Many companies in the industry rely
heavily on MBA/MSc programs for
management recruiting. It's well known
that these programs are much more
likely to produce male candidates,
so the process is biased before it
even starts. "To combat this, some
forward-thinking aviation companies
are working directly with schools to
increase the number of young women
entering these programs and to create
internship programs to help build a
pipeline of future talent," she says.
Others are thinking outside the "MBA
pipeline" box and are actively recruiting
post-entry level women from the ranks
of their competitors. "A couple of years'
experience at a competitor may bring

level down, it's easy for the familiarity
and trust that is built to lead to those
men moving up as compared to the
women, who are often excluded from
that communication."
After awareness, the key to
breaking this first bucket is intention.
"You have to want to change it,"
Anderson says.

Set Managers Up for
Success as Diversity
Champions
The second bucket - setting
managers up for success as diversity
champions - is where most
companies fail, Anderson says. "If
you're able to crack the nut of getting
women in the door, what happens
then? If you only have the CEO of
your organization saying diversity is
important, if you haven't set up middle
managers with incentives, support
and education so that they now know
what to do, managers will do what they
think is in their best interest, which is
promote the people they're the most

knows how to help diversity and
inclusion, they don't know what to do,
Anderson says.
The key here is to make diversity
part of each manager's personal
formula for success, Barta says. "If
you have a manager who has been told
that part of their formula for success is
to develop their people, they are going
to behave differently than a manager
who isn't held accountable for diversity.
But accountability without training
and support is a fool's errand. Leaders
must create systems where managers
are provided with the tools - training,
coaching, key performance indicators
and feedback mechanisms - to be
successful as diversity champions,"
Barta says.

Identify and Develop
High Potential Women
and Diverse Candidates
Imagine you're a CEO, and you're
looking to fill a key leadership position
on your team, Anderson says. You know
what kind of skills you're looking for to

"If you have a manager who has been told that part
of their formula for success is to develop their people,
they are going to behave differently than a manager who
isn't held accountable for diversity."
more value than an advanced degree in
the long run," Anderson says.
There is also work to be done in
promotions. "You naturally gravitate
toward people who are like you -
same gender, same economic
background, same race," Barta says.
"Thus, men are very comfortable
hanging out with other men, and it's
hard for women to break into that 'old
boys club.' So, if male senior leadership
is shooting the breeze with the next

comfortable with (and, oftentimes, who
are most like them)," she says.
These days, and according to
multiple McKinsey Lean In reports
surveying hundreds of thousands of
employees in different organizations,
most people say their company cares
about diversity and inclusion. And most
employees will say they have diversity
and inclusion programs at their
company. But if you ask those same
employees if they or their manager

fill that position, and you'd like to select
a diverse candidate if possible. If you
haven't invested in women or people of
color over the preceding years, you are
very likely to look around and discover
that the only people in the organization
who already possess the desired skill
sets are white males.
"You have to start thinking about
your people strategically and preparing
them for opportunities five, seven, 10
years down the road," Anderson says.
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ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2020

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