Event reviews

Citation

Hornung, S. (2014), "Event reviews", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR.37213baa.012

Event reviews

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 13, Issue 2

Feedforward instead of Feedback, Talking about Gender and Generational Talent Management, keynote speech by Dr Elisabeth Kelan at HRM Expo (Zukunft Personal), Germany, 19 September 2013

"We are losing a lot of talent by conforming how leaders – men and women – are supposed to be," stated Dr Elisabeth Kelan (King’s College London) in her keynote at this year’s HRM Expo, Europe’s largest exhibition for Human Resource Management in Cologne (Germany). Based on her research findings on gender and generations from the last five years the professor at King’s College London argued that organizations need to focus their talent management systems more on the future potential of people.

Use the golden chance: young women want to lead

"Young women are as confident as men and have the same level of leadership ambition," mentioned Kelan. At the same time, millennial women tend to be more reflexive: "They show more self-doubt than men do." Therefore, they see discrimination no longer as such. If they fail in their job, they think it is their own fault. To retain them in the organization, companies should talk about persisting stereotypes. As an example Kelan quoted PUC UK: the enterprise provides an online training about biases that every employee from the starter to the chairman has to go through. It is accompanied by reflecting elements; via e-mail people are prompted to think about how they might have discriminated or misjudged a person during the day.

How we see ourselves: providing multiple role models

"I often hear, there are not enough role models for women in our organization," said Kelan, touching a further aspect of gender and generational sensitive talent management. But, according to her studies, that is not the point. Millennial women have a more complex identifications pattern than men and mention other women, other men or both as role models. "Young women tend more to admiration – seeing the sunny and shadowing sides of people – than to idealization." Companies should provide a variety of role models like American Express India already does; individual women are supported by multiple sponsors within the organization.

Acquiring new types of knowledge

Most of the educational systems in Europe stop when people are at the age of 20 to 30 years old. To compensate that, people change their jobs more quickly. "Nowadays employability security means being able to find a new job when you need to move in your career," emphasized Kelan. She recommended enterprises to "feed forward" instead of only giving feedback. She said: "Organizations should think about how they can develop a person in a certain position within five or ten years." With a co-educational program for future managers without segregating gender groups, Baxter International started a transformation process and has now 50 percent men and women in senior positions.

Widen visibility proving networking environments

Women are often quite visible in organizations, but just in respect of what they dress or how they speak. In Kelan’s opinion, they are too little visible in networks. Examples show that to change networking practice, a safe interactive environment is required. GE Menat had good results with sessions in which female high potentials were able to present their insights and perspectives to the senior managers. Cassidian’s "buddy system" works in tandem with on-boarding. This setting allows the company to talk about issues of gender along the way, which attracts especially the younger generation. "We need to change organizational structures, because we are still not post-gender,” claimed Dr Elisabeth Kelan. "It needs a long breath, but it is vital."

Stefanie Hornung
Press Officer, HRM Expo (Zukunft Personal)