Empowerment comes from equal career opportunities

Empowerment is the most valuable asset anyone can leverage, irrespective of gender. According to the United Nations website, it forms the foundation of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. At an organizational level, empowerment directly correlates to “your voice.” If you seek happiness and purpose at work, you can instantly transform the idea of “going to work” and turn it into a compelling experience! ?

Having said that, I recently published a poll seeking varied opinions to the question, “What can you do to ensure empowerment for everyone?” Here’s my poll snapshot:

Now that the poll is closed and the results are out, I feel that I’ve been able to unravel some really interesting answers. Two points that stood out for me were:?

1.?????A staggering 49% of my poll’s respondents felt that empowerment can thrive only when there are equal career opportunities.

2.?????Another major chunk of the voters (about 22%) felt that in order to promote real change, supporting better boardroom diversity can be a smart thing to do.?

I can’t help but agree! Now let’s dig into both the themes one by one.

?1.?????How can empowerment thrive amid equal career opportunities?

In order to ensure that everyone gets to participate in a level playing field at work, organizations are rapidly implementing the equal employment opportunity policy. I am sure your organization does it too at its capacity. Such an act can safeguard everyone’s interests including yours, but can it also ensure that you get to make conscious choices? Yes, that is possible. For instance, organizations can start giving importance to their employees’ say in overall decision-making and change-related actions. Additionally, top leadership can involve everyone in key discussions during an upcoming transformation. Also, getting people involved in new initiatives right from the beginning can open doors to innovative ways of thinking and working!

When it comes to innovation, forward-looking and digital-ready organizations are hiring the best brains and retaining them, mostly when these people are ready to invest time in their own upskilling and development paths. Not to forget that with the advent of automation, digitalization, artificial intelligence and machine learning, fostering a culture of cross-skilling, re-skilling, up-skilling and continuous learning are helping not just organizations but their people thrive. Now that is what I call a level playing field.?

2.?????Will better boardroom diversity empower people??

As I said before, another major chunk of my poll’s voters (about 22%) felt that in order to promote real change, supporting better boardroom diversity is a smart thing to do.?

Believe it or not, I have seen for myself that an inclusive and diverse board always makes room to discuss differing viewpoints and comes up with better advice for the top management. Especially with regard to talent strategies, a better collaborative decision-making process for sure helps attract and retain the best brains. And in the long run, such a collaborative approach leads to better firm performance and shareholder relations. According to the HBR, many European countries have mandated that at least 40% of directors of publicly listed companies must be women, and similar laws have been passed in several U.S. states establishing gender- or race-based quotas. And to be sure, these policies have led to substantial progress.?

Now that you know all about my poll and its results, along with some facts and figures, do you think representation alone is important? Or would you rather vouch for the fact that we need more than plain old empowerment to be able to make meaningful progress in the long run? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.