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FROM OUR CEO
Why IWD Fails in Reaching its Objectives
February 24th, 2025 | From our CEO
For the past 10+ years Innovisor has tracked how gender collaboration plays out inside organizations. In the past 10+ years, organizations all over the world have hosted conferences, events, training sessions, printed t-shirts and gadgets, and in general had better gender equality on the strategy roadmaps.
Just talk – no action!
Our numbers tell us that nothing has changed at all. In how two genders collaborate. So why is it that nothing has changed? It has all been just talk with no action.
I decided to assess why through the lens of the Six Change Blockers.
Six Change Blockers ->Six Failures
Here is my assessment.
- Leadership Cohesion:Our data shows that only 5% of Leadership teams are in the ‘win zone’ for leadership cohesion. When it comes to gender equality, it is even less. Gender equality loses out versus all the other priorities that leaders have a tug-of-war over.
- Commitment of Organization:Organizations are facing large-scale change overload. With large organizations running three or more large enterprise-wide change programs per year, gender equality loses out. It is not on the radar, except for very few dedicated individuals.
- Network Fragmentation:Organizations are as fragmented as 10+ years ago. Succeeding with gender equality requires getting into all the small informal cliques, groups and ‘tribes’ in the organization. This is where the behavioral change takes place. Change does not happen through a glossy corporate branding company pushed out from headquarters.
- Key Stakeholder Support: The two key stakeholder groups for change are the top leaders and then the 3% of people that impact the sensemaking of the 90%.The top leaders are mostly not invested more in this than for ONE DAY per year.The other group is still hidden in most organizations and needs to be listened to before they can be activated and engaged in their passions. Don’t tell them what to think.
- Ongoing Leadership Commitment: Visible leaders that role model gender equality and stay on top of the agenda are as rare as snow in the desert…which happens, but very rarely! Instead, they do ‘change by representation.’ They push other leaders or middle managers to speak their case. Or even worse they outsource it to the DEI team – or worst of all to outside consultants. When there is no visible ongoing leadership commitment the rest of the organization will ignore it.
- Project Team Support: Organizations rarely prioritize this with a proper project team set-up, where there is sufficient organizational change capabilities, frequent and direct access to the top leaders, and where the project team has a mandate to take decisions without delay.
In summary, the #SixChangeBlockers are where organizations have failed in gender equality.
Hence, if you are serious about gender equality, then treat it as the change it is. Start with baselining your #SixChangeBlockers, so you know what to work on.
What is the #SixChangeBlockers intelligence?
Innovisor has studied and analyzed patterns, signals, activities and interventions in our change data collected from clients of all company sizes and industries across +70 different countries, and this is had led to the identification of six change blockers that needs to be mitigated for ANY change to succeed.
Read more here: https://www.innovisor.com/six-change-blockers/
FROM OUR CEO
Four Lessons Leaders Can Learn from Donkey Kong
February 24th, 2025 | From our CEO
Shortly after my parents divorced my grand parents gifted me with an electronic game ‘Donkey Kong’ – like the one you see above. Probably to make sure my focus was somewhere else than on the changes in my immediate environment.
If that was the intent they succeeded.
For a couple of months, I was obsessed with the Donkey Game game. Until the day I had conquered and completed it. After which it became irrelevant. Today, I then suddenly had a flash back to the game during my morning run. Wondering if there were any leadership lessons from Donkey Kong? I think there is.
Lesson 1 – If You Don’t Move, You Die
The first rule is very simple. Get moving. Otherwise you die. There is no time for ruminating about what to do, and if matters to move at all. The environment changes fast in Donkey Kong. Enemies move in, and those who do not move, lose.
Lesson 2 – Adapt and Calibrate
What might look like as the fastest route from the start to the goal most certainly isn’t the best way. You need to be on constant look out for dangers, and then adapt and calibrate as you go long. In Donkey Kong you might get caught be the giant gorilla, or hit by a stone.
Lesson 3 – Take the Swing at the Right Time
Sometimes you must pass certain challenges by taking the swing at the exact right time. If you do it too early, or especially too late, you fall down, and have to go back to the start. If you catch the swing, you can move forward fast.
Lesson 4 – Move On When Done
When you have completed the game, it becomes pretty boring to play as it is too easy to do it again (i.e. unless you play it 40 years after 😊). So the better choice is to move on to something else. Maybe a different game, or something completely different. I tried out the Gameboy, when it came out a bit later, but I did not catch my attention. Instead, I prioritized track & field. Change leaders must do the same. Don’t focus on the past. Focus on the future. Those are the stories you need to tell.
Did you play Donkey King as kid? – and what did you learn from it?
Article by:
Jeppe V. Hansgaard
Connect directly with Jeppe via one of his social platforms.
Article by:
Jeppe V. Hansgaard
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