Programs - A Focus on Men
Programs and Workshops
Jen’s programs are underpinned by the ‘bifocal approach’ – linking individual development to organizational change.
A focus on Men
Men have been neglected in the gender equity journey.
The reality is that the way gender operates in workplaces is problematic for everyone - men, women and non-binary people.
Many men want to have better work life balance, to be more engaged parents or grandparents, to have more flexibility over the course of their career, to create workplaces where their daughters can thrive, not to feel they are walking on eggshells around gender issues, to better understand the experiences of women, to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
There are many productive ways to engage with and include men. And failing to do so will certainly undermine change efforts.
Men have gender too. Men only space
The focus in equity, diversity and inclusion work is usually on the minority group (eg women, LGBTQI+, culturally diverse, differently abled), rather than the majority group, men. This reinforces men and masculinity as the norm, and means we fail to notice, discuss or address ways in which workplaces don’t work for many men. Men unable to access flexible practices or penalised for doing so, men feeling compelled to fulfil their male bread winner script, men conforming to narrow norms of acceptable masculinity.
Men only space which allows men to discuss gender norms and practices in their workplace start to uncover these toxic elements, and can lead to motivating men to work for more broadly shared, humane ways of working that benefit everyone.
This can be a stand alone intervention or part of our Partners for Change program
Men as middle managers. Target the right people
We all know about Male Champions for Change, high profile CEO’s who spruik the message for gender equality. And it is true the men at Exec level have a lot of power to create change. But equally a top down approach to change can have limited reach and results.
It is men in the middle of organisations who have substantial impact on setting organisational culture, and power over the careers of their subordinates.
Working with these men is a smart way to build more gender equitable workplaces. Contact me if you wish to include gender in your supervisory and leadership development programs.
Men, mentoring and sponsorship. Dismantle the ‘boy’s club once and for all.
We used to talk a lot about the ‘boy’s club’. However, a more positive way of engaging men in being more inclusive, and in tackling their homosocial bias (more comfortable hanging out with other men) is to focus on building more inclusive mentoring and sponsorship practices. This can be a very practical and powerful lever for change.
Many organisations have mentoring programs that provide additional mentoring relationships for women, but do so without tackling the deficit of informal mentoring and sponsorship that should be provided by their existing supervisors and leaders.
Tackling this deficit directly is a more powerful and direct way of making a difference.
I work directly with supervisors and leaders, and with existing processes such as performance development reviews to strengthen relationships, accountability and structures. I can also work with your mentoring programs to assist mentors to be both great mentors and great supervisors. (Mentoring and sponsorship)
Men doing harm. Make all toxic masculinity visible, not just extreme behaviour
The focus on sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and toxic blokey cultures has hit an all time high here in Western Australia in the resources sector, with it’s fly in fly out (FIFO) employment practices. This is welcome and critically important. It has been wilfully over-looked for far too long.
My interest is in tackling the more everyday workplace behaviours that become normalised. They have a harmful, corrosive and career undermining impact on women, men and non binary people.
Contact me if you wish to design a customised approach to uncover and tackle these behaviours in your workplace. A variety of methods are possible including surveys, focus groups, inclusion in existing climate surveys, and gathering data within existing development programs to guide your efforts..
Men as change agents. Men partnering with women to create change
Men have been asked to be champions, allies, mentors, and sponsors of women, to make workplace better places for women. But this has ignored ways in which current workplaces, created historically by men for men, no longer work for them either.
In my experience the most optimistic and cutting edge approach to building more gender equitable workplaces is when men and women partner to create change, to make workplaces better for all.
This is work I do with a male co-facilitator (Tim Muirhead), and critically, with equal numbers of men and women in the room. We have written extensively about this approach, see this collection of BLOGS and the Partners for Change page. Please be in touch if you want to implement this ground breaking work in your organisation.
Services
Testimonial
“Dr de Vries led a very successful program Leadership Development for Women (LDW) ...I observed the transformative effects of the program on the participants and subsequently the institution. The success of the program was largely due to the intellect, enthusiasm and insight of Dr de Vries”
Alan Robson,
former Vice-Chancellor, UWA
Contact Jen
jen.devries@me.com
+61 (0) 412 806 377