CISCO
INCREASING AN INCLUSIVE PIPELINE OF EXTRAORDINARY DIVERSE TALENT
With Possibility …
Cisco unveiled its new company purpose on June 16th 2020. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins pledged that he and the organization will work To power an inclusive future for all. Despite all of the pain and anger endured this year, Robbins said he believes we can shift these setbacks into progress.
… comes Opportunity
So, we started to look at changing the equation for diversity and inclusion, leveraging the power of sponsorship across every industry. Diversity defined as full spectrum – inclusive of gender, generation, race, ethnicity, orientation, ability, nationality, religion, veteran status, background, culture, experience, strengths, and perspectives. To bring »leaders across our industry together as a powerful first step in creating new opportunities for diverse talent.« (Chuck Robbins)
The Multiplier Effect
It begins with what we call The Multiplier Effect (TME): People with sponsors are 23% more likely to advance their careers than those without sponsors. But, there's a gap. While 1 in 5 White men have a sponsor, only 1 in 8 women, and 1 in 12 minorities have one. When leaders proactively sponsor across difference, their company is 45% more likely to see improvement in market share and 70% are more likely to capture a new market.
The Research
To fully understand sponsor/sponsee needs Cisco conducted a Global Sponsorship Study, involving 900 professionals across 11 countries in 3 regions, across industries, in companies with at least 100 employees.
Here are the top findings and how they informed the TME development:
1. Sponsors want help getting proximate: »Meeting sponsorship candidates in a group« is their #1 feature of a sponsorship program.
2. Sponsors don’t want matching: they were least interested in having the sponsee and the terms of the sponsorship arranged for them.
3. Facilitation of the relationship: 49% of sponsees were introduced by mutual connections.
4. #1 way of connecting: 30% of sponsees made the connection through social media.
5. The best sponsors seek out sponsees different than them.
Leveraging the findings: Platform and content proximity-ready
6. The focus of sponsorship varies: Americas → Career advancement, Asia/Pacific → Career goals & plans, Europe/Middle East/Africa → Networking.
7. Different sponsors bring different things to the table. The majority of sponsors have counseling and skill-building attributes.
8. Nearly half of the sponsorship relationship is spent building trust: 18 months to create a trusted relationship; relationship lasts 3 years.
Leveraging the findings: Playbooks to reflect multiple aspects of sponsorship
9. The top 3 sponsee priorities: Setting career goals and plans to achieve them; Developing new skills; Gaining exposure to senior leaders.
10. The goal doesn’t have to be advancement to deliver impact: 9% of sponsees said their goal was career advancement, yet, 90% of sponsees have been promoted.
Leveraging the findings: Expand sponsorship impact beyond promotion
Getting Started
The Multiplier Effect (TME) is a pledge, a personal commitment that encourages leaders at all levels to sponsor at least one extraordinary diverse candidate for career advancement and to challenge their peers to do the same.
Anyone can participate in taking action to help extraordinary diverse candidates advance.
How you can participate: Take the pledge at www.MultiplyDiversity.com. Review the Playbook. Identify a sponsee/sponsor inside or external to your organization. Challenge your peers to take the pledge. Enter info, click submit, and a running list is dynamically created. Easily manage sponsorship status for each sponsee.
Inclusive Future for All
We will challenge not only our Cisco peers to take the pledge. We will engage our partner and supplier organizations to grow cultures of sponsorship across industries. In the next 18 months, we are conducting a pilot with 10 of our largest suppliers and partners to achieve over 80% in pledge adoption within their executive teams