Todd Prujan, HBR
Welcome to “HBR Video Quick Tech”. I am Todd Prujan, Senior Editor for Research and Special Projects Harvard Business Review. Today, I’m here to talk with Maria Ferraro, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Inclusive and Siemens Energy Diversification Officer, a collaborative and effective partner. Maria, thank you so much for being with us today.
Maria Ferraro, Siemens Energy
Oh, thanks, Todd. I’m glad to be here.
Todd Prujan, HBR
Maria, why does Siemens Energy feel so strong about Eliship?
Maria Ferraro, Siemens Energy
That’s the decent thing to do, and it should end there. The fact is that we want to hear from our employees. We asked them some time ago about inclusion and diversity in Siemens Energy and we are doing a good job.
We had some observations when we came back. One was, we can improve in some areas. For our big business conference where we invite, say, the top 800 to attend, we went out worldwide, and we asked them to tell us a little bit about your inclusion and diversity experiences at Siemens Energy.
From that, we quickly learned that there was room for improvement. In some areas we are moving forward. This is the journey. This is definitely not something that happens overnight. But in other areas, we can do much better.
What’s more, we cried about how we could help our staff, which was excellent and very positive. From there, we started talking about alliances.
Together with our employees, we want to understand where they are coming from, how we can do better, and essentially, how we can engage our larger population. We wanted to create a movement in our company, and we thought it was a very effective way to do it.
Todd Prujan, HBR
Okay, so from your point of view, what does it take to be a really effective ally?
Maria Ferraro, Siemens Energy
So it’s not really that hard to be supportive. And it takes a few things, though, and to be a good listener, just listening. I think what came back to our organization from those people where they thought they had an effective collaborative relationship was the person present. I heard their worries. And more importantly, they would not decide what was going on.
It was really for that person to be there, to bend over, to be a helping hand. But it was not about finding a solution. In some areas, you may not be able to find solutions. It was about being helpful.
Even some examples from my past where, in my career, I had many colleagues, some male colleagues, for example, whose support and their ability to what I was going through at that time, really enabled me to nurture my career.
For example, a straight person in a proud community can be a help to the needs of that community. I think, when you’re thinking about things like race and ethnicity – I mean, there are a lot of ways that people can be helpful.
But there is one thing that I stress. This is not a one-time deal. It is a commitment of time. It should be seen as a collaborative relationship building. And I think it has to be a relationship built on trust. It is based on uniformity, accountability. I think it’s really about making sure you’re there for that person.
Essentially, being supportive is the key to getting up every morning and choosing to be that support system for someone else, to be kind, to be truly kind, and to make a difference in someone’s life. This is a very effective way to make a difference in someone’s life. What we’ve seen is that in our organization, cultural inclusion and diversity is a very effective means of truly incorporating culture.
Todd Prujan, HBR
Maria, What is Siemens Energy doing as a partner in its inclusion and diversity network?
Maria Ferraro, Siemens Energy
Thanks, Todd. I think this is such an important question. One thing I need to remind not only others but myself is that we are a young company. We are still traveling. And are we still there? No, of course not. I think it’s phased out.
We are making progress, and I am proud of the progress we have made. The alliance is part of that. But maybe let me take a step back to tell you how we are dealing with I&D at Siemens Energy.
One thing we have developed is what we call an alliance of allies. This was very important, because I call it my overall overview of all I&D matters within Siemens Energy, because it is important. It’s not just one-sided, is it? It is multidimensional. It’s about our people, so HR, of course, is included. It’s also about health and safety, mental well-being.
It is also about our facilities and how we have a welcoming atmosphere here at Siemens Energy everyone believes they can bring their true self. But of course, this is my other side – I’m a CFO. So we have some KPIs to manage and make sure we are moving in the right direction.
For example, we have a gender target of 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. We at Siemens Energy have also allocated resources on this very important topic. And what’s really good about trying to be re-inclusive is that we have a little bit of Dragon’s Dan approach to new ideas or different ideas that one of our personal employees in another country, for example, pitches ideas for what they want. To do I think it’s really good because it allows everyone from our network to engage.
One area where I’m very happy – and why I talked a little bit about facility management and the alliance of our partners and how we make sure our office buildings or construction facilities are accessible to everyone – is where we started this access project. This is a matter of personal importance to me, and it is extremely important because we are a global company. We are in more than 90 countries around the world, and we want to make sure that people have access to our buildings so that they can do their full and complete work.
Of course, this goes without saying that we are also working with our Pride networks. You know we’re in the Pride Month chair right now, so there’s a lot of exciting activity going on that we want to discuss. This is something I think is a little bit different – we are discussing with individual networks and striving for downward communication, not just top communication, because we want to hear. We really want to make sure we are on the right track on this journey. Again, we are not there yet, but in stages.
Also, we are starting something called a self-identification survey. This is what we are considering now. We’re having a little pilot in the UK, and that’s really cool, because it’s about making sure that people feel comfortable.
It’s going back to networks even thinking about our LGBTQIA + network. How can we ensure that we are making progress in certain areas and that everyone feels comfortable speaking but that they are in a position to bring their full self?
I mentioned a little bit about facility management and our facilities globally. We have started a pilot project in Norway, where we are looking at gender neutral features on site. We are really pushing the envelope in some areas.
According to our Speak Up culture, we announced an Ombudsman at our company in February. Why We wanted to make sure everyone had a place to go and that if they saw bad behavior they would be able to talk to someone. We address them and look at each of those cases.
I think there are a lot of things that we are doing as a company. What really matters is getting back on our networks and making sure we’re on the right track.
Last but not least – and that’s why I’m here today – is a supportive campaign. I mean, it’s the one that touched all of our employees, all of them globally, and we really tried to make that difference.
I mean the videos, the campaigns we created where we just asked our staff to tell us, give us some stories about how the affiliate had a positive impact on you. There were many stories that came back to us, in fact, to provide for our people. But we chose something and said, look, everyone can make a difference in Siemens Energy when it comes to inclusion and diversity.
You can be an ally. It doesn’t take much to be one. But the impact you have on people is long lasting and very positive, so why not be helpful?
I am a collaborator. Hopefully, you’re an ally, Todd. And what we’re really trying to do is create a movement in Siemens Energy. We see this as extremely effective, and it is driving our inclusion and diversification initiatives.
Todd Prujan, HBR
It’s very inspiring to hear. Maria, this has been a good conversation. Thank you so much for your time today, your insights and your insights into what you are doing at Siemens Energy.
Maria Ferraro, Siemens Energy
Thanks, Todd. And thank you so much for being me. I’m really excited about our trip. And we hope to see you again. Thank you very much for listening.