Everything is awesome: the LEGOⓇ approach to being an awesome coworker

Everything Is Awesome The LEGO Ⓡ approach to being an awesome coworker

Paul Verbeek-Mast   (@paul_v_m) Web person @

“The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it.” William H. Whyte

“We have talked enough; but we have not listened.” William H. Whyte

“many leaders assume they are better at valuing diversity than they actually are” Havard Business Review – Leaders Aren’t Great at Judging How Inclusive They Are https://hbr.org/2017/10/leaders-arent-great-at-judging-how-inclusive-they-are

“The great enemy of inclusivity, we find, is the illusion of it.” Paul Verbeek-Mast

It’s about building a climate of trust, appreciation, and openness to differences in thoughts, styles and backgrounds

The early days
of tech

The early
days of tech

The early
days of tech ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

The early
days of tech

The rise of men

The rise of men In 1967 alone,
700,000 people took the
IBM Aptitude test

The rise of men Of those 1378,
only 186 were women

The rise of men “[Programmers] dislike activities involving close personal interaction.” A vocational interest scale for computer programmers  

William M. Cannon & Dallis K. Perry

The rise of men • Antisocial personality disorder favours men by 3:1 ratio; • Autism and Asperger’s is seen as high as 7:1; • Antisocial women are seen as “not liking people”, while men are seen as a “lone wolf”

The rise of men “[The] industry selected for antisocial, mathematically inclined males, and therefore antisocial and mathematically inclined males were overrepresented in the programmer population” The Computer Boys Take Over  

Nathan Ensmenger

The rise of men “This in turn reinforced the popular perception that programmers ought

to be antisocial and mathematically inclined (and therefore male).“ The Computer Boys Take Over  

Nathan Ensmenger

The rise of men

The bro culture

The bro culture Joe Liemandt — Founder of Trilogy Software

The bro culture “We’re elite talent; and it’s potential and talent, not experience, that has merit.” “only the best”

The bro culture • How many piano tuners are there in the world?; • How many golf balls fit in standard double decker bus?; • How much would you charge to wash all the windows in San Francisco?

The bro culture Holidays were called competitive advantage days, because no one else was working.

The bro culture Insane work hours, drinking, gambling and Vegas. Plus valuing potential over experience, made the culture male dominated.

The bro culture

The bro culture • Susan Fowler; • Niniane Wang; • Susan Ho; • Leiti Hsu; • Sarah Kunst; • Cheryl Yeoh.

The bro culture • Women; • People of colour; • LGBTQIA+; • People with a disability; • People in economic or social hardships.

Piece of Resistance

A rant about "Inclusivity and the LEGO Movie”

</rant>

If you let everyone be their unique selves, and value each other,
you can achieve great things

Equality =
uniformity

Equality =
uniformity Equality !=
uniformity

Make everyone
feel welcome
and included

Reach out to new colleagues Make everyone
feel welcome
and included

On-boarding buddy Make everyone
feel welcome
and included

Your whole team changes Make everyone
feel welcome
and included

Don’t assume that they will eventually learn Make everyone
feel welcome
and included

Use inclusive language Make everyone
feel welcome
and included

• Put people first; Use inclusive language Make everyone
feel welcome
and included Blind man vs. A man who is blind

Use inclusive language Make everyone
feel welcome
and included • Put people first; • Avoid jargons and abbreviations; “The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication. An acronym that most engineers outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to use. It is also ok to make up a few acronyms/ contractions every now and again, […] but those need to be kept to a minimum.”

Use inclusive language Make everyone
feel welcome
and included • Put people first; • Avoid jargons and abbreviations; • “Guys” is not gender neutral; Instead of “guys”, use “people",
“folk”, “everyone" or “y’all”. Instead of “he” or “she”, use “they”.

Use inclusive language Make everyone
feel welcome
and included • Put people first; • Avoid jargons and abbreviations; • “Guys” is not gender neutral;
• Don’t underplay the impact of mental disabilities;

Use inclusive language Make everyone
feel welcome
and included • Put people first; • Avoid jargons and abbreviations; • “Guys” is not gender neutral; • Don’t underplay the impact of mental disabilities; • Coding is also communication;

Be humble

Accept your limitations Be humble

Listen Be humble

How many times do you bring your phone or laptop to a meeting? Be humble

Talk less, listen more Be humble

If someone needs to vent, lend them an ear Be humble

Let people be heard Be humble

“When you have a contribution to make in a meeting, how often are you able to do so?” Be humble Let people be heard Only 35% felt they were always able to make a contribution, when they had something to add

• Introverts; • Remote workers;
• Women; • People of colour; Be humble Let people be heard

• Share the purpose of the meeting; • Include remote workers;
• No talking over each other; • Keep it central; • Email a summary; Be humble Let people be heard

• Interrupt long discussions; • Ask for opinions;
• Give credit where it is due; • Feedback round; Be humble Let people be heard

Be humble Be an ally Someone who supports equal rights for others, and acts when people face exclusion and discrimination

Be humble • Speak their name when they aren't around; • Share their career goals with influencers; • Invite them to high-profile meetings; • Endorse them publicly; Be an ally 56% of leaders don’t value ideas they don’t personally see a need for

Be humble Be an ally • Speak their name when they aren't around; • Share their career goals with influencers; • Invite them to high-profile meetings; • Endorse them publicly; • Stop with mansplaining and manterrupting.  

Be humble Mansplaining – the act of explaining something in a condescending and overconfident way; Manterrupting – when a man unnecessary interrupts a women.

@betterallies Be humble

Encourage
creativity

Get everyone’s input Encourage
creativity

Create a safe environment Encourage
creativity

Utilise diversity

Know your colleagues Utilise diversity

Learn from each other Utilise diversity

You are
awesome too!

Find people who believe in you You are
awesome too!

Stand up for what you believe in You are
awesome too!

Be yourself You are
awesome too!

A little bit of kindness goes a long way You are
awesome too!

Read this bo ok! Paul Verbeek-Mast   (@paul_v_m) Web person @