By Rebecca Snow, Global HR Vice President, Mars Wrigley

In a fascinating study called Project Aristotle, researchers found regardless of who was on your team – rockstars, PhDs, different genders, ethnicities – diversity alone didn’t drive performance. Why? Because diversity can be challenging. It can cause conflict, take time to build understanding, even – perish the thought - slow down your process. What mattered most was how people treated each other.

Working in a psychologically safe workplace, where everyone feels safe to be themselves and have a voice without fear of ridicule or loss of status, is what creates high-performing teams. So the real payoff comes from combining both diversity and psychological safety.  

Let’s zoom in on the details.   

If your company (or the world!) needs transformation, you need more creativity to generate solutions. To get that creativity, you need greater diversity – of perspectives, skills, experiences, thought processes. To optimize the power of that diversity, everyone needs to feel comfortable contributing their ideas and be open-minded about different ways to do things.

Yet when it comes to leadership, when we look to the vats of literature, frameworks, research and images that define effective leaders, they’re incredibly biased toward the traits and approaches of Western, white males. By definition they must be, since the study group has been historically (and still is) dominated by this demographic. In 2022, women still make up only 15 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs; African Americans, only one percent.

So we need to ask, what are we missing? What else do we need to bring to the world and our workplaces with more force?

Seeking answers, we conducted a study called #HereToBeHeard, where 10,000+ women from 88 countries answered one simple question: What needs to change for women to reach their full potential? Many pointed to ending systemic discrimination and harmful gender stereotypes as key to building a future where business and society are inclusive. 

And that brings us back to creating psychologically safe workplaces. First, I’m passionate about an inclusion agenda that includes white men because excluding them creates division. Also, as part of two minorities – I’m a woman and I’m gay – I recognize that communities (LGBTQ+ advocacy, Black Lives Matter, so on) have an important role to play. And when people genuinely become curious about each other, value each other’s differences and work toward a shared purpose, that’s when workplace culture shines.  

In my 27 years at Mars, the world has changed a great deal and I appreciate that Mars has also made it a priority to evolve. I was close to ten years into my Mars career when I came out to my family, friends and my manager. The first thing my manager said was, “How can I help you?” Her words were simple, but powerful. Today, I’m proud that my kids know I work for an employer who supports me emotionally and practically – as a parent, as a minority, as myself. And I now have the privilege of being a Mars senior leader, shaping and driving the culture we want and need to thrive.  

Along those lines, I’m pleased to say Mars is doing quite a lot to create psychologically safe workplaces. Here’s a snapshot of the avenues we’re taking and suggest for other organizations:   

Examine your policies and processes for unconscious bias.

For instance, we’ve upgraded our parental leave and childcare benefits, and offer hybrid working. We’re committed to gender pay equity across our global workforce, more than half of whom are women. To ensure we continue to deliver equal pay for equal work, we continuously review our pay practices. We aspire to achieve gender balance across 100% of our leadership teams. We’re vetting our talent acquisition process, increasing racial representation and expanding opportunities for all racial minorities across our workforce.

Train! 

Increasing awareness of unconscious bias pays huge engagement and performance dividends. In addition to our growing curricula of inclusion and diversity training for Associates, we’ve produced a video series of leadership conversations, with an accompanying playbook for managers.

Look to your leaders.

We want to make sure our leaders are creating an inclusive environment. We encourage them to look to the person who hasn't spoken during meetings. Ask questions and really listen. Offer transparency about what’s worked and what hasn’t. Recognize others for sticking their necks out and sharing opinions. Reflecting diversity in their hiring and mentorship. Actively sponsor the development and progression of underrepresented groups. Even seemingly little things matter, like supporting diversity in the way people dress or wear their hair.

Celebrate! 

In our #ICanBeMe series, for example, Associates share how they feel most comfortable at work and at home. Our hope is that by highlighting what makes each of our Associates special, others will also feel heard, understood and included – and have the confidence to be themselves at work.

At Mars, inclusion and diversity have long been priorities and we’re always trying to improve. Why? Because it makes us a better company in every sense of the word – more creative, higher performing, more innovative, faster to market, more desirable as a place to work. And, most importantly, it’s simply the right thing to do.