Building a Better Team

“You don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note.”
~Doug Floyd

It’s no secret to anyone that there are more men in the IT industry than women. In my 15 year career, I’ve often been the lone female on the team and I’m pretty comfortable with that. But Dr. Wendy Cukier from Ryerson University has been doing research for the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Women in IT (CATA WIT) organization on the status of women in the Canadian technology sector and she makes a pretty good case for actively building gender diversity in your team, including fueling innovation, improving team productivity and better serving diverse customers to name but a few.

However, when I talk to most IT managers, it’s not a case of not wanting to hire qualified women, it’s a question of where to find them. Less women are entering the IT field and those who have established careers in technology are now leaving it in droves.

Join myself and Dr. Cukier for an hour long live webcast as we explore what’s happening to the female contingent of technology workers in Canada and how managers can attract, retain and promote women for the betterment of the business and the IT sector.

The Business Case for Team Diversity
Wednesday, December 2
Noon to 1pm EST
Register now

Come armed with your questions as Dr. Cukier will be taking questions from participants during the latter half of the webcast. If you can’t make the webcast, I’ll be providing a link to the recording here on the blog as well as condensing it into a 20 – 30 minute podcast for the AlignIT IT Managers Podcast Series.

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2009
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  November 26, 2009
  Hi Margaret, The research of Dr. Cukier and others shows that there are a number of different reasons for this and the problem is not a simple one. On the one hand, there are organizational conditions which have to do with how women are retained and promoted. There are also other contributing factors such as culture and workplace conditions. This is an area that we'll be talking about during the webcast next week. If you or anyone else have any questions you'd like Dr. Cukier address (I've already added this one), leave a comment here or email me using the email tab above. Better yet, come and join us and you'll have an opportunity to ask your questions during the webcast. Cheers, Ruth