‘It opened my eyes’: Marriott’s APAC marketing lead on unconscious bias training

I’m pleased to share that we are accelerating our efforts to achieve gender representation parity for the entire global leadership team by 2023. Driven by Marriott’s core value of putting people first, we believe that our strength lies in the diversity of our workforce and our continued success is the direct result of our efforts to cultivate an inclusive workforce.

In the Asia Pacific, we’ve made significant progress towards gender parity for management positions. Around 40% of women are in management positions and there are nearly 100 female GMs in the continent with a robust pipeline of top talent. We’ll continue to increase the presence of women in management and other key decision-making positions.

With this gender parity goal in mind, we’ve placed a special emphasis on ensuring that women obtain the training needed to ascend to senior leadership levels. The Women’s Ambassador Network (WAN) is one of our key programs to help achieve this goal.

The network was formed by a community of APAC Marriott leaders passionate about raising awareness and taking actions to promote, advance and inspire women in leadership. There are around 70 women and men in the program, who act as WAN ambassadors for their respective markets. We guide our ambassadors through a series of mentoring and training, which helps empower them to design a customized activation plan to meet the needs of different markets.

I’m particularly excited by one of our recent initiatives. We trained the WAN ambassadors to help them set up mentorship programs for women associates in their markets. We want to build a strong pipeline of future leaders without losing sight of the importance of promoting a culture where women build each other up. Recruitment has begun in some markets already and we can’t wait to see our community of future Marriott woman leaders grow.

What are your tips for addressing workplace bias?

My number one tip for businesses is to incorporate D&I at the core of your company’s operations. In a company where the importance of D&I is promoted across all levels, everyone is responsible for addressing workplace bias and shaping inclusive company culture.

I took a course on unconscious bias in 2019 and it opened my eyes to how our words and actions can make others feel defensive or upset even when we have the best intentions. As leaders, we need to be the first to question our behaviors and examine how our words and actions may be perceived by others. I now consciously examine my behavior and ask the same of my team. We openly discussed a concept that was introduced in my course around perception versus reality and we took the time to examine whether we are biased in the way we perceive things instead of examining the reality of a situation.

I also believe that as an organization we need to actively promote diversity in the ways we work together. I recently set up a multi-function project team within my organization to solve one of our biggest challenges. I wanted to bring together people with diverse skill sets to drive new, creative solutions.

In addition, I created development plans for my teams to ensure they understand what it takes to get promoted and to be clear that there is no bias in the process.

While seemingly small actions, promoting diverse thought and ensuring fairness around promotions has led to a more motivated and engaged team who are learning, developing, and more committed to our organization than ever.

And how is Marriott working towards eradicating unconscious bias?

Marriott is an equal opportunity employer and we believe in hiring a diverse workforce. We ensure equal employment opportunities in all aspects of employment regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or other basis protected by applicable law. We also provide a variety of D&I training programs, tools and resources to our managers and associates to learn more about unconscious bias.

For instance, we’ve launched a digital learning platform to guide associates on topics like unconscious bias and global diversity. In APAC, we also host regular webinars and virtual panels to discuss D&I-related topics with our associates and external organizations to drive collective change in gender inclusivity.

Having women in senior leadership in hospitality nourishes a culture that inspires and promotes career opportunities for all. Research has suggested that with a diverse range of individuals holding top jobs, employees at large companies are 64% less likely to show workplace bias.

Providing opportunities to create a diverse and inclusive environment strengthens our company’s culture and provides a competitive advantage. That is why we were the first hospitality company to establish a Women’s Leadership Development Initiative in 1999. We hope to continue this momentum in the future.

What does the future look like for female leadership in the hospitality industry?

The future of hospitality remains bright. We are seeing steady recoveries across markets aided by increasing vaccination rates and the gradual reopening of borders. Although we still have a long way to go in terms of gender parity as an industry, we have been seeing positive changes in the number of female leaders in hospitality.

Women now occupy one in 10 top positions, compared with 2019 which was one in 11 – while there is still a long way to go, the only way is up. And as an industry centered around welcoming people from all over the world with diverse backgrounds, leadership roles ought to be well-positioned for diverse representation.