Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Leads to High-Performing Product Management Teams
BPMA Announces First-Ever Study on the State of DE&I in Product Management
BPMA, Boston’s leading community for product managers and product marketers, today announced the results of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), survey. The landmark BPMA DE&I Study is one of the first ever to examine the state and impact of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on product teams and the products they create. For those organizations seeking to derive the benefits of DE&I, this survey is a must read.
Seeking to better understand the current state of DE&I in the field of product management, BPMA surveyed product leaders and found that there are 1/3 as many BIPOC product managers as there are BIPOC people in the overall population, and that more diverse teams may outperform less diverse teams. BIPOC people are historically underrepresented populations including Black, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders.
The BPMA survey uncovered that most organizations don’t have DE&I initiatives currently in place, and as such, are potentially incurring an opportunity cost. In addition, it was further discovered that achieving the positive outcomes of greater DE&I requires ongoing support of and commitment to DE&I from within the organization.
Specifically, the survey found that:
On average, fewer than 10% of the people on product management and product marketing teams are BIPOC, compared to 33.4% in the US population overall – see chart below.
At the same time, the vast majority of respondents believe that diversity improves the effectiveness of product teams: 87.3% of respondents stated that diversity programs provide different perspectives for product teams, 70.4% said that diversity builds better products, and 60.6% believe that diversity improves team performance.
66.2% of companies have programs to increase BIPOC representation, and just under half (45.8%) of those were started in the last year or less. Of companies that do not have a DEI program, only 20.8% plan to implement those programs in the next 6-9 months. The most common formal DEI initiatives are employee resource groups (39.4%) and college recruiting (35.2%).
The BPMA DEI survey shows that less diverse product organizations underperform more diverse teams. Less diverse teams share limited perspectives, build less successful products, and their teams perform at a lower level.
Similarly, research from McKinsey showed that ethnically diverse executive teams outperformed non-diverse teams, achieving 1/3 higher (34%) higher financial results. If the same applies to product management, non-diverse product teams risk delivering lower financial returns in addition to lower team performance.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are very important values for the Boston Product Management Association. We have recently established a Diversity & Inclusion Committee with the objective of increasing diversity and inclusion in the product community, BPMA, and product organizations overall. We believe this survey will be instrumental in starting this conversation.
Steve Robins – President BPMA
If you want to bring about positive change, you need to measure where you are, so you know what to fix. Addressing inequities in representation within product management is a business imperative. Ignoring it can impact the full potential of product teams and the ability of organizations to source and grow talent effectively. Moral gains are a bonus outcome.
Shawne Robinson – Director of Diversity & Inclusion, BPMA
To learn more about the benefits of DE&I initiatives in product organizations, you can obtain BPMA’s report on this survey here.
BPMA surveyed companies in a variety of industries, the majority of which had 500 or more employees, with over half in the software industry. 83% of respondents were product management leaders at the director level or above.
The Boston Product Management Association, BPMA, is a volunteer-led professional association providing programs and resources to develop the skills and careers of current and aspiring product management and product marketing professionals in the greater Boston area, New England and beyond.