Harnessing the Power of Diversity and Inclusion
Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to host a series of round table conversations at a conference event here in Wellington. The event saw over 200 senior leaders from across New Zealand converged on Te Papa to discuss a wide range of topics, challenges and opportunities facing the public sector.
The topic of the round table conversation was ‘harnessing the power of upskilling, diversity and inclusion’. .For me diversity (and inclusion) is a source of competitive advantage and differentiation for organisations but its also something that’s deeply personal to me; due to negative experiences I’ve had over the years including being told I wouldn’t get a job because I had a ‘funny sounding name’.
The level of engagement, and quality of discussion, during the round table conversations was fantastic, and insights and thoughts are definitely worth sharing so here is a summary of those:
- Almost everyone agreed that diversity and inclusion is much wider than gender, race, background etc. Those dimensions of diversity are important because they contribute to diversity of thought; the opportunity is to harness the power of everyone’s perspectives, insights, skills and experiences.
- Diversity and inclusion requires deliberate focus and action; we need to move beyond targets/quoats/measures - which are often passive - to fostering cultures which genuinely value, and actively seek out, diversity.
- There is an opportunity to fold diversity and inclusion into a range of activities. For example, when hiring you should look for technical skills, team fit and contribution towards diversity. Onboarding provides a unique opportunity to set the cultural tone and expectations.
- At the centre of the conversation is bias (both implicit and hidden) and social conditioning - recognising both, and ‘checking in’ to see how they might affect any scenario or situation, is something we need to encourage everyone to do more of.
- The tech industry still suffers from a PR and perception problem. We all need to work to break down the conditioning and conventional wisdom - making technology and STEM-related jobs appealing to a wider cross section of people means getting involved with education programmes, encouraging apprenticeships, mentoring and community engagement activities.
- Creating cross-functional teams (for example, product teams) provides an opportunity to cut across different technical disciplines which can at times be reasonably ‘homogeneous’. The adoption of Agile creates a great opportunity to drive out more diversity and inclusion.
- The drive for diversity and inclusion is something that requires everyone’s support and is definitely something that can be driven ‘middle out’ in organisations but it requires top-level leadership commitment because it has to permeate everything we do, from what is measured/valued all the way through to how front-line activities are delivered.
- It’s tempting to set bit audacious goals but a series of well executed smaller initiatives beats a big audacious goal which struggle to gain traction every time.Small ideas, done well, can build momentum and a coalition for more change.
- A lot of organisations already have a good level of diversity in their workforce (this is very true in New Zealand which I’ve found to be quite multi-cultural) but don’t have the culture and working practices that tap into that diversity.Having diversity at the table isn’t enough if the conversation doesn’t promote and foster inclusion, we can all be doing more to include different insights and thinking into the mix. It can start with something as simple as ensuring everyone has an opportunity to voice their perspective. Sometimes just asking ‘what do you think’ broadens out the conversation. Putting in place mechanisms to allow anyone to provide feedback and suggestions is really important.
- The topic of neurodiversity came up in conversation; it’s where neurological differences are recognized and respected as any other human variation. It’s not an area I’m familiar with, so it’s something I will definitely do more research into. I know Richard Branson have spoken very openly about being dyslexic and how he believes it’s shaped his life and career.
A few people expressed frustration with the seemingly slow rate of progress in terms of gender diversity which is understandable. Diversity and inclusion conversations often spark debates which touch on big, complex topics such as gender equality, discrimination, entitlement, pay gaps and status (amongst other things) making them very confrontational. That makes most people - at least the ones who aren’t so egregiously prejudiced that they will never change - uncomfortable. It’s human nature to be repelled by things that make us uncomfortable. To move past the discomfort I think we need to immerse everyone in the topic to make it personal and relatable. In my experience focusing solely on underrepresented groups tends to alienate the wider audience who are looking for a safe and constructive way to engage.
For leaders at every level it is about creating psychological safety in your organsation to allow people to engage in meaningful conversations, focus on the human aspects, call out detractors (nicely) and work towards a commonly agreed set of goals.
Diversity and inclusion is a complicated topic, no doubt about that. Human beings are complex and navigating biases, assumptions, and misunderstandings will be a bumpy journey. It’s how those bumps are handled, and the ongoing deliberate focus on making things better for everyone that will see things through. There’s also no ‘one size fits all’ recipe - much of this is about experimentation and finding out what works for you, the important bit is creating an environment where that can happen.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the conversations.
Oh, and to the bloke (I have to assume, I’m sorry if I’m wrong) who posted the comment about the benefit of employing young staff being their ability to contribute to the superannuation of those heading towards retirement, let’s talk in person. I assume lunch on Sunday is still on? What time shall we come round and what can we bring, other than your superannuation cheque of course :)