Leadership commitment to drive an inclusive culture is vital to the success of Vision 2030, AXIS Network’s invitation to the industry to imagine what more we could achieve if we accelerate progress towards a fully inclusive and diverse industry.
Leaders need a clear understanding of the benefits of gender equity, the value of diverse decision making and how to develop a business culture that will drive success. Recognising the challenges, especially in how diverse teams perceive their successes will help keep progress on track. Being consistently vocal will maintain focus and engagement along on the journey.
The business case is clear: diverse teams drive better results. AXIS’ tagline of ‘Better Balance, Better Business’ sums this up perfectly. Diverse workforces are twice as likely to meet or exceed their financial goals.
Tim Harford sets this out in several examples in his book, Messy: The power of Disorder to Transform our Lives. Harford refers to research by Scott Page, where: ‘Page showed that in many problem-solving contexts, ‘diversity trumps ability’……..’There’s a lot of empirical data to show that diverse cities are more productive, diverse boards of directors make better decisions, the most innovative companies are diverse.’ The logic behind these results is that when dealing with a complicated problem even the smartest person can get stuck. Adding a new perspective of a new set of skills can unstick us, even if the perspective is off-the-wall or the skills are mediocre.’
Leadership commitment to driving an inclusive culture is vital: this increases the probability of attracting and retaining diverse teams. Yet, many leaders still don’t consistently vocalise this as a priority, which is surprising. After all, these are not small gains, Forbes even suggests that diverse teams can increase cash profits (EBITDA) by 33 percent. Inclusive teams are where people feel psychologically safe, trusted and valued.
Leaders should be aware that working in diverse teams isn’t as easy as working in homogeneous teams. This makes sense: if everyone is agreeing with each other and getting along easily, it feels better. But the research shows that the results won’t be as good as when people constructively challenge, share differing viewpoints and explore a variety of ways forward.
Tim Harford’s Messy sets out: ‘Members of diverse teams didn’t feel very sure that they’d got the right answer and they felt socially uncomfortable. The teams made up of the four friends had a more pleasant time and they also tended to be confident - wrongly - that they had found the right answer. When it comes to picking our own dream team, we seem incapable of figuring out what’s good for us. The diverse teams were more effective, but that is not how things seemed to people in those teams…The homogeneous teams were ineffective and complacent. They enjoyed themselves and wrongly assumed that because their friendly conversation was smooth and effortless they were doing well.’
Leaders need to be aware of this challenge and support their managers and teams to gain the knowledge and skills to navigate these pitfalls. Diverse teams drive far better results but when you’re in the thick of decision making, it doesn’t feel like success.
One other way of combating this challenge is to be transparent and vocal about diversity and inclusion. Teams are more likely to do the hard work if they know it’s important to their leaders and the business. This communication is more likely to be successful if it is a consistently repeated set of messaging, rather than a one-off initiative. Like our safety focused culture, diversity and inclusion needs to be woven into everyday working life.
To effect real change and accelerate our progress towards Vision 2030 and a fully inclusive and diverse industry we need Leadership Commitment. We have to understand of the benefits of diversity, our teams perception of their success and we need to provide them with the knowledge and skills to accelerate progress. By doing the hard work and keeping focused Vision 2030 can become a reality.
Harford, T. (2016) Messy: The power of disorder to transform our lives. New York: Riverhead Books.