4 TRUTHS ABOUT DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

It has been over a year since I set up MEA, a company designed to raise awareness and drive change to achieve gender balance and inclusion. 

It has been 36 years in which I have personally experienced being a minority (this is not all derived from being Asian female, but for various differences including personality traits and characteristics) and it was previously 12 years which I spent working within Investment Banking, a short time of which as a mother. 

I was deeply out of tune with the fire in me burning towards driving change. I previously held myself unaccountable for gender inequality, and a little moan of the injustice over a coffee was enough to reset the clock, go back to work and enjoy my nice monthly income. 

I believe it was my time returning back to work as a mother (of a lovely daughter) that this fire could not be suppressed with a moan over a coffee. There were deep-rooted systemic challenges which women faced, and there were cultural and societal expectations drowning in biases towards women. It was also clear there was a dominating and very singular path to workplace success. I realised I was not alone and saw this reflected amongst my friends in different industries, my network, clients and acquaintances. 

As I reflect on my time at MEA, my work with various industries, and own personal experiences, I’ve come to the realisation of 4 key challenges in the bid for gender balance and inclusion:

1) Diversity is still primarily perceived as charity work. 

A common theme I see, is that d&i work is a '7th performance KPI' for employees in the business (e.g. to get involved in the women’s network, promote diversity events etc). The overarching feedback is this is a non-promotable task. There is no reward for employees who do this well, and at times there are in fact penalties when there is ‘too much focus’ which is perceived detracting from mainstream business work. 

D&I budgets are undeniably small and have not grown at the pace at which companies are outwardly vocalising their commitment to drive change. 

Ultimately, businesses need to question how they truly perceive diversity. Is this merely a moral imperative or a business strategy which leads to increased representation of the customer base, diversity of perspectives, innovation and profitability? If it is the latter, it is time to be explicit on the capital investment put aside to achieve these results. 

2) There needs to be a structural reorganisation if we want to see a shift in business culture. 

I remember my time in Banking - working on the trading floor, compliance was a core part of the business. We needed constant advice on trades we did with clients. In the banks I worked for, we had front office compliance which sat with us. They were visible, accessible, we built solid relationships, respect and trust with them. I strongly believe we need exactly the same for D&I. We need experts who are sat with and integrated into each business area, who have full visibility into individual business culture, the ability to build solid relationships, trust and more importantly, accessibility to ALL employees in that business area. 

When I say experts, what do I mean? 

I mean Inclusion Coaches. For those of you who have watched Billions, you get a snippet (albeit a distorted and slighlty warped version) into the power of coaching. 

Why inclusion? Well, it allows us to find best practises to capitalise on differences, coping mechanisms to deal with challenges, and a forum to vocalise our deep biases in a safe space.

What is the impact of that? Better relationships at work, better ways of working, ultimately higher engagement with clients. I strongly believe in the power of inclusion and direct impact on employees, teams and therefore business performance, and ultimately profitability. 

3) People are scared to speak up and I’m not surprised. 

If you are reading this article, I’m sure you have encountered the saying ‘let’s get comfortable with being uncomfortable’. I use this saying in my workshops, my consulting work and events I host. It’s true right? We don’t know what we don’t know. We won’t know what we don’t know if we don’t ask. 

Why are we scared to speak up? Is it because the chances of us being pulled up on unintentionally offending, the focus on our shortcomings and the risk of damaging our professional reputations continue to dominate the progress we might make if we do speak up? I think so.

For example, it is apparent many males employees advocate for change but there is a common fear around stigmatisation, being inappropriately perceived with female colleagues and afraid to ask questions and even vocalise this fear in case they offend.

The ironic thing is, there tends as much criticism as there is praise for well-intentioned work to drive change. 

How do we change this? Promote authenticity. 

Create a culture which allows people to speak up and is forgiving to those who make mistakes. Provide a framework to employees in how to be open, honest whilst creating a safe space. Be constructive. When or if we are offending or making mistakes, provide guidance over criticism. I had a prospective client recently talking about ethnicity and he was so unsure if to call me Asian, Indian, a woman of colour or brown. It became very apparent and I told him I actually just see myself as British so whatever works personally for me (except brown!). He immediately settled having clarity on how best to be guided. 

I am on the similar journey myself with pronouns and how to address this with others (she/her, he/him, they/them). I have most probably addressed that wrong already. It is very new to me, as is my work with gender fluidity and I really want to learn - I had encountered some very kind people who have provided me guidance and it is helping me more than sole criticism when being incorrect. 

4) Diversity is a meaningless word. 

It really is. I ask you to send me a visual image of the perfect picture of diversity. Is it a team, picture with 2 people of each BAME, non BAME background, of all genders, LGBT and disabilities? But what about the short man in that picture? Or the woman with ginger hair? What if you are missing the employee with the strong regional accent or different dress sense?  There will ALWAYS be a minority in any group of people.

A man in a room of women will be the minority. A straight woman at an LGBT event will be. So let's focus less on diversity and MORE on inclusion. Inclusion welcomes and embraces difference, and will ultimately remove barriers for anyone from difference and create the natural workplace dynamic. 

Despite how this article might read, I do believe change is coming. Not fully in my career lifetime but hopefully in time for my daughter's generation. We are seeing positive strides in the bid for gender balance and I must acknowledge that.  Men are being involved in the challenge, media are pledging to increase representation on peak time tv (which we know deeply feeds our biases), minority networks are getting sponsored from dominant groups, and gender pay gap reporting is forcing the conversation. 

(this article is written on personal opinion of Anju Solanki, Founder of MEA Consulting Group)