The Barriers to Creating a Diverse Organisation are Real
Although widely discussed and debated, the Diversity & Inclusion topic is still not fully understood, interpreted, or well-navigated, and a large proportion of transformation/diversity/inclusion programs fail.
While it’s evident that there are many benefits to creating a diverse & inclusive organization, it’s not always simple to reach that goal. Unfortunately, organizational diversity barriers are alive and well, and many leaders grapple with finding valuable insights into what they’re up against.
Leaders grapple not only because organizations lack a common language of D&I but also because many interventions are stuck trying to fit it into pre-existing structures meaning that embedded barriers consistently trip them up. These pre-existing structures: tangible, intangible, conscious, or unconscious, are just some of the obstacles to creating a successful D&I strategy. Once the challenges are recognizable, they are easier to navigate.
Our research showed clear and common themes regarding the barriers that inhibit creating a fully diverse and inclusive organizational culture. Here are our top 4:
FEAR
“Fear is what leads to a scarcity mindset; opening a space for someone different doesn’t mean that they will be a taker, and you will have to give. But, they may give, and you may get something back!” says CEO and Board Executive Mamokete Ramathe.
This fear most often originates from the lack of experience in these conversations — the ‘muscle’ to have the difficult conversation. Fear causes us to armor up and shy away from the much-needed discussion. It is the underlying barrier to courage. In this space where we need courageous leadership and courageous conversations, many leaders lack these skills and experience. However, once we get to a place of courage, it becomes contagious, a driving force for truthful and open honest conversation, creating a space for education and the foundations of embedded knowledge of the Language of D&I.
“Leaders want a solution that doesn’t hurt. This stuff hurts!” says Investment Banker Jo Maharaj. “The message has to be consistent in the spoken and the unspoken ways.” As Private Equity Transactor Amina Pahad reiterates, “This is not a soft and gentle process where everyone is kept happy. This is a massive change that requires a major dislocation…you cannot do this without risk…often, people who need to make these difficult decisions are the same ones that have benefitted from the status quo for decades.” As Media Creative Natalie van Schalkwyk observes, “People feel diversity is a threat, they want to keep boxed and in control.”
Of course, the answer lies in letting go. Letting go allows us to replace the fear and the control with the freedom of stepping into the power that exists beyond.
The education piece is in itself tricky. New York Times best-selling Author Stan Slap goes one level deeper,
“What you want from your culture are latent human behaviors, and culture is a human organism. You don’t have to teach your culture to give them; you have to convince your culture to give them. If your culture is hesitating, it has reasons for believing it’s not safe and sane to do so.”
For Mpume Langa , head of finance in FMCG, the scarcity concept is at the heart of that process “This is not about scarcity — for me to embrace this, I have to give something up, but it’s not like that. If you know your purpose, nobody can fill your seat.”
It is possible to conquer this fear. Head of Investor Relations Nwabisa Piki believes that “it’s hard, but it’s not so hard that we cannot get around it. We don’t all have to get along. We are different; we can celebrate being different.”
Tolerance is a word that Natalie reminded us of and is a topic for a whole new blog. Still, to dwell on it for a bit, circa the 7th century, the productive Moorish society existed in a community of religious and cultural differences, all co-existing peacefully and collaborating, creating, and progressing. Tolerance may have a negative connotation. But she reminded us that it’s big-picture thinking.
“Think of tolerate as the open-minded verb. It means you allow something to happen or exist, even if you don’t like it” “Yes, we don’t have to agree or get along or like each other, but we have to respect each other’s otherness. For me, that’s the gold. Tolerate, respect, allow, be okay with, permit, (etc.) the other.”
SELF AWARENESS
It’s not just the fear of what could happen that becomes a barrier; the internal anxieties within our own identities can play out too. In a workplace, we often lose who we inherently are and become unaware of how beliefs and perceptions affect our behavior.
Self-awareness relating to Diversity requires understanding our own identity, rules, and biases. As we develop this self-awareness, we can begin articulating our definitions, practices, and prejudices. Still, we also start to move from strongly favoring only our view to becoming more comfortable with new and diverse perspectives.
By understanding’ Self,’ we know ‘Other.’
We then become aware of the balance between victim and perpetrator (see blog here). As one of our interviewees put it, ‘it is about owning your shit!’ Self-awareness also dramatically reduces the fear element.
Once we know “other,” the magic can begin. According to Organizational Development and disability expert, Julia Wood “lack of awareness is the single biggest barrier to creating a diverse organization.” We need to become aware of our personal beliefs and prejudice towards minority groups and how these affect critical diversity-related decisions we make in business, which can easily lead to unintentional discrimination. Companies need to invest time to educate themselves around the intricacies and sensitive topics related to minority groups to understand better the barriers that we unconsciously create for successful inclusion initiatives.
A simple exercise to check awareness is to finish the sentence: “all people with disabilities are…” or “all women are…”. Often the first word or phrase that comes to mind is rooted in your beliefs or exposure to those groups and may not be based on facts or evidence. Logically we know how ridiculous these frames are, but they are etched so deeply into the collective psyche that we have to keep mentally checking ourselves.
Letting go of the adjectives is the first big step in creating genuine inclusivity. Our Diversity does not define us; it is just one element within our hugely complex, multi-layered individual humanity. A disabled software engineer or a woman doctor is just as capable as any other flavor of software engineer or doctor. We need to balance seeing the whole human with complete empathy and defining others by boxing them.
Stan reminds us, though it’s entirely possible to make this change, “The sense of equality and compassion are human things. They are part of the original programming; you don’t need to teach you to have to unlearn.”
The Good News Guy Brent Lindeque sees it as a revolution of this awareness “There is a revolution of good human beings who want other people to be happy!” That is undoubtedly the type of revolution that we can sign up for!
STRATEGIC INTENT & ACTION
Diversity and Inclusion initiatives are often more sideshows and compliance-driven exercises than hardcore strategies. A “nice to have.” Without strategic intent, there is a limited mandate to make any meaningful change. As Lerato Semenya, managing director and a diversity and inclusion specialist, put it, “You cannot change numbers and forget the accommodations. If you don’t create space for them to be here, they will leave.”
To create change, D&I must become a focused strategy with deliverables linked to a business’s purpose. The Board & CEO need to set the D&I vision, communicate progress, and hold leadership accountable for those outcomes. It is a fundamental and integral element of business strategy and cannot be a passive journey. With any strategic intent must come the equivalent strategic investment. D&I systems often fail because the appetite to invest in these critical strategies fails to materialize.
The balance that organizations can gain from this focus is evident by looking at the success rates of highly inclusive businesses. Part of this success comes from unleashing the incredible power that Diversity brings.
Jo Maharaj reminds us that “inclusivity is about decentralizing power. when other people’s ideas are allowed to flourish to widen the base of who can contribute and in so doing, we share power.” It’s well known that this decentralized power can create an incredible boost to performance.
To ensure this strategic intent, organizations will need to ensure that both metrics and rewards align with this vision.
Often, there is no drive of D&I metrics across the entire ecosystem. Many existing measures are linked purely to compliance or legislative requirements (often D&I barriers themselves) and thus measure ineffective ‘components’ of successful D&I initiatives. These benchmarks or metrics are often soft KPI’s and have no link to the reward. Success as an inclusive business requires metrics that reach across the whole ecosystem with deep consideration for their impact.
Similarly, since reward systems directly drive specific behaviors, you will get the same outcome until those reward mechanisms are changed. These rewards are closely associated with vested interests that slow the pace of change.
Companies often focus on the business case but forget to link the Human Case to Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. The Human Case is where the magic begins.
It was Brene Brown who said ‘“If we are going to change what is happening in a meaningful way, we are going to need to intentionally be with people who are different from us. We are going to have to sign up, join in, and take a seat at the table. We’re going to have to learn how to listen, have hard conversations, look for joy, share pain, and be more curious than defensive, all while seeking moments of togetherness.”
STANDING ALONE
There may be a disincentive to ambition for previously disadvantaged minorities if few role models exist at the organization’s top levels. This disincentive causes a leaky pipeline for inclusion efforts as candidates choose to leave. Equally, as a minority in senior leadership, it can feel like a very lonely place. This pipeline leakage combined with lack of board-level leadership transformation is the most significant barrier slowing the pace of Diversity and inclusion efforts. Just look at the slow pace of gender transformation at the board level globally.
The Barriers are, of course, many. But the intent to change is thriving in the world. With awareness and conversation, we begin to bring down the barriers, and we can together recognize and tackle the obstacles.
