Diversity, Chocolate and Safe Cracking.

Diversity. It's the topic of the hour. Organisations are all putting 'diversity' and 'equal opportunities' on every job ad. But, for some organisations it still seems to be a struggle.

What's the goal? Do we want diverse teams because it's the "right thing to do" or is it "good for our teams and organisations"? Are we hiring minorities to keep up with quotas or our competition?

This talk will engage the audience in a frank discussion on what diversity is, why we need it and how we might achieve it.

For full details of the session see https://www.wisenoodles.com/talks/diversity-chocolate-and-safe-cracking

Transcript

1. DIVERSITY, CHOCOLATE AND 
 SAFE CRACKING. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com JOHN LE DREW
2. JOHN LE DREW I have spent the last 2 decades working in the software industry and have spent most of the last 15 years in positions where I had direct or indirect influence on hiring decisions and/or the structure of teams. HELLO! @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com My name is John Le Drew and over most of the last 2 decades working in the software industry I have spent most of the last 15 years being involved in the hiring process, building new teams and growing existing teams.
3. A GOOD FIT? @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com I have frequently (as I imagine many of you have) asked the question, "is this person a good 'fit' for my team?" But, as I became more aware of diversity and inclusion, I started to wonder exactly what that question really meant?
4. BIASED? @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com But surely, I wasn't biased? Not me. It's those other people who are sexist, racist, homophobic. Not me, right? Not any of you?
5. FIRST THINGS FIRST @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com I will leave that question hanging, and I promise to pick it up a little later. Before we dive into this topic, I want to explain a few definitions for some terms that I will use throughout this session.
6. MERITOCRACY @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com ONE CAN HOLD POWER AND/OR INFLUENCE BASED ONLY ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL MERIT. The idea that one can hold power and/or influence based only on their individual merit. The majority of businesses would claim to be meritocratic, and in many ways, the goal is righteous, and the intent genuine, but what is getting in the way?
7. INCLUSION @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com THE STATE OF BEING INCLUDED. Inclusion at its simplest is ‘the state of being included’. But, in reality, we know there is quite a bit more to say here. Inclusion is the practice of ensuring that people feel they belong, are engaged, and connected. It is a universal human right whose aim is to embrace all people, irrespective of race, gender, disability or other attribute which can be perceived as di"erent. This means, ensuring that your organisation sees the value of di"erence, supports it and fosters it. But more on that a little later.
8. DIVERSITY @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com THE PRESENCE OF DIFFERENCE. Of all the definitions, this is actually the simplest. It simply means the presence of di"erence. It's the outcome of a true meritocracy supported by a culture of inclusion.
9. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com PRIVILEGED? Privilege is not something you choose to have, it’s something you were born with. If you are born with skin that is anything other than white, born as anything other than a man, born as anything other than heterosexual, then you can’t avoid the prejudice you will face.
10. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com WHAT’S IN A NAME? A study completed in 2002 had authors respond to job ads in Chicago and Boston newspapers, they sent CVs with either African-American- or white-sounding names and then measured the number of callbacks each resume received for interviews. Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback. This is a 50% di"erence! So, just by sounding too black, your chances are decreased. Or rather, just by being white, your chances are increased. I am a white male, with all the privileges that come with that. I’m not ignorant of that fact, and neither should any of you be.
11. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com UNCONSCIOUS BIASES From the moment you pickup the potential hire’s CV… “Oh look! They went to the same university!” “Oh look! They grew up in the same part of the country!” “Oh look! Their favourite colour is also mauve!” Then, because you already love them, they arrive for the interview. “Oh look! Their skin is pale like mine!” “Oh look! They are the same gender as me!” “Oh look! They seem about the same age as me!
 I wonder if they grew up watching Thundercats?!” Then, you actually start speaking to them “Wow! They remember that weird professor at our uni.” “Amazeballs. Their dad knows my uncle. Small world right?!” “OMG. They watched Thundercats! I love them.” With the bias frenzy in full swing, 30 seconds into the interview and they are pretty much hired. They seem much better that the last one. She didn’t watch Thundercats.
12. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com CONFORMITY BIAS BEAUTY BIAS CONFORMITY BIAS If an individual feels the majority of the group are leaning towards/away from a certain candidate, they will tend to go along with the group thinks rather than voice their own opinions. BEAUTY BIAS In recruitment, it’s common that recruiters will look to fill a role with someone who shares similar physical attributes to the person who held that role before, or who they believe looks like the kind of person who should have the role based on their preconceived bias.
13. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com CONFORMITY BIAS BEAUTY BIAS AFFINITY BIAS HALO EFFECT HORNS EFFECT AFFINITY BIAS A#nity bias occurs when we see someone we feel we have an a#nity with e.g. we attended the same college, we grew up in the same town, or they remind us of someone we know and like. HALO EFFECT For example, when looking through someone’s CV/resume we may see they went to a particularly highly regarded college where they received a certain high grade, or they had undertaken some very sought after work experience program. HORNS EFFECT For example, when interviewing someone we might be put o" by the fact that they speak very slowly because our unconscious bias has caused us to assume that someone who speaks slowly is unintelligent.
14. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com CONFORMITY BIAS BEAUTY BIAS AFFINITY BIAS HALO EFFECT HORNS EFFECT CONTRAST EFFECT ATTRIBUTION BIAS CONFIRMATION BIAS CONTRAST EFFECT For example, if we’re looking at a number of CVs/interviews in a row, one after the other, we tend to compare each CV/interview to the one that came before it. FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION BIAS When we do something badly we tend to believe that our failing is down to external factors like other people that adversely a"ected us and prevented us from doing our best. When it comes to other people, we tend to think the opposite. If someone else has done something well we consider them lucky, and if they’ve done something badly we tend to think it’s due to their personality or bad behaviour. CONFIRMATION BIAS We look for evidence to support our decisions, and can be blind to other information. Very dangerous, as you can see that our decisions are likely to be biased in the first place!
15. WHY DIVERSITY? @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com So, before we dig into the 'how' let’s look at the WHY? Why do we need diversity in our organisations? It's it just because we 'should' be doing it? To avoid being sued? Or do we need diversity for other reasons? What about, beating our competition? What about innovation? I think we know, living in the 21st century, that diversity is a moral imperative. This, in itself, doesn't need much more explanation. But I want to focus on the business case, our organisations need diversity, not because of the risk of legal action, but because of the risk their increasingly diverse competitors pose to their market.
16. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com DIVERSITY MATTERS 2015 REPORT FROM MCKINSEY 100s OF PUBLICLY LISTED COMPANIES FROM THE UK, US, CANADA AND LATIN AMERICA. In 2015 McKinsey published a report titled Diversity Matters. Their research across hundreds of publicly listed companies across the UK, US, Canada and Latin America showed that organisations that were in the top quartile for ethnic, racial or gender diversity were more likely* to have financial returns above their national industry median. They also found the reverse was true, companies in the 4th quartile for diversity were more likely to have returns below their national industry median. So, why does diversity in organisations improve their results? The McKinsey references 4 areas. *35% racial/ethnic 15%
17. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com DIVERSITY MATTERS ETHNIC, RACIAL OR GENDER DIVERSITY FINANCIAL RETURNS NATIONAL INDUSTRY MEDIAN In 2015 McKinsey published a report titled Diversity Matters. Their research across hundreds of publicly listed companies across the UK, US, Canada and Latin America showed that organisations that were in the top quartile for ethnic, racial or gender diversity were more likely* to have financial returns above their national industry median. They also found the reverse was true, companies in the 4th quartile for diversity were more likely to have returns below their national industry median. So, why does diversity in organisations improve their results? The McKinsey references 4 areas. *35% racial/ethnic 15%
18. THE WAR FOR TALENT @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com THERE IS A TALENT SHORTAGE. COMPANIES THAT PRIORITISE BUILDING AND KEEPING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE, HAVE THE EDGE OVER COMPANIES THAT DON’T. SKILLED PEOPLE! Quite simply, there is a talent shortage. Companies that prioritise building and keeping a diverse workforce, have the edge over companies that don’t. There is a large pool of skilled talent. Companies that are actively focused on enriching their recruitment pipelines and addressing these biases have a significant advantage over their competition as workforces in many advanced economies become more ethnically diverse as a result of immigration and birth-rate demographic. -In the US, half of all infants under the age of 1 in 2010 were members of a racial or ethnic minority group. -In the UK, the percentage of workers of European ancestry has fallen by almost 10% since 2005. -In the UK and the US, women make up almost 1/2 the workforce. -On average, LGBTQ recruits were more highly skilled and more likely to have advanced degrees. So, there are a lot of skilled people out there. When we actually look at the entire workforce, but what happens more frequently than it should, is that once our biases kick in and we begin to reject candidates we end up artificially reducing the size of our talent pool and more often than not, with undesirable e"ects.
19. THE WAR FOR TALENT @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com THERE IS A TALENT SHORTAGE. COMPANIES THAT PRIORITISE BUILDING AND KEEPING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE, HAVE THE EDGE OVER COMPANIES THAT DON’T. “WE CAN’T
 FIND THE 
 SKILLS :(” Quite simply, there is a talent shortage. Companies that prioritise building and keeping a diverse workforce, have the edge over companies that don’t. There is a large pool of skilled talent. Companies that are actively focused on enriching their recruitment pipelines and addressing these biases have a significant advantage over their competition as workforces in many advanced economies become more ethnically diverse as a result of immigration and birth-rate demographic. -In the US, half of all infants under the age of 1 in 2010 were members of a racial or ethnic minority group. -In the UK, the percentage of workers of European ancestry has fallen by almost 10% since 2005. -In the UK and the US, women make up almost 1/2 the workforce. -On average, LGBTQ recruits were more highly skilled and more likely to have advanced degrees. So, there are a lot of skilled people out there. When we actually look at the entire workforce, but what happens more frequently than it should, is that once our biases kick in and we begin to reject candidates we end up artificially reducing the size of our talent pool and more often than not, with undesirable e"ects.
20. CUSTOMER ORIENTATION @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com WE NEED OUR ORGANISATIONS AND PRODUCT TEAMS TO BETTER REFLECT OUR CUSTOMERS. CUSTOMERS PRODUCT TEAM We need our organisations and product teams to better reflect our customers. Diversity groups represent the majority of the general population and an emphatic majority where purchasing decisions are concerned -In the UK -80 percent of purchasing decisions are made by women. -By 2025, women are expected to own 60 percent of all personal wealth -and control £400 million more per week in expenditures than men -In the US -LGBT individuals controlled $790 billion in 2012 -African Americans are expected to control $1.1 trillion by 2015 A top team that reflects these powerful demographic groups will have a better understanding of their market decision behaviour and how to impact. A senior exec in a multi national company said: “In our top-100 executive meetings we spend more than half of our time speaking about Asia. But if I look around the room I hardly see anybody with an Asian background” CEOs from many di"erent industries are increasingly adopting the view that “it is crucial for a company’s employees to reflect the people they serve”. -Coca-Cola, for example, has ensured that 38 percent of new US hires are people of colour and instituted mentoring programs to support the
21. GREATER EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com WORKPLACE DIVERSITY IMPROVES EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Employee engagement is a serious challenge for todays organisations, a Gallup poll found that -In 2013, Gallup reported that only 13% of employees were actively engaged at work. In 2017 they reported a slight rise, to 15%! -Level of engagement are lowest for the cohort born after 1980, and multiple surveys have indicated that diversity is particularly important to Generation Y or the Millennials, as they are known. -Diversity increases employee satisfaction and fosters positive attitudes and behaviours in the workplace.
22. IN A TEAM A DIVERSITY OF INFORMED VIEWS ENABLES OBJECTION AND ALTERNATIVES TO BE EXPLORED. BETTER DECISIONS AND INNOVATION @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com Managers working on tough problems have often assembled diverse teams of thinkers to challenge one another and improve the quality of their answers. A diversity of informed views enables objections and alternatives to be explored more e!ciently and solutions to emerge more readily and be adopted with greater confidence. Research by Scott Page indicates that the presence of women and minority members on a leadership team enhances problem solving in the same way, since they add perspectives from their di"erent experiences. Ethnically and gender-diverse top teams o"er companies more problem- solving tools, broader thinking, and better solutions. This finding has resonated with leaders of top companies for inclusivity. For instance, Paul Block, CEO of US sweetener manufacturer Merisant, commented “People with di"erent lifestyles and di"erent backgrounds challenge each other more. Diversity creates dissent, and you need that. Without it, you’re not going to get any deep inquiry or breakthroughs”. Page’s research was based on professional rather than demographic diversity —having an engineer and a lawyer on an executive team, for example. He understood that benefits derived from one form of diversity would not necessarily be derived from others, but believed that professional and demographic diversity often went hand in hand. The Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) found that when leadership lacks diversity or fails to foster a “speak-up” culture, fewer promising ideas make it to market. Ideas from women, ethnic minorities, LGBT individuals, and members of Generation Y are less likely to win the endorsement they need to go forward because 56 percent of leaders don’t value ideas they don’t personally see a need for. This thinking can exert a stranglehold on an organisation if its leaders are predominantly white, male, and heterosexual, for example, or come from similar educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. In short, the data strongly suggests that homogeneity stifles innovation.
23. IN A TEAM A DIVERSITY OF INFORMED VIEWS ENABLES OBJECTION AND ALTERNATIVES TO BE EXPLORED. BETTER DECISIONS AND INNOVATION @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com Managers working on tough problems have often assembled diverse teams of thinkers to challenge one another and improve the quality of their answers. A diversity of informed views enables objections and alternatives to be explored more e!ciently and solutions to emerge more readily and be adopted with greater confidence. Research by Scott Page indicates that the presence of women and minority members on a leadership team enhances problem solving in the same way, since they add perspectives from their di"erent experiences. Ethnically and gender-diverse top teams o"er companies more problem- solving tools, broader thinking, and better solutions. This finding has resonated with leaders of top companies for inclusivity. For instance, Paul Block, CEO of US sweetener manufacturer Merisant, commented “People with di"erent lifestyles and di"erent backgrounds challenge each other more. Diversity creates dissent, and you need that. Without it, you’re not going to get any deep inquiry or breakthroughs”. Page’s research was based on professional rather than demographic diversity —having an engineer and a lawyer on an executive team, for example. He understood that benefits derived from one form of diversity would not necessarily be derived from others, but believed that professional and demographic diversity often went hand in hand. The Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) found that when leadership lacks diversity or fails to foster a “speak-up” culture, fewer promising ideas make it to market. Ideas from women, ethnic minorities, LGBT individuals, and members of Generation Y are less likely to win the endorsement they need to go forward because 56 percent of leaders don’t value ideas they don’t personally see a need for. This thinking can exert a stranglehold on an organisation if its leaders are predominantly white, male, and heterosexual, for example, or come from similar educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. In short, the data strongly suggests that homogeneity stifles innovation.
24. DEGREES OF DIFFERENCE @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com The point here, is that to solve this problem, we had to approach the problem from all angles. Now, clearly this was a contrived example, but let's think about the problems most of our teams will be solving, they are complex software problems. If be narrow our view of the problem, we also blinker our approach. We need to approach problem from the broadest possible starting point to allow us to consider all the available option in order to come out with the most e"ective solution.
25. DEGREES OF DIFFERENCE @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com The point here, is that to solve this problem, we had to approach the problem from all angles. Now, clearly this was a contrived example, but let's think about the problems most of our teams will be solving, they are complex software problems. If be narrow our view of the problem, we also blinker our approach. We need to approach problem from the broadest possible starting point to allow us to consider all the available option in order to come out with the most e"ective solution.
26. CONFLICT @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com One of the most common challenges to diverse teams is that when you have many opinions and di"erent perspectives, you have increased conflict. It's this very conflict that people highlight as a challenge to diversity, that is feeding the creativity itself. This is rich debate and discussion, that takes teams to the best solutions. What is often lacking in teams that see this debate and discussion as a blocker to progress, is truly e"ective facilitation from leadership.
27. TACKLING
 UNCONSCIOUS BIASES @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com So, how can we avoid doing something that is completely unintentional? If we are “hard wired” to prefer people that are like us, then how can we help ourselves be more objective?
 • It's natural. • It's unintended. • It can a"ect decisions. • It can be mitigated. How can we help avoid it?
 • Be aware of unconscious bias. Be aware of the bias you do have, in fact, research shows that just reading about unconscious biases prior to an interview or a CV filtering session will reduce their e"ect. Be mindful! One study actually showed that executives who claimed to have no biases were more than 50% more likely to show bias than those that recognised their biases and were mindful of them. • Don't rush decisions rather take your time and consider issues properly. • Justify decisions by evidence and record the reasons for your decisions, for example during a recruitment exercise. • Employers should implement policies and procedures which limit the influence of individual characteristics and preferences.
28. @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com INCLUSION So, we have spent a lot of time looking at the WHY, and I hope you are convinced that this is a good idea. So let's spend some time looking at how organisations can build a culture of inclusion that supports diversity.
29. THOUGHTWORKS @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com As part of my research for this session, I spent a day at Thoughtworks’ new Manchester o#ce. With a focus on inclusion Thoughtworks have been able to increase levels of gender diversity. Specifically, the current international average for women in technical roles being about 17%, as of 2017 they have 38%, with a goal to get past 40% in 2018. So, I asked them how they did it. It’s clearly an ongoing project for them, but here are some of the key things they have done to create an inclusive environment. • Always looking to support flexible hours where they can. • All the corridors are designed to fit two wheelchairs, and all surfaces are designed to be accessible to people who are wheel chair bound. • Their main event space has a hearing loop. • They have unisex toilets. • Baby changing facilities on site. • They have a quiet room for contemplation.
30. HUMANS @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com Almost all the large management consultancies (McKinsey included) will use this opportunity to o"er you a checklist for 'implementing' diversity. And I'm not qualified to comment on how successful those implementations are. But, I can't help but always feel a little cynical. As I see it, there is a foundational principle that we can't lose sight of. We employ human beings, and the humans we employ are di"erent. Perhaps, not di"erent enough (which is the specific focus here) but di"erent and unique all the same. From our first days in education, through to retirement, we are constantly reminded of how inconvenient it is to be di"erent. Di"erently-abled (mentally or physically), di"erently-coloured, di"erently-gendered (especially if you identify as something other that you were at birth), it's truly inconvenient to 'handle' and 'manage' all this di"erence. As a teacher, or manager, frankly, it's a pain in the arse. It's challenging to manage the di"erences, so we try to box all the di"erences into categories. Then we only have to deal with, the people of colour, the LGBTQ+ group, the women, etc. What are we really managing here? We are managing needs. Humans have needs. Some people have di"erent needs than others. But, clearly, all LGBTQ+ people don't have the same needs. Nor do all women, or all men for that matter. For me, the heart of this is that human beings have needs, and to create a truly inclusive environment, is to be aware of and support the needs of all people. And we can do this without putting people into boxes to classify them, in fact, doing so (as can be seen by our terrible record on learning di#culties in schools) does nothing but damage the support we provide. What's more, people frequently fall into many di"erent buckets. You could be a women of colour. You could also be a parent, gay, disabled, a lover of donuts from that little place on the corner and like just the right amount of milk in your co"ee. This is a concept known as intersectionality, I
31. TO FINISH @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com DIVERSITY IS THE FUEL THAT POWERS OUR NEW CREATIVE ECONOMY, INCLUSION IS WHAT ENABLES IT. ORGANISATIONS THAT ARE FOCUSED ON THE HUMAN BEINGS THEY EMPLOY AND SUPPORT THEIR NEEDS WILL BE THE ORGANISATIONS THAT CAN COMPETE, AND FRANKLY THE ORGANISATIONS THAT SURVIVE. DIVERSITY IS THE FUEL THAT POWERS OUR NEW CREATIVE ECONOMY, INCLUSION IS WHAT ENABLES IT. ORGANISATIONS THAT ARE FOCUSED ON THE HUMAN BEINGS THEY EMPLOY AND SUPPORT THEIR NEEDS WILL BE THE ORGANISATIONS THAT CAN COMPETE, AND FRANKLY THE ORGANISATIONS THAT SURVIVE.
32. TO FINISH @antz29 /// www.wisenoodles.com IT’S UP TO YOU TO START THE PROCESS OF BUILDING TRULY MERITOCRATIC ORGANISATIONS WITH CULTURES OF INCLUSION, SUPPORTING INCREASED DIVERSITY. SURVIVAL IS OPTIONAL - W. EDWARDS DEMING IT’S UP TO YOU IT’S REALLY UP TO ALL OF YOU YOU TO START THE PROCESS OF BUILDING TRULY MERITOCRATIC ORGANISATIONS WITH CULTURES OF INCLUSION, SUPPORTING INCREASED DIVERSITY, AND SEEING ALL THE BENEFITS WE HAVE ALREADY DISCUSSED. BUT IF YOU DECIDE THAT IT’S NOT WORTH IT, TOO MUCH HASSLE, REMEMBER YOUR COMPETITORS ARE ALREADY THINKING ABOUT THIS ISSUE, AND AS DEMING SAID, SURVIVAL, IS OPTIONAL.
33. THANKS! 
 
 WWW.WISENOODLES.COM // @antz29 QUESTIONS?