For the most part, we all want the same things; connection, love, purpose and to feel included. We finally are being heard by the decision makers. Human Resource departments everywhere are busy writing policies, procedure manuals and toolkits. Is it working? Do we feel more included? Are we less stressed? Has performance increased? Team synergy improved?
Can the benefits of Diversity exist or even impact Organisational Culture, when biases are present?
We look to culture surveys to receive feedback from our people and create strategies to navigate change and it is a continuous cycle of improvement. Which is exactly what we, we being organisations, should be doing.
However, after doing a little research it is clear that for all the push for diversity in the workplace, it is not moving past the writing of the documents.
In May 2020, McKinsey released a report called Diversity Wins, how inclusion matters. Whilst they concluded that organisations that actively and deliberately work at Inclusion and Diversity are winners in all areas of the market; profit, productivity, innovation, talent acquisition and retention. They also make note that it has proven to be an incredibly difficult goal to achieve. Overall, there has been a widening of the gap between of those who embrace it and those who don't or can't sustain Inclusion and Diversity initiatives.
"Gender and ethnic diversity in leadership teams progressed slowly in the 2014 data set and even more slowly in our 2017 global data set."
- McKinsey and Company - Full Report
Why is it? With all this desire and worldwide consultancy firms like McKinsey and Company, who having outstanding strategies, that we are not seeing the desired results?
It is my hypothesis that human biases are to blame.
The Queensland Government has a surprisingly outstanding article on Unconscious Biases. It is well worth the read. They have a wonderful definition and excellent link to research on the topic of unconscious biases and how it affects inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
FROM THE www.forgov.qld.gov.au WEBSITE
Unconscious biases are:
attitudes beyond our regular perceptions of ourselves and others
reinforced by our environment and experiences
the basis for a great deal of our patterns of behaviour about diversity.
Research is proving that we are biased towards the world around us and use stereotypes all the time. Our brains are wired towards patterns and similarity, while difference is harder to accommodate.
"When it comes to creating inclusive and diverse workplaces we need to look inward first."
www.forgov.qld.gov.au
THE CONATIVE PERSPECTIVE AND SOLUTION
If you have read any of my insights or been a client of mine, you will know I love a good story to communicate perspectives that might be different from the trending courses of action.
Meet a client of mine named Trevor (real name). We were unpacking his Kolbe A Index results and a question I asked was, "how do you experience your Conative Strengths?" Being an Initiating Quick Start, he had a brilliant account of his time as a diver in the special forces.
image from: www.eliteukforces.info
Something he said to me actually started this insight article.
"When death is the penalty for not taking instinctive action, people will self exclude to save not only their own life but the lives of the rest of the team."
He continued with his story to reveal the following: It had nothing to do with biases, nor personality, nor skill. It wasn't that the diver didn't like the rest of the team, nor the rest of the team not like the diver. They remained friends for years after the diver left the special forces. It was actually the most valuable action that could have been taken. He self excluded because when it came down to a life and death situation, his instinctive way of taking action was not achieving the desired outcome of a safe mission, regardless of how exceptional his skill was or how much he wanted to be a special forces diver.
We don't have life and death consequences, for the most part, when in corporations and small businesses. However, this story shone a light to the purity of innate and instinctive action. It wasn't personal. It was a Conative mismatch.
It also revealed one potential solution to biases in the workplace which could be a way forward for Inclusion and Diversity Initiatives driven by understanding the CONATIVE part of the mind.
This is exciting stuff.
Forget about managing biases , let's deal with them Conatively.
The solution
Awareness – Trust – Value - Dignity - in that order. I would prefer that we started with Dignity and ended with Dignity, however for the purpose of understanding, we will have a start and a finish.
AWARENESS
Step One: Build self awareness of how you take action Conatively.
Individuals describe that after they receive their Kolbe A Index results, it is the same as buying a car. Before you bought the vehicle you never saw white Toyota Corollas, now you see them everywhere! This is what it is like with your Conative strengths. You are having a conscious awareness of a subconscious action. Another analogy for the coffee drinkers, you notice how strong and the effects of an expresso shot over a single shot large latte with caramel flavouring. It's the same amount of coffee, just harder to taste.
Step Two: Understand the Conative strengths of your team.
The best team synergy is created when you cover all 12 ways of taking action. This understanding alone is brilliant at defusing perceived personality conflicts.
To someone who initiates in the Quick Start action mode - Innovation and Brainstorming Ideas, a Quick Start Counteract - low risk and stability, will be labelled a 'black hat' or someone who shoots down ideas.
When your team understands the value of each strength in achieving outstanding outcomes, Value to the way an individual contributes to the team outcome seems to follow quickly. The differences in how each individual takes action is critical to individual and collaborative work.
TRUST
As the people in the organisation grow in AWARENESS, they realise they can trust and rely in how their team members will take action. Conative behaviours are unchanging and predictable. They also grow in confidence in how they take action personally.
When your confidence levels rise, your productivity levels increase. You will be less likely to quit and, in many cases, you will be able to accomplish more than you thought you could.
- productivityist.com
"Internal TRUST is essential to challenge bias." Just one of the findings made in the paper tilted Overcoming Biases In Strategy Formulation by Virtual Consulting International.
Seriously a must read document. I particularly enjoyed Section 5: Mitigating Biases in Strategy Making. When you read it with a greater understanding of the Three Parts of The Mind, you see the way many interchange the Affective and Conative parts of the mind. Putting personality and behaviour under the one heading effects the change we want to have in our organisation and the outcomes of the strategies and initiatives we implement.
VALUE
Over a short period of time, in my experience of working with a number of teams across many different industries, people truly value the positive conflict of thought, experience and come to reply on the different ways of taking action.
Yes, they personally VALUE the diversity.
Diversity = Team Synergy.
Team Synergy = Oustanding Outcomes
Leaders can nurture this by demonstrating that they value each and everyone's Conative strengths on the team. There are a number of ways to do this depending on the Strength we are valuing in the individual..... a coming insight post.
DIGNITY
The Relationship Between Respect and Bias by Megan Saxelby is another fascinating must read. She successfully and with ease discusses the difference between respect and dignity.
"A core facet of understanding dignity is making the distinction between dignity and respect, two concepts that are frequently conflated. Dignity is non-negotiable—it is the inherent worth and value of every human. Respect, on the other hand, is negotiable. It is earned or lost through an individual’s or organization’s choices, actions, and behaviors. "
I really don't know how I could improve on "Dignity is non-negotiable-it is the inherent worth and value of every human". This should be on every wall as you enter into every office, school, place of business and even homes. It should be the cornerstone of every Vision and Mission statement.
Dignity is the antidote to Biases
We know that Inclusion and Diversity has outstanding benefits to all involved. Corporations don't embrace these difficult initiatives if the benefits were not going to be reflected in commercial advancement. We, as individuals, know the feeling of exclusion and rejection is debilitating, so we want to do the work and make the changes necessary, to have an inclusive culture where ever we are.
At Trillium Consulting, we believe and have seen in action the stripping away of biases through Conative awareness. Self-awareness, trust and value lead to the most unbiased destination, Dignity.
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