Leading With Heart For Diversity

What if behavioural design is not enough to ensure diversity? What if hiring and promoting more women does not lead to more senior women leaders? What if policy and structural changes are not enough to achieve gender equality? These questions were all raised in an interesting and honest discussion posted by Simon Moutter, the managing director of Sparks Ventures, a large digital services firm located in New Zealand. Sparks Ventures is a company that has more than 60 nationalities in the workforce, and which has a mandate to “hire different, think different, behave different and be different”.

But despite “throwing everything but the kitchen sink at diversity” using a very logical, process-oriented, designed, and best practice way, Spark recently lost several of its senior women leaders. People that the company had been trying to keep, and were investing a lot in to help accelerate their careers. Although Mr. Moutter says the reasons for leaving were all perfectly valid, it nagged at him; so, he dug deeper. And what did he find? Uncomfortable truths.

Despite all of these programs, investments, good intentions and commitment to improving diversity and inclusion, the feedback was crystal clear: “we were still excluding women and minority groups in the ways we speak, the ways we interact and the ways we behave, often unconsciously.” Moutter concluded that to be diverse, we need to be inclusive, and that inclusion involves both a heart and mind approach. What he describes as a systemic, interventionist and target-driven approach, validated by the goal “ to be representative of our customers”, plays well only in the minds.

His break through thinking, in my view, is the idea of bringing hearts into leadership by examining the “why” of diversity. He believes that creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace is the right thing to do. That everyone should be able to bring their real selves to work and expect to be welcomed. And, he concludes, if that is in tune with Spark’s clients and makes the company more innovative and successful, it is just icing on the cake.

What he is talking about is ensuring that gender blind spots (which are created in childhood by socialization and are unconsciously acted upon as adults) are called out and exposed so that individuals can behave more consciously and be better role models. This idea is at the heart of my book (please pardon the pun) Understanding Gender at Work. In it, I identify the gender biases that are common in the workplace; the biases that we – men and women - all tacitly buy into if we are not fully aware. I also set out suggestions for what organizations, mentors and leaders can do.

I so admire Simon Moutter’s honesty and his profound conclusions, that I want to share his advice for organizations seeking diversity:

1. Lead with your heart – be open about your beliefs, weaknesses and fear;
2. Change won’t happen by itself. But intervene on values and behaviours with equal weight to intervening in systems like recruitment practices, leadership programmes, pay equity and culture programmes. The little things matter; and
3. Seek and listen carefully to feedback from your people. Expect it to hurt (if it doesn’t you probably aren’t hearing the real story) but deal with it and respond. Look deliberately for the uncomfortable truths, wherever they are.

My only regret about Simon Moutter’s advice? That I didn’t have it before I finished my book.