I'm going to write about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion today. I have heard many social commentators describe them as simply another form of racism, or less emotively, an attempt to overturn a meritocratic hierarchy. And it’s its western culture we are talking about, it’s a hierarchy two thousand years in the making.
I am an atheist, but I think this excerpt from the Bible is poignant: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone…” John 8:7-11 I see evidence of racism everywhere. But likewise, I find it hard to distinguish between racism, jealousy and fear most of the time. Regardless of where it comes from or why, it seems inherent in nature. Different species of animals may share a water hole, but they will rarely share nests.
I do not believe the human race is above nature only that we evolved more powerful abstract though capabilities because language was sexy. As humans, we can practise civility, we can be kind, we can use our intellect to rise above instinct. But we are a part of nature, we are neither good nor bad. Sadly many of us are subscribing to, and perpetuating virtuous fantasies simply to mirror social convention. You and I might not be textbook racists, but we are sensitive to cultural differences in our own communities because we might want to protect them.
Cultural differences are neither good nor bad. They can affect joy to those traveling, and fear amongst vulnerable members of local communities. People have every right to be protective. Healthy communities can take many decades to build because they are built on trust. Significant influxes of culturally different people accelerate the change and make some members uncomfortable. Organisations are no different. If your organisation has undergone an unintentional cultural shift downwards, I’d be willing to suggest it’s linked to failed recruitment processes. Ensuring new recruits share your organisations culture and goals lies deeper than aspirational ideology. You need the most skilled, most dedicated people. You measure organisational efficiency from performance indicators, not social virtue.
My background is in Business Technology Consulting and Management. Typically, technology groups were composed of very specifically skilled individuals frequently from overseas. You needed to cast your net far and wide to find specialists. It’s not skilled immigration to blame. It’s cost cutting, nepotism and non-merit based recruitment deliberately executed. It runs all the way though organisational structures right up the chain. And today, many governments are expecting non-executive boards to have quotas on diversity. Many executives and recruiters used 457 visas to hire cheaper candidates from overseas, it’s been an open secret. Many of these candidates came from somewhat affluent families. Not everyone could afford to educate their children to a high standard and sponsor a move to Australia. Although many of these people work hard and fit in, many have little cultural binding to Australia and remain somewhat mercenary. I would add, I have encountered quite a few entitled individuals with an inability to cope with managerial authority.
The impact on quality.
There is an evasive art to producing products or services of high quality. It’s a subject close to my heart and I have written about it many times. Few cultures possess the embedded cultural values needed to support it. I blogged about it here: Building quality
You will be asking your team to work beyond their roles and responsibilities. Asking them to undergo frustration and pain and even work much longer than they are likely to get paid for. They need to be willing participants possibly even devoted to the outcome. This only ever happens when your team have a common pride in their work and mutual respect for one and other. Australia is a country of boat people. Both my maternal and patriarchal great grandparents were boat people. I am not from English or First Fleeters. Nobody sane is calling for an end to immigration. I think a better way to describe the situation is a ‘refocus on the people already here’. Voters should pay less credence to arbitrary economic indicators that might otherwise prompt politicians into steep immigration numbers. If you are unaware of the link between high immigration numbers and the appearance of positive economic growth, do some research I implore you. See: Immigration and the Economy
A quick word on economics:
Few people understand the basic principles of economics, those that do often get the balance wrong. Economics is a study of allocating finite resources. Individual or cultural bias can have enormous affect on the outcome of analysis or decision making as a result. Some wildly misunderstood facts about western economies:
The academic research will indicate clearly that organisations that are prepared to wait for the right candidate build better teams. Never underestimate how demotivating a bad choice of recruit can be. Never delegate hiring to subordinates until you are completely sure they know how to identify, and more importantly, actually choose the best candidate. I have been surprised to find quite good managers will make poor choices for a plethora of reasons including job protection and impatience.
I do not want to imply I’m deprioritising relevant qualifications and skills for candidates, just that cultural fit is equality important. A team that builds quality needs to possess pride inherently in their work, this pride needs to transgress their own tasks to support and monitor group output. Do not confuse ego with pride. Egotistical workers wont accept criticism, workers with pride elevate the importance of output and accept it. Pride needs a cultural base. It’s not something that can be taught or simply mandated. If you are unaware, our true motivation is the desire of mastery, not money and certainly not fear. See: The true workplace motivator
Pruning in Autumn
From the numerous restructures I have been involved with, often have I heard the fearful words of executives worried about unfair dismissal cases. Yes, very occasionally, even when you have gone through painfully detailed processes you might still get stung. Just as often I’ve seen the wrong people made redundant, cuts to staff made because of a loss in confidence only to leave the team unable to function properly. Don’t involve your managers, or anyone directly involved in the teams make any decisions. They should be involved as important stakeholders and nothing more. If you are making these decisions in the 11th hour you should be the first causality. Senior management is about setting strategy and culture. The outcomes from cutting dead wood is a burst of new growth as the impediments are removed and opportunity is revealed. It’s actually very difficult and expensive for redundant staff to successfully sue an employer for dismissal. Especially when you have evidence of their underperformance. Healthy work cultures take pride of their achievements and are comfortable with transparency. Don’t involve accountants or lawyers (or people from that background) in your decision making. Again, use them as advisors. Accountants will frequently draw attention to payout figures and less on improvements in productivity. It is an area of risk, but only as much as the risks involved with developing and rolling out new products and services.
Don’t underestimate the damage that non-performance based recruitment has done. Most of the DEI propaganda has emanated from Human Resource (HR) departments. It’s important to remember these departments are cost centres. Don’t let the tail wag the dog. Having said that: it’s the HR departments that can fix this problem.
My suggestion is to start your clean up with a board or CEO driven Corporate Services restructure.
Too many times I’ve seen CFOs and or HR executives driving toxic strategies. As they say, ‘To a hammer everything looks like a nail’