4 Questions for Boards to get the diversity ball rolling

“I don't get it. I know we need more women, but I resent somebody telling me I have to hire a woman in to get the numbers up, when actually I just need the best person.”

So began a very interesting conversation recently, with a small group of CEOs and NEDs.

This particular CEO (white and male) is completely unbiased when it comes to hiring a man or a woman, but told us, “I just look at the CVs as they're presented to me, and I make a decision based on who's the right person. I don’t get many women’s CVs because the women just aren't there.”

It is hard. There simply aren't as many female engineers, for example, as there are men, but there are different ways to try and strike a balance. There are also 4 questions that Boards can ask today that will get the ball rolling:

1.????Look at how your job descriptions are being written – are they encouraging a diverse workforce?

We talked about how his company’s job descriptions are probably written in a way that discourages things like flexible working, or makes people think that it's not an environment that values diversity – and someone at the top might not even notice this.

Women typically only apply for jobs where they meet 100% of the requirements for the role; men, on the other hand, will typically apply if they only meet 60% of them. Behavioural data from LinkedIn’s recent Gender Insights Report confirms this too. Even though women are just as interested in new career opportunities as men, they are 16% less likely than men to apply to a job after viewing it.

Studies show that using gender-coded words can reduce the number of women applying to your positions. Words such as ‘rockstar’, ‘outspoken, ‘dominant’, ‘fearless’, ‘battle’. Avoid using words that could reflect badly on company culture, like ‘demanding’, and ‘work hard/play hard’ – they imply a lack of flexibility. The word ‘aggressive’ was found to discourage 44% of women from applying, compared to one third of men. Both genders responded positively, however, when recruiters used words such as ‘powerful’, ‘strong-willed’ and ‘confident’.

Do you actually need an “expert” or “specialist” or “digital native”, or do you actually need someone who possesses a certain skillset and is open to learning some new skills? Are you using dyslexia-friendly fonts and formatting to be more inclusive to neurodivergent candidates? Are you highlighting inclusive benefits such as resource groups and diversity training? Which pronouns are you using? Take the time to create a ‘biased words’ list, or use a text analysing tool to help you identify biased words (gender, race, age, sexual orientation, mental health, etc.)

2.????What's the mandate for recruitment?

CEOs might not be fully aware of how their team is recruiting, or the fact that they’re still doing what they've always done, which is not good enough. I said to him, “Yes, it's harder to find the women but you've got to push it all back up the pipeline. This is a systemic issue – it’s about the system that gets you those CVs.” There are a lot of CEOs who make the right decision that they need to make at the right time, and certainly aren’t biased, but don’t realise that they need to tell their recruiter that they have to offer a 50% diverse list. Every Board needs to assume responsibility and make that clear to the C-suite and to HR teams.

One CEO who is a person of colour told me that he used to mask his name when applying for jobs. He would experiment with having just an initial, for example, or shortening, or anglicising it. His CV is truly impressive regardless of which name is at the top, but guess which one got picked up the most?

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that CVs with “white-sounding” names received nearly 50% more call-backs than those with “black-sounding” names. Another study found that blind auditions increased the likelihood that a woman would be hired by between 25 and 46%.

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3.????Look at your website - who is pictured there?

Photography is often an afterthought, and it can send a powerful subliminal message. Are the images authentic, or stock photography??On your teams page, look at who is featured, and what roles they hold. Does this group of people represent the business as a whole? Does it demonstrate all types of diversity?

While you might not think many people actually visit your website or the ‘about us’ page in particular, people who are considering joining or partnering with the business often do.?Step back and consider the story it’s telling. I know of several venture capital firms who have undergone this exercise recently, refreshing all of the imagery to better represent what it means to be a part of their team.

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4.????How are you taking steps to invest in talent and build a diverse learning culture?

What I was saying in that conversation was echoed by every other CEO and NED around the table – if you have a man and a woman and they're both equally qualified, and your organisation is not particularly diverse, you do need to hire the woman. We all know by now that a more diverse team makes for a better (and more profitable) business.?

Are your C-suite and HR departments looking inside at what you already have? Another CEO present said that they always try to promote from within as much as possible and develop the people who demonstrate potential. Developing your talent to be what you want them to be and creating a two-way investment with employees will nurture loyalty in a way that nothing else can. Think hard: how are you identifying that potential? What efforts can you make to increase diversity? Do you need to take softer and transferable skillsets into consideration when you’re picking out those CVs?

I've had CEOs and ecommerce teams hire me as a mentor because there wasn't enough internal ecommerce knowledge in the business. So, they wanted to bring somebody in at a senior level, to help a more junior person develop the skills the company needed, and more easily advance within the organisation.

When it comes to leadership, training doesn't have to be formal; an investment in upskilling can be on a more opportunistic and personal mentorship basis.

CEOs can certainly benefit from more informal coaching, perhaps from other members of the C-suite or even the team below. If your business identifies a woman or someone from an ethnic minority who wants to mentor with someone more senior who doesn't reside in the business, the CEO will likely have a lot of people in their network that they might be able to call on to help. So, call on them. Have a budget for that sort of monthly mentorship. It could be a budget for dinners, for a day rate – be led by the employee and that relationship.

Towards the end of that group conversation that I told you about, we all saw the penny drop for that CEO, because he suddenly saw lack of diversity as a much larger issue and increasing diversity as a much more layered process. He’s a brilliant leader and he will make it happen and do what he needs to do now. Like so many others, he simply didn't realise that there was more to it than simply choosing between the CVs on his desk.

Boards: ask these questions. Make systemic changes. Strike a balance. Set an example. Change the world.

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The Tech Spec

Interesting tech I’ve seen this week:

• Diversio – an auditing tool using AI to uncover bias, quantify results and recommend solutions.
• Ongig Text Analyzer – Software that gets rid of all bias in job postings and optimises text so that more passive candidates can engage.
• Pulsely – Provides actionable insights to drive inclusion, equity and performance.
• Joonko – connecting high-quality, underrepresented talent with companies that care about diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Untapped – a diversity assessment tool to gain insight into the skills and demographics of your applicants.

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Written by Gabrielle Hase.

CEO of?Soleberry Advisory?and digital Non-Executive Director. I want to help solve the problem of the lack of appropriate female and digital skills and perspectives at the board table.?

?Check out and subscribe to?Digital On Board?for?comments on trends and current events, useful technology highlights, and tips and tricks I’ve learned to help brands understand, engage and retain their customers. Please feel free to share.??

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