Found: D&I report card
Time to read: 30 seconds
Walking down the street the other day, I found this report card for diversity & inclusion. Seems pointed and harsh...
Assessment
Needs work. Some nice initiatives across the community, engagement of the mainstream underwhelming; throwing ice cubes at bush fires.
Feedback
1. Rigorous diagnosis
Still walking around the car, need to look under the bonnet and examine people processes. Inspection to date may not be independent; may explain why bonnet unopened. Feeling of wrongdoing may warrant an amnesty and/or immunity program, to mitigate over use of paralysis spray.
2. Case for change is soft
Stated future benefits still distant, ROI (hurdle rate & time frame) challenged by heavy-ish upfront cost. Limiting investment makes ROI a poor odds bet. Financial cost of inaction not material; investment costs in people are written off immediately and therefore sunken and less visible. Rationale unrealistically presented in a vacuum.
3. Right thinking, wrong audience
Real leadership means doing what's right, but mid-management rewarded for bottom line results. Lens of morality asks mid-management to eat noodles with a knife. No one will starve by choice.
4. Countering avoidance
In battle without weapons. Hand-to-hand combat skills and knowledge of the dark arts both practically absent. Avoidance a step ahead and rampant. Progress stifled.
5. Conscious ticking
Removal of assumed negative pictures doesn’t create factual pictures, just reveals blank boards. No evidence of waste trucks removing bins full of unconscious bias from office buildings anyway. The unworthy are now just the unknown.
6. Context
Still on the moon. Mood for change and serious funding somewhat in orbit. No atmosphere. Low gravity funding, based on average daily wage in China gifts cultural empathy, little else.
7. Narrative
Still G rated needing happy beginning and ending (and bits in between). Need to help seed and nurture audience to maturity for the real show, which is MA15+.
What to do - 5 steps
1. Diagnosis
Look forensically under the bonnet, invest time for a complete diagnosis.
Needed: Analytical thinking, more curious conversations, less furious festivities, madness seeking hope, rigour from commercial experience.
2. Anti-avoidance
Think of what someone actively seeking to slow down progress would do.
Needed: Understand the mindset of avoidance and how effective anti-avoidance rules are conceived and wired.
3. Cunning plan
Devise strategies to achieve winning outcomes that contemplate uphill battles.
Needed: Life experience of success when outnumbered. Resilience through leading from underneath.
4. Think big
Develop a cohesive plan for change.
Needed: Deep understanding of the rules of engagement. Deeper understanding of the unwritten rules of play.
5. Communicate
Get going. Write report card, drop on street.
Needed: Running shoes…