The low effort, high impact unicorn doesn't exist

For my newer followers, you may be wondering how on earth I would incorporate unicorns into a thought piece about equality, diversity and inclusion in the construction industry, or perhaps, why.

For my regulars, I know there will be no surprise whatsoever.

A unicorn is a magical, mythical creature that farts rainbows and is much-desired but very difficult (for children and fellow believers), or impossible (for haters and grown-ups) to find.

I think unicorn is a fitting name for the "low effort, high impact" initiatives that many construction organisations seem to want to find in relation to making themselves more diverse and inclusive for women and other minorities. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone say low effort, high impact, I would be rich.

Ok that's a lie, I would have about $8, but even hearing that 8 times is 8 times too many....

The Australian construction industry has been suffering from underrepresentation of women in its workplaces since pretty much forever, with female participation currently sitting at just over 13% according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). We are however showing a small, modest upward trend in women's representation since 2014 (small, modest yay).

Compounding matters is the 105,000 additional workers we need by 2023 to deliver the unprecedented and very exciting pipeline of infrastructure projects Australia has planned.

Despite women comprising 47.9% of all employed persons at a national level, we are failing to attract and retain them in our sector, and studies show that the perceived (and sometimes actual) culture of our industry, and our difficulty attracting and retaining women is holding us back, AND costing us lots of money.

New research commissioned from BIS Oxford Economics, the Cost of Doing Nothing Report, finds that cultural issues are costing the Australian economy nearly $8 billion annually.

So having briefly set out the problem, I am going to put my project manager hat on and nerd out for a moment.

Yes I did google "animal with hat on" from my work computer.

I have been leading and supporting major construction projects for 15 ish years now, and in my experience, though the phases might be named slightly differently, they usually go something like this (with feedback, flex and reporting built in through and between all phases):

1. Initiation - Explore and elaborate on an idea and get commitment to start
2. Planning - Define the work to be done and what success looks like and create a plan
3. Design - Prepare the concept and the detail of how you are going to achieve your goals
4. Delivery - Use your resources (financial, material, human) to execute the plan
5. Handover - 'Hand back' any results, tools and resources to the custodian and prepare any final documentation
6. Completion - De-mobilise the project and the team and conduct a post-project review and pass lessons on to whoever needs to learn them.

I probably just taught a lot of project people to suck eggs there. Apologies.

My point, is that for some reason, this approach rarely seems to be employed when it comes to the 'Diversity and Inclusion project' as I like to call it, and I'm not sure why.

When in construction would we ever usually expect anything to happen without effort and resources?

How in projects would we measure how successful we have been if we never set any tangible goals in the first place? Can you imagine the railway station planned and delivered with "low effort"? Or the major organisational restructure enacted organically?

Neither can this orangutan:

The business case for change is there, and the return on investment has been proven countless times in countless studies in countless countries and industries. The construction industry is being left behind, constrained in its thinking that we can put in little effort and get big results.

So I am not discussing low effort, high impact initiatives anymore, we can do much better than that - many organisations already are.

So back to the unicorns.

When it comes to equality, diversity and inclusion, I don't think the low effort, high impact unicorn exists. The real unicorns have been right before your eyes the whole time. They are the people in your organisation that are leading the way.

The passion that fuels them is the magic.

The results they drive are the rainbow farts.

And the people they inspire and recruit to the cause - well they're the believers.

Wouldn't it be great if we put the structure, resources and commitment around them to help them succeed?

In my roles at NAWIC and Metro Trains Melbourne, I am proud to be part of a whole 'blessing' of unicorns (actual term for a group of unicorns, I googled that too).

We work together, inspire each other and work with our organisations to do better every day. We don't always get it right, but we know it's a project and we're willing to put the work in.

And so as my latest excuse to talk about unicorns comes to an end, I challenge you to do your bit to get our construction butts out of the dark ages.

Be a unicorn, be a believer, be an obstacle-remover - but be something.