Towards True Inclusion

Recently, after years of championing issues around gender and ethnicity, I had to admit a hard truth to myself: I don’t believe traditional diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts are working. I had become frustrated with too much talk and not enough action. Sure, we had people getting together, discussing the business case, throwing around academic terminology and buzz words, but in the end did nothing that created the degree of change needed. The much-lauded business benefits – greater innovation, better decisions, and, ultimately, improved finances – are just not visible in the majority of companies with D&I programmes.

Something is wrong – but what?

In part, it’s because the D&I initiatives behind them are stuck working in silos such as gender, race, and age. Thinking about D&I in these discreet boxes makes it so much harder to serve the needs of individuals as whole beings. After all, people who are made up of multiple aspects of the identity in combination. We need to acknowledge and understand why women from non-white backgrounds feel less comfortable joining a women’s network. Being forced to identify along a single dimension of diversity is counter-productive.

The other failing is that old-style D&I misses out on elements of diversity that aren’t one of these hot topics, such as culture, working style, and life experiences. Despite appearances, it is very possible for a white, middle-class, middle-aged male to be in the minority – due to hidden differences including family background or behavioural style.

When I broached this subject with people in my various professional and social networks I was surprised by the number who agreed with me. This is clearly a known issue, yet practical solutions were few and far between.

We at Oliver Wyman are taking a different approach, putting Inclusion in front of Diversity – both in name, and in philosophy. This is creating real change. I wanted to share these learnings externally, to co-create with others who were treading the same path, and benefit from best practices in our and other industries, and the diversity and learning to be had at other firms.

My breakthrough came with my long-term collaborator Liz Dimmock founder and CEO of Moving Ahead, a specialist learning, development, and transition consultancy that develops leaders in sport and in business. Together, we developed a concept for I&D, focusing on the individual, rather than a single dimension of their diversity. This was the start of Mission INCLUDE.

The programme we developed and have recently launched values the identity of traditional diversity strands such as “LGBT” and “BAME”, and does not take a view of a single “Inclusion” network for all – yet recognizes the multi-faceted nature of an individual. It works across traditional diversity siloes and broadens the concept of diversity beyond the nine protected characteristics. It operates on three levels: individual, group and organizational.

For individuals from non-dominant groups, Mission INCLUDE offers one-to-one mentoring across the member companies, providing safe spaces, new perspectives, and role models. Within group settings, storytelling techniques are used in reverse mentoring with the aim of openly exploring and learning about all types of I&D challenges with a practical ally toolkit to ensure learning, connection, empathy and action. For organizations, it brings together their I&D leaders, learning and development leaders, and those at an executive level championing I&D, with peers at other companies to help them explore and share best practice to accelerate change at an organizational level.

When we launched Mission INCLUDE last week I was thrilled to see a packed room at Google’s Headquarters in London and welcome cross-industry senior business leaders, heads of I&D, and others committed to driving greater inclusion. Four CEOs – Ronan Harris of Google UK, Jeff Conway of State Street EMEA, Michiel de Jong of Mizuho International, and Liz Dimmock –joined me for a challenging panel discussion debating why greater progress has not been made and how companies can commit to tangible action.

The panel went on to share examples of when they felt excluded or vulnerable and discussed the power of “uncomfortable” conversations in aiding learning and creating empathy, as well as the importance of real accountability in order to translate commitment into progress. When challenged on whether gender had been too much of a focus, they recognized the need to be broad, but also the important role gender played in giving companies a tangible place to start.

To date, seven companies including AIG, BNY Mellon, Guy Carpenter, London Stock Exchange Group, Mizuho International, Reed Smith and Santander have already joined with Oliver Wyman and Moving Ahead to lead the way. If you think your organization would benefit from a new way to encourage all behaviours to shine – whether introvert and extrovert, creative and analytical, team player or individual – do get in touch to find out more or visit our webpage.