There will be greater pressure for companies to take decisive action

There has been some incredibly inspiring conversation, commitment and analysis over the last 12 months on diversity and efforts to improve it. A PwC recently conducted a study that revealed 87% of global CEOs are now focused on D&I, a big jump from 2011 when it was a disappointing 11%.

FTSE 100 companies are also making great progress, with 29% of board roles held by women; an increase from 12.5% in 2011.

However, in 2019, the focus will be on less talk, more action.

It’s true that we need to maintain a continuous dialogue around the issue of improving diversity across boards, executive pay and conscious inclusion, in order for it to become an established part of our culture. However, this won’t be effective unless change actually comes from it.

Companies need to follow in the footsteps of individuals actively pushing for change, like our founder and CEO Suki, or Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, who made the decision to increase the salary of all women by 11%, when data on his organisation revealed that women made on average 11% less than the men working for him.

 

The mission to improve cultural inclusion needs to go right back to the beginning

Research suggests that unconscious bias training does not actually work. It may act as a starting point, but biases are unavoidable. We all have them. 

At Audeliss, to reduce unconscious bias, we undertake scenario-based and competency-based interviews as well as structured interviews, when placing candidates. We always have two people doing interviews and ensure the same questions are asked in the same order. Our structured recruitment process ensures we level the playing field for all candidates and makes it easier to evaluate each one on their answers alone.

We also practice conscious inclusion.  The idea behind this is being actively aware of our biases and micro-aggressions but recognising them and choosing to embrace inclusion, rather than allowing them to affect the interview process. There is no quick fix, but this will be a key objective in 2019.

This approach is crucial in the executive search industry because if you can change the culture and awareness of inclusion at the top, this will benefit the whole organisation.

 

Focusing on diversity is the right thing to do

There are also now social demands facing businesses. Gone are the days when diversity and inclusion was seen as part of the ‘go along to get along culture’. People are demanding more and companies should be acting on it for their customers and staff.

The trend is highlighted in the Human Capital Trends report released by Deloitte this year, in which the finance giant references the fact that business leaders are the ones we look upon to resolve critical issues such as diversity, rather than politics.

Trends are also showing that organisations are increasingly drawing on diverse teams to solve a range of complex problems, because of the skills they bring. With this focus on collaboration, a company’s productivity will depend on how well they draw on these skills. Varying personalities and perspectives should all be taken into account,

As organisations evolve and their structure changes, diverse teams with diverse boards – who perform better according to research by McKinsey – will be the silver bullet solution.

To find out how you can improve diversity in your organisation, get in touch with us today.