Diversity: The performance dividend you need
Smart leaders aren’t just spruiking diversity, says Narelle Hooper, former editor of BOSS Magazine and co-author of ‘New Women, New Men, New Economy’, they’re embracing it.
Hooper, who is also a valued supporter of the Property Male Champions of Change Initiative, has penned the following opinion piece for Property Australia.
There’s been so much focus on gender equity and diversity lately that, to borrow a phrase from a famous former Prime Minister, it seems a bit like, walk into any pet shop and the resident galah will be talking about it.
But look a bit closer – the smart leaders aren’t just spruiking it, they’re doing it.
That’s because they’ve got their heads around the data: companies with more women in leadership roles do better financially, innovate more and are closer to their customers. They realise that diversity is a ‘must have’, not just a ‘nice to have’.
In New Women, New Men, New Economy: How Creativity, Openness, Diversity and Equity are Driving Prosperity Now, co-author Rodin Genoff and I have explored the extensive body of research that shows diversity is a powerful performance lever – and we show leaders are putting it to work.
For example, advocacy group Catalyst outlines 39 pieces of research that show how gender, racial, sexual orientation and cognitive difference boosts performance across four aspects of business.
Credit Suisse’s study of 3000 companies across 40 countries in 2014 found that the more women in senior roles, the better the return on equity and the higher the ratio of dividend payouts.
And it is not just a case of adding one or two women here or there. You need to mix things up – in the room and around the table. A London School of Economics study of 100 teams across 17 countries found that gender-balanced teams create conditions that maximise experimentation necessary for boosting creativity, which is an essential part of the cycle of innovation.
We discovered how companies such as Mirvac use diversity as a lens for risk management and how investors are increasingly using it as a filter in investment decisions.
Our conclusion is that if your organisation isn’t making it a priority to develop the kind of inclusive workplace cultures where everyone can thrive, it is ‘At Risk’. It is lacking key attributes that will maximise its capacity to adapt.
In a world rapidly being reshaped by mass connectivity, our intuition born of how things used to work can let us down.
We need to find out what the data tells us, question assumptions and become alert for potential blind spots.
For example, we might think we’re creating a culture where women and men do equally well when the reality is different. One group has a subtle advantage.
“I’d always thought I was further along the smart curve on gender [between being a sceptic and a believer] than I actually was,” says Bob Johnston, CEO of GPT Group, who joined the Property Male Champions of Change group in late 2014 when at the helm of Australand.
“But my daughter said to me, ‘why should you be a Champion, you don’t even have any women on your management team!'”
After running separate employee focus groups, Johnston discovered that men and women had very different perspectives on what the problems were.
He has worked hard to understand the perspectives of people going on parental leave and coming back, and how important job flexibility is to men and women juggling their work and family lives.
He’s now highly engaged and an advocate of mainstreaming work flexibility and a more inclusive work culture.
“I’m doing this not just because there’s a business case but because it is the right thing to do,” he says.
If you’re among the shrinking group of people inwardly rolling your eyes thinking “oh, not this again”, it’s time to get on the right side of the investment ledger – and history. Get your head around the data and the unconscious assumptions that shape our beliefs and start asking the question: “Where are the women?”.
As Diversity Council of Australia chairman and former Army Chief Lieutenant General David Morrison says: “Once you get the sight, you can’t unsee it ever again, not if you’re in a position of responsibility.”
Narelle Hooper is former editor of Financial Review’s BOSS Magazine and co-author with Rodin Genoff, of New Women New Men, New Economy: how Creativity, Openness, Diversity and Equity are Driving Prosperity Now! (Federation Press, Sept 2015). She will interview Dan Gregory on WTF! at The Property Congress on Tuesday October 20.