How to bring about big thinking

She’s a radical thinker known for “tipping the applecart”, but Sara Haslinger has also changed the definition of “infrastructure expert”, opening doors and giving voice to diverse perspectives.

In August, Haslinger was presented with the National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC) crystal vision award – the top gong for advancing the interests of women in the construction industry.

While an executive director at Infrastructure NSW, Haslinger designed and implemented a policy to drive diverse thinking on major infrastructure expert review panels.

“I was part of a team developing a new assurance framework to guide the assessment of infrastructure projects over $10 million – which is pretty much everything. I was tasked with management of the Expert Review Panel,” she says.

Expert review panels had assessed projects for many years, but when she scanned the list of 300-odd names, “there were hardly any women, just a few Asian or Indian names, and no Aboriginal people at all”.

“I went to the first review and everyone on the panel was male, white and over 65. They were all transport executives or claimed to have built the Olympics infrastructure in 2000.”

Bringing about big thinking

Haslinger saw an opportunity to create a diversity culture that “brings about big thinking”.

“The world of infrastructure is not just about making projects more efficient – you also need to come up with recommendations that move people to behave differently.

“We won’t find answers to the problems we currently face by continuing to do things the way we’ve always done them. We were undertaking reviews with no current thinking, no diverse experience. For example, for Aboriginal community projects we were reviewing them without any Aboriginal people on the panel. That was just unacceptable,” she says.

Haslinger’s task was monumental, but the opportunity was also enormous, given the pipeline of projects underway.

“People said I wouldn’t be able to find experts that were women or Aboriginal people – but I knew that couldn’t be right.

“Everyone said there were no women in prison infrastructure, but I found women leading big prison infrastructure projects. They said I wouldn’t find Aboriginal experts and I did. In the first three months I received CVs of amazing experts – and that was just the tip of the iceberg.”

Challenging unconscious bias

Haslinger says the process uncovered entrenched unconscious bias. Many colleagues hadn’t realised that their definition of an expert was “a 65-year-old white male who has been a CEO or equivalent -and anyone else wasn’t an expert”.

How did Haslinger challenge that unconscious bias?

“I just didn’t have the debate about what constituted an expert. I said I would bring in a whole heap of women and Aboriginal people to the table who were highly skilled and could make a difference to NSW Government and that is what I did. I rang everyone I knew and asked them for names. And everyone I spoke to wanted to help.”

Haslinger set her own standard, with each review requiring at least one woman on the panel. Some colleagues followed Haslinger’s lead, some didn’t.

“We had pretty robust arguments, but eventually it became the norm.”

And the impact?

Haslinger’s approach diversified panel decision-making and exposed the NSW Government to dozens of senior female leaders and other experts from diverse backgrounds.

“I had a lot of men thank me and say that, without this policy, they would never have known that many talented women existed. And the depth of experience and thinking that diversity has brought to reviews has taken the process to a whole new place.”

Now a partner at construction and property law specialist Shaw Reynolds, Haslinger mentors her firm’s current crop of graduates and is part of the 0 Women in Property program this year. She is confident she will continue to “tip the apple cart, because I think differently”.

Haslinger’s message?

“Give voice to as many perspectives as possible and be smart with how we use them. If we feel that there is something wrong, fix it with actions that demonstrate care. If people argue for the status quo, take the action anyway. If people want to get in our way, see it as a chance to get a bit stronger. This is how we will change the world. “