Building a Diverse Board
The Case For A Diverse Board
The benefits of a diverse workforce are clear for all to see. Several prominent reports show companies that hire staff from diverse backgrounds experience increased profits, growth in their customer base and more effective approaches to problem-solving and decision making.
The latest report from global consulting firm McKinsey, Diversity Wins, highlights five areas that have helped companies prioritise diversity to outperform the competition.
Ensure the representation of diverse talent
Strengthen leadership accountability and capabilities for I&D
Enable equality of opportunity through fairness and transparency.
Promote openness and tackle microaggressions
Foster belonging through unequivocal support for multivariate diversity.
Other leading global consulting firms; Boston Consulting Group, Pew, Korn Ferry, Deloitte, Russell Reynolds, have also documented the benefits of inclusive leadership on boards.
Despite all the data, however, many organisations are still blissfully unaware of (or unwilling to acknowledge) the benefits of diverse leadership.
Last week, in the UK, it was reported that there are no Black directors on the boards of any of the FTSE100 companies and just two CEOs from a non-white background. The Colour of Power Index, which highlights underrepresentation of females and Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups across all sectors, paints an even bleaker picture.
This comes as no shock to many of us working in the leadership space. We have been talking about this forever and yet in light of all this, there is still resistance to having diversity on boards. Not just of protected characteristics such as ethnicity or gender, but also class, socioeconomic background, neurodiversity and world views.
The Resistance
Last year I worked with a leading charitable organisation who recognised that even though they were serving a largely Black and Asian demographic, even their junior advisory board lacked diversity. Unsurprisingly, the advisory board was a reflection of the executive board in the way it lacked diversity. To my understanding, the makeup still looks the same.
There are a number of reasons why some boards lack diversity. They range from the straightforward, such as a narrow talent pool to draw from, to the more extreme cases of boards not hiring outside of their image. The latter often because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing to those who are different to them, or just laziness to hire wider.
There are others still who will resist widening of board positions because they think any move to do so is just political correctness. Citing a lack of quality talent if they do hire based on wider diversity criteria. I am yet to see the data to support such ideas, but it is good to understand this kind of resistance.
Some boards have also resisted such change because they wish to maintain the status quo. Having the kind of diversity of thought that challenges decision making and world views of more traditional companies will always be a problem for some boards. And so some will dig deeper into their resistance to cause as little disruption to the norm.
A final point of resistance, which many don’t talk about, is the fact that some people have had a long tenure on boards and are emotionally attached to them. Having to hire more diverse talent which could end up with them being removed is challenging. Executive and non-executive directors across the board, if you pardon the pun, have admitted this also plays a role in resistance.
Although there is and will continue to be resistance by some to have more diverse boards, my aim in this article and my work with leadership boards, is to explore how simple but effective strategies and plans can be put into place to change the narrative.
Taking A Leap
My signature leadership development programme, BRAVE Leadership, includes a module that focuses on developing inclusive boards.
On this programme, we take organisations through a step by step process to identify the blind spots in their attraction, hiring and retention of diverse board members. We also coach existing board members on how to navigate different approaches to leading diverse teams.
Like any other area of organisational development, building out and sustaining a diverse board needs to be intentional and strategic. This is not about ticking a box. It’s about understanding the impact that diverse talent has on the perception and performance of your organisation.
This is not to say that a diverse board is going to be perfect but it can, with the right guidance, provide a benchmark for the excellence so many organisations crave.
One can’t help but think how many of the organisations mired in the scandal could have benefited from a more diverse board. People with different outlooks and backgrounds can often help provide greater perspective and with the right agency could save so many from making damaging mistakes.
In the last year or so, I have come to appreciate that building a diverse board is not as straightforward as it seems - especially if you have no guidance. But being part of the journey where senior leaders of large to small organisations get to explore what they want and how attracting and retaining diverse talent can benefit their stakeholders, has made me more patient, and dare I say evangelical, about why having a diverse board is essential.
Talk is cheap. Action is priceless.
