In the midst of the painful COVID-19 crisis that is shaking up how the world works, innovative thinking is at a premium. Inclusion is key for it to happen. But creating the corporate culture in the City that allows for the flower of innovation to bloom is hard work – not unlike the digging, weeding and planting that many of those in lockdown with gardens are engaged in this Covid19 spring.
How much easier it is to sit around chewing the cud with a bunch of old friends or colleagues surrounded by an atmosphere of bonhomie, smiles, comfort, and an unconscious avoiding of conflict! But studies show that groups comprised of people with different life experiences who embrace dissent are more likely to solve problems than those working with high levels of commonality that meander to an agreeable solution. The first type of group are more often innovative but experience discomfort along the way. The second type are happy but do not rock the boat of innovation. This ground was covered in The Inclusion in the City panel at the LSE on March 5th.
At this event, Teresa Parker, President of EMEA for Northern Trust, noted that in one study, the participants working with friends had more fun and, crucially, thought they had done a much better job than they actually had. For “strangers” they performed better but did not have an enjoyable experience.
Along with other senior figures from the financial and professional services sector, Teresa also discussed a recent report from ‘The Inclusion Initiative’ (TII) at the LSE which outlines steps to take to combat the biggest obstacles to inclusion, and thus create an innovative culture. This report is about creating circumstances where people feel psychologically safe, allowing them to challenge each other and find new and innovative solutions to complex problems and customer service.
In the report, which I co-wrote with Dr Grace Lordan, a behavioural scientist who is Director of TII, there are recommendations on how to avoid group think in team meetings so new perspectives are discussed. These include separating out the brainstorming session to the decision-making session and avoiding a ‘cascade’ of reiterated information from the first person to speak.
Brenda Trenowden, Global Co-Chair of the 30% Club and a partner at PWC UK, emphasised her approval for TII at the LSE on the same panel, and particularly its ability to bring data to the problem of inclusion. She also applauded TII’s appeal to firms to change their choice architecture when hiring to allow them find better candidates. Brenda highlighted PWC had transformed its recruitment with this style of thinking. Through eliminating CVs, changing the universities it recruited from, and emphasising situational judgement tests it tried to avoid biases and heuristics when hiring. “We find we are recruiting a very different cohort,” she said, proudly pointing out that the firm had recently received an award as the Number One Social Mobility Employer in the UK.
The Inclusion in the City report points out that task-based assessments when hiring can circumvent a variety of cognitive biases, including affinity bias, familiarity bias and the halo effect. It also recommends “learning and earning” models – apprenticeships – which open the door to children of lower socio-economic status to pursue careers that previously required a college degree.
Irshaad Ahmad, a member of the European Executive Committee of Allianz Global Investors, and a Toronto native of Guyanese descent, spoke of his shock when he arrived to work in the City: “Why aren’t there more people who look like me?!” He was told it was a supply problem.
Ahmad now works with Investment 2020, an industry-led body intent on bringing diverse talent into asset management. They take seriously the need to be more inclusive in the pipeline by working collaboratively with schools, and also emphasising the need to address access disparities to one-to-one support, role models and mentoring.
Richard Nesbitt, the former COO of CIBC in Canada and CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange, believes the key is to convince more men to hire women because it will deliver more profits. In self-deprecating remarks, which underline that difference can bring better outcomes, he spoke about his career and the revelation that D&I is positive for profitability: “I was just trying to make more money because I observed that men and women working together on a project deliver better results.”
As the Chairman of the Advisory Board of TII, he believes that by measuring how inclusion works in companies and publicising the results, the resulting incontrovertible proof will drive firms to taking inclusion seriously. By doing so, a virtuous cycle can be created as they observe gains to the bottom line.
The panel on the 5th of March emphasised that inclusion is not easy. There is no silver bullet. In our unprecedented times, inclusion should be viewed as necessary to have. Through inclusion we can push boundaries of thinking and what is possible. It can help firms pivot and discover new products, understand the risks of new endeavours more fully and reach new customer bases.
To listen to the panel or see the video please view here.
To read the Inclusion in the City report, please view here.
About the author
Karina Robinson is Co-Director of TII with a focus on financial and professional services, as well as CEO of Robinson Hambro and Master of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.
Posted May 14th, 2020