This post is written by Casey Ryan, Business Improvement Business Partner, National Highways

  • **The problem: **Well-meaning diversity and inclusion efforts often don’t work
  • Why it matters: A lack of EDI results in disengaged people in stagnant industries which die out from poor reputation, lack of talent and lack of innovation.
  • The solution: Look after your people and the work will look after itself.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) organisations face a difficult future; with an aging workforce and difficulty attracting and retaining talent. The sector has a social reputation for being male dominated, homogenous and unwelcoming.

A recent report on equity in UK STEM showed the sector has around 50% fewer women within the workforce than across the UK’s general workforce. It highlighted some issues around disability, race, and LGBT+ representation, noting that the sparse information in these areas is telling in and of itself.

Many organisations across STEM have attempted and are attempting to address these inequalities through equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, but their methodology frequently fails to achieve the desired result – and is it any wonder, when those running the relevant schemes are rarely those on the receiving end of the scheme’s outcomes. To live the value of ‘no decision about us without us’, STEM organisations need to work on more than just staff networks and educational talks.

The three keys to success

When looking to make an organisation more inclusive, I note three key factors: Education, Integration and Unification.

Many organisations are quite good at the basics of education. They empower their staff networks and provide training modules. They often rebrand for specific events to show visible solidarity, and they look to put supportive policies in place. They often then start on unification through schemes such as buddy networks, but this is where their efforts end. I believe organisations get stuck here because they are so used to focussing on measurable targets.

The thing is that where inclusion is concerned, the measurable target is an outcome of a separate focus, not the focus itself. For example: self-identification in HR systems is an outcome based on how well you have focussed on a holistic number of things to build trust. Focus on measurable targets, like with target fixation, blinds us to what EDI actually is. It blinds us to the wider implications of human beings trying to get along with one another. Organisations so often split off an EDI task force of some kind. By splitting it out into a separate item, we forget that EDI is part of everything. It is not a slice of the pie, it is an ingredient. Which leads me on to integration.

Integrating is crucial

Analogies only have so much stretch, but think of it like this: If I baked an unseasoned pie, and provided you with salt, but didn’t let you add the salt to the pie…you’d probably leave my restaurant (and leave me a one-star review, at that). Similarly, if I made a perfectly salted pie, and provided you with salt, but I didn’t give you the opportunity to add more if you wanted to, you might be a little annoyed at my lack of consideration for your individual needs. If I did both, maybe you’ll be a return customer, and you’ll spread the word about my awesome pie shop.

EDI needs to be integrated into everything. If I want more engaged people, I need an inviting and open culture, which requires good EDI. If I want to retain people, I need to understand individual drivers and needs, which requires good EDI. If I want innovation, I need to be able to safely challenge and have open disagreement in meetings, which requires — you guessed it — good EDI.

When it comes to unification, I consider the words of Haruki Murakami: “Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.”

Overcoming complexities

We need to understand that this is complex and time-consuming stuff. We aren’t trying to fix a broken pipe or deliver a scheme, we are talking about the very fundamental beliefs and values each person holds true to, which can cause conflict and rejection between peers. This is not lean, agile or a Gantt chartable task – this is relationships. They take time, and they take a human approach.

If we are going to evolve the STEM sector, we need to acknowledge that the mechanistic version of work we have so long followed, no longer serves us. The fourth industrial revolution is a disruptive space of innovation. We must harness our shared humanity and thread that humanity into everything we do, to enable workplaces of true innovation and the joy that enables it.

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