by Carmen Oleksinski
Diversity and inclusion. These phrases have become buzzwords in many workplaces, but why are they important? What does it actually mean to achieve them? These questions formed the basis of discussion for the Women in Transport Book Club spring 2021 session, where members gathered together to share thoughts on Rebel Ideas: The importance of diverse thought by Matthew Syed.
Syed argues for the importance of seeking out differences in perspective, insights, experiences and thinking styles. The book goes beyond pushing for diversity out of political correctness, and describes why it is a fundamental pillar of successful teams and healthy organisations.
Rebel Ideas is a book that stays with you for a while after you finish it. Some mentioned that they’ve read it multiple times in order to take it all in, and I have to admit that I’m inspired to do the same!
The session discussions were wide ranging - here are some of the themes and questions that were covered:
Why we form ‘echo chambers’: To understand why diversity can be challenging, it is worth acknowledging that there is comfort and validation in finding people who think similarly to you. Being aware of this fact helps us to understand our own actions and roles when trying to foster diversity.
Keeping the outsider mindset: It is always a good idea to ask yourself whether you’ve sought out perspectives outside your own echo chamber. Mentoring is one way to gain a new set of ideas, including reverse mentoring. At an organisational level, the idea of ‘shadow boards’ have been developed to enable a structured way to solicit additional viewpoints beyond the traditional boardroom. This has been used, for example, to gain the insights from younger members of an organisation, to feed into the traditionally older and more experienced board members.
Creating the space for different voices: It is important that people with diverse perspectives are invited to meetings in the first place. If their voices are not heard, however, it becomes more of a tick box exercise rather than actual inclusivity. How to create space for unique voices can take different forms - perhaps it’s building in time for silence and reflection into meetings, or limiting meeting sizes to encourage full participation.
Confident and inclusive leadership: Change can be accelerated by support from leadership, though that leadership must be comfortable with being questioned by new perspectives. In general, training and education on how to have these conversations, as well as on how to chair meetings and make decisions inclusively, would be highly beneficial.
Impact of virtual work on inclusivity: While the virtual world has hindered the natural osmosis of ideas that might occur in person, there are new tools that may enable different perspectives to be exchanged. For example, virtual whiteboards allow for anonymous thought sharing that would not be possible in a face to face meeting.
Nothing About Us Without Us: True diversity is possible when the people making the management decisions better reflect the people that will be impacted. The transport industry serves everyone, therefore, the management and the inputs to the decision-making process should reflect that.
Overall, it was a great session of the book club, full of the supportive, thought-provoking and insightful conversations we’ve been having over the past year. All members are welcome to join the conversation in the summer session on 27 July 2021, where we will talk about the award-winning Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo.
