The launch of the Green Park BAME 100 report in September is a timely reminder that companies still have a long way to achieve the voluntary targets set out in the 2017 Parker Review. In the U.K. there are currently only five ethnic minority CEOs in the FTSE 100 and just over half of these companies still do not have any ethnic minority representation on their boards. The current status is a stark reminder that a great deal of effort is needed to achieve the reccomendations set out by Sir John Parker in 2017:
- Targets to increase the ethnic diversity of UK Boards by proposing each FTSE 100 Board to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021 and for each FTSE 250 Board to do the same by 2024.
- Develop a pipeline of candidates and plan for succession through mentoring and sponsoring.
- Enhance transparency and disclosure to record and track progress against the objectives.
The Green Park BAME 100 report creates a platform to showcase a diverse range of talented individuals from an ethnic minority background who are qualified as board-ready. The report, now in its third year shows 15% of the leaders shortlisted appointed to 30 new board roles. The net effect over three years, taking into account individuals moving, retiring or passing away has left a net gain of just one new British BAM board member across all three sectors. In effect, recruitment numbers are barely keeping up with the rate of attrition.
The reasons underlying these results point to the same discussions for the lack of progress for women in leadership positions following the Davies report in 2010, often focusing on an inadequate supply of well-qualified individuals to take up these positions. This report identifies an influential band of individuals and is a welcome addition to the update Cranfield report published earlier this year with a special section on BAME women. These platforms serve to improve the range of visibility among ethnic minority groups which is needed to demonstrate the range of talent available.
When working with organizations embarking on a diversity and inclusion strategy, a sense of frustration often accompanies the first few rounds of conversations at the enormity of the situation. This view is compounded by the complexity when we start layering the impact of different identities; in other words, intersectionality. As organizations look for best practice, they often turn to the work done for women in leadership roles; this area has been particularly active since 2010 and is in a more mature stage. Change leadership is complicated for most organizations, but when we are asking the leadership to consider how to change their composition, the process becomes even more fraught. Any Change Leadership discussion will begin with a framework, and one of the most accessible approaches provided by John P. Kotter, Harvard professor in the field of management and business. His eight-stage process for change covers the journey and required behaviors to achieve progress for change. If we examine the change agenda around BAME recruitment, the impact of these reports help to enlist a body of people who rally around this opportunity and enable action by removing barriers.
The fundamental question is whether the D&I leads have a sufficiently clear translation of the vision to enlist their own volunteer army? Without a clear understanding, and a critical mass of people committed to the shared goal, change cannot happen.
Advocates and activists working in the BAME space have the opportunity to learn from the work in the gender leadership space. While progress is temperamental, there are benefits from observing the learnings of a first mover in the area. A lot of the right development is being made, particularly at an institutional level; however, a significant degree of action coalesced around the work of the 30% club led by Helena Morrisey at the time. The group took every opportunity to engage with leaders, speak on platforms. In addition to achieving the gender pay review reporting, several initiatives focus on building and sustaining the pipeline of women. For example, through scholarships for women on MBA and Masters programs, creating cross-institutional mentoring programs, using the media and peer pressure to high non-compliance has been particularly useful among the FTSE 350 companies. This multilateral approach is not unique to the United Kingdom similar approaches in other countries have yielded results.
Research consistently speaks to the impact of ethnic diversity in leadership yielding better performance, and in some instances outperforming gender diversity. Despite the evidence, the discussion comes back to institutional biases, identified by Sir Trevor Phillips, chairman of Green Park: "On this evidence, it's difficult not to conclude that in contrast to the improvement in attitudes to gender diversity, when it comes to ethnicity, the U.K.'s boards are operating a one in, one out policy."
At a time when Brexit is creating paralysis among businesses, diversity plans can and often do get shut down due to the lack of budget and frankly lack of energy and attention. To push deeper into the change agenda requires a step-change in the mindset of the volunteer army who continue to struggle with limited resources. In a resource-starved environment, three things can help organizations create a smarter army for change:
- Look beyond the feel-good awareness-raising programs celebrating festivals to a more sustained approach in building a pluralistic culture to enable diversity to thrive. Focus on programs that will support recruitment, retention, and promotion among BAME candidates.
- Ensure the stories you tell support the lived experience—every organization has an excellent story to share, and every organization can also be honest about how it needs to adapt to be even better.
- Analyze what you have done well or what others have done well in the gender leadership space; interrogate and then implement this strategy in your work.
There is no single bullet, and in reality, the ethnicity space is even more complicated, success will only occur when groups collaborate to share effective policies and actions.
In using an even more strategic approach to understand barriers to change organizations will be better placed to benefit from these lists in recruiting and, more importantly retaining BAME talent beyond the timelines set out in the Parker review.
