Diversity & Inclusion

When I talk about diversity, what springs to mind? Do you picture an iStock photo with a woman in a wheelchair in the foreground and behind her a perfect rainbow of skin colours from milky to jet? Recruiting websites have unintentionally fostered a one-dimensional approach to diversity. If only you could hire some people who look different than you, then you win, right?

But wait. When you hire visibly “different” people, do you expect them to talk like you, think like you? If they join your team and become just a copy of you in a different cultural costume, have you actually increased diversity? What kind of diversity do you desire and encourage within those who are outwardly similar? Is there room on your team for both thinkers and doers? For writers and speakers? For historians and visionaries? Are all of these strengths valued and appreciated?

True diversity has many dimensions. If we can adjust our thinking and our actions to be reinforce and encourage a variety of approaches, we make room for many types of diversity. We can stop checking a box for our diversity pamphlet and actually start to create a management cadre that is meaningfully reflective of the diversity of our country.

Notice that the key leadership competencies are not ranked in order of importance. All are required, and all are key to good management and effective leadership.

Your greatest leadership strength might be action management – design & execution. Mine might be engagement – mobilizing people, organizations, and partners. Jill over there might be a superstar in strategic thinking – innovating through analysis and ideas. None of us is inherently a better manager than the next. All of these skill sets are required at the table.

Yet I’ve regularly heard managers or aspiring managers express derision for the competencies that they don’t personally hold in high esteem. “She’s always worrying about numbers” (that’s financial management) , “Oh he’ll just go ask his staff what they think” (that’s engagement), “There she goes challenging the Director again” (values & ethics).

Any strength, when overused, becomes a weakness. There are people who can rightly be criticized for being over-using their go-to competencies. But just because someone else emphasizes a different aspect of the key leadership competencies than you do, does not make than an inferior manager.

As long as we measure the potential of up-and-coming employees based upon a single model of leadership, we will keep hiring/promoting the same kinds of people. We aren’t likely to hit our employment equity targets, but more importantly, we doom ourselves to keep making the same kinds of mistakes.

The greatest leaders surround themselves with other excellent people, who bring different strengths and expertise to the team. The Public Service Employment Act concept of “best fit” can be used to accomplish exactly this. From a pool of qualified candidates, all of whom could do the job, a manager is able to select the one whose strengths best complement the team’s needs (or weaknesses, if you choose to use it that way).

Bringing a true diversity of voices to the table, and finding effective ways to get the best from all of them, will help us make better decisions and shape a truly inclusive public service.