Is the SA diversity playbook broken?

I grew up in Zimbabwe living in mining communities or in boarding school. Cultural and racial diversity was extremely limited compared to what my children experience in South Africa today. Few people believe me when I say I met a Muslim and an Atheist for the first time at age 18. So living in South Africa has taught me a lot about other people and especially highlighted what I do not know about other people. Arriving in South Africa to study in the year 2000, however, was a real eye opener in terms of how unequal our society was and how deep racial prejudices existed as a legacy of Apartheid.

We grappled with this in my varsity residence where we had a situation where all the black students congregated in the common room and all the white students congregated in the bar. Limiting interaction with each other, based on a narrative that each group had different interests. On arriving in the working world some years later, again I could see that there was a distinct lack of unity between races. Typically the organisations culture supported a Western (white) view of the world and the leadership teams across the business consisted of very few people of colour (black).

Reflecting on this many years later, I must say that my experience is that we have a very long way to go in terms of inclusion and diversity. Below I outline the typical playbook I have seen companies implement with regards to diversity and inclusion and give my comments as to why it is not working. I’m sure many of my colleagues will be able to recognise this in their own lives and organisations. Do we need a new model or playbook because the existing one is not working?

Step 1: We tip toe and talk around the topic

 

Diversity discussions are dominated by race and gender. No other lense is applied. It’s all about numbers. Typically there reaches a point where due to some event, a company is forced to confront its lack of diversity or inclusion. This is usually because of a Department of Labour audit gone wrong, a massive exodus of black talent or an outspoken executive joining the leadership team who challenges the organization to change.

Discussions are polite and focused on delivering the illusion of engagement, while protecting the status quo. Phrases like “Ubuntu” and “We are all the same” are thrown around to give the impression to people that they have been heard while in reality nothing changes. Sometimes a committee is formed and given a vernacular name like the “Savuka Committee” or “Ubuntu Committee” and creating diversity and inclusion in outsourced to them. They do this by setting up days of action cricket and office braais on Heritage Day.

Step 2: We solve the future by ignoring the present

 

Having acknowledged that there is a diversity issue or a representation issue, the company becomes under pressure to show some progress. Attendance at action cricket is dropping and more and more black talent is leaving the business. The leadership team has a meeting to discuss the reasons for this lack of diversity and transformation and come up with reasons that are out of their control.

The usual reasons such as the shortage of black or female talent, that black people don’t want to live in a certain town, that black people are job hoppers, that none of the black talent is ready to take on more responsibility and that being more inclusive will not be at the expense of existing employees. Therefore, the company needs to grow so that it can create more senior jobs for black people.

All of these issues are out of the control of management and will require long term intervention. So we create a talent pool of aspiring leaders and managers and identify that none of them are ready for promotion. However, we will over an undefined period of time put them on courses and mentor them so that one day…before the world ends…they will be ready to take on more. Ultimately the lack of diversity can’t be our fault right. It’s a South African problem and will take decades to solve. Oh and for good measure let’s attach a label to this group. How about “equity candidates”?

Step 3: Call it something else

 

Our various talent pools have failed to yield results and the organization is still not transformed. What now??? The issue must be that black employees and female employees do not feel welcome in the organisation. The issue is that we are not inclusive to all cultures. So let’s park the hard facts about how poor our racial transformation has been and let’s focus on making the company inclusive.

In the mean time we don’t address any of the systemic elements that keep black professionals from progressing. However, we remain very busy working on inclusion. The best way to do this is to find consultants in the market with a deep understanding of inclusion and diversity and use them to run a few programs or interventions. These workshops do a lot to make people aware of the society they are living in and the need for inclusion, however, at an organisational level nothing of significance changes.

Step 4: Take out your cheque book

 

Everyone in your company has been on “diversity training” yet the composition of your senior staff still hasn’t changed. Your black and female talent is still leaving. Older white males are beginning to feel insecure and this is creating some problems for your leadership team. What to do???

There must be an incentive you can offer black talent to keep them in your organisation. So you go out into the market and hire the best black talent you can find. You instruct your HR that all recruits at a certain level must be black or female or both. This surge in demand for this talent makes them quite desirable and it starts to get expensive to bring them in. Everyone demands sign in bonuses and compares costs and perks easily across the industry.

Now you have a pool of workers who will be with you for some time. Until your P&L cannot sustain their lifestyles as well as the next company. Because while they are talented, every day they are forced to confront the lack of inclusion and diversity in your organisation.

Step 5: Start at the top

 

Realising that the existing leadership team will not drive diversity or inclusion, the final option is to slowly replace them. More and more very senior black appointments are made and the organisation gradually starts to transform. Those employees that have not embraced diversity and inclusion start to stand out for the wrong reasons and generally leave the company. Those employees of all backgrounds that have shown an ability to work across diverse cultures and beliefs thrive. Drawing from a broader pool of talent the company begins to outperform its peer set. It’s people are happier. It’s staff turnover is lower and it’s financial performance is better.

Do any of these elements resonate with you? Have I missed any elements of the failing South African diversity playbook besides obviously failing to even mention other aspects of diversity around age, sexual orientation, gender, religion and so forth?