Diversity, the Winning Edge, and One Great Question

Many of you will recognise this quote from Nelson Mandela: “Sport has the power to change the world.” I have seen this a lot over the last few days, off the back of the amazing Springbok performance at the weekend, and the impact it is hoped this will have on the country.

Two summers ago I gave three key note talks in the City (supported by elite athletes in each case) on Lessons from Sport on D&I. For each, I titled it the Winning Edge, knowing from experience that this was likely to increase the number of attendees, particularly in those harder to reach groups who perhaps would benefit most from the session. Much has been written about diversity in particular recently, not least by Matthew Syed in his brilliant book Rebel Ideas. The debate has thankfully moved on from whether diversity is a ‘good’ thing for business, to a more nuanced look at what diversity means, and how to leverage it. (In Matthew’s book he neatly drives a truck through the idea that there is a trade off between excellence and diversity.)

The debate has moved on to cognitive diversity - diversity of thought, insight and perspectives. I am fascinated by human (and group) potential and performance, and so spend a lot of time analysing high performance sport to see what lessons can be learnt. And lo and behold sport has some brilliant examples of just this. Take Saracens, arguably the most successful team in European rugby. Their coaching staff are renowned for their summer learning trips - where they travel abroad, visiting different countries and sports, making sure they look outside their European rugby union bubble. What about Sir Dave Brailsford? Best known for his marginal gains approach, what is less talked about is his focus on building the right team, with the right mix. For him, this has meant bringing in experts from all sorts of disciplines, working with different industries (think Formula 1 and others to develop bikes and suits) and even bringing in ‘wildcards’. In the early days of Team Sky, when they were not having the success they wanted, he brought in a quiet Australian called Tim Kerrison. Tim was a former rower, rowing coach and swimming coach who had practically never been on a bike. And there he was, brought in to tell Bradley Wiggins how to best ride his bike. I’m not saying sport is perfect in all areas - Saracens have some very current issues they are facing, and Brailsford has some historic ones, but this should not take away from their record on this crucial area of cognitive diversity.

How about this, written a couple of years ago by Eric Dier: “The Spurs dressing room is cosmopolitan. There are guys from all round the world, so you can talk about anything. In Kenya there was an election recently and some controversy. Victor Wanyama is from Kenya, so we speak to him about it. Sonny is from South Korea, so he tells us about the political relationship between South and North Korea. He talks about the history. Mousa Dembele and I have just had a four day argument about weddings. All week! We were arguing about the concept of marriage. Do you need to be married to demonstrate commitment. We also had an argument about trendsetters. What is a trendsetter? How do you go about setting trends? I think that is the beautiful thing about football….Everyone brings something different.”

But bringing in cognitive diversity is only half the story. And this is where the great question referred to in the title comes into play. At the end of my keynote at one of the City Banks, the first question I was asked was this: “What actually is the difference between diversity and inclusion?” What a great question, and what a courageous one too (how easy do you find it to ask questions such as this, where most people take their understanding for granted, in an open forum?) My answer was this: “diversity primarily refers to the mix of people within an organisation. Inclusion refers to the environment that helps facilitate and leverage that mix.”

Many organisations focus on the first half; doing their best to ensure recruitment practices that drive a diverse staff. But how many leave it there, without focusing on the second half of the story? Imagine if Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, or your favourite team, having spent millions on recruiting the ‘right’ players, just left them to get on with it themselves. If they just assumed that ‘great things would happen’ due to their great mix of players. Of course they don’t do this. They work incredibly hard to get that diverse set of players to work together in the best way possible. And it needs to be the same in business. Reaping the benefits of diversity doesn’t just happen: you need to focus on ensuring the right environment. An environment that celebrates difference; that encourages debate; and provides the safety needed to ensure individuals can bring their strengths to the table, and flourish.

If you would like to enquire about booking me in for a keynote or lunchtime session, please email info@sportandbeyond.co.uk