Think differently
Gender reporting has become an established element of corporate ESG activity since gender pay gap reporting regulations were introduced in 2017. But creating a diverse organisation takes far more than a gender parity mindset.
An annual report and a corporate website with glossy infographics and head shots highlights a business’ gender diversity credentials - or expose a lack of them. The latest figures from the Women Leaders Review show that nearly 40 per cent of FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women, compared with just 12.5 per cent a decade ago. And while we knew it intuitively, there’s mounting empirical evidence that greater gender diversity results in improved innovation, productivity and profitability.
But a lack of broader cognitive diversity limits innovation and growth. Recent studies have found that cognitively diverse teams can increase innovation by over 20 per cent.
Cognitive diversity is the inclusion of people with diversity of thought, whether this comes from having different viewpoints, approaches and experiences as a result of their gender or sexual identity, cultural background, race, age, through having a disability, or being neurodivergent.
Unfortunately, tech such as social media creates echo chambers of the same way of thinking in our everyday lives. We follow and engage with people who think and act in similar ways to us, and social media platforms serve us more of the same content. The same can often be said for business, with leaders hiring in their image, from their alma mater, or bringing members of their old team with them to a new role.
If we continue to think in the same way, innovation is stymied.
By including and fostering more cognitive diversity in an organisation, teams will hear fresh, divergent perspectives that highlight opportunities they haven’t – and wouldn’t - have thought of. Opportunities that can help them create new products, new services, or new strategies that give them a competitive edge. Businesses can start to overcome cognitive bias by shifting their approach to hiring new employees for culture add, rather than culture fit.
New ideas demand fresh thinking. By bringing cognitively diverse stakeholders into the conversation, whether employees or customers, new approaches can be explored, existing processes can be challenged, and innovation can flourish.