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Efforts by social landlords to address diversity have sometimes been superficial. Maybe that is why they are not working, argue Rina Goldenberg Lynch and David Levenson
In mid-July, the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations launched G15 Accelerate, described as “a new leadership development programme for BAME managers to help develop their potential to become our future leaders”. The G15 has set a target to more than double the BAME proportion of its board members to 30% by 2025.
“Is it time for housing leaders to start looking beyond how to develop and recruit to their leadership teams and consider whether their behaviours are truly inclusive?”
This follows a diversity pledge signed by G15 chief executives in April, the latest of many similar attempts going back to the creation of BAME housing associations in 1970s and 80s.
According to government data published in February 2020, 17% of households (3.9 million) in England lived in local authority or housing association homes between 2016 and 2018. More than 40% of Black African and Black Caribbean households were likely to be living in social rented housing.
Survey after survey published by Inside Housing since 2016 indicate hardly any change in the proportion of BAME members at board and senior executive level. Out of 61 housing providers who responded to their latest survey, just 9% of executives and 13.6% of board members identified as BAME.
So much for the data, but what do Black employees believe is going on at the top of their organisations, especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement? What some have said is that housing providers have gone backwards in recent years in terms of under-representation of Black people at board and executive levels. In their view, the collective behaviours and actions of housing leaders have not matched their rhetoric.
“Behaving inclusively requires us to have humility to recognise that ours isn’t the only way, to be curious about someone’s lived experiences and not rush to judgement when we encounter views that differ from our conceptions”
If this is what some Black staff are saying publicly, it is a fair bet that it reflects what many more are thinking.
The key to addressing this issue is not more pledges or programmes, which conveys an unintended message that all housing providers need do is help BAME people improve themselves to get alongside their white colleagues at the top table. There is enough evidence to show that on their own, such programmes do not work. ‘Window-dressing’ a problem rarely makes a real and lasting impact.
Is it time for housing leaders to start looking beyond how to develop and recruit to their leadership teams and consider whether their behaviours are truly inclusive?
Why behaving inclusively matters
In a recent address to the National Housing Federation’s Governance Conference, Rina Goldenberg Lynch explained that an organisation’s purpose is related to the values it espouses. This is especially true when the purpose is to address deep rooted inequalities in whatever form they take.
Acting with good intentions isn’t enough, which is why behaving inclusively matters. Ticking the equality, diversity and inclusion box may fulfil an organisation’s mission statement, but is it meeting its purpose?
Voice At The Table has created the Eight Inclusive Behaviours framework which, once embedded, changes how we interact with each other. Inclusive behaviour helps to overcome unacknowledged attitudes or prejudices resulting from a lack of understanding or empathy towards the experience of others.
“We must be willing to challenge ourselves, examine the data and evidence, listen to people’s stories and prepare to feel uncomfortable”
Behaving inclusively goes beyond correcting unconscious bias and balancing representation at the top of organisations. It requires us to have humility to recognise that ours isn’t the only way, to be curious about someone’s lived experiences and not rush to judgement when we encounter views that differ from our conceptions.
Behaving inclusively means being careful with our use of language and stepping in when someone speaks or acts in a way that marginalises or diminishes colleagues.
Most of us believe we are inclusive. Extending rules and policies is easy when it doesn’t require much effort. So is welcoming people that make top teams look more diverse (so long as they don’t challenge our own perceptions or impose other burdens).
These efforts are rarely enough. We must be willing to challenge ourselves, examine the data and evidence, listen to people’s stories and prepare to feel uncomfortable.
We need to resolve not only to do more for others but confess inwardly to our blind spots about inclusivity and take committed and concrete steps towards purposeful action.
Rina Goldenberg Lynch, founder and chief executive, and David Levenson, associate consultant, Voice At The Table
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