Inspirational leadership – uncovering the roots of bias – a CEO’s quest for cultural change
The CEO of this international bank with over 7500 employees, was a true believer of Diversity, & in creating a thriving Inclusive culture.
Typically, the impression was that the bank was an inclusive place as outsiders would be greeted with diverse people working together, a lot of camaraderie, and happy faces
In reality, this was a half-truth & superficial.
The CEO knew that because his challenges started with male-dominated top management with rigid ideas on D&I.
This attitude percolated to employees who were rooted in bias around gender, generational, and culture.
Adding to the list of woes were the women employees who had adopted a “suffer in silence” stand.
It was in this background that the CEO guided by his inner compass & belief embarked on the DEI journey along with experts & few believers from the system.
The unfolding began with deep diagnostics to understand the depth of bias seeding & beliefs.
All were surprised by the findings around gender, generation & cultural aspects.
At the Top Management level: No buy-in that an inclusive culture is needed, no perceived benefits felt, lip service, etc.
At the Employees level:
- Gender: language, imagery, gossip, attire, name-calling, slang terminology
- Generational: Prejudices, Bias, exclusion
- Cultural: not international but regional, sharp silos based on ethnicity, food choices, etc.
The diagnostics got people heckled & rumors’ flew thick and fast that men were going to be sacked, women would be given preference and major changes were in the pipeline. Interestingly the women employees got targeted & joined the murmurs of anxiety & unhappiness.
It was shocking to see how well-educated people from metros were unaware of the repercussions of their bias/ prejudices/non-inclusive behaviours
The CEO knew he had to have his management teams BUY IN first and coevolve the actions needed.
Study of the data threw up a common root: bias/ prejudice/ perceptions/
Addressing the BIAS story, without ruffling feathers was the next chosen step.
As bias is a sensitive topic the medium of “Interactive Theatre, uses professional and well-known TV artists playing real work-related scenarios, moving to introspection & conversations.
Random association, creativity, out of the box thinking are great tool to address the challenging left brained thought processes
These sessions moved from data rejection – denial – may be – possible – yes happens- reflection – now what next.
Five hundred employees participated in this DRAMA to REAL awareness sessions.
The real work started post the drama series, 100 catalysts of change were identified, to ensure leaders demonstrated new behaviors at the workplace. Deviations were dealt with gently but firmly.
The hero of this seeding of a bias-free culture of inclusion was the CEO, who stood his ground firmly despite strong opposition.
So once again it proves that if you believe in something with passion & commitment, it is possible to light a fire.
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