After submitting an application and going through an interview early this year, I was accepted as a member of the new Diversity and Social Inclusion Sub Committee of OSAC’s (Overseas Security Advisory Council) Women in Security Committee. Wonderful news, but also quite scary. I don’t feel myself to be particularly diverse. I’m a woman, yes, but also White and Western. Then I was told that this was a diverse appointment, as I’m the first non-American member of the committee. From whatever angle you look at it, it appears: We are all diverse in our own way.
Diversity or the Lack Thereof
I actually thought we were doing quite well in the security sector, at least from a gender perspective (and that’s a start). At GISF forum meetings (back when these were still events you attended in person) the room would be about a 50-50 split between women and men. How wildly mistaken I was in my thinking was proven at the first OSAC Annual Briefing I attended in 2018. I was sitting in the audience with a Kenyan colleague and when we looked around the vast majority of attendees (say 98%) were white males. We still have a LONG way to go to accomplish gender balance and an even longer way to go to reach the goal of a diverse and socially inclusive security sector. So, why is this so difficult, where is the friction and what can we do about it? I would be tempted to say that a diverse workforce starts at the hiring process, but it really starts even before that. It is about the message you carry out, the reputation you have and even about the language used in vacancies (See the excellent Gender Decoder to find subtle bias in your vacancies).
Not the Usual Tools
the best way to increase diversity is to stop trying to control diversity
Having recruited about ten regional and global level positions in the past two years with differing levels of strategic capacity and leadership capability, I will say: It is incredibly difficult to hire diversely and socially inclusive in safety and security. Not to get a diverse candidate pool, that happened in all cases. How can you hire the best person for the job and still hire diversely?
The Harvard Business Review article Why Diversity Programs Fail is from 2016, but still accurate. The article argues that the best way to increase diversity is to stop trying to control diversity. Don’t force people to change through mandatory diversity training, hiring tests and performance ratings; Those will only exacerbate the problem. Instead, they propose a voluntary approach aiming to engage, expose and encourage. Force feeding an agenda does not solve a cultural issue, it reinforces barriers. Don’t make people part of the problem, make them part of the solution.
The HBR article goes on to say that “the usual tools—diversity training, hiring tests, performance ratings, grievance systems—tend to make things worse, not better”. What IS working however, they find is conscious effort in targeted recruiting, mentoring and self-managed teams.
Engage
Recruitment is not ‘an HR thing’. Hiring managers are as much part of the recruitment process as any HR manager. A hiring manager should be involved from the start, by increasing contact with women, candidates with diverse backgrounds and with diverse profiles. What are the potential sources for our next generation security risk management professionals? Universities, other higher education institutes, the corporate sector and also in our own backyard: Programme and operations staff already working for our organisations. Security risk managers should look beyond the small (and almost incestuous) pool of humanitarian security professionals, there is a wealth of potential candidates out there. They have the skills, the mindsets, the capabilities. We only have to teach them our profession of safety and security risk management in a humanitarian setting.
Expose
Except the Great Wizard of Oz – and he failed! –, no one can create sustainable change from an ivory tower (or emerald in his case). To create change, all voices must be heard. Engage managers in solving the problem and engage voices from outside of the NGO security sector in our work. Setting up focus groups consisting of programme staff, senior managers, partner staff, beneficiaries, before embarking on a high impact change process.
We all know we have racial bias but admitting we have it is something different. Self-managed teams are one way of overcoming that bias without useless enforced diversity trainings just talking about it. Exposing staff in different positions and departments to take on a project together; These self-managed teams show less bias towards people with profiles different from their own. The Forbes article How to Effectively Manage Your Diverse Team highlights the “vital difference between diversity for the sake of equality and diversity for the sake of performance”. The article argues that high team identification is key in successful teams. The higher the collective team identification, the more positive their perception of diversity. Allowing them to explore their differences and use them to their advantage in the collaboration of a self-managed teams creates an environment that is not just about equal representation (I’m only here because I’m female, Asian, Muslim, etc.) but about equal differing input (I am here because I have a unique voice to add to the team).
Diversity is that I am heard not because I am female, but because I have a unique voice.
Encourage
Encourage social accountability for change, is what HBR means when they talk about encouragement. In my opinion, encouragement should be about what we do to increase confidence and capability in the profession of security risk management. Hiring candidates who are not at the needed level, so that we can build their capacity internally. The earlier mentioned mentoring programmes, whether internal to an organisation (such as CRS’ Female Mentoring Programme) or as a sector (INSSA’s Mentoring Programme, to be re-launched late 2021).
Additionally, encouragement is about promoting transparency. “When managers actively help boost diversity in their companies, something similar happens: They begin to think of themselves as diversity champions”, HBR states. As we look at our team, their skills, background, diverse profiles, salaries: Would we be OK defending what this says? And if not, how can we change that?
Create Change from the Inside Out
Change is not only something you hire. Change is what you create from the inside out. We have made much progress within the security risk management field, and we also have a long way to go. I recognise that we are moving forward and at least are now actively engaging. The security risk management field is still far from as diverse as it can be. Taking the time to mentor and coach promising staff, to create a talent pipeline and a realistic career path will cost resources and years to build. It is worth the investment ten times over, however.
Diversity is not what you see when you look around you. It is too superficial to look at people’s faces and determine your successful diversification by their gender, skin colour, age, or abilities. It goes much deeper. Diversity strengthens assessments and capacity by bringing in perspectives that are rounded and represent issues such as culture, gender, the list is endless. Diversity is in the voices you hear. That is where we will make a difference.
Not a Think Tank 