Inclusion in Singapore: Introducing The INCLUSION Framework, a tool to create inclusive cultures when managing global teams in financial ...
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The Inclusion
Initiative
Inclusion in Singapore:
Introducing The INCLUSION Framework, a tool to create inclusive
cultures when managing global teams in financial services.
Grace Lordan and Lutfey Siddiqi
September 2021
Background
To understand organisational inclusion in of the COVID-19 pandemic response in
the context of Singapore, we embarked on Singapore. Although this has the disadvantage
a piece of qualitative research that involved that the period of interviews relates to the
interviewing 35 senior leaders in Singapore’s highly unique pandemic response context, an
Financial and Professional Services, to learn advantage comes with interviewing leaders at
their beliefs about best practices in terms a time when they were thinking about new and
of improving inclusion at the firm level, and innovative ways to bring global teams together.
the obstacles that may stand in the way of It also removes the confounding influence of
progress. With these learnings at hand, we specific timepoints of the COVID-19
Quote from a leader in Singapore:
created the INCLUSION framework, drawing pandemic response.
“As we go from the industrialisation phase to a creative society, on insights from behavioural science. This
In the earlier set of interviews the senior
we must value diversity and inclusion. Would appreciate some paper documents this framework. The primary
leader’s main concern would have been with
aim of the INCLUSION framework is to inspire
solid behavioural science to push this forward.” creating an inclusive virtual environment,
financial services firms with a hub in Singapore
and dealing with the obstacles laid out by
to adopt some of the outlined elements for
Lordan in her 2020 Virtual Inclusion in the
The Inclusion Initiative (TII) was launched Focussing on London for the first year of their own in-house inclusion agendas, with their
City2 report. In the later set of interviews, the
at the London School of Economics (LSE) The Inclusion Initiative recognises that own people.
leaders would have been trying to decide on
in November 2020, announcing a research ‘context matters’ when it comes to creating All of the leaders we interviewed managed what hybrid return to work scenario would
agenda that would help make financial and inclusive organisations, allowing us to give global teams, and were cognisant of the allow for inclusive team discussions, enhanced
professional services firms in the City of recommendations that are specifically relevant benefits and the challenges of managing multi- productivity and smooth operations. In
London more inclusive. This research agenda to one of the biggest financial hubs in the cultural colleagues. Therefore, we propose our addition, they would have been trying to figure
was determined through conversations with 40 world. However, TII is a global research centre INCLUSION framework as a guide for creating out how to minimise the biases and heuristics
of London’s most senior leaders. Specifically, at LSE. In recognition of this, we now expand more inclusive organisations in global financial that can plague hybrid working environments,
we asked these leaders to identify the biggest our investigations of inclusive organisations and professional services firms. as laid out by TII’s BE-INCLUSIVE team in their
obstacles to inclusion in the City of London. to interview 35 leaders of global teams who 2020 Hybrid Working report3. For all of those
We then took the most often cited obstacles have been based in Singapore. Singapore was We note that our interviews were conducted
interviewed, without a doubt this was the
and developed a set of actions that can be chosen strategically as a major global financial between October 2020 and July 2021. The
time in the history of financial services when
carried out to reduce or remove the obstacle. hub, that includes a large number of migrants interview window was caused by the difficulty
its leaders were most attuned to improving
These actions were all driven by behavioural from a large number of countries for its in diarising appointments with Singapore’s
inclusivity and maintaining staff morale.
science insights. Additionally, we underlined financial services labour force. There are then most senior leaders. This long window does
the importance of firms in the City of London challenges and big potential gains to managing have the advantage of straddling the majority
evaluating the actions they take to create the diversity that comes with its global
a more inclusive culture, in terms of cost labour market. The challenges arise because
effectiveness. This recommendation belies the evidence shows that diverse teams in the short
fact that despite high levels of investment in run may not work so well together, but over the
the City of London on diversity and inclusion long run gains can be reaped if diverse teams
initiatives, progress is glacial. Figuring out learn to work well together1. It is therefore
‘what works’ can help accelerate progress, as not a given that a firm will reap the benefits
firms can double-down on initiatives that prove of diversity. Rather, these gains are only likely
a positive return on investment, and cease to be revealed if a firm invests in creating an
initiatives that are not creating positive change. inclusive culture.
1. Issue 4,1998, Pages 409-430 and Kannan Srikanth, Sarah Harvey & Randall Peterson (2016) A Dynamic Perspective on Diverse Teams: Moving from the Dual-Process Model to a Dynamic
Coordination-based Model of Diverse Team Performance, The Academy of Management Annals, 10:1, 453-493.
2. See https://www.lse.ac.uk/tii/assets/documents/Virtual-Inclusion-in-the-City-report-large.pdf
3. https://www.lse.ac.uk/tii/assets/documents/Hybrid-Working-report.pdf
Why does TII care
about inclusion?
To get the most out of our teams, it is needs to participate freely, have their voice We had representation from5:
important to acknowledge the potential heard in the discussions and be motivated
for a lack of inclusion and take steps to by goals that are collective rather than
circumvent it. A quick check as to whether individualistic. We need to have people with
inclusivity is an issue in your organisation is different perspectives and life experience
to take some time to recall the last important at the table. Empirical evidence from the
meeting you were in. Did one person speak lab and field suggests that this does not
for the majority of the time? Did introverts usually happen4, implying the outcomes we
participate significantly less than extroverts? get from these discussions are sub optimal.
Did many people look tuned out, flipping A lack of inclusivity damages the financial
through their emails on their phone? and professional services industry from
recruitment through promotion choices
and beyond. Currently firms spend tens of
Quote from a leader in Singapore: thousands of pounds annually on services
to improve inclusion outcomes, with usually
“If you want meetings to be no clear link to cost effectiveness or other
inclusive, you need to do some outcomes that are important to firms
deliberate, pre-meeting work to operating in a competitive environment.
What is more, often these services are even
prepare for it.”
more costly than meets the eye, as they take
income earners away from their core tasks,
with little evidence of gains in the long term.
If you answered yes to these questions it is
highly likely that your meeting was affected It should be stressed that to get the gains
by a lack of inclusivity. In financial and from inclusion it is diverse voices with a
professional services, we often organise variety of life experiences that are required
people into teams to do work that is viewed when brainstorming or looking for new
as innovative, creative and/or strategic. perspectives on risk. Diversity on its own
This can include product creation or the does not reap the better business outcomes
assessment of risk. Why do we have these we so often link with its name. Better
discussions? The overall intuition is a belief business outcomes are not a product of
that two heads are better than one, and simply having more women or individuals
that the outcomes we end up getting are of different ethnicities around a table. Better
greater than the sum of the parts. If we get business outcomes require inclusivity
inclusion right, there are big gains to bottom
line outcomes. For this to happen everyone
4. Manz, C. C., & Sims Jr, H. P. (1982). The potential for” groupthink” in autonomous work groups. Human Relations, 35(9), 773-784; Manz, C. C., & Neck, C. P. (1995). Teamthink: beyond the 5. We also had representation from three other companies where the participant declined to have their firm named.
groupthink syndrome in self‐managing work teams. Journal of Managerial Psychology.
Identifying the obstacles
Why Behavioural Science? to inclusive organisations
Governments all over the world have been proposing interventions that could improve In order to understand the obstacles that and professional services most often who
leveraging behavioural science for over a inclusion within the firm. Behavioural science stand in the way of inclusion for financial and managed global teams. A handful were global
decade, seeing the value added to public offers a wonderful approach for considering professional services in Singapore, we went on or Asia-Pacific heads based outside but whose
policy in its rigorous methodological approach inclusion within firms. Drawing insights from a listening tour, speaking with 35 of Singapore’s remit includes Singapore. In this way we stand
that allows the return on these investments multiple disciplines, it seeks to understand most senior leaders in virtual video interviews. on the shoulders of people who have been
to be calculated. In the same way that firms why people make the choices that they do, working and thinking about inclusion for many
Each person interviewed worked for a major
routinely calculate a net present value for their and the structures and tweaks that can be years in the context we are interested in.
financial and professional services firm in
investment decisions, we view investment in made to incentives and the environment to
Singapore, spanning investment banking, We started each interview by defining
inclusion as a project like any other that obtain a different outcome. In this regard,
retail banking, data, law, consulting and inclusion from TII’s perspective, and giving
should prove its worth in terms of cost behavioural science has explored a number
wealth management. the interviewee a chance to alter the definition
effectiveness. Taking a behavioural science of relevant topics related to inclusion, for
before we moved forward with the interview.
approach allows firms to stop interventions example groupthink, but the majority of the
Strikingly, no interviewee suggested major
that aren’t effective and may not give them research relates to lab experiments or is We had representation from:
changes to the definition we put forward
returns on outcomes that are important to correlational rather than causal. There is a ANZ, Bank of China, Bank of Singapore,
(although, a number of leaders lamented the
them. Depending on the firm this may range dearth of evidence on the cost effectiveness of Barclays, CFA Singapore, Citi, Credit
lack of evidence linking inclusion to better
from profit and loss targets to self-reported the various interventions available to enhance Suisse, DBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC,
business outcomes). This agreement we
employee well-being, but being clear on the inclusion within firms, as quantified from within Institute of Banking and Finance
take as a strong signal that there is a globally
gains expected from investment ex ante the firms themselves. That is, the interventions Singapore, iStox (now re-named ADDX),
uniting definition of what inclusivity implies
allows greater buy in by employees for key proposed may work in theory, and often have JP Morgan, Lombard Odier, Maybank,
for financial and professional services firms
initiatives. Similarly, demonstrating that been shown to work in a lab setting, but the Morgan Stanley, Munich Re, OCBC,
(even if the actions that are required to move
investments in inclusion are cost effective evidence of whether, and to what intensity they Partners Group, Rajah and Tann, Trafigura,
organisations towards this definition differ
ex-post prevents initiative fatigue, and work within firms is not yet at a level where we Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB and
across region and firm). We go forward with
raises the inclusion agenda as important have a stock of knowledge. TII aims to begin to WestPac.5
this hypothesis and take it as given.
across the entire business, thus allowing fill this gap by partnering with firms to assess
for greater buy in. For the purposes of this how well the proposed interventions work when
The individuals we interviewed were at
paper, the authors are leveraging an in-depth people go about their day-to-day jobs.
minimum managing director level, and We define inclusion as follows:
knowledge of behavioural science when
included Regional CEOs, Country heads, global For TII, an organisation is inclusive when
divisional heads, COOs, head of trading desks, managers within that organisation take
asset managers and investment bankers. A steps to ensure that the voices of all
significant majority were income generators. talent in their team are heard, recognising
All of the leaders managed internationally it is for the betterment of the business.
diverse teams. In addition, the footprint of Additionally, the same managers recognise
these firms reaches across the world, as did the voices that are missing from their
the potential reach of the firms’ policy. These team, and take steps in the recruitment
interviews allowed us to identify the obstacles process to address this.
stated by senior leaders of Singapore financial
5. We also had representation from three other companies where the participant declined to have their firm named.
6
Quote from a leader in Singapore: For this report we put a specific focus on the Quote from a leader in Singapore:
discussions that ensued around questions 2
“[Inclusion is] about and 3. In the first case, we draw attention to “How do we create trust and safety so that people can have
making the space sufficiently initiatives that have been dominantly heralded frank and transparent discussions about differences?
as being successful for the leaders that we
non-threatening to have people
interview. In the second case, we take the
speak up and bring their most often cited obstacles and recommend
authentic selves to work actions to reduce or combat them. This allows
us to define the INCLUSION framework. We
The remainder of the interviews and note specifically that much of the INCLUSION
discussions revolved around three questions. framework implies culture change over and
These are: above compliance mechanisms to create
inclusive organisations. This aligns well with
1. What is the value of having a more the GOOD FINANCE framework, created
inclusive workforce? by TII for Women in Banking and Finance
2. Looking back over the last couple of years, earlier this year to accelerate the progress of
can you identify a policy or another shift women in financial and professional services.
that you have seen successfully enhance Compliance mechanisms include audits,
inclusivity in your own firm or in another quotas and monitoring. We expect that the first
firm that you know well? This may be at the culture change the INCLUSION framework will
firm level or team level. Why do you think bring will augment the effectiveness of such
the change worked? compliance mechanisms. Over the longer
term, as trust is built within organisations, the
3. When thinking of inclusivity can you need for such compliance mechanisms should
identify an obstacle that stands in the way diminish as trust in inclusive leaders grows
of progress that, as yet, has not had an
appropriate solution? A summary of The INCLUSION framework is
documented in the table below. The remainder
of the document describes each element of
Quote from a leader in Singapore: the INCLUSION framework in more detail. In
addition, we also provide anonymised quotes
“[Inclusion is] like a diversified from the leaders who participate in the study, to
give the reader a glimpse at the richness of the
portfolio. You want the assets to
interviews we conducted.
have negative or low correlation
with each other.”
8 7
Summary of the INCLUSION framework:
INCLUSION Summary Action Example of End Result
Inclusive Leadership There is a need to train managers in financial and A truly inclusive leader can be trained to develop a habit of deep listening Inclusive leaders conduct meetings where all voices are
professional services to be inclusive leaders. without judgement, and create a culture where team members feel heard and groupthink is avoided.
psychologically safe to share their ideas and experiences.
Norms in Hiring The senior leaders we met emphasised the need for Explore task-based hiring for junior recruits, along with apprentice-style Inclusive hiring results in colleagues being on-boarded who
inclusive recruitment practices which are free from norms models for jobs that currently have a degree requirement. Seek disconfirming are beyond the inclusive leaders own network and based on
that support familiarity bias, affinity bias and cronyism. evidence when turning away candidates that do not fit the typical image of their merit.
what a senior leader looks like.
Cross Cultural Understanding There are clear benefits of global teams in an industry that Facilitate every team member to acquire an understanding of what it means A cross cultural understanding at the team level causes
serves a global clientele, but cross cultural understanding to be an inclusive member of a global team, including cultural sensitivity. This members to lean into conversations on culture differences.
does not happen mechanically. may be facilitated with formal training or by the leader of the team. Team events and dinners no longer end with groups
segregating by country of origin or other affinity.
Long Term Perspective Teams often do not have an inclusive culture because their Demonstrate that inclusion is good for business and influence investors At the company level, data and story-telling are drawn on
leader or organisation lack a long-term perspective seeking out long run opportunities. This will influence attitudes to inclusion in to demonstrate that the company is not myopic, and is
the C-suite, and will trickle down to all leaders in the organisation. cognisant that an inclusive culture secures long run success.
Understand the benefits Many D&I investments have zero or even negative effects. Taking seriously the measurement, tracking and linkage of inclusion to Inclusive leaders routinely evaluate the interventions they
to inclusion A glacial pace of change is the root cause of D&I fatigue, traditional business outcomes as well as innovation at the firm level. roll out to improve inclusivity at the business level. They are
which limits buy-in for change within the organisation. Messages from these analyses can be relayed to employees, to create a honest about what does not work. They are transparent with
virtuous buy-in cycle that causes inclusion interventions to be more effective. these outcomes with their colleagues.
Salient Social Impact Firms should be socially responsible and consistent in all of Choosing to rely only on inclusive firms as partners, suppliers and Firms that lead with inclusion have transparent rules for
their actions and interactions, including the management of collaborators makes salient for other firms that inclusion is a necessity. This managing relationships and interactions with external
their ‘supply chain’. action brings the cost of a lack of inclusion into the present day, making it counterparties.
more likely that firms within the supply chain will change.
Incentives It is a mistake in the financial services industry that Managers who lead teams should have skin in the game in their team’s Inclusive leaders are incentivised extrinsically to bring along
promotions, bonuses and pay are still determined by performance, receiving higher bonuses when the team performs well. all members of their team, and leverage its diversity to realise
individual performance. best outcomes.
Opportunities The link between pay and promotion outcomes to To equalise opportunities, inclusive leaders should pay attention to who gets Inclusive leaders are transparent with their team members
downstream opportunities at the individual level is obvious. what and why. Auditing makes salient the choices they are making, most likely about who gets what and why. They are aware of and correct
Often the distribution of opportunities is not equal. unconsciously. This gives a manager the autonomy to self-correct if they are for biases that might create a less than equitable starting
giving opportunities and rewards to a certain type of person. line amongst team members.
Narratives The narrative surrounding inclusive organisations is still a Stories and case studies can be created based on data and individual Inclusive leaders regularly speak about the benefit to
simple narrative regarding social responsibility. experiences, which put emphasis on the business value of inclusion to inclusion within their teams, such as enhanced innovation,
change and maintain new social norms. creativity, and lower behavioural risk.
10 11
Introducing
Overall, inclusive leaders should simultaneously At the bottom of the pipeline, firms can move
be highly competent in a core business towards more inclusive recruitment practices
function, and adept at getting the most out of by moving away from choosing talent from a
The INCLUSION framework: their team. These leaders are still likely to be
extrinsically motivated, and use their leadership
skills to enhance their own performance
small subset of undergraduate degree types
or specific universities. Instead, they can
recruit via task-based assessments that relate
alongside those of their team. more directly to the tasks that the applicant
will actually do day to day. This opens doors
for candidates who may have chosen an
Inclusive Leadership Quote from a leader in Singapore: Quote from a leader in Singapore: undergraduate degree that does not match well
with their aspirations. It also opens doors to
The leaders we met emphasised the need to “If there isn’t an environment “Some leadership styles don’t those who may have not had the opportunity to
train emerging leaders in inclusive leadership of trust, people wouldn’t express lend themselves to inclusion. It attend a top tier university.
practices. A truly inclusive leader develops a themselves authentically whether pays to do an audit of leadership
habit of deep listening without judgement, and they are asked to speak first styles. I have given up on
creates a culture where team members feel Quote from a leader in Singapore:
or last.” directive leadership which was
psychologically safe to speak up and share
their ideas and experiences.
my style early on.” “Ensuring a balanced slate of
candidates when it comes to
Overall, the leaders saw the role of the
manager to ensure that the voices of their
hiring comes at cost. It can take
Quote from a Leader in Singapore:
team members are heard for the betterment time. Managers need to be aware
“[Right now] Our policies of business, and simultaneously ensure that and supportive of this trade-off.”
& guidance are more about
every team member is given the opportunity Norms in Hiring
to exhibit excellence in their work. It was noted
getting people into the room, that the managers of today should be open to The senior leaders we met emphasised the Overall, task-based assessment can
not on how to ensure that people hearing and understanding about the lives their need for inclusive recruitment practices which circumvent a variety of cognitive biases.
are heard” team members lead outside work, recognising are free from norms that support familiarity These include affinity bias, familiarity bias
that even if their organisation is fully inclusive bias, affinity bias and cronyism. and halo effect. One senior leader we met
team members may experience external described a programme whereby a
Ideally, firms should hire based on skills, ability,
The senior leaders we met underlined the discrimination which shapes their perception of task-based assessment allowed entry into a
and talent only. However, they often rely on
importance of having managers within experiences within the organisation. 1-year rotation programme in their firm that
signals that they incorrectly perceive to be
organisations who understand the value of would allow access to a graduate training
correlated with these attributes to the exclusion
inclusion from the business perspective, and program in year 2 if candidates in the program
of top talent.
moreover adapted their management style Quote from a leader in Singapore: performed successfully.
to ensure that their leadership style was In Singapore, there are subsidies on tertiary
authentic, empathetic and inclusive of all team “We can’t just be set targets
Quote from a leader in Singapore: education, making going to university more
members indiscriminately. In essence, it is the from HQ in the west, we need affordable for its nationals. However, the senior
role of managers to create a “psychologically to take part in how we achieve “Some roles such as trading leaders we met still pointed to a possible
safe environment” so team members feel inclusion here.” are more suited to one gender lack of social mobility as a barrier for a fully
comfortable, and do not have the mental health inclusive society both in Singapore as it is
burden of feeling like outsiders.
as opposed to roles in sales or
elsewhere. Therefore, when recruiting at the
investment banking.” bottom of the pipeline, firms can embrace
learning and earning models. Learning and
earning models open the door for children of
12 13
lower socioeconomic status to pursue careers
that previously required a college degree.
Cross Cultural Quote from a leader in Singapore: A pulse point as to whether the team is
succeeding in being cross culturally inclusive,
In this setting individuals could be hired as Understanding “We have a protocol on how to is to pay attention to the communication
apprentices of firms, and given a salary as well run a meeting precisely to ensure illusion. The communication illusion occurs
The leaders we met were clear on the benefits
as time to complete an undergraduate degree.
of having global teams in an industry that
that we catch all sides and all when a team discusses amicably together,
By removing the need to choose between going but because each person has a different
serves a truly global clientele, and underlined a voices. Dissent is expected.”
to university and earning a salary, firms open paradigm as to what is important each person’s
need to eradicate any prejudice.
their doors to new talent pools. takeaways are different. The communication
Overall, global cross-cultural teams were illusion can be exacerbated in multi-cultural
Overall, there was agreement that global
viewed as providing a competitive edge. teams if steps have not been taken to insure an
industries need to facilitate every team
Quote from a leader in Singapore: However, it was also relayed that cross-cultural inclusive culture. A leader can assess whether
member to acquire an understanding of what
misunderstandings often emerged based on the communication illusion is an issue for their
it means to be an inclusive member of a global
“I don’t know why or how but we what ‘good’ looked like. For example, silence team, including cultural sensitivity. Some own team by getting several members of their
all end up being similar type of in meetings means something different leaders we met mentioned formal facilitation in team to relay to them takeaways from their
people in financial services!” depending on a team members country last meeting. Consistent takeaway messages
this regard, along with others who insisted that
of origin. signals that the team is communicating well,
this should be done by the leader of the team to
a necessity if a multi-cultural team is to
ensure it is bespoke to their team.
When selecting new colleagues at more senior operate efficiently.
levels and deciding who to promote, adequate Quote from a leader in Singapore:
time should be devoted to make sure that
confirmation bias is not driving these key “Culture is a huge factor.
business decisions. Confirmation bias is the Silence means different things
tendency to seek out evidence that confirms in different cultures. Some avoid
our gut instinct on who is right for the role. This
overt conflict. What is unsaid or Quote from a leader in Singapore:
is problematic because gut instincts are often
unheard can be very important.”
driven by what “type” of person has historically “Singapore is often seen as a gateway to the region.
held a particular role. To overcome this, ‘fire drill
We are good at translating across cultures. We can
recruiting’ is to be avoided. In essence, fire drill
recruiting happens when firms feel pressurised
In addition, meetings that failed to bring all make it look easy to the boss in London, but it’s not
voices to the table, and were dominated by that easy”
to recruit at the senior level because of capacity
one or few colleagues were emphasised
constraints and do so at speed.
as a common problem that needed to be
Additionally, when turning away candidates that managed by inclusive leaders. To combat
do not fit the typical image of what a senior this phenomenon some leaders championed
leader looks like, seek disconfirming evidence meetings that had clear rules around what
that challenges the prevailing opinion. For behaviour was appropriate, including one
example, allowing someone who does back example of a maximum speaking time. In
the candidate to present the case without addition, a facility for individuals with low power
interruption. Equally, extra scrutiny should in a meeting to give anonymous feedback on
be given on occasions when a person being the Chair’s capabilities of being an inclusive
chosen for an externally advertised role is leader was bellied as a powerful mechanism
known well to the panel socially, above other for change.
excellent candidates who are not in the panel’s
own network.
14 15
Long Term Perspective Having leaders who are willing to slow down,
and take the time to build inclusive teams
Understand the When rolling out inclusion interventions, firms
should evaluate their gains in terms of cost
Several leaders relayed that the problem for as they are convinced it will pay dividends in benefits of Inclusion effectiveness to ensure that the intervention is
teams that do not have an inclusive culture is terms of lower behavioural risk and higher working as expected with respect to returning a
The leaders we met relayed frustration at the
normally that their leader does not have a long- levels of innovation are invaluable. This is even positive return on investment. This also allows
glacial pace of progress on inclusion, in an
term perspective. This can also be influenced more true given the direction of travel of the the firm identify any backfiring effects, and stop
industry that is fast moving in other domains.
by organisational level conditions where a fourth industrial revolution, where knowledge interventions that aren’t working as planned.
Specific issues on inclusion were raised
short-term perspective by the CEO and their for knowledges sake is less valuable. Rather,
around race, gender, socio-economic status
colleagues in the C-Suite, can trickle down to leaders who will have the edge are those that
and sexuality.
leaders at all levels of the organisation. can bring together divergent perspectives Quote from a leader in Singapore:
and identify innovative solutions, products,
and ideas. Our interviews revealed, however, “We need to be intellectually
Quote from a leader in Singapore
Quote from a leader in Singapore: that today even senior leaders may not be honest; some are genuinely
revealing their unique perspective because of concerned about reverse
“We need to deal with the
“Regardless of how progressive exclusionary cultures.
perception that diversity is in discrimination.”
we might think we are, we all
conflict with meritocracy.”
have biases.”
Quote from a leader in Singapore: Firms benefit from taking seriously the
measurement, tracking and linkage of
The perception that building inclusive cultures
“As the only woman at the TII has heard many times before about the
inclusion to traditional business outcomes
meeting, if I know that the others high-level investments firms make to improve
pays dividends, but only in the medium and as well as innovation at the firm level. By
diversity and inclusion. TII is also aware of
long term is bellied by the fact that there is have already reached consensus, the limited evidence of any return on such
undertaking this type of analysis in a rigorous
no silver bullet for culture change or building it’s easier for me to hold back investments. We speculate that many of these
causal framework they can demonstrate to
inclusive teams. In fact, bringing diverse voices their employees the big benefits that come
my views.” investments have zero or even negative effects
together so they are comfortable in embracing from inclusive leadership. These messages
on diversity and inclusion. The glacial pace of
dissent does not happen overnight, particularly can be relayed in town halls and team
change is also the root cause of diversity and
for organisations that exhibit low levels of If inclusive leaders with a longer run meetings, so that a clear understanding of the
inclusion fatigue the firm may be experiencing.
psychological safety. It may then seem like too perspective are currently absent, firms who benefits of inclusion penetrate all levels of the
long a journey for leaders who focus on each are actively investing in inclusion interventions organisation. This will create a virtuous cycle
annual bonus or are myopic in another regard. could undertake research that links their that causes inclusion interventions and training
Quote from a leader in Singapore
macro measures of inclusion to their macro to be more effective as there are higher levels
level business outcomes. In theory, inclusion “Gender and racial diversity is of buy in from employees.
Quote from a leader in Singapore: enhances the bottom line of the firm over important here. In small teams,
the long run. Credible statistical analysis
“We have mostly launched into small changes can change the
that demonstrates these relationships as
D&I initiatives without senior stylised facts allows firms at the forefront
diversity profile in big ways.”
executives making an effort to of interventions to enhance inclusion to be
explain why that is important. viewed as more attractive to investors seeking
out long run investment opportunities. This in
Some colleagues simply roll
turn will influence attitudes to inclusion in the
their eyes.” C-suite, which will subsequently trickle through
the firm. This trickle down will inspire even the
most myopic of leaders to invest in honing an
inclusive leadership style.
16 17Salient Impact on they need to change. Even if these firms care
less about inclusion, this action brings the
Firms can move away from a focus on
individualism and reward leaders who foster
In addition, it allows companies get the most
out of all of its talent. We note that the high
Society and the cost of a lack of inclusion into the present day, talent in the firm equally. Managers who lead importance of equalising opportunities beyond
Supply Chain making it more likely that they will change. It teams should have skin in the game in their people ‘like me’ was also relayed in the GOOD
leverages the bandwagon effect for good! team’s performance, receiving higher bonuses FINANCE framework TII published with Women
The need for the firm to be socially responsible when the team performs well. Regardless in Banking in Finance earlier this year, as a
in all of its actions and interactions was of level or managerial responsibilities in the mechanism to improve the advancement of
emphasised by a number of leaders that Quote from a leader in Singapore: organisation, a proportion of rewards should women in financial services.
we met. One leader viewed a firm as virtue be given to individuals who exhibit a trend of
In order to equalise opportunities, inclusive
signalling if they state to their employees they “There’s a bandwagon effect. working collaboratively, and sharing great ideas
leaders need to pay attention to who gets what
care about inclusion, while simultaneously Some companies want to look that allow others to succeed and
and why.
still relying on suppliers or business partners and sound socially responsible. move forward.
with poor diversity and inclusion records.
But do they really believe that it
For another leader, their belief in the power
of inclusion to build businesses that would
is right for the business?” Quote from a leader in Singapore:
survive in the fourth industrial revolution meant
that they only chose suppliers who exhibited
Opportunities “Do we have managers who are
inclusive business practices.
strong enough to include people?
The link between pay and promotion outcomes
Incentives to downstream opportunities at the individual
Or is it just too easy to give the
level was salient to many of the leaders promotion to the last person who
The importance of managers with an inclusive
Quote from a leader in Singapore: we met. The need to equalise access to asked for it?”
managing style was a recurring theme for
opportunities beyond any other outcome was
“Diversity is an ecosystem-wide the senior leaders we interviewed. It was also
also seen as a priority. This equalisation will
challenge. There are limits to highlighted that it is a mistake in the financial
ensure that every individual, regardless of their We recommend that focus is placed on stretch
and professional services that promotions,
what one firm can do alone.” personal characteristics, has an opportunity assignments and other prime opportunities to
bonuses and pay spine were still determined on
to progress. grow. Ideally, such leaders would go one step
individual performance mainly. The problem of further and audit their choices. Auditing makes
the individualistic manager was also raised.
A salient pulse point that another business is salient the choices a manager is making, most
inclusive is visible diversity, such as gender, Quote from a leader in Singapore: likely unconsciously. This gives a manager the
ethnicity and race. Salient diversity, as autonomy to see for themselves if they are
Quote from a leader in Singapore: “The pull towards mixing with acting inclusively, and to self-correct if they are
compared to the local labour markets, is a
pulse point that is telling of whether a firm in
“The tone at the top and ‘someone like me’ is strong. At consistently giving opportunities and rewards
a global supply chain has values that align to a certain type of person. If they notice such
promotion of D&I is a retreat, we can have meetings
with inclusive practices. Salient diversity is a trend, they can address any inequalities. We
usually correlated with less visible aspects dramatically different since that are designed to be inclusive. note that a self-audit relies on trusting leaders
of diversity and inclusion. This type of supply before the global financial crisis. Then at dinner or after-dinner, to do the right thing. However, behavioural
chain management is imperative if a firm has It’s not an HR issue, it is a people bunch into their own science insights emphasise that putting a trust
a mission statement that explicitly states that
business issue. We need better language or interest groups.” in others to do the right thing can become a
they are inclusive. Choosing to rely only on self-fulfilling prophecy.
inclusive firms for a supply chain, also makes
scorecards that can be tied to
salient for other firms in the supply chain that compensation.”
18 19Narratives Quote from a Leader in Singapore:
Quote from a leader in Singapore “We need to share more stories
The leaders who we met discussed that the
narrative surrounding inclusive organisations “The tone from the top is very about how different ideas from
was often still a simple narrative regarding
important especially if there different sources have helped get
social responsibility. There is a need to to better results.”
change the narrative to include an emphasis
is commercial urgency and
on better business outcomes so employees, inclusion is perceived to slow
customers and investors are clear on the real things down.” At TII, we embrace data as a way to track
value of inclusion. progress within and across organisations.
However, we are keenly aware of the power
The leaders we met also expressed concern of narrative as a mechanism to change and
Quote from a leader in Singapore: at the negative wellbeing weight certain maintain new social norms.
individuals had to bear in order to work in
“We need the right framing and exclusionary environments where they could What else works with respect to enhancing
some degree of inspiration when not be themselves. Such incidents occurred inclusion within global financial services firms?
it comes to D&I.” if employees perceived they were working
in environments that did not accept aspects
of their person. As more organisations Quotes from leaders in Singapore:
We have already discussed the need to embrace the value of inclusion there are
gains to recording the stories of the change
“For our townhalls, we give a
develop credible evidence that links inclusion
to better business outcomes, both within the in productivity and wellbeing perceived by prize to the person who asks the
organisation and at a macro level. We now any individual that did not previously feel they toughest question.”
advocate for using this evidence to create belonged. Having these stories narrated by
stories and case studies which put emphasis the leaders themselves in a visual format is a
on the business value of inclusion as a powerful tool to enforce the benefits of change. “I found ‘reverse mentoring’
mechanism to change the narrative. to be a good way to interrogate
my biases about the younger
generation.”
“If your appraisal process has
a strong 360-degree feedback
component, people are motivated
to be inclusive.”
“The acceptance of flexible
working is a major step forward
for inclusion.”
20 21Conclusion Meet the authors
Dr Grace Lordan
The INCLUSION Framework brings together The INCLUSION framework will shape the Dr Grace Lordan is the Founding Director of The Inclusion Initiative
the ideas of 35 global senior leaders with global research agenda of TII, with the primary (TII), Director of the MSc in Behavioural Science and an Associate
substantial teams in Singapore alongside the aim to continue to inform on the most cost Professor in Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics
authors’ knowledge of behavioural science effective, impactful approach to create a and Political Science. Grace has a PhD in Economics, and an
insights that can be leveraged to promote workplace that is inclusive of all global talent. undergraduate degree in computer science. Her research is focused
change. The INCLUSION Framework aims Equally we look forward to working with on understanding why some individuals succeed in life and others
to identify the levers that can be pulled to the firms who kindly agreed to cooperate in don’t. She is an expert on the effects of bias, discrimination and
create big changes. In many cases these this report, as well as others, and help them technology changes. Grace is an expert advisor to the UK
levers involve small changes that will have advance their inclusion agenda for better government sitting on their skills and productivity board.
disproportionate impacts on inclusivity within business outcomes. Her academic writings have been published in top
teams and at the organisational level. international journals in economics and the broader
We note specifically that much of the above
social sciences. Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build
implies culture change over and above
the Future you Want is her first book.
compliance mechanism to create inclusive
Quote from a leader in Singapore: organisations. This in turn will require
contextual, calibrated and deliberate action,
“We need to put inclusion within embedding new organisational habits through
the lens of systems thinking. several turns of the flywheel.
Inclusion is the emergent Professor Lutfey Siddiqi
outcome of a complex system. Lutfey Siddiqi is a Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE IDEAS and a co-investigator at
We need to identify those small LSE Inclusion Initiative (TII). He is a member of the advisory boards of
changes that influence change in LSE Systemic Risk Centre, LSE IDEAS and TII. He is also an Adjunct
the system” Professor at the National University of Singapore (Risk Management
Institute) and advisory board member of the Centre for Governance
and Sustainability (CGS) at NUS business school.
He was previously Global Head of Emerging Markets for Foreign
Exchange, Rates & Credit at UBS Investment Bank where he was
also the founding head of UBS Knowledge Network. Prior to that,
he was a Managing Director at Barclays Bank in charge of a
business-line across Asia Pacific.
23The Inclusion
Initiative
The Inclusion Initiative
Room 4.01 Connaught House
63-65 Aldwych
London WC2B 4EJ
Web: lse.ac.uk/tii
Tel: +44 (0)7879 741 117
Email: TII@lse.ac.uk
@LSE_TII
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