26 May 2010

Launch of ‘Riding the Wave’ Guidelines Wellesley Boutique Hotel, Wellington Mervin Singham

Kia ora. Good morning to you all.

I am Mervin Singham, and I am delighted to welcome you to the launch of

the Office of Ethnic Affair’s ‘Riding the Wave’ resource today. Thank you

for making the time to attend. I understand we have a broad cross section

of attendees from difference sectors here. We have people from Fletcher

Challenge, KiwiRail, Damwatch, the NZ Indian Business Council and the

Human Resources Institute of NZ. We also have senior representatives

from government agencies such as the Ministry of Social Development,

the Department of Labour and the Human Rights Commission.

In particular, I would like to acknowledge: Phil O’Reilly (Business NZ) and

Campbell Hepburn (The Johnson Group).

The topic of diversity in the workforce conjures up many stories. Some are

funny, some are perplexing and others sad. One of the stories that come

to mind is about a young Indian colleague of mine. She confided in me

about a particularly odd aspect of selection in an organisation she once

worked for. Anyone who had a chance of progressing from international

policy into the international business division had to pass “The Lunch

Test”, where the Managing Director decided if he would want to eat lunch

with this person for twenty years.

The entire workforce of 40 staff, with the exception of one person, was,

politely speaking here, homogenous. Naturally, the company did not have

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an issue with that. Then one day they found they were not being

considered for tenders in lucrative, emerging Asian economies. The work

dried up, and they started to spend more on creating a tender document

than they would bring in per month.

In desperation one day, and facing increasingly probing questions from his

Board, the Managing Director called his business executive staff and

international policy analysts into the room. He looked at the faces around

the table. One of those faces was of my colleague, the woman of Indian

ethnicity. Pointing to her, the Managing Director said: “There. You’re

Asian. You probably speak their language. You deal with Asia.”

In fact he made the right choice. The success the company had over the

next couple of years had little to do with the ethnicity of the individual, but

more to do with the different cultural style of working that breathed fresh

life into a staid and dull company.

Ladies and gentlemen, workforce diversity is associated with innovation,

increased productivity, access to wider markets and more positive working

environments. The Harvard Business Review recently highlighted that two

key drivers for innovation in the workplace are a questioning approach that

helps companies break out of the status quo and consider new

possibilities. The second comes from networking with individuals from

diverse backgrounds to gain radically different perspectives. Yet, many

people are not seizing these opportunities.

I was at the Harvard Business School last year. Professor Linda Hill, the

chair of the faculty and a management guru in her own right, told our class

that ethnic minorities, particularly women, have to prove themselves twice

as much as others in order to get to the same place in their careers. This is

because they lack the established networks with senior management that

helps people progress in their careers. Also they have to work twice as

hard to establish their credibility with senior management and their peers.

She spoke of brilliant Chinese Harvard MBA students, who speak four

languages, and were top of the class. Still they were only placed in the

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China division of the Fortune 500 company they worked for. Most of these

ambitious professionals want to contribute to running the whole company,

not just the division that relates to their ethnicity.

What a lost opportunity this is.

So what does this mean for NZ? I think we need to wake up and smell the

coffee! Our societal DNA has changed forever. Population projections

indicate that we will be transformed as a community by 2021, when 16-

18% of our population will be comprised of ethnic minority people, other

than Maori and Pacific peoples.

We are already one of the most diverse countries in the OECD. And that

means our workforce is changing, and will continue to do so. So will the

consumers, and the markets that have generated profits for New Zealand

in the past. Our traditional business allies are no longer the same. Today,

New Zealand is heavily reliant on the Asia Pacific region for its economic

future. In a customer-driven, global marketplace, multicultural intelligence

is a core factor in a company’s future success.

Yet, although we live peacefully among this great diversity in New

Zealand, at times we act in ways that deny it. We aren’t alone in this

denial. Most countries in the Western world that face these dynamic

changes are preoccupied by the dilemmas that ethnic diversity brings.

Many are deeply anxious about a sense of shifting identity and loss of

traditional values.

These are valid concerns that must be dealt with. However, we must be

careful not to be unduly focused on these challenges alone. If we do, we

deny ourselves the benefits that diversity brings – new opportunities,

ingenuity in thinking and the economic and social richness that emerge

from diversity.

Talk of workforce diversity is often associated with equity for minorities. In

the Office of Ethnic Affairs we talk about employment on the basis of merit

and merit alone. Employing ethnic minorities is not about promoting social

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justice or doing the right thing. Today, it really is about doing the bright

thing.

It is about employing the best people for the job. Doing this means using

clear, objective criteria for getting the best people through the door.

Unfortunately, research tells us our unconscious biases get in the way,

leading us to hire people who are like ourselves.

This is why we have created this resource called ‘Riding the Wave.’ It is

not another glossy bureaucratic publication that makes us look good. We

mean business. We want New Zealanders to understand how our rich

ethnic diversity is a significant asset that is waiting to be tapped. We want

all New Zealanders to benefit from our country’s diversity.

Many businesses and employers have told us that they want to create an

inclusive and ethnically diverse workforce. But they don’t know what to do

and how to do it.

This resource is our answer. It provides practical guidance and highlights

where employers and businesses should put their efforts. It explains how

to manage a diverse workforce and what needs to measured in order to

ensure that diversity approaches are embedded in organisations rather

than seen as a tack on.

Making the tree of diversity bear abundant fruit for New Zealanders is an

especially slow process, like making fine cheese or developing wagyu

beef. The most important catalyst for this process is a shift of thinking. We

need to seriously start thinking and seeing diversity as an asset that we

can draw from rather than a social justice challenge. We need to be open

about learning FROM other ethnic groups and not just ABOUT them.

I’ve attended many, many conferences over the years that espouse the

virtues of a diverse workforce. Finally, here is a resource that provides us

with the tangible tools to make it a reality. I hope you gain from it and the

supplementary support provided by the Office of Ethnic Affairs.

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I would like to thank the many people who supported us in developing this

resource, particularly the people that contributed to the case studies in this

publication. I also want to thank my team from the Office of Ethnic Affairs,

in particular our Intercultural Advisory Manager, Berlinda Chin, who was

responsible for putting this resource together. Also to Craig Nicholson for

his sustained efforts around this work.

I will leave you with a quote from John Stuart Mill:

“It is hardly possible to overrate the value, for the improvement of human

beings, of things which bring them into contact with persons dissimilar to

themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which

they are familiar.”