How asynchronous work helps you be a champion for inclusion
Asynchronous communication can be a powerful tool to further your company's DEI agenda. We first need to recognise that diversity isn't the endgame. True benefits come from making everyone feel included.
- Avoid creating a homogenous culture. Disagreements and diverse approaches to problem solving can be valuable.
- Use asynchronous communication to level the playing field for those that need to work flexibly, people with disabilities, neurodiverse people, introverts and non-native English speakers.
- Unlink the notions of speed and productivity. A lot of collaboration for software development benefits from slowing down.
- Design inclusive communication. For example, use silent meetings to surface perspectives before diving into discussions.
- Treat communications as a process, not an event. Use written communication and audit trails to connect various interactions.
“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” - Verna Myers
That quote about diversity and inclusion is as eloquent as it gets. Diversity and inclusion are central to the philosophy of async agile. We’ve addressed this theme since the very first article on the site right until the most recent one. As a manager or a leader in any tech firm today, I imagine you have a DEI agenda. Your people’s ability to work asynchronously can be a powerful tool to not just further that agenda, but also to differentiate you as a progressive leader.
In today’s post, I want to share a few notes about diversity and a few more about inclusion. I expect these perspectives will help you shape your organisation’s culture and eventual competitive advantage, starting of course with the people you influence.
The difference that makes a difference
It’s easy to congratulate ourselves on numbers and percentages of diversity. Most companies have a target for how many women and underrepresented gender minorities (WUGM) they’d like in their organisation by a certain point in time. Many others also aim to hire people with disabilities into their workforce. In the west, there’s a conscious effort to bring black people and people of colour into the workforce. This is a laudable effort, no doubt. We need to correct historical discrimination and affirmative action is the fastest way to precipitate that change. Workplaces have a duty to be a microcosm of the society they exist in.
Bringing in different people, however, isn’t the end game. It lays the foundation for better work outcomes. Chew on this.
Racially diverse teams outperform less diverse competitors by 35%.
Teams with a diverse gender profile are also 15% more likely to outperform the median.
Diversity of thinking enhances innovation by 20%.
Diverse workforces are 30% more likely to spot mistakes.
In the last two decades, there’s a slew of data that’s emerged on how leadership teams and even entire economies can benefit from introducing various dimensions of diversity. There’s a reason for this. We know it as the “wisdom of crowds”. Francis Galton famously documented this way back in 1906, when he collected data about nearly 800 people’s individual guesses about the weight of an ox that was on display. These guesses averaged 1197 pounds. The weight of the ox - 1198 pounds. The crowd’s guess was 99.9% accurate!
This level of performance is the holy grail of diversity programs. And as I mentioned earlier, hiring is only the first step in this journey.
Homogeneity is problematic
“Independence is a prerequisite for the wisdom of crowds. If people are not making their own judgments and are relying instead on what other people think, crowds might not be so wise after all.”
We’re all biased in our own ways. Not all biases are bad. Some of these are shortcuts we derive from life’s experiences. If we had to make deep calculations for every decision in life, things would proceed at a snail’s pace. Biases help us move at speed. Now and then, they also trip us up.
The reason diverse teams often outperform non-diverse ones is that our idiosyncratic biases cancel each other out. Diversity scholar Scott Page gives us a simple formula to understand this.
Crowd error = Average error - Diversity
So if people on your team are disagreeing with each other, that’s a good thing. You need to surface diverse solutions to complex problems. Trouble is that most companies bring in diverse people, and then, in the name of culture, consistency and process, make them use the same models and the same ways of thinking and problem solving. Why bring in diverse people then? We’ve invited people to the party; we now need to ask them to dance!
Re-stack workplace defaults with asynchrony
Traditional workplace design, particularly the design of agile teams, is optimal only for certain individuals. Some of this is admittedly unintentional. Barring exceptional women such as Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper and other women pioneers, the IT industry started out mostly “male, pale and able”. It’s no surprise that the authors of the agile manifesto were 17 white men at a ski resort. They didn’t deliberately keep the others out - they represented the industry of that time. To their credit, they started a movement that challenged the status quo of software development back in the day and our community is better for it.
However, dogma around agile and extreme programming principles and rules can come in the way of including diverse people. Let’s take a couple of examples.
The insistence on face-to-face communication being the “most efficient and effective method of conveying information”, makes it difficult for introverts and non-native English speakers to be on even footing with extroverts and those who speak English as a first language.
Asking people to be co-located can be exclusive of people who can’t come to a central workspace, because of their personal situation or their disabilities. In a remote setting, it promotes an overdose of real-time communication, which has its own pitfalls.
Workplace defaults aren’t always inclusive either. Research points to the unfair perception that extroverted individuals are better performers. Women leave jobs at an abnormal rate compared to men. Unsurprisingly, women find little representation in corporate boardrooms. 85% of people on the autism spectrum are unemployed, compared to 4.2% of the overall population. This, despite the fact that neurodiversity can be a competitive advantage.
Asynchronous work allows you to re-stack some of these workplace defaults. With written communication, everyone can have a voice. Delaying communication gives people with disabilities the time to use accessibility tools so they can take part in the conversation. Neurodiverse people don’t have to force themselves into uncomfortable situations, just to fit in. Since a remote-first philosophy underpins asynchronous work, people can work flexibly from a convenient location at a convenient time.
Not all diversity is visible. Your challenge as a leader is to enable people so they can bring their diverse perspectives and their individual problem-solving techniques to the fore. This needs a mindset shift. Here are some ideas to make that change, in the interest of inclusion.
Unlink the notions of speed and productivity. They aren’t the same thing. “Slowing down” is a feature, not a bug. Thoughtful communication, idea development, surfacing and interpreting data; all benefit from slowing down. Encourage your team(s) to take their time with topics that deserve attention. The pause will help you include the diverse perspectives you need.
Encourage inclusive design. Communication patterns such as writing, level the playing field. Design your communication such that everyone has a voice, not just those who’re the loudest, the most experienced, or the most fluent. This applies to your meetings as well. Embrace techniques such as silent meetings to surface independent judgements and inputs before you lean into proper discussions.
Treat communication as a process, not an event. We can’t solve complex problems with episodic, one-and-done communication. Each interaction, each artefact, builds on the other in a game of virtual tag. Encourage your team to show empathy towards those who may not yet be part of the conversation. Writing things up and using audit trails diligently are effective, lightweight methods to play this game of tag.
Your company’s digital infrastructure already creates the foundation for location independent collaboration. By making meetings the last resort, and by embracing asynchronous communication, you can take that infrastructure one step further. Not only will you avoid “Zoom fatigue”, but you’ll also be a champion for inclusion.