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Vyla Rollins on how diversity impacts boardroom dynamics and how leaders can accelerate progress
As scholars, business professionals and human beings, we know that harnessing diversity can allow us to powerfully and effectively address change and achieve aspirations – both in our organisations and across our wider communities. But could diversity also be a tool for improving how boards operate?
I was extremely pleased when the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) commissioned the Leadership Institute and SQW to research this topic, and other related ones, in 2020. Being asked to undertake this work gave us unprecedented access to FTSE 350 boards and a unique opportunity to understand not just how they look, but how they function in practice.
The research team used a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including extensive interviews with 75 board members representing 25 companies, statistical modelling and novel data analysis techniques. The resulting report, Board Diversity and Effectiveness in FTSE 350 Companies, was published in July 2021.
As well as being able to determine a correlation between increased board diversity and effectiveness, we also found the most progress has been made in gender diversity, which has significantly increased over the past several years. We also found that boards with well-managed gender parity enjoyed higher stock returns and were less likely to experience shareholder dissent. These boards also exhibited a more collaborative approach to problem solving and stronger committees.
Not enough data manifested in our research to make definitive, statistical-based conclusions on the increase of ethnic diversity at board level and its impact on board dynamics. However, there are positive indications (also manifesting in other research initiatives exploring this theme) that this type of diversity also offers business benefit to organisations.
You can read the report in full here but some of our key insights include:
Overall, I was struck by just how much time many of the directors we spoke with spent proactively thinking about these issues. Increasing diversity across a small group of low turnover roles that require an extensive skillset is a challenging task. In many, many cases, the directors we spoke to truly believed in building a more diverse board, simply because they felt it was ‘the right thing to do’. Interestingly, the firms that are willing to invest time and energy in actively managing diversity were the firms that enjoyed the clearest business benefit.
It was a real honour to be part of this project, and I hope the resulting report is both affirming and challenging to those who read it who are in board roles. There are many complex issues surrounding board diversity and board effectiveness, but one thing is clear – an open mind, willingness to tackle these issues head-on, and seeing what’s required as a strategic, systemically-oriented change effort, makes all the difference in progressing efforts.
Vyla Rollins is Executive Director of London Business School’s Leadership Institute
The Leadership Institute aims to have a profound impact on the world through supporting the generation and application of path-breaking research on leadership.
READ MORE