By Lara Oyedele
Former president of the Chartered Institute of Housing and CEO of Black on Board
It’s not easy challenging the status quo. There’s a well-known quote that insists power is never voluntarily relinquished. Or words to that effect. History is awash with revolutions, skirmishes, campaigns, demonstrations, slogans, songs and even artwork, designed to have one group of people give up their power so another can participate in decision-making.
My presidential campaign focused on highlighting the stubbornly persistent lack of ethnic and racial representation in the boardrooms of housing organisations. I was fortunate to have spoken at over 200 events during the year. However, I felt that I was more often than not spending time with people and organisations who were already sensitive to this inequity in boardrooms and leadership teams. The people who I really needed to convince didn’t invite me to speak or simply ignored me. Which is a real shame.
The reports, commissions and reviews analysing the financial, organisational and reputational loss that stems from homogenous boardrooms are almost too numerous to mention (McPherson, McGregor Smith, Hills, and so on). I would contend that, if asked, everyone will say that they agree it’s the right thing to do. But for reasons I’ll cover another time, it’s not the top of most boards’ agendas.
“I was fortunate to have spoken at over 200 events during the year. However…the people who I really needed to convince didn’t invite me to speak or simply ignored me”
So, it occurred to me that the scientific, statistical, evidence-based argument isn’t enough to garner sector-wide action. The data has been available for years. Hence the focus on my campaign being about experience based on a real-life case study – me! I thought I’d appeal to people’s emotions and beliefs: bring them along with me to see the sector through my eyes and my lived experience.
The lack of access to the boardroom and leadership positions isn’t just about profit margins, KPIs or regulatory gradings. It’s about individuals who don’t feel they have been treated equally. It’s about experience and expertise leaving the sector. It’s about young people thinking twice before they apply for a job with a housing association because the board doesn’t reflect their vision of the world.
It’s about the media asking why black and brown tenants predominate in research about poor housing conditions. It’s about whether social housing has lost its soul and is more about keeping lenders happy and less about positive social change. It’s about whether staff members feel their leadership team cares about them. It’s about whether we’re a sector to be proud of.
I’m very conscious of the fact that despite my best and most passionate efforts, boardroom demographics won’t have changed significantly during the 12 months of my presidency. Therefore, I propose to continue to hold the sector to account on this matter by:
- Setting up the Steve Douglas Award. This will be co-owned by key housing sector organisations and will be presented annually to the board or local authority that has done the most to improve boardroom diversity
- Presenting a petition to the government requesting that boardroom and diversity in leadership teams becomes a regulatory requirement. If boardroom diversity is a necessity for FTSE100 companies, then why not social housing?
- Undertaking and circulating the board diversity research, ‘Breaking the Mould’, every two years. The current research shows that just 9% of board members across England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales are from an ethnic minority background. I’d love to think that by 2025 boardrooms will have become more representative of both the communities they serve and their workforce.
I hope I’m starting a ‘thing’ – a movement or maybe even a revolution. I’m just asking that the housing sector does the right thing. The top 10 tech companies all have boards that are very diverse, both in terms of gender and ethnicity. In contrast, there remains a number of boardrooms in social housing that are 100% white and predominantly male. We should be thoroughly ashamed.
