Without realising he’s doing it, Donald Trump could currently be doing more for diversity and inclusion than any other major world leader according to DEI specialist Gamiel Yafai MBE.
Counterintuitive as that might seem, Gamiel believes that the negativity coming out of the White House is, in fact, prompting many companies to review what they are doing with regard to DEI and to try to assess the impact of any approach where there may be shortcomings.
“Ironically, leadership behaviours are estimated to influence 70% of behaviour within an organisation, so it is interesting that the words of a world leader are actually having a reverse effect from what was intended,” said Gamiel. “Some of the rhetoric we are hearing is actually making organisations assess the work they have been doing and seeing it is maybe not having much of an impact. And part of that is because it’s not about what you’re doing, it’s about culture and behaviours, particularly how leaders demonstrate behaviour.”
Gamiel Yafai is the founder and CEO of Diversity Marketplace, a multi-award-winning global diversity, equity inclusion consultancy that operates from its headquarters in Milton Keynes but has a far wider reach. Its team of diversity strategists, researchers and trainers carries out audits for companies looking at the effectiveness of their DEI strategy and helps them implement meaningful change.
In addition, Gamiel has been a board member and strategy lead for the Centre for Global Inclusion and is an Expert Panel Member for the Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmark, as well as a Global Advisory Board Member for The Inclusion Foundation and a Trustee for Women Leaders UK.
He is also co-founder of the MK Ethnic Business Community, and was awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List in June for services to diversity and inclusion.
Last month, Gamiel received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Open University for Services to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, especially for work in helping businesses in the voluntary sector understand the advantages of diversity and how to grow a culture that adds value.
“The fact is, there is a strong business case for good DEI,” he said. “Organisations should be looking at everything they are doing through an inclusive lens. How does what you’re doing look to people from different backgrounds, or those who are neurodivergent?
And organisations that don’t do this could lose talent, they could lose female staff, and risk a low level of productivity.
“Research shows that staff often feel they can’t bring more than around 50% of themselves to work because managers don’t always appreciate the knowledge and education they bring with them because they see other factors first – ethnicity, gender, disabilities.
“Leadership behaviour, from the top and through to line manager level is crucial. Most people leave jobs not because they don’t like the work or the company but because they don’t like their manager. We need people with emotional intelligence, empathy, kindness, so that we think about how employees feel when they are at work.
“This might happen by evolution, the next generation certainly have different values and outlooks, but I have been thinking that for the past 25 years and it hasn’t really happened yet to the degree it needs to.
“So, we advise you start with where you are as an organisation, if a business doesn’t know where its starting point is, it will never get to its end point. The maturity matrix we use takes into account 15 different areas including business leadership behaviour, communications, HR and marketing. From there, it is possible to come up with an action plan to get that organisation to where it wants to be.”
Despite its global reach, including advising clients in Japan, Dubai and Iceland, and an increasing focus on sector-specific clients in the likes of rail, horticulture and retail, Diversity Marketplace refuses to loosen its local ties and a great deal of its work in Milton Keynes is within the voluntary sector and often pro bono.
His own experience of dealing with dyslexia and being from an ethnic background has helped Gamiel learn to navigate his way round systems. After having spent time in his father’s native Yemen, he knows what it looks like to live and operate within two different cultures and how to adapt in order to work with any business or organisation.
“One of the best things about MK is the people, and how those people support one other. The volunteer sector is so strong, and a lot of the work that goes on is preventative, helping people who would otherwise be struggling and costing the council or NHS so much more if that help wasn’t in place.
“But are we diverse and inclusive? We are certainly one of the most diverse cities in the UK in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation, and disabilities, but I think we are still not inclusive enough and could do more.”
MK Ethnic Business Community was founded to bring together people from ethnic backgrounds and provide a networking experience where they feel comfortable. Supporting and educating members and embarking on joint ventures with the likes of Women Leaders and Collaborate MK, does much to bring the community together and allow those from ethnically diverse backgrounds to begin to feel more at ease at other networking groups and events.
“One thing I think I can do with my MBE is to use it to open more doors, to accelerate the work that we do in terms of raising awareness and going beyond that,” said Gamiel.
“When I look back over the past 25 years I think how I have benefited from the support of people, from the sponsorship and allyship from others, and how many people have given me a leg up when I needed it. There have been so many situations where I have been stuck and there is always someone around that will give me a helping hand, real true allies and most of them haven’t got a clue about how what they did is going to change the life of someone else down the line.
“We have masses of work to do to be more inclusive as a city, but I think in terms of everyone having a battery pack and when good things happen, or you do good things, it recharges your battery pack. I’m fortunate that I almost always feel that my battery pack is full.”
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