The Key Learning Points:

1. The important role that diversity plays in providing new perspectives and driving innovation within businesses

2. Tips for companies to enact cultural shifts within their workplaces 

3. How to communicate with employees to understand their perspective of the workplace culture and what they value about the company

Today on the remote Risky Mix Podcast we’re joined by Heather Frost, founder and managing director of People and Practice. Heather is an executive coach and has been previously described as strategic glue, the human face of strategy, mentor, guide, adviser, agitator and coach. Heather has an interesting perspective on how businesses can think in a more diverse and inclusive way.

Heather grew up in Australia and explains that her passion for experience lead to her spending a number of years travelling the world. One of her biggest trips was undoubtedly the 18-month overland journey from India, through China across Mongolia and Russia, through the Baltics and into Italy! For Heather, “rocking up in a new city, no job, no apartment” was the norm and often “staying put was the most unusual piece!” Heather adds that she never likes to be bound by what everybody else thinks is normal. She trusts her gut, which sometimes means going against the grain and other’s opinions: “The more crazy what I’ve been doing is, the better it usually ends up panning out in the end.” 

The conversation moves onto Heather setting up her own business - People and Practice. She adds: “I’m fascinated by this blend of what work gives and takes from people.” A big part of what Heather supports businesses with is cultural change. She adds that many people think about culture as a fuzzy concept, something that HR is in charge of and something that is to do with competencies and behaviours. She goes on to explain that if you really look at the culture of an organisation, you see that “it’s the oil, it’s the engine that makes it run. It’s everything there.” Making a cultural shift is no small task and Heather explains that many look first at their operating models and start to create a plan, putting in place timescales for change, but adds that it can take several years for an organisation to go through this process, by which point they may, in fact, need to start the whole process over again. For this reason, Heather believes that it’s important to focus on the enablers and build continuous resilience into a business. 

For Heather, diversity of thinking is key to making cultural shifts: “If you start with diversity of thinking, all of the other parts and aspects of diversity and inclusion that we want to encourage, usually knock-on from that.” Embracing new perspectives and ways of thinking will help to drive change and innovation. Heather feels that companies focus a lot on skillsets, but much less on how differently people think, and when asked for her top tips for businesses looking to make a cultural shift she says: “Don’t be afraid of messiness or complexity!” She encourages businesses to avoid oversimplification and bring different minds in. Companies often think about what their employees need and the value set that they want to see. Heather’s advice is to “ask the people! What do people believe the culture in the organisation, at all levels, is? Why did they join? Why are they still there?” It’s the values that you don’t ever need to voice that people talk about, the ones that are being lived day in and day out.

InsTech London podcast episode: https://www.instech.london/podcast/katie-crook-davies-raj-variyar-risky-mix-podcast-hosts-diversity-inclusion-innovation