What can nature teach us about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?
I've had several people ask if I would write about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here on Oxymoron. I have to admit that I've been a little hesitant to do so because despite many years of trying to create an inclusive culture at Wholegrain Digital, I still feel a bit under qualified. However, after my last post about how nature might run a business, I couldn't help but wonder how nature would approach diversity, equity and inclusion. So today, I'm sharing some initial thoughts on this topic, starting with diversity.
Nature hates monocultures
Diversity is everywhere in nature, from the rich variety of life in ancient woodlands and wild plains to the diversity hidden under the soil, under the sea and in the tiny world of microbes.
When looking at diversity through the lens of the natural world, it quickly becomes apparent that monocultures don’t really exist in nature. Those uniform fields of corn or wheat, the pine forest growing in a perfect grid pattern and the neighbours perfect lawn do not occur by themselves. It takes human intervention to strip out the natural diversity, standardise the ecosystem and stop diversity from creeping back in.
The result are monocultures that can be incredibly efficient for the industrial production of food and other crops but that are more vulnerable to threats such as pests, diseases, droughts and soil depletion, and which are therefore dependent on our constant intervention to maintain them. Without that intervention to keep them in balance, they would either revert back to diverse ecosystems or die and turn to desert.
Biodiversity therefore, is not just a wonderful thing to behold but is a key component of nature's incredible resilience. When viewed as a whole system of life, biodiversity leads to inherently stronger and healthier outcomes than monocultures. Monocultures might gain some short term advantages, but diversity is the natural state that will always be trying to bubble up from under the surface.
It's quite easy to see the parallel here in the business world. Cultural monocultures within organisations might well be a route to certain types of production efficiency, but they need a system of carrots and sticks to maintain and sustain them. On the other hand, diverse work cultures might appear more messy and even less efficient, if you view a company purely as a production machine, but they also have inherent creativity and resilience that allows them to adapt better to constantly changing conditions. Furthermore, the huge diversity of life in both the visible and invisible worlds can help us to see that diversity comes in many forms, not all of which are obvious.
So let’s talk about inclusivity
The concept of inclusion seems closely connected with diversity. In fact, my own philosophy has always been that if you create an inclusive culture, then diversity will naturally emerge from it. Inclusivity is like the fertile ground from which life grows.
What's interesting about nature though, is that while there is a place for everything, not everything can thrive everywhere. Soil and weather conditions mean that different species are not included universally, but only where they're a good fit. Some parts of nature are distinctly dominated by specific flora and fauna, who are completely absent in other areas. And then there are the edges, where these different communities meet and blend, giving life to their own unique ecosystems.
We can see this selective inclusivity even in our gardens. The concept of companion planting teaches us that some species naturally grow well together and contribute to each others success while others compete for the same resources and hinder each other's progress. If we get it right, we find harmony in the variety and a beautiful abundance of life emerges.
The lesson here is that biodiversity is not a uniform blend of everything, but a tapestry with distinct patterns where different communities of flora and fauna co-exist and play their part where they are best suited.
This is perhaps an important thing to acknowledge when it comes to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our organisations, that not everyone is a good fit everywhere. I know for sure that I’m not a good fit everywhere. In fact this realisation was even part of the reason that I started my own business, so that I could create a space where I could be myself and make a contribution.
Trying to include everyone everywhere may be equally unhealthy to creating a monoculture. Perhaps then we could learn from nature's approach to inclusivity and try to ensure that there is a place to include everyone and help them fulfil their unique potential within the patchwork of society. This may be more successful than trying to homogenise diversity and have a uniform blend of every type of person everywhere. At the same time, we may be able to find ways to increase the surface area of the edges between communities, where different types of people intersect, sparking rich cultures of creativity, innovation and progress at the intersections.
Which brings us on to equity
True inclusivity would likely not be complete without equity. Equity is often confused with equality, but despite the similarity of the words, it means something quite different. Equity means fairness, not sameness.
We can see this fairness and solidarity in the way that trees share food with each other through mycelium networks. The trees who have an excess share it with those who don't have enough, helping to maintain the health of the whole forest. That doesn't mean that the food balances out equally, but simply that the trees help each other where they are able to.
Another area where we can see this is in our own attempts to support natural systems that are struggling, such as rewilding landscapes and breeding endangered species. We put temporary supports in place to get them going and create protective boundaries to help them re-establish, but just enough that they can develop their own strength and not become dependent. The art of nature conservation is to look at the tapestry of life to see where it is fraying and then give it a hand to help it heal itself.
I can see how this approach can quite naturally translate across to human society and organisations, with more privileged individuals and groups giving a leg up to those who are struggling and helping them to establish strong foundations from where they can thrive, without creating long term dependencies that would contradict the original objective.
It’s inherently complex
Perhaps one of the key lessons that we can learn from nature about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is that there are no simple answers. We can’t force fit generic templated solutions and expect them to work, because just like everything else in nature, every human being is unique and the world is in constant flux. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion therefore is more of an improvised dance than a straight line sprint.
We are all uniquely different and yet we are all one, and so just like nature as a whole, maybe our aim as humans should be to find harmony amid our differences.
That’s the end of this week’s post but not the end of the topic. I’ve barely scratched the surface and I believe there is so much more that we can learn from nature about creating healthy cultures, in our businesses and elsewhere. I’d love to hear diverse perspectives to help expand my thinking, so please do leave a comment below or tag me on LinkedIn.