Perspectives

While catching up with a friend last week, he shared some pictures of his recent trip to Iceland. Amongst the images of black sand beaches and blue lagoons were some pictures of horses.

Now, my 11-year-old is horse-mad and has quite a deep knowledge of horse breeds. Indeed, when on car journeys, she often suggests we play the alphabet game, where we name not just animals by consecutive letters of the alphabet but specific horse breeds. Reader, I do not fare well at that version of the game.

So I asked my friend to forward me the photos, and I sent them on to No.2. I asked her to name the horses in the picture, thinking we might play a remote version of the horse breed game. And name them she duly did: Angel, Red, Fire, Taylor, Rory, Lulu, S'mores, Coco, Brie, Rebel, Reputation, Lore, and London.

Absolutely did what I asked, but completely not what I was aiming for.

So herein lies the lesson: how much inefficiency and confusion do we bring to the workplace when we don't think through the assumptions baked into even the smallest requests?

The assumption that my request was understood as intended highlights a common pitfall: the failure to recognise and address the implicit biases and preconceptions we all bring to interactions. Although clarity of communication is relevant across all industries and areas of life, it can be especially pertinent in the context of pension schemes, asset management, and financial technology, where our ridiculous use of unnecessary acronyms combined with the complexity of the subject matter, and the diversity of stakeholder backgrounds, can amplify the risks associated with ambiguous communication.

The relevance is amplified for juniors, non-subject matter experts, and hashtag#neurodivergent colleagues and is a great example of inclusion by design. By thinking about even the small things, we build the habits and, ultimately, the culture that leads to true hashtag#incluson. I appreciate it may feel like a lot of work for such a small thing, but this is how you help foster ground-up cultural change.

For those who dare to share, I'd be interested in any other business-applicable lessons you picked up from your kids over Easter break.

And for those that are interested, she then schooled me that they are Icelandic Mountain Ponies, and they are very special as they do not gallop but they 'tolt' and 'skeio'.

hashtag#neurodiversity hashtag#inclusionbydesign hashtag#everydayaschoolday