3 April 2018

A good portion of National Council two weeks ago was still focussed on the NSW Chapter’s proposition to roll out the Male Champions of Change programme nationally across the Institute.

In preparation of this case there was a fair amount of supporting documentation which made for interesting reading and can be summarised with my own personal lens of clarity into three main themes:

• Architects are generally inclusive people who appreciate and support diversity in the rank and file and more broadly in society
• However within our own, the higher levels of leadership significantly lose diversity
• The problem will not be solved by focussing on one side of the equation

I’ve written about this before and the issues haven’t changed in decades, so I’m not going to do that again. 

What I am going to talk about is that one of the solutions which seems to work is flexibility in work commitments and equality in who chooses to work differently. We know already that flexibility to meet external life demands as well as maintain a working contribution, and the ability to keep ‘in the loop’ for a more significant return to work for those who take greater time is paramount to allowing people to progress their carers in parallel with the rest of their lives. Not having to let one sacrifice the other.

One of the big enablers of this flexibility is technology.

Like me… again sitting by a pool on leave as I write this article… which is a wonderful thing. And it is a wonderful thing if you manage your technology within your life, but it is also not face to face contact.

I was driving to Peregian Beach yesterday listening to commercial radio and they were discussing internet dating which is in some cases a wonderful thing – facilitating people to meet who would not have otherwise. However, apparently 20% of participants are still in some form of existing relationship. Technology has enabled them to actively seek a new reality while someone else still believes another.

It’s harder to believe two realities face to face.

We know that intuitively. We know that feeling when the emails seem to be saying the right thing but it just doesn’t feel right. What we are saying or hearing, is not what we would see or intuit in real life.

We are all creatives who cherish the unique solution, and we know that it is almost always a result of real, mutual understanding and often direct collaboration. 

I’m sure you’ve all had that ‘ah hah’ moment with a client over a bottle of wine, or a mentor with a thick pen in your hand, or clicking in your head in the midsts of long bush walk. Those moments when your realities collide and your humanity finds the answer.

Have you ever had one of those moments on a webcam? 

Maybe…. and we are getting better at making them part of our reality… but for me, they are still a filter to the human experience. 

For me, the future of equality is flexibility. The future of gender balance in leadership will come from gender balance in alternate working arrangements and this will be enabled by technology.

But flexibility and remote are two different things, and working from home has its place, but working together is personal. Sometimes getting ‘in to the office’ brings real logistical and financial impediments for those in flexible arrangements. $25 in parking and a 3 hour round trip for that face to face meeting is not enabling. The meeting needs to happen but when? And where? 

So as we embrace and engage equality through a new format of work, let us remember that facilitating that face to face time in an inclusive and effective way is the bigger challenge than handing out some clever technology to work from home.

Mario Dreosti
SA Chapter President