By James Carss, founder and CEO of Castle Peak Group

Housing associations – much like other third sector organisations, such as charities and educational institutions – have always had a consistent and pivotal role to play in serving diverse communities. As one might expect, there currently exists a wealth of literature surrounding diversity – commonly referenced as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) – on the boards of third sector organisations.

This representation is usually well-documented in-line with organisational pushes towards their corporate social responsibility goals. However, the research which Castle Peak Group is undertaking is inspired by the relative lack of pre-existing literature, research into, and analysis of DEI in housing associations.

Diverse boards bring a much richer wealth of perspectives and experiences to their work. It’s that simple. On boards with a broad range of diversity in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, neurodiversity, disability, socio-economic background, sexuality and more, there’s better decision-making, more innovation and, crucially, stronger connections with the communities they serve. As Castle Peak Group CEO, I know this well. After cutting my teeth with top firms in London, I moved to Hong Kong and was struck by the positive impact of diversity on organisational boards, and how it improved the operations and the results of their teams.

Yet, persistent barriers – such as limited access to diverse candidate pools, systemic biases in recruitment and cultural challenges – continue to hinder progress in achieving inclusive representation. By examining these barriers, this research aims to provide actionable insights that empower third sector organisations to align their governance with their mission. Addressing these challenges isn’t only critical for the credibility and accountability of third sector organisations, but also for building sustainable leadership pipelines that reflect the changing needs of society.

Real change in recruitment must start at the top. That means shaking up traditional executive and boardroom norms and making leadership more inclusive and forward-thinking. Too often, boards don’t reflect the people they employ or the communities they serve. My goal with this research is to challenge that – to push for leadership teams that represent society, not just a tick-box exercise. It’s about making sure inclusion isn’t just a buzzword, but something that’s genuinely embedded in the way organisations operate.

By challenging pre-existing stereotypes about how a board member should look and sound, I’m helping organisations to provide a better service to their communities, as well as ensuring everyone gets access to the opportunities they deserve. As well as improving business operations, this work is essential in improving the quality and variety of opportunities available to those who don’t fit the pre-established image of what a board member ‘should’ look like.

The results of this survey will be used to produce analysis and recommendations which will benefit the entire sector by highlighting barriers to diversity at board level and suggesting changes to overcome these barriers. Castle Peak Group is driven by diversity in everything that it does and knows the positive impact that strong DEI initiatives have in business and society more broadly.

If you’re interested in similar work which Castle Peak Group has produced in the past, you can read the Progress Under Pressure report here. Based on qualitative research conducted with senior housing association executives, it highlights that many organisations aren’t regularly collecting data on diversity internally, nor are they reflecting all elements of diversity. A greater emphasis on ‘hidden’ factors like disability or socioeconomic background is necessary, and we must be fearless in challenging senior executives to achieve progress.

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And here’s our survey. It’s anonymous and should only take you five minutes. Thank you!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JL6NC72

We’ll be analysing the results and sharing the findings to support future best practice for everyone in the industry.