Black History Month 2022: Nyasha Ndoro

What do you do at Pick Everard?

I work within our Quantity Surveying discipline within our London office. I’ve been with the Practice since January 2019 and I have 10 years of experience within the industry working mainly on retail and commercial clients doing pre and post planning quantity surveying work. I have worked on some large clients and recognisable names having recently completed work on Cleveland Clinic and Selfridges. I’m currently working on a John Lewis Partnership project and a range of Hackney projects on parks.

What were your key takes aways from our diversity talk with Asif Sadiq?

I thought Asif’s talk was very enlightening. He was bold and open about the subject and I liked how he stressed that people are born different and how we perceive the world is a lot to do with our upbringing. I could see that where he went to school and his experiences in his career and personal life have really moulded who he is as individual, just as it does for all of us.

The key point for me that Asif stressed was how important our uniqueness is. I loved how he highlighted this specifically – the importance of what each individual brings. What I bring to Pick Everard, for example with my background and experiences, could be very different to another person. That uniqueness, when everyone comes together to work has many, many benefits. In any given situation we could be bringing 50% of our authentic selves or 2% of our authentic selves to it but either way we are still adding our own unique contribution and that it crucial.

Asif’s talk really made me think about how we work together and collaborate. I know my colleagues can bring different strengths and opportunities to the workplace, just as I do. We gain a better work environment, better systems and ways of doing things. If we were all set the same task to find new clients, different people would be reaching out to different organisations and individuals and this approach brings not only a strong and interesting blend but also the opportunity to be stronger and more diverse as a business.

Asif shared some personal experiences of direct discrimination, what was it like listening to those?

Race is something that is so broad and how we describe and experience race is very diverse in itself. One person’s experience will be different to the next. Discrimination because of race can be experienced openly and directly or in a much more subtle way. It can be something as simple as someone rejecting a cup of tea that you’ve offered to make and then seeing them to go and make it themselves a few minutes later. It can be not stopping to think about how we vary what we do on team social events which prevents us from involving all groups. Or it can be the direct examples Asif shared in his talk. I think overall, there is a much stronger sense of togetherness in society now but organisations do need to continue to help people understand what subconscious bias and subconscious discrimination is so we can continue the journey to better experiences for everyone. I also think we look at the world through our own eyes and we sometimes might say something or share a statement that offends someone, even if it’s normal for our own culture to speak that way. I liked how Asif talked about opening up more conversations around this and encouraging people to not be afraid of getting it wrong.

How could we apply some of Asif’s recommendations within our industry?

There has already been a lot of change across the board at Pick Everard and in our industry. We have to be realistic about the pace of change in diversity and inclusion. We must recognise that we can’t run at a thousand miles an hour but little by little, each generation can bring their own contribution to this onward journey. I have seen how diversity has evolved in Pick Everard and I think Asif’s comments about acknowledging where we are at in our journey as a business and as an industry is an important one. We need good foundations on which to build. It would be good to reach a stage within the industry in general where separate initiatives are not needed for different groups.

What have been your personal experiences and what has helped you in your career?

There’s been a positive shift in my experiences over the last couple of years. I have had experiences where I would try and speak to someone and I would find people not responding in the right way to me. I have questioned and spoken up about these things and speaking up and being open has really helped. I’ve been able to share my point of view and help others understand what I experience as a result of particular behaviours.

I also think wider changes within Pick Everard and the working world have helped. Hybrid working has given me important time for home as well as focused team time. We’re not face to face every day so when we come together now we make sure we make the best of the opportunity and we’re more open with each other in those moments. It feels as though barriers have been removed in a number of ways.

I’d like to see the conversation on diversity continuing all year round, to open up regularly about difference and race and to keep hearing other people’s views. I also think we must start engaging the younger generation much sooner so we can have confidence from a younger age to speak up and not let things pass. I’d encourage anyone who has the opportunity in the future to attend such a talk to do so. It’s enlightening and it could help you think and do something different.