Make space, take space: Why boards need to move past performative diversity

What happens when you are at a board meeting and the moment to speak passes by? Before you know it, the session has ended. This scenario is common, according to Terry Teoh, who attended this year’s IoD Leadership Conference at Tākina Convention Centre in Wellington.  

Teoh and other conference attendees speak to Sonia Yee in the latest episode of Board Talk: Off the Cuff about why creating culturally inclusive organisations and boards is not possible without a willingness to learn.  

Teoh has been living in New Zealand for more than two decades and is originally from Malaysia, where speaking up at meetings comes with different expectations.  
 
"You don’t speak until you feel like you’ve got permission . . . [that’s why] as an Asian coming into New Zealand, you tend to be quieter,” says Teoh. 
 
From an outsider perspective, this more reserved presence can be misconstrued as shyness or a lack of willingness to engage, especially in group or professional settings. It can instead be a sign of respect.  
 
Boards can gain a great deal from international perspectives at the table and the same is true for businesses looking to expand into the Asian market, where cultural knowledge can help build business partnerships.  
 
“New Zealand really appreciates foreign perspectives, but you do need to step up,” says Teoh of the Kiwi expectation that, rather than waiting for the cue to speak, “anyone can jump in”.  
 
That can require unlearning culturally ingrained values and behaviours. It is also where those from Asian backgrounds might get stuck “waiting for permission” which may not come.  
 
“[But] sometimes the quieter people have the best insights,” says Teoh.  
 
These cultural obstacles need to be recognised by all parties if boards are to maximise opportunities that come from diversity. Tokenistic appointments will not achieve that. Inclusive leadership requires a desire to connect with and understand the individual to overcome existing barriers.  
 
One director involved in Wellington’s African community said advocacy is key to creating a culturally safe and inclusive environment that goes “beyond lip service” and tokenism. 
 
“If we can find someone who can champion [diversity] then it will be much easier, but leaving it up to individuals is difficult. You just want to be treated as equal to anybody else, while maintaining your culture and dignity.”  

Assumptions about people from other countries also reinforce negative cultural stereotypes. “More often than not, the motive is about putting you down, as if you are lucky to be here, which in most instances is not the case,” he says.  
These limited perceptions can get in the way of equitable spaces and perpetuate ‘performative diversity’ in organisations and business settings.  

“It’s easy to talk about being culturally diverse and pick people from different backgrounds, group them together, and say, you are now ‘culturally diverse’.”   
He says boards and businesses can overcome this by ensuring interview panels do their research on the cultural background of the interviewee, much the same way prospective board members or employees are expected to do when applying for roles.  

There are also factors that come from ‘self’.  

“One is cultural inhibitions because of the way we are brought up, around respect and not outright challenging [people]. The other is trying to educate those who are not culturally aware,” he says.  
Across the two-day conference, the programme included afternoon breakout sessions, such as ‘Managing poor board performance’.  

“Sitting in on that session, I was reminded of the Anglo-Saxon structure [and] it was obvious that that approach of ‘poor performance’ wasn’t informed by a cultural perspective or Māori governance,” said a woman director.  

“If anything, it helped me to articulate why I’m in the governance room, how I would do things differently and how I would hope a board that I sit on would never get to the point where it had to seriously consider diminishing someone else’s mana for the outcome of what we perceive to be the greater good.”  

She said Māori directors and leaders need to stay the course despite the challenges. More younger directors are now moving into governance, helping broaden who is represented and heard.

“Make space, take space. It’s our responsibility as Māori to stay here and take up space. We must move it forward [and] if you know that it’s your time to move on, make sure you’re leaving it better than you found it,” she said.  
 
Listen to the podcast episode below to hear more from the attendees on day one of the IoD Leadership Conference 2026.  

Listen to the episode to hear candid perspectives  directors across Aotearoa and the ideas shaping the future of governance.