Your organization is struggling with diversity and inclusion. How can you lead the way?

I'd argue that before surveys and policy assessments, leaders really need to get good understanding of their own individual and shared knowledge, competency and practices. Many well meaning executive/senior leaders forge ahead with policy reviews, goal setting, programs and policy changes without truly understanding what their personal and shared baseline is as leaders. They should also establish shared understandings of how they will collaborate, address conflict, and assess impact as they begin pushing forward with equity and inclusion efforts.

To lead the way, you must be open to hearing different thoughts. Ask the question what does diversity mean to the individual and the company same question for inclusion. Please make sure you have hired someone who can pull the responses together and come up with a strategic plan that will help not just hire diversity but be prepared to show everyone equity once they are part of the company. Hiring just to have diversity means nothing. Keep in mind diversity is race, gender, disabilities sight seen and unseen& veterans. Once you have the definition of what diversity and inclusion mean to the company then it becomes an action and a feeling that must start from leadership or as I like to say from the mailroom to the boardroom.

If the organisation is struggling with diversity and inclusion you may find employees are not open to an assessment. Any organisational assessment is only as good as the representation of employees who are willing to respond and share their perspective of what it is like working within the organisation. In these situations you may need to conduct some trust building work, uncovering concerns through listening sessions, gaining support of key people, supporting leaders as they share their commitment to the assessment as stage one on the journey ahead.

Definitely best to assess your situation first before assessing the organization. What that means is determine how your observations of experiences with the lack of inclusion have impacted you. That will allow you to see if you have the ability to do something or if you need to engage someone else on your behalf. If the lack of inclusion has caused mental and physical stress, you want to take care of yourself and make space to heal. From the healed place of strength you can assess what your next steps should be. If you have not been personally impacted but want to lead change, then assess what is the best way you can approach the situation given your strengths and relationships with those internally and externally who can help.

The first step is to assess the level of consciousness and readiness to embark on a strategic DEIB effort. That begins with understanding where leadership is in terms of their level of readiness and competency. As you assess the situation you need to understand the context for the effort, the level of cadence needed to take on the work, and a clear sense of how it aligns with the organization's strategic objectives. Getting clarity on the level of commitment by leadership is critical.

This is not as easy as it sounds, and you can create more harm than good if you just start in without being guided by people with experience who know what they are doing with DEI. Start thoughtfully and carefully.

Cox (1991) found that diverse organizations: ? Incur lower turnover costs ? Become employers of choice ? Produce more effective marketing campaigns ? Are more creative and innovative ? Are agile and more responsive to environmental changes McKinsey, Deloitte, and other firms have reproduced similar findings. Reviewing this research will help you grasp why promoting diversity and inclusion is not just the right thing to do or good corporate social responsibility, it's good for the bottom line as well.

Education is critical and it should be ongoing. Some think that because they have a certification in DEI or participated in educational offerings makes them an expert. This area is an adaptive area and so education must be ongoing and considered in the context of who you are. Also educate how DEIB links to strategic business outcomes. Be able to share how to use a DEI lens in examining all business objectives.

It is essential to understand the differences between diversity and inclusion. I strongly encourage an organization to have leaders participate in learning sessions. eCornell has a great certificate program that teaches the differences between diversity and inclusion, the opportunities to flip the script on DEI and how to approach the creation of inclusive cultures without emphasizing stereotypes. Storytelling is also powerful, so hearing from key thought leaders within your organization to share their experiences may help make bias more real. As long as stories are headlines, people can distance themselves from the real bias that exists. When you hear stories from those you see or know, then you can better internalize.

Education is the first step. If we don't know any different, we won't act any different. Many issues with DEI like microaggressions get swept under the rug because people don't realise how they impact others or that it's a form of discrimination.

The most important step to model inclusive behavior is start from the space of welcoming others. It takes time but yields beautiful results as long as it is started with the intention of 'we belong together'. A simple gesture of simply creating a safe space for a new employee to ask any questions, goes a long way in developing an inclusive culture.

Lead by example, always. Model the behaviour you want your team to emulate and always act with integrity and treat everyone with respect.

An example I have seen work is the celebration of employees birthdays,this can be done through existing channels like (Memo/ News letter)and have a gift pressation day where you as CEO/Plant manager are the presenter's. Also using the same channels,you can announce passing of an employee and having a prayer day.

In 2023, Reboot Representation did research with over 2000 Black, Latina and Native American (BLNA) female technologists and non-BLNA female and male technologists on policies and practices organizations should have that will result in retention. Nine policies and practices were revealed. What was surprising was, in some cases, companies had policies. However, after unpacking feedback, it was revealed that a policy is not a check the box activity. HR/DEI should do the legwork to ensure that employees are aware of policies and how those policies can be used. Partnering with ERGs to amplify and discuss policies is one step. Another is to disaggregate employee data by race and gender so orgs better understand feedback and address issues.

Three main elements must be considered when looking at inclusive policy and practice: 1. What is already being done; often teams that could be operating cross-functionally in regard to DEIB work are operating solo or doing their own interpretation of this work without the presence of leadership. Don't recreate the wheel-see what resources and practices are already being utilized within the company! 2. Are the current practices performative or engrained in practice? If performative, how can we collectively shift the narrative? 3. Who has a seat at the table? Is lived experience and diversity representation being considered in the creation and implementation of these policies?

First, don't assume that the organization does not have inclusive practices, some organizations have done a reasonable job of instituting good policies, the key is understanding how they are practiced. Are the policies and practices in place but not practiced by leaders and others in the organization? The policies may not be the problem, leadership behavior could be.

DEI policies should be part of your employee policy anyway. You need to have a clear path for people to report issues and how they're dealt with.

There are many hard metrics you can measure to check your DEI efforts are fruitful! The key is understanding how your team feel. Are they all supported? Comfortable? Respected? Appreciated? Able to get their best work done?

Be clear on the most important outcomes you are trying achieve. Be highly focused on them. You may be monitoring progress in areas that don't add value or don't contribute to strategic outcomes. The more aligned the metrics and measures are to business outcomes, the more sustainable your progress towards strategic goals becomes.

If you’re a leader, take it all the way back to strategy. What is your organisation’s strategic or corporate plan, and how does Diversity and Inclusion drive that? Once you understand that, you’ll then have what you need to create or update your Diversity and inclusion strategy to ensure that it fits and becomes a core part of your business, as opposed to a nice to have. You’ll also then have the “What’s in it for me” for your teams, leaders, and other stakeholders and be able to progress from there. Acting for the sake of acting is honourable but not sustainable. Starting with strategy will create lasting change

Having a growth mentality and being willing to be a forever learner, rather than an expert is my perspective of every situation. Keep educating yourself and learning new skills. The possibilities are endless.

A good place to start is Kimberle Crenshaw's (1989) research on intersectionality, where she explains that humans are not limited to a single identity, but in fact have multiple identities that intersect. Each identity we possess (race, sexual orientation, age, religion, etc.) represents an opportunity to oppress or be oppressed. Next, take the Implicit Association Test to uncover your own biases. This test scientifically measures the strength of associations between stimuli and stereotypes to reveal your own hidden biases. If you are serious about creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive organization, skip the political weaponization of DEI and begin with the basics.

When in pain , the right diagnosis is key. Otherwise you may end up creating misguided solutions. Firstly it’s important to diagnose the culture of the organisation ..what elements of it are inclusive and strengthen them; what elements are not and evaluate them for opportunities…be it values and behaviours , policies and infrastructure , leadership language , and most importantly how to current employees experience the organisation. Start with that before anything else. Building diversity is helpful only if the environment is open to receiving and working with diversity. Some organisations have orchestrated change by bringing in diversity to change the culture and some by doing it in parallel.

If you're at the top, you can lead the way with humility and in collaboration with others. If you're in the middle or the bottom, you first need to assess whether your top leadership is committed. If the answer is anything less than a full-hearted yes — if you can see that they are wavering, engaging in tick-in-the-box allyship, or actively resisting — then you can lead the way out the door. If you do elect to stay, don't delude yourself. Don't do free labor. Don't waste your time and energy fighting impossible battles. Figure out who your allies are and how to get what you need from that workplace before you exit to a place that is more aligned with your values.

Take proactive steps to promote diversity and inclusion by advocating for inclusive policies, fostering open dialogue, implementing training programs, and actively seeking diverse perspectives in decision-making processes. Lead by example, demonstrating a commitment to creating a welcoming and equitable work environment.

Politicians and social media influencers are misleading some into anchoring DEI initiatives solely on reducing racism in the workplace. However, the savvy business leader who looks to the scholars and true thought leaders in the space understand that at their core, DEI initiatives seek to combat and eliminate “othering” in the workplace. Othering is a phenomenon where powerful, dominant social groups seek to define and reduce smaller, non-conforming groups as inferior or irrelevant based on observed identity differences. While othering can occur on the basis of race, it is also present in bias and/or discrimination based on sex, gender, able-bodiedness, education, age, appearance, language, or religion.