Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, “DEI”, is critical to the success of any organization and are driving forces in today's business world. Leaders who show commitment to these values can inspire their people to engage with them as well. Diversity, equity and inclusion are important values to leaders, whose actions, which shows their commitment to the DEI journey, can be measured. High level actions that shows leaders commitment include:
- Modeling the behavior for those who report to them
- Using language that reflects their commitment to D&I
- Creating opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds to succeed at work
To explore this further, let’s break down 5 ways leaders can embed in their leadership and management style the importance in creating an inclusive and equitable work environment, which will lead to your employees feeling a sense of belonging. Committed leaders:
- Talk the talk and walk the walk.??Leaders who talk about the importance of equity, inclusion and belonging as an organizational priority helps to set a strong foundation to build your DEI foundation.??Talking the talk and walking the walk matters because when your team internalizes it, walk follows talk. You first must establish your organizational DEI journey and goals. What’s your North Star? What are your strategic objective? Does everyone understand the human AND business case? Can everyone understand how the organization plans to operationalize meeting your goals? Talking about DEI issues and speaking openly and regularly about the challenges of systemic bias and discrimination, at the personal, organizational, community and industry level, and how they impact our people and our work, as well as what we’re doing to face them, is essential to making progress. No one just assumes that equity and inclusion matters if you haven’t explicitly said that it does. When your team recognizes that moving in that direction equals success, plans, actions, and teamwork fall out of those statements.
- Minimize biases:?Identifying and minimizing their own biases when they're in front of their employees are more likely to take action behind closed doors as well. They’re also aware of their own biases and how they affect their work with others because personal biases can have a huge impact on how leaders manage people and make decisions. For example, if you are a leader who has a bias against women, or people of certain ethnicities, or disabled people, or people of the LGBTQ community, you may be less likely to promote or give people within these communities of people the opportunities that they deserve.?The first step is to understand what your bias is (biases are) and how it manifests itself. Then you can begin to change the way you think about certain situations in order to minimize its impact on how you manage people. It's important to think about the negative narratives you’ve heard about certain social identities and the negative beliefs you’ve built around them. Sometimes it’s hard to admit that we have biases, but we all have them, because we’re human. So you may want to get feedback from other people by asking them what they think your biases are and whether they feel those biases sometimes affect your relationship with people of those communities. It's also important that you take an approach of – let me explore this further. Don’t negate what the person has told you might be a bias. Instead listen carefully and take action on any feedback given. If a leader is aware of their biases, it's easier for them to prevent those biases from impacting the way they manage people. You’ll need to ask yourself some tough questions about your personal values and beliefs. These don't have to be about age or race; they could be about anything that influences how you interact with other people. Once you've identified some areas where you might hold biases, try testing yourself by making decisions based on those values or beliefs and then comparing the results with what actually happened. If there's a clear disconnect between your expectations and reality, then chances are that particular value or belief was influencing your decision-making process without you realizing it!
- Ensure psychological safety:?Creating an environment where everyone feels safe being themselves and having a safe space for dialogue on diversity issues is extremely important to the feelings of belonging to your staff. Leaders who are committed to diversity understand that sometimes employees need a place where they can discuss difficult topics without fear of repercussion. Psychological safety is a feeling of trust, respect, and openness that a team has for one another. It's the feeling that everyone on the team feels comfortable being honest and vulnerable with each other, knowing that they will not be judged or ridiculed for doing so. The best way for leaders to create an environment of psychological safety is by modeling it themselves. If you want your employees to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas with you, then you need to make sure that you are sharing your own as well. Be open about your mistakes and be willing to hear other people's opinions even if they don't align with yours. Leaders who create an environment of psychological safety are able to connect with their employees on a personal level, which allows them to feel comfortable coming forward about any concerns or issues they might be experiencing in their day-to-day lives. This creates a connection between the employee and the supervisor that allows for trust, respect, and understanding between the two parties—which is essential for creating an environment where psychological safety is possible. In addition to creating this type of connection with employees, leaders should also be aware of how they themselves are acting towards others at work. If they are giving off negative vibes or making others feel threatened or unsafe in any way, then they need to take steps towards fixing this issue ASAP! Leaders must promote an environment where people feel empowered enough to speak up when they see something that doesn't align with the organization’s DEI principles - even if it might make someone else uncomfortable (because it's important for everyone). The most effective leaders also create environments of psychological safety by making sure that everyone in the company knows that they are valued.
- Decision making:?So committed leaders encourage all employees to share their voices on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion within their company culture - because everyone has something to offer! It’s important to make sure that different perspectives are represented in decision-making processes - so that any biases or blind spots leaders OR the organization has, can be called out before they become embedded in organizational structures or processes! Conducting an equity lens/assessment of your organization and department’s policies, practices and programs, and bringing in the voices of people who are impacted by decisions will help avoid decisions being made based with biases creeping in. It's important that leaders and everyone else understands how these biases can affect decision making processes.
- Talent Management:?Recruiting and hiring people that may not be the “typical suspects” of who your organization has hired in the past, is not always easy, but shows a commitment to equity.??Committed leaders don’t just keep going to the same avenues for talent, especially if that source doesn’t have a wide pool of diverse applicants. Instead, reach out to community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), women’s colleges, and professional organizations that advocate on behalf of Black, LatinX, Asian, disabled communities, LGBTQ communities, and other underrepresented workers in your sector. Work to cement ties with local veterans’ groups. There are many sources that represent people that have a wide range of skills, so identifying those sources encouraging people from those diverse communities to??apply to job opportunities can extend your talent pool to a diverse population that is highly qualified but often underemployed and under-recruited.
- Grow your staff:?Another way leaders can mitigate the impact of their personal biases on the way they manage people is by making sure that your work to develop your staff and prepare them for moving up within their organization. Diversity, equity and inclusion are important to leaders because they help create a better working environment for all employees and helps build a better team. Both mentorship and sponsorship can be effective career advancement tools. Mentors share knowledge and provide career guidance to mentees, while?sponsors are often in higher leadership positions and use their influence to actively advocate for an employee and provide opportunities that create visibility. Although both are important to the advancement of your people and providing them with growth opportunities, sponsors actively advocate for employees to receive training opportunities, stretch assignments or a promotion. Sponsors help highlight their unique skills and talents and include them in networking activities where they can interact with other leaders to make meaningful connections. Sponsors can also help employees receive credit for their work by promoting their roles in projects and the outcomes they have achieved. Sponsorship can lead to greater senior-level diversity by ensuring that those who tend to be overlooked are not only recognized for their talents, but also given access to opportunities that help advance their careers.
Showing commitment takes both words and actions. What are you willing to do to show your commitment to creating a culture of equity, inclusion and belonging within your organization?
