THE CULTURE CREATOR: How a DEI Lead Navigate Interactions and Situations

DEI drives organizational efforts that ensure every staff?member -?no matter?the?race/ethnicity, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual?orientation, ability, religion or any other?historically marginalized group feels safe,?included, and able to bring their full selves to work each day.??

In my previous articles we saw different aspect of DEI, and here you can find them.?In this article instead I will focus on the specific role, within a company (it can be internal or working as external and it can report to Operations or to People), that works with and for the company to promote DEI values: The DEI Lead/Director.?

The Diversity and Inclusion Lead holds the responsibility of guaranteeing that the hiring and employee-related policies of an organization are equitable, inclusive, and geared towards promoting diversity.?

Their role necessitates collaboration with personnel across all levels within the organization. Furthermore, they wield influence over decision-making processes concerning the workforce, leveraging this authority to cultivate a diverse and inclusive organizational culture.

A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Director within a company is a strategic leader responsible for fostering an inclusive and equitable work environment. Their role encompasses developing and implementing initiatives aimed at promoting diversity and combating discrimination within the organization.?

This involves collaborating with various departments to create policies and practices that support diversity recruitment, retention, and advancement. DEI Directors often conduct assessments to identify areas for improvement and provide training to employees to raise awareness and promote understanding of diversity issues.?

They serve as advocates for underrepresented groups, ensuring that their voices are heard and their needs are addressed within the company's culture and operations. Ultimately, DEI Directors play a crucial role in shaping the company's values and driving positive change towards a more inclusive and equitable workplace.

Diversity is achieved by having employees from various backgrounds, including differences in race, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, age, or nationality, which enriches company culture. A Diversity and Inclusion Director plays a crucial role in this endeavor.?

Inclusion, on the other hand, involves ensuring that everyone feels comfortable. Merely hiring individuals from diverse backgrounds is futile if company policies do not accommodate their differences.

?Likewise, maintaining a diverse workplace is difficult in a hostile environment. Hence, the Director of Diversity and Inclusion assumes the responsibility of fostering an inclusive work environment that promotes, embraces, and protects diversity.

Tasks & The responsabilities

As the Director of DEI, this position reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO).?

It involves offering crucial support to the Leadership Team, particularly regarding the organization's talent strategy and efforts to improve our overall culture.?

This includes developing and refining organization-wide routines, systems, and structures to support team culture, professional growth, performance management, and talent planning. Our aim is to progress towards becoming a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization.?

This role is a relatively new role within the human resources & leadership field, plus the tasks and responsabilities can be influenced by the sector, company, seniority, and other factors but here I try to list the main ones:

• Developing and Implementing DEI Strategies: Creating, implementing, and overseeing strategies and initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization.
• Policy Development: Developing, reviewing, and updating policies and procedures to ensure they promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the organization's operations, including hiring, promotion, and employee relations.
• Training and Education: Providing or coordinating training and educational programs to raise awareness and understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion issues among employees, managers, and leaders.
• Recruitment and Retention: Collaborating with HR and hiring managers to develop recruitment strategies that attract diverse talent and implementing retention strategies to ensure an inclusive and welcoming work environment for all employees.
• Metrics and Reporting: Establishing metrics and benchmarks to track progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and regularly reporting on these metrics to leadership and stakeholders.
• Culture Assessment: Conducting assessments of the organizational culture to identify areas for improvement and implementing initiatives to promote a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture.
• Partnerships and Outreach: Building partnerships with external organizations and communities to support diversity and inclusion initiatives and representing the organization in relevant diversity and inclusion events and forums.
• Conflict Resolution: Serving as a resource for employees who experience discrimination or harassment and leading investigations and resolution processes when necessary.
• Leadership and Advocacy: Serving as a visible leader and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization, influencing decision-making processes and promoting a culture of inclusivity at all levels.
• Continuous Improvement: Staying informed about best practices, emerging trends, and legislation related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and continuously seeking ways to improve the organization's DEI efforts.

To better understand? what we are talking about, I asked few questions to Henrique Zanin . Henrique Zanin, M.Sc, MBA, is a DEI expert, lawyer, and researcher with a focus on social inclusion, human rights, and labor law.

He leads Global DEI Programs at eBay (Berlin) and lectures on DEI at HSM University. Henrique authored "Fleeing Persecution: A Study on LGBTQI+ Asylum in Europe and Germany" (2023) and holds degrees in labor law, human rights, and strategic HR management. His work has been widely published globally.

Hi Henrique! How are you? Thank you for taking the time. Please introduce yourself and provide an overview of your role as a DEI Lead, and how it fits within the organization's overall strategy and objectives?

I'm a Global DEI Program Lead, which means that my role is focused on our global portfolio, standardization of practices and programs, governance & strategy for DEI and similar tasks. DEI is a supporter and enabler of the company's objectives and our desire is to be part of all discussions that involve creating an inclusive environment for employees, our product, community, suppliers, partners, and customers.

What are the key responsibilities and day-to-day tasks that you undertake in your position?

I believe I ended up mentioning most of it above, but adding to it, there's a lot of program management to deliver the DEI programs we commit to, a lot of data analysis to find new opportunities, strategy discussions related to what, how and when deliver certain projects and engage with employees and leadership, development of educational or product opportunities for different business across the company.

Can you share some specific initiatives or programs that you have implemented to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace??

Most of what do needs to be kept internal to the company, but there are different project that end up being discussed externally, for example eBay's efforts in the inclusive AI space and how that has been leveraged to drive more inclusion with accurate closed captioning, meeting recaps and to-dos, as well as making our website more inclusive for small businesses with fair price algorithms and tips for reaching new customers via AI.?

Can you discuss any partnerships or collaborations your organization has formed with external stakeholders or community organizations to support DEI initiatives?

Without mentioning specific names, we leverage partnerships in many spheres of DEI, to attract candidates, to provide consultation for specific topics of our interest (consulting on age, or cultures, or LGBTQI+ individuals), as a benefit for employees (e.g. Mental health apps), to come talk to our employees about a wide?range of topics (e.g. cultural moments and dates of note), and much more.?

Can you share any examples of how your DEI efforts have contributed to positive outcomes or improvements within the organization?

Once in a previous organization where employees were having difficulty collaborating, I implemented a program on cultural diversity and awareness that focused on different aspects?of people's perception like hierarchy, communication feedback, time perception, flexibility, etc. in different modules in live conversation, emails, reminders, checklists, manager's routines, team buildings etc. Due to that program, we saw an uptick for not only collaboration, but also productivity and belonging, because employees felt seen and valued as they were.

Looking ahead, what are your goals or priorities for advancing DEI within the organization in the coming years?

I believe there's a lot to be done in the governance and strategy space to reiterate the message and case for DEI, especially during times like ours where this agenda has been so politicized. There's a lot of opportunity also flourishing in the AI and technology spaces that should be explored and engaged soon so the products those models and engineers are creating reflect inclusive practices that should be incorporated from the get go.?

Previous Articles on DEI:

DE&I from A to Z

She Tech: Mind the Gap

Leading the Change

The Birth and Growth of DEI

Sources:

https://hr.university/career/director-of-diversity-and-inclusion/

https://www.studentleadershipnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Director-of-Talent-DEI_Job-Description_FINAL.pdf

https://jobs.lever.co/BFP/196df641-4658-48e4-9d73-b524c06591ce