D&I - Some useful considerations

Diversity is still hype and more and more the word Inclusion is getting spotlight. All of a sudden D&I seems to be a must have for all organizations – and before applying measures to cover D&I some basics must be clear:

1. Applying these concepts properly goes far from good intentions or just by bringing few diverse individuals in a team and goes beyond the understanding of fairness and justice.

-??????Building a diverse team by chance does not means that the company is pursuing diversity. Leveraging the benefits generated out of the differences is essential. That is the point where inclusion comes in to place, as a inclusive working environment and culture will bring the advantages of D&I into light.

-??????A shared meaning, integrated/derived from the strategy must be in place. The “why” must be clear from beginning.

-??????Diversity definition should be clarified in order to generate a framework / common language to generate the basis to tackle diversity.

-??????There are different approaches to diversity introduction. Normally it starts due justice requirements pressures (discrimination and fairness); then, it goes to a synergetic approach (integration and learning).?

-??????The organizational culture must be ready for that.

-??????People want to stand out in an organization that has a diversity agenda, not just to be there.

-??????KPIs should be implemented.

-??????Organizations should enable social identities and people can flourish, being themselves at the working place

-??????One can have several multiple social identities: they are resources. Applying them according to the context is important.

-??????Self-steam (related to confidence) moderates the personality traits and the social identity learned.

-??????Perception of injustice is biggest enemy to retention and performance. Therefore, fairness play a role in business in general and can be more complex in diverse teams.

2. ?Diversity and Inclusion must be derived from company strategy and should be in line with companies values.

-??????Companies specific diversity definition must be related to their strategy, organizational culture and values.

-??????Intentions must be clear from the beginning and also tuned with the organization strategy and targets.

-??????Before claiming itself as a diverse organisation, a company should deep dive on data. Nevertheless, it should include the qualitative aspect, for instance, by checking the perspective of the minority group to validate and read the data properly.

-??????Classical industries, e.g. mining and law firms, are slower to implement D&I measures. Probably it can be related to this industries practices and values – maybe further research on this topic could light up the cultural background on D&I embracement. Besides that, normally capital intense firms are not hugely financially dependent on human capital and, therefore, this industry is delayed to include D&I measures in place.

-??????Although, it is not an rule:?for instance law firms are struggling to manage properly diversity. Customer are the ones?pressuring it and normally diversity is implemented in the company based on their expectations. This generates, internally, segregated companies and also a perception of injustice, which negatively affects performance.

-??????Human capital (or labor) intense firms are more pressured to support diversity. As such companies depends on people, most likely they can take benefit out of diversity&inclusion.

-??????D&I can support companies to generate a positive image, increase flexibility, creativity, improve decision making and/or productivity. ?It can also contribute ?to attract talents.

3. A positive business case cannot be expected right from the start - it could take real long time for organizations to get results. Development and implementation path can be fully covered by obstacles - and in that sense, leadership role is crucial.

-??????Be aware that diversity could not pay at first sight/effects.

-??????It is important to understand that in most cases, the business case does not pay itself. Steering, coordination are definitely needed in order to generate inclusion, which could enable sustainable results.

-???????So, D&I must be considered an investment.

-??????Moderation and mediation processes are required to drive diversity in an organisation.

-??????To support diversity, it is necessary to train the organization in lettering, collaboration, conflict management, communication and be prepared for new group dynamics and conflicts.

-??????Anticipating needs is crucial: collect and foresee accommodation needs for all employees, in order to generate discriminative situations in the integration process, specially concerning needs of disabled people.

-??????A learning and open culture can enable companies to take advantage out of diversity and inclusion.

4.??Leaders should support properly infrastructure, environment and foster an open and inclusive culture.

Key take aways as a leader:

- Leadership is not a position, but a role. Leaders must: a). make hard decisions about people; b) support and/or steer change management; c) enable future leadership - leader develops leaders.

-It is also part of the leadership role back up peoples preferences and backgrounds.

- Effective leaders are normally open for diversity.

- Bernardinho, the Brazilian volleyball coach, is a good example on how to steer diversity: when moving from a male volleyball team coach to a female coach, he realized that ?different genders requires different managerial & coach style – and then he was successful in the transition from male to female volleyball coach.

- Basic function of a leader is to identify the best fit for each positions/tasks, which also includes the diversity perspective.

- Role models are powerful to build inclusion. Leaders must be aware of their position as role models.

- A learning?mindset is an eye opener for diversity, a reflexive mindset will raise awareness about topic diversity and inclusion.

- Learn that leaders cannot be in a position to understand and raising issues without showing vulnerabilities , which enables openness to accept and understand better diversity and, eventually, push inclusion.

- Changing power structures is key to change societal (inc. organizational) structure and also support the diversity and inclusion.

- Open a diverse atmosphere and generate a safe environment.

- Be aware of biases. For instance:

a. in-group favouritism bias comes from a group need, derived from a primitive thinking related to survival. In a group everybody should look the same or have similar characteristics to survive. Therefore,?in-group favouritism is the enemy of inclusion.

b. Overclaiming credit: self-favouring implies that new members are not welcomed and, consequently, naturally accepted in the group.

c. In negotiations, some traits increase the likelihood of winning the negotiation, e.g. look.

-?Embrace a social identity, if it will bring you confidence! Never for the sake of others.

- Empower and develop people’s confidence and enable them to show up their selected social identities and be themselves at the work environment.

5.??Listen, listen, listen and give voice,?#leaders! Sometimes these basics brings more insights on how to operationalize effective D&I measures to your organization than complex programs.

- Meaning that is not shared, does not triggers actions: communicate the meaning and reasons for D&I. This is the basis for the changes on cultural / behaviour.

- Once diversity is in place, the under representative groups must be given a voice. This is an essential step to enable inclusion. Thefeore, incentive or generate mechanisms to enable minorities or tokens has an voice in the organization, for instance via guidelines.

- Listening is also an artifice to give voice to people. Easy, cheap, effective ??

- Listen also what is not spoken -for instance disabled people does not ask for special accommodation (i.e. infrastructure, facilities, trainning) due the risk of triggering biases.

6. A deep dive in some diversity dimensions

a. Disability

- Disabled people does not ask for special accommodation (i.e. infrastructure, facilities, trainning) due the risk of triggering biases or uncomfortable situations. On the other hand, companies are not willing to support specific accommodations needs. So, it is a vicious circle.

- From the cognitive perspective, people tend to set assumptions towards nice people: they are perceived as low performers or not that good. Normally disabled people are perceived like the “good guys” this this bring a productive toll against the results delivered by them.

- According to studies, managers tend to over evaluate organisations issues by considering hiring a disabled people. Then, leaders tends to assign less challenging tasks and positions, compared with the self-assessment of capabilities of the disable people. By getting low complexity tasks, disabled employees career development is negatively impacted.

b. Sexual orientation

- LGBTQIA+ people main fear is to be disclosed.

- Instead of asking if people they have a girl/boyfriend, people could ask “Do you have a relationship?”.

- It is mandatory to be respectful. Cooperation and social support can help – e.g. citing examples of appreciated friends or colleagues that are LGBTQIA+.

- Practice and support gestures of inclusion: this open space for positive discussions and generates a safe environment for an eventual disclosure.

c. Ageism

- Aging is going to increase the number of people with disabilities (seeing, hidden/invisible) in the workplace.

- Age is an issue on a societal and economic level, but not on organisations – at least not on the same dimensions as I has being advocated to be.

- Reskilling is necessary to overcome talent shortage – especially because younger generations are not necessarily prepared for open/future profiles.

These notes were generated during of the outstanding course "Diversity in Organizations", held by Prof Luciana Ferreira (FDC).