Promoting Diversity 101

Diversity. It is a priority for many organizations in corporate America today and with due reason. My definition of diversity is " a Congruent representation of society at the workplace". The reason I coined it such is that our societies look different depending on where you live and thrive daily.

Inclusion. A requirement of a balanced work culture that represents today's multi-dimensional and diverse society.

Every progressive leader who is in tune with the times knows that the call-to-action is to strive for diversity in their organization while promoting inclusivity in their work cultures.

There is enough research done and shared in the public domain on how diverse teams are better for business and the organization. However, beyond the metrics, diversity is required to address the jarring incongruence between the societies we live in and thrive compared to their equivalent representation in the workplace.

I live in an exception to the rule. I am blessed to work in a very diverse environment, team, and workplace, not just from a gender lens but also from the visible and invisible aspects of diversity. This helps me and my team have a smoother transition and continuum between my work and my life. The representative cultures and the myriad lenses of diversity are well represented in both domains.

A majority of us want to do something to affect the diversity landscape. And a majority of us don't know where to start.

I am also including a one-page slide I presented at my company that simplifies various things that we as leaders can do to promote and improve diversity in all aspects. Print it, use it, repurpose it. The more of us who get better at this, the better the representation.

The above is a checklist but in addition, below are 10 things (to start) that you can do when hiring, retaining, and growing talent and ensuring diversity thrives. This list is non-exhaustive a.k.a growing. It would be great to crowdsource other well-established best practices that upstanders, allies, mentors, and advocates can implement in the comments section.

1. Remove Gender bias in job descriptions - Using tools like Textio, you can identify subtle changes that enable you to have a more gender-neutral stance regarding job descriptions. Try it out! You might be surprised at how biased or not your job descriptions might be.
2. Blurred names/demographics on resumes during recruitment: Ask your recruitment team to remove all names and demographics and replace them with Candidate ID. This way, we limit the personal bias into the resume screen process due to a name or cultural association and attaching stereotypes.
3. Balanced Screening: Create shortlists for screening separated by the type of diversity you want on your team (gender is the easiest to implement). An equal number of males and females enter the screening and go through the process independently. The top two in each gender pipeline (or top candidate) goes to the final rounds of interviews. Diversity of all types exist in the talent pool in most competitive markets, and the onus is on the leaders looking to acquire talent to ensure the net is cast far and wide for applications.
4. Panel interviews with Diverse representation on the panel: While the term panel interviews elicit strong for or against reactions, the key is to have diverse representation on the interview panel. Diversity draws diversity. So if you want to draw in more of the difference, you need to showcase that the organization is indeed looking to be different with diverse representation celebrated at all levels.
5. Post panel feedback offered blind to the hiring manager ( to remove unconscious bias): Irrespective of the interview process, ensure that candidates' rankings are solicited with the interview panel without any side discussions on candidates and fit between panel members. This ensures that unconscious bias and predefined agendas are not inserted into the process, and the process of feedback collection is fair.
6. As a leader, create a culture of openness, trust, listening, learning, and seeking to understand. It is ok to disagree but do so respectfully. If you lead or manage a team, remember to lead by example. Remember, leadership is not a title - it is an attribute, and anyone can exude leadership.
7. Your first diverse hire will be the toughest so use all your learnings to build a bench for ongoing talent acquisition and retention. Your diverse hire can also help you generate a top talent pipeline that is diverse to integrate into the interview process for future opportunities.
8. Invest. Mentor, coach, sponsor diverse individuals from diverse backgrounds. If you are a leader, ensure you have at least one diverse individual on the succession plan.
9. Attend diversity and inclusion topics/focused conferences. It will help us learn about common blind spots and create safe spaces for tough conversations.
10. Last but not least, continue to learn more about the diversity and inclusion landscape. Never stop learning. HBR articles and Medium are great starting points for thought-provoking yet quick reads.

It not a lack of intent but a clear understanding of repeatable scalable actions every individual can take daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly that can promote diversity.

Listed above are 10 simple yet effective things all can do. Changing the landscape of the workplace and workforce to represent diversity is a journey, a continuum.

So while a few of the above mentioned might be easy to implement, the key is to continue to build the right habits, model the right attributes, and create more safe spaces for diverse talent and individuals to thrive.

If you know of more best practices, please do share in the comments. This is an opportunity for all of us to share and learn about what works to promote diversity.