Strategies to Ingrain Diversity and Inclusion in your Workplace
4 min read · May 19, 2021
Gena Cox and David Lancefield, Harvard Business Review
”People of colour are overrepresented in lower-paying jobs and underrepresented in top leadership roles. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are the least likely to be promoted to management and executive levels in Silicon Valley high-tech jobs compared to other groups.” (HBR)
Summary
There is widespread agreement on the need to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. But it is not easy to deliver on the promises made. This article argues that it is time to adopt a more systematic, coherent approach to diversity and inclusion. The authors offer five strategies for making more progress and creating a more representative, fair, and high-performing workforce:
Ensure the CEO positions themselves are the top champion for diversity and inclusion efforts.
Center diversity and inclusion in your business strategy.
Hold executive leaders accountable for diversity and inclusion outcomes.
Mitigate implicit bias at the systemic level.
Pivot from diversity training to leadership development coaching.
Many companies' efforts to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace still need a push to deliver on the promises made. People of colour have faced significant disparities in the workplace, including lower hiring rates, lower representation in white-collar and leadership jobs, and employees of colour consistently report less positive experiences at work than their white colleagues. Equitable hiring and recruitment processes are necessary to advance EDI given barriers for diverse applicants. While there is progress in implementing these policies and processes, organizations have many opportunities to refine and improve how they approach recruitment and internal growth for diverse staff.
Key findings
The authors offer five strategies for making more progress and creating a more representative, fair, and high-performing workforce:
1. Ensure the CEO positions themselves as the top champion for diversity and inclusion efforts.
There is a need to hold yourself and others accountable for diversity initiatives. According to PwC's U.S. workforce diversity data in 2020, women and people of colour are underrepresented across positions, especially at senior levels, showing that even the most dedicated companies still have much D&I work to do.
2. Center diversity and inclusion in the business strategy.
The authors suggest that increasing the number of non-white individuals involved in the strategy process will help develop a better product that reflects a broader group of customers and employees. This approach will also give the organization more opportunities and places to succeed. A diverse design group is more likely to create products and services that work for a diverse clientele, avoiding biased assumptions, generalizations, or shortcuts.
3. Hold executive leaders accountable for driving diversity and inclusion outcomes.
Give leaders formal accountability for achieving two sets of diversity and inclusion results in their part of the business: diversity results that focus on representation (such as hiring, promotion, and mobility outcomes) and inclusion results that focus on day-to-day experience (such as employee engagement, equity, and psychological safety outcomes).
4. Mitigate implicit bias at the systemic level.
Rather than eliminating individual bias, the organization should focus on mitigating systemic bias embedded in talent management and other decision-making processes (as highlighted in research by Calvin Lai and others).
5. Pivot from diversity training to leadership development coaching.
One-shot diversity training programs that focus on reducing implicit bias do not typically result in sustained behaviour change. Instead, diversity training is most effective when it is part of an enterprise-wide strategic approach, includes both awareness and skills development, and is conducted over time.
The article states that there is a need to adopt a systemic approach. By following these five strategies, leaders can make more progress and create a more representative, fair, and high-performing workforce.
Read the full article here.
References
Cox, G., & Lancefield, D. (2021, May 19). 5 strategies to infuse D&I into your organization. Harvard Business Review.
