By Allan Schweyer, Senior Executive Consultant
Over
the past 30+ years, I’ve observed that great leaders help each employee,
manager, and colleague identify known and hidden biases that might lead to acts
of discrimination, microaggression, or exclusion. The best leaders exhibit
honesty and courage by going beyond rote training modules to educate everyone
in the historic fact of systemic racism; not to shame the majority but to build
perspective and empathy.
This
remains rare, however. So how do leaders and organizations do it?
You’ve
probably seen it firsthand: leadership sets the climate of transparency and
vulnerability in the organization (or lack thereof). Diversity flows naturally
from proactive and non-discriminatory hiring practices driven by leadership
that understands the business advantages of a representative workforce.
Inclusion follows where CEOs, chief people officers (CPOs), and other
executives lead through courage, truth, and example.
At
its core, this has everything to do with prioritizing mental health. No company
can claim a commitment to employee wellness until people can deal with their
stresses or worries openly and find help. Of course, wellness extends to
inclusion and belonging. Until historically excluded minorities, whether based
on race and ethnicity or sexual and gender preference, can express themselves,
dress, and share their ideas and perspectives openly – within social and
business norms – creativity and innovation will suffer. More importantly,
workplace belonging and wellness cannot emerge until everyone enjoys
psychological safety and can bring all of their constructive thoughts, ideas,
humor, and perspectives to work.
When
it comes to execution, effective leaders and organizations first make their
commitment known and set strategic goals around diversity (as above, this
should include implications for the culture and employee engagement). Then, as
an organization matures and progresses, it integrates consideration of
diversity factors into every important decision and every aspect of the
business – from eliminating biases in hiring, celebrating ethnic holidays,
offering training where appropriate, to checking the culture itself for
systemic biases. Ultimately, leaders make a public commitment to change,
including openness in sharing data around hiring, pay, promotions, and minority
representation in senior positions.
Diversity
and Inclusion Confer Competitive Advantage
In
the digital era we inhabit, literally everything organizations achieve depends
on people. Everyone competes for the same talent, every successful leader
understands they must compensate competitively, invest in employees’ learning
and development, and provide the resources workers need to do their jobs
effectively. Most know and believe in the overwhelming evidence that employee
engagement drives higher productivity, better business outcomes, and lower
attrition. Thus, failure to engage, include, and leverage the full talents of
the workplace represents not only a moral lapse – it invites disaster. It
exposes unfitness for executive office.
Great
leaders know they won’t always get it right, but they work with other experts,
listen to their employees, keep learning, and set the intention to create a
vibrant, healthy workplace and culture that embraces diversity. This requires
tremendous courage and empathy but results in stronger, more innovative, and
resilient organizations more capable of attracting and keeping top talent.
If we
can help you on your journey, visit DEI360.org.
Let’s
share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email,
or find me on Twitter.
