Developing an Inclusive Workplace

Successful DE&I initiatives require comprehensive, organization-wide efforts. There are three main reasons why a strategic approach is required: priority, complexity, and resistance.

Without focusing on DE&I as a priority, DE&I efforts will always have a lower priority than more immediate concerns. Only when DE&I becomes a strategic priority does an effort to increase DE&I become a justifiable "safe" choice for a manager to make. In a competitive global market, only a strategic effort, clearly linked to core business strategies and with full organizational buy-in, will be able to commandeer the resources and commitment necessary to achieve any diversity goals-or more importantly, to enable DE&I initiatives to really help the organization achieve its business goals.

Because the complexity of the DE&I problem requires a strategic, organization-wide solution, any initiative aimed at creating a diverse, inclusive organization has a lot of moving parts to consider. In addition to the many dimensions of diversity and the associated challenges that arise from them, global organizations must account for the filter that each nation and region imposes on how diversity issues are viewed and prioritized. If diversity, equity, and inclusion are to be instituted across an entire organization, then every department, every function, every subsidiary, and every location must be involved, each with its own unique issues. It will involve many of the functions of HR. professionals and affect a diverse group of shareholders. All of these complex issues require considerable resource commitments of time, money, energy, and effort. These, in turn, require data-driven evaluations of the current baseline situation, concrete goals, and development of detailed, how-to-get-there steps.

DE&I involves major organizational change, which requires a strategic plan-not just a generalized goal-in order to help avoid resistance. Achieving diversity in an organization requires major organization-wide change, affecting ingrained attitudes and habits as well as established policies and procedures. A plan will define the goals desired and how to achieve them; it also integrates the goals and activities of the major business functions in order to achieve organizational success.

Because DE&I is a complex issue with no simple solutions, organizations may choose a number of different methods or frameworks to achieve their DE&I goals. A 2018 SHRM article sets out six basic steps:

1. Educate your leaders. Organizational executives and managers are crucial to the success of DE&I efforts. Mandatory training can help managers increase their understanding of DE&I concerns and give them opportunities to discuss real-life scenarios.

2. Form an inclusion council. This council, typically made of eight to twelve members located a few levels below the CEO, can assist with goal setting around hiring, developing, and advancing diversity in the workforce, and employee engagement issues among underrepresented groups. The members should be diverse across as many different dimensions of diversity as possible.

3. Celebrate employee differences. Inviting employees to share their backgrounds and traditions in the workplace highlights diversity and helps create a more inclusive workplace.

4. Listen to employees. Comprehensive assessments, including the use of employee surveys and focus groups, can help develop tailored and specific strategies to help support inclusiveness in the workplace.

 

5. Hold more-effective meetings. Meetings are a prime opportunity for employees to contribute and feel valued, particularly among sets of coworkers who interact often. Attention to flexibility on timing and format, sharing praise and credit, and communication styles can go a long way.

6. Communicate goals and measure progress. As with other initiatives across the organization, SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based) goals are important. Goals can help build a business case, and if efforts are not achieving the desired results, corrective action may be undertaken.

No matter what process is followed or across what timeline, certain factors, tools, and processes are crucial to overall success. These include:

· Leadership buy-in.

· Executive sponsorship.

· Employee resource groups.

· Allyship.

· Unconscious bias training.

· Mentorship.

· Psychological safety.

· Using preferred gender pronouns.

These concepts are discussed in greater detail below.