Diversity & Inclusion - Where to Start When it Comes to Developing a Strategy
Diversity and inclusion (D&I). These two powerful words have really taken centre stage in recent years, and rightly so. Leaders of organisations know that they ought to hire a more diverse workforce, and that they should encourage inclusion in their workplace, but good intentions often don’t get mobilised into meaningful action plans.
D&I in the workplace is vital to the success of your organisation now and in the long term. More and more, we realise the importance of recognizing our employees' humanity and uniqueness. As we get ready to take on 2021 with gusto, the following article aims to provide clarity on the benefits of D&I, how they’re related but different, and provide some inspiration as to what can be done to build momentum and strategy around D&I.
The Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion
Fact: organisations that are committed to D&I see their revenues grow, foster innovative work cultures, and find it easier to attract and retain talent. Furthermore diverse teams are better at decision making. Diversity of thought stretches teams, and redefines the parameters of homogenous teams for a more effective decision making process, allowing your organisation to respond better to diverse client needs.
The Difference Between Diversity and Inclusion
While diversity and inclusion are related, they are not the same.
Workplace diversity is about the make-up of your organisation. Do you hire employees with different characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity and individuals with disabilities? While these social categories are incredibly broad, they help organisations identify gaps, around which they can set measurable goals. To be clear, diversity incorporates all the elements that make an individual unique, but these social categories are a good springboard from which to assess your starting point.
Inclusion is defined by SHRM as “the achievement of a work environment in which all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and can contribute fully to the organisation’s success.”
What are considered the acceptable behaviours and social norms in your organisation? Can you say with certainty that they don’t disadvantage certain groups or individuals? For example: if a member of your team is on maternity leave, are they still included in your promotion pool? Do team members of the LGBTQ community feel comfortable bringing their partners to company events (pre and now post the era of Covid-19)?
The Basics of Developing a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace
If you’re not quite sure where to start when it comes to forging a more diverse and inclusive workplace, you're not alone. Many organisations struggle with this. As a starting point the following should be kept front of mind and will give you some food for thought:
Respect: the root of fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace is respect. How does leadership interact with their team day to day? Is it in a calm and consistent manner, even when things aren’t going according to plan? Do your employees respect each when you’re not in the room?
Recognise Individual Value: everyone on your team contributes to the attainment of organisation goals. Make sure that each person understands their role and how it impacts the wider organisation.
Cohesion & Equity: connection and a sense of belonging go a long way in helping employees feel comfortable and included. Do your company values foster a strong sense of teamwork? Are the work practices and polices in place executed fairly and transparently or do they disadvantage certain groups?
Inclusive Leadership: do the leaders in your organisation make an honest effort to be inclusive and champion diversity and inclusion initiatives? Are they encouraged to do this by you?
Developing and fostering a diverse and inclusive environment is a top-down and continuous initiative. Developing clear guidelines and providing training to management on how to respectfully respond to diversity needs, while giving them scope for flexible decision-making is important.
A great way to get feedback on how your organisation is doing on the basics, and to help formulate a plan of action and priorities, would be to conduct a pulse survey.
Developing a Diversity & Inclusion Strategy
If you’re looking to get serious about developing a D&I strategy, here are some ideas to help you get started:
Set Goals: identify diversity and inclusion goals to be included in your business plan. For example:
o Hiring and recruitment - look at the broad categories mentioned under diversity above and map out where you have the biggest gaps. Then mobilize a plan to address them.
o Leadership group - is your leadership team made up of a diverse group of individuals, from different backgrounds? If not, you should set goals to achieve greater diversity across this group.
Transform the Hiring Process: recruit outside your network, recruit anonymously i.e., remove identifying details from individual CVs, ask interview questions to job candidates on their views when it come to diversity.
Policy Review: do your employment policies and practices provide for equal opportunity, fairness, and transparency. If you’re unsure, ask your team, obtain feedback to address the polices that create imbalance and stifle D&I in your organisation.
Other D&I Initiatives: create gender-friendly bathrooms, provide a nursing room for working mothers who pump milk, ensure your workspaces are accessible to employees with disabilities, if you name an area of your workspace be inclusive with the types of names you use, foster a culture where an open-door policy is the norm.
The most critical step is to act. There will always be competing priorities, but if you take the time to put a strategy in place and show genuine appreciation for the unique needs and perspectives of all team members, your organisation will flourish.
