Are organizations driving Diversity initiatives effectively?

Never before has Diversity been accorded as much importance, as it is today. Recent research shows that diversity has a significant impact on innovation, revenue and profitability. Hence, most organizations now have a diversity strategy and agenda. Are they really effective, though?

Diversity does not mean having quotas during recruitment. It does not just mean revisiting maternity leave policies or offering flexible work opportunities. True Diversity and Inclusion goes way beyond that and is much more deep-rooted in organizational culture, behaviour and attitudes. Diversity is about bringing a diverse set of individuals into the organization and inclusion is about creating a sense of community that results in all of them feeling ‘at home’. When you look at Diversity and Inclusion in this human-centered context, do organizations’ diversity strategies and initiatives still seem effective? Are they really effecting such behaviours and emotions? With the 17 years of my corporate career as a backdrop, here is my perspective on how diversity initiatives can be more effective.

In order to drive diversity and inclusion effectively, organizations need to address the following aspects:

Make it a C-suite agenda: Many large organizations launch diversity initiatives, but not all of them are successful. The most critical factor that influences success of diversity initiatives is C-suite leadership involvement. If Diversity becomes a C-suite agenda and gets driven from the top, it has greater chance of success.

Let a C-suite leader take personal responsibility for the initiative and get involved in strategy, execution and governance. They can then involve other leaders to support the initiative across individual business units.

Set objectives and measure progress — Baseline the organization’s diversity index, benchmark against industry best practices and set goals. Track progress on metrics and take corrective actions as required.

Lead by example — When an organization sets goals on diversity within teams, ensure that the C-suite team also meets the goal and has diverse representation

Communicate — Talk about diversity initiatives and progress during town-halls and share regular communication through email. Ensure that the key emails are sent from the CEO’s desk, in order to communicate importance and urgency.

Showcase role models and celebrate success stories: When an organization showcases senior women leaders as role models, it helps improve the credibility of diversity initiatives and gives other women someone to look up to and learn from.

Showcase leadership diversity and women leaders in organization websites and through social media channels. Sponsor and participate in industry events around Diversity and Inclusion

Senior leader spotlight — Get senior women leaders to share their stories in newsletters and arrange forums for women employees to meet and talk to senior women leaders

Recognize women who get promoted to middle and senior management levels and celebrate their success

Initiate Mentoring and Sponsorship: Mentoring can play a huge role in empowering women to reach their true potential and develop skills that help them grow. Sponsorship can help women get the visibility and leverage they need to get promoted. In order to drive effective mentoring programs, organizations need to ensure the following aspects:

Introduce a formal mentoring initiative and define the scope and reach of the initiative. This initiative could either be piloted for women at a certain level or for high-potential candidates across levels or could cascade to all women employees in the organization.

Create a structured program with guidelines around the duration of the program, the process by which mentors would be assigned and the expectations from both mentors and mentees. Conduct orientation sessions to introduce the initiative and establish critical success factors for the program.

Assign mentors to mentees — Mentors could be assigned either based on algorithms or manually. Either way, it is essential for mentors and mentees to showcase their profiles. Mentees need to share details around their skill sets, strengths and aspirations. It helps if the profiles go beyond resumes and allow for stories and visuals, so the mentor can get real insights into the mentee’s profile.

Track progress and incorporate feedback — Define metrics to measure effectiveness of the program and track progress on a regular basis. Solicit feedback from mentors and mentees to improve overall effectiveness of the program.

Ensure that mentors become true sponsors, whereby they facilitate visibility and growth opportunities for mentees. Sponsorship can play a critical role in increasing diversity at senior management levels.

Eliminate unconscious bias: Unconscious bias manifests itself in the form of snap judgments, skewed opportunities and preferential treatment. Such bias could spell the doom of diversity initiatives. Hence, organizations need to tackle unconscious bias from grass root levels.

Awareness — Conduct sessions on what qualifies as unconscious bias and how it impacts people in the organization. Share pointers on how employees can identify unconscious bias and prevent it. Considering how deep-rooted some of the biases may be, one session would not be enough to effect change. Create a series of online and offline workshops to reiterate the concept.

Create a set of guidelines and ground rules on how employees can spot and tackle unconscious bias. The rules could be as simple as asking employees to rethink every decision to ensure there is no bias, or ensuring roles and responsibilities are not assigned based on gender.

Create a team of change agents who are available for anyone to discuss and seek guidance on tricky situations. Change agents can intervene to resolve issues and have direct access to senior leadership for support and advice.

Introduce Engagement channels: This is probably the most important aspect of enabling diversity. It is a well-known fact that people are more confident and courageous when they are part of a larger community and feel a sense of belonging. A lot of women are afraid to speak up because they assume they are the only ones facing a particular issue. This causes stress and affects their performance and motivation. If only women had access to fellow women colleagues to discuss and share, it would enhance their confidence.

Deploy a digital engagement tool — While in-person meets are essential, in order to improve reach and effectiveness, a digital engagement platform is critical. The platform should enable women to showcase their profiles, connect with other women and interact in networking communities. It should enable women to share, discuss and seek advice from others in the networking group. This will ensure women get the support, motivation and inspiration they need.

Enable women to seek advice from other women and senior leaders on the platform. This would give them the assurance that they are not alone and can rely on a larger group for solutions and support.

Encourage women to share stories of their personal achievements and how they overcame obstacles on their journeys. Such stories serve as inspiration to other women and soon it creates a cohesive team that celebrates each other’s success.

The more organizations invest in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, the better will be the returns across a multitude of performance metrics.