Do More: 5 Ways to Ensure DEI Efforts Are Working in Your Organization
DEI efforts need to move into accountability. (Shutterstock Photo)
Two months into a cultural reckoning that reached a tipping point with the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers and the global protests that followed, companies, organizations, non-profits, institutions, universities and celebrities have made public mission statements of intention to address racial inequities.
An intensifying renewal and resetting of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is in the works across the country—and the world. And rightly so. But are these DEI efforts working?
“An intensifying renewal and resetting of #diversity, #equity and #inclusion efforts is in the works across the country—and the world. And rightly so. But are these DEI efforts working?”
Read more in Take The Lead on DEI efforts
“Promises to try harder don’t work,” Ellen Pao, founder of the nonprofit Project Include, tells Forbes.
““Promises to try harder don’t work,” @Ekp, founder of the nonprofit @Projectinclude tells @Forbes. #DEI #Workplace”
“In her Roadmap to Diversity and Inclusion, she suggests an initial goal that 10% of your employees be black, and 10% Latino. Ultimately, companies should aim for those numbers to match overall workforce percentages (13% and 17%). Every company’s journey to greater diversity will be different, of course. Most companies fall short of these goals. But specific targets are important,” Forbes reports.
In their May “Diversity Wins” report (released before the protests), McKinsey & Co. finds good and bad news.
“The overall slow growth in diversity often observed in fact masks a growing polarization among these organizations. While most have made little progress, are stalled or even slipping backward, some are making impressive gains in diversity, particularly in executive teams.”
“In their May “Diversity Wins” report (released before the protests), @McKinsey finds good and bad news. #Diversity #Workforce”
Read more in Take The Lead on diversity efforts
Studying both gender and racial/ethnic diversity, McKinsey reports, “Companies with more than 30 percent women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30, and in turn these companies were more likely to outperform those with even fewer women executives, or none at all. In the case of ethnic and cultural diversity, our business-case findings are equally compelling: in 2019, top-quartile companies outperformed those in the fourth one by 36 percent in profitability, slightly up from 33 percent in 2017 and 35 percent in 2014.”
But the numbers are still woefully imbalanced and equity not nearly achieved.
In the U.S., “female representation on executive teams rose from 15 percent in 2014 to 20 percent in 2019. More than a third of the companies in our data set still have no women at all on their executive teams.”
McKinsey also reports, “The representation of ethnic-minorities on U.K. and U.S. executive teams stood at only 13 percent in 2019, up from just 7 percent in 2014.”
Read more in Take The Lead on diversity in media stories
Other research shows that the slow progress can be connected to beliefs held by employees. Business 2 community reports, “Only 17% of workers support increased recruiting of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. And 79% of these same employees also believe that their company is already diverse, while only 20% value hiring women in leadership positions, and 14% value a focus on LGBTQ awareness and sensitivity.”
“Research from @B2Community shows that the slow progress in #diversity can be connected to beliefs held by employees. #Corporate #DEI”
Business 2 Community reports, “33% of Black employees aspire to leadership positions, but only one-tenth of them ever make it there. Only 1% reach CEO at Fortune 500 level companies, and all of them are men. When you look at the rate that Black students complete the necessary degree to be eligible for a Fortune 500 CEO position, the appropriate number should be at least 10%.”
Here are five recommendations and resources to get DEI efforts in place now.
“@Takeleadwomen has five recommendations and resources to get #DEI efforts in place now. #1: Put action tools in place. Resources are available. #AntiRacism #GenderEquity”
1. Put action tools in place. Resources are available. SNewsNet reports, “Camber Outdoors' newest DEI tool, the Workplace Anti-Racism Action Agenda, is a call for direction in promoting anti-racism in the workplace. The tool is built around a three-steps process—learn, act, and change—that runs along three parallel tracks for promoting inclusion. This framework is meant to combat racism from various angles within organizations, ensuring that progress is multi-dimensional and deeply integrated.” Designed by Renita Smith, Camber chief programs officer, "This is a set of guiding principles, a model. It's meant to be a jumping off point, but one that gives specific examples for action that can be taken immediately," Smith says.
Watch Take The Lead Virtual Happy Hour on mission with Aubrey Blanche, DEI expert
2. Move beyond a checklist and track accountability. “The reality is that the work of increasing and embedding a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equitable practice in the workplace is so much more than a checklist. To treat diversity, equity, and inclusion work (DEI) as a to-do list with a finite start and finish will only result in the stunted growth of the very culture you are hoping to manifest,” Darnisa Amante-Jackson, Ed.L.D., writes in Fast Company. “There are grand gestures that instill an initial belief in the movement, such as all staff town halls and company-wide communications. But just as important are the many small gestures that are the most sustaining ones: consistent internal communications that percolate throughout the company, validated by managers, and state in no uncertain terms to employees that every corner of the company is committed and accountable to the work.”
“Move beyond a checklist and track #accountability. Because establishing #DEI in the #workplace requires so much more. ”
Read more in Take The Lead on building diverse teams
3. Honor individuality, cooperation. According to Forbes, “One way of note that D&I efforts don't meet their potential for impact is that even the best-intentioned leaders over-index on one extreme or the other. For instance, they may champion very diverse groups but do nothing to enable more profound understanding and cooperation among different teammates. On the other extreme, leaders may create such cohesive teams through deliberate inclusion, but ultimately crowd out individuality and resort to groupthink.”
4. Redesign fair systems on work assignments and performance evaluation. Moving beyond education, training and awareness of bias, changes need to be specific and measurable. Evelyn Carter writes in Harvard Business Review, “While some of these changes may seem incremental, educating employees on concepts like allyship and justice, embracing authentic communication and connection, and re-designing systems and processes to reduce racial disparities are still radical changes for most organizations. And this is just the beginning of re-envisioning how to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace that truly supports Black employees. Two examples are particularly salient right now: assigning work and performance management. Even under normal circumstances, assigning work is fraught with racial bias: Employees of color are expected to repeatedly prove their capabilities while White employees are more likely to be evaluated by their expected potential.”
“Redesign fair systems on #work assignments and performance evaluation. Moving beyond education, training and awareness of #bias, changes need to be specific and measurable.”
5. Acknowledge that DEI efforts need to accommodate remote work. According to EdSurge,“The Remote DEI Toolkit was developed by a group of seven remote educational organizations to support DEI work without having a centralized physical office. The organizations approached DEI by identifying practices that allow for sharing vulnerability and establishing trust among remote colleagues. The toolkit covers specific organizational practices, such as ensuring equity in hiring.”
“Organizations must acknowledge that DEI efforts need to accommodate #remotework. #Leadership”
“For diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners like me, the influx of interest we’re seeing from organizations that want to both support their Black employees and up-skill their workforce around racism, bias, and inclusivity is unprecedented,” Evelyn Carter writes in Harvard Business Review.
These strategies are not a quick fix nor do DEI efforts have a completion date. The need for change is ongoing as the mission is for race and gender equity in all arenas.
