In a recent webinar (you can access the recording here), we discussed the 5 key areas to embed inclusive leadership within a company culture. The dictionary defines the word embed as “to enclose closely in or as if in a matrix” or, “to make something an integral part of”. No word better describes the relationship between inclusion and leadership behavior as a driver of culture change. Inclusion that is not embedded will not sustain and, in turn, will fail to impact companies’ ability to attract talent and innovate at the highest level. Being able to “embed” anything is no small task, and doing so while navigating the complexities of team culture, and individuals’ daily lives make it that much more daunting of a proposition.

With that said, research and technology have allowed us to pinpoint the key areas we can embed behavior and culture change that will change workplaces in a way that even the most inspirational one-off training can’t. Here are the key areas that present the greatest opportunity to embed an inclusive culture within teams on a daily basis.

The 5 key areas to Embed Inclusive Leadership

Meetings

Meetings are one of the best opportunities for a leader to embed inclusion on their teams. Events like these allow leaders the opportunity to lead by example which permeates culture change throughout teams and companies. They are also great ways to enlist input from team members and facilitate idea-sharing that catalyzes innovation.

Hiring

Hiring is the critical area where leaders can build and embed an inclusive culture from the ground up. But most leaders (by no fault of their own) do not know that inclusion is vital to mitigating unconscious biases that impact their ability to objectively and effectively hire the right people for the right position. Failing to do so, sets new hires up for failure and leaves teams vulnerable to attrition.

Performance Management

Leaders must be able to analyze performance with an awareness of their personal biases and the cognitive diversity of their team members. Being able to evaluate and manage performance inclusively is a vital skill that sets team members up for success and establishes trust which benefits the overall team.

Team Development

Stretch assignments, mentoring, succession planning. All of these (and more) are great opportunities for leaders to grow their team members’ skills, advance their careers, and build better relationships. But does a leader know how to objectively and effectively delegate tasks? Do they know how to facilitate and grow valuable mentoring relationships? How do they go about choosing and preparing the right candidate for their succession plan? Do they know how to build team chemistry in a way that is inclusive and truly fosters ideation?

Strategy and Planning

A leaders’ ability to use inclusion to craft the right strategy sets the table for how they manage and evaluate their teams going forward. Leaders need to be trained in the art of crafting a strategy that addresses the nuances of team culture as it relates to overall success. They also stand to benefit by better synthesizing the “big picture” to mitigate biases and involve their team in strategic planning. This sets the table for a team that is focused and bought-in to a collective vision of success.

But how we harness these areas to sustain impactful culture change?

To be able to harness these areas to the benefit of their team culture and productivity, leaders will be challenged to apply the right focuses and behaviors at the right time during their daily workdays. But how can we expect leaders to remember these behaviors and instinctually recognize moments to apply them during their busy personal and professional lives? Technology has not only allowed us to recognize these five focus areas, but it allows us to deliver the necessary training to leaders at the exact times they will need it most.

So where is your current training successful (or not) in equipping leaders to harness these 5 areas to embed inclusive leadership and foster a culture that is more inclusive and productive? Join any of these virtual-live Q&As for a more in-depth discussion.

About Lead Inclusively

You may be following the trend of ‘Instagram-Ready’ resumes being a “thing.” I wasn’t even aware of it until it was brought to my attention by my staff.  I recently found myself fascinated by the emergence of ‘Instagram-Ready’ resumes and the intriguing debate around whether this emerging trend is inherently inciting resume bias. To be completely honest, both sides of the debate bring up extremely valid points that directly tie into the Diversity and Inclusion space. So, do ‘Instagram-ready’ resumes incite bias? To be frank, I am conflicted. Let me dive into why.  

 Why this is happening 

With Gen-Z and young Millennials increasingly entering the workplace, we are seeing an increase in emphasis on “attention-grabbing” and “differentiation” as primary tactics being used by young professionals to stand out in a competitive job market. This is most-commonly manifesting in candidates leveraging their tech-savvy design skills to boost the potential appeal of their resumes. But does this take out the objectivity of a hiring process? 

 Why I support it (empowering young professionals) 

Firstly, with two sons who are Millennial/Gen-Z, I feel a certain connection to this issue. Naturally, I want my sons to be set up to compete in their respective job-markets so this topic (regardless of your stance) has a direct impact on them and the millions of young professionals like them.  

As it relates to my work in Diversity and Inclusion as a mechanism to empower individuals, and subsequently, teams, I argue this issue also has direct implications. My team always talks about how important it is that we should celebrate individuality and empower people to embrace the best version of themselves. If companies aren’t doing that, they aren’t being ‘inclusive’ of these professional’s individual genius. We also encourage rewarding and recognizing effort and achievement in the workplace. While resumes don’t directly fall under this scope, shouldn’t we reward a well-crafted resume? 

 Why I am against it (potential resume bias) 

To be frank, these kinds of resumes do objectively open the door to potential hiring bias. If the job application involves someone versed in some aspect of biotech, for example, whether they have mastered the art of presenting a visually appealing resume is highly irrelevant to the essential qualifications of that biotech job and could keep qualified candidates out.   I always teach that companies need to be objective in their hiring and that they must work proactively to eliminate any room for bias in every aspect of their culture and processes. When some ask, “why does a headshot matter?”, for example, it’s hard for me to ignore their objections. It clearly does matter because it brings focus to appearance, age, race, and gender, which, at a minimum, is a distraction from the actual “facts” of the person’s competence as set forth in their (hopefully accurate) resume. 

All-in-all I feel that as we continue to work to create more inclusive workplaces and a more inclusive world, the impacts of bias will continue to dissipate. It’s hard for me to discourage young professionals from embracing their individuality and going above and beyond in any aspect of their professional lives. Maybe our world needs to catch up to the future in this regard and find ways to encourage this trend while also negating the manifestations of resume bias (and bias of all kinds). Regardless, this debate is fascinating and ongoing.  

Workplace diversity and a culture of Inclusion transforms the way companies think and perform. Our ability as organizations and society, to enable professionals to be the best version of themselves will be crucial in dictating success. What are your thoughts? Does this trend incite resume bias? Leave a comment below or join the discussion at one of our live events.

About Lead Inclusively

Company leaders are uniquely equipped to bridge the gap between employee demands and company demands. As a result, companies can transform their culture, recruit and retain the best talent, mitigate risk, and foster overall innovation which affects the bottom line. This potential has put new-found emphasis and pressure on leadership training and a leadership development program that focuses on inclusion. However, if companies do not address certain obstacles, they WILL fail.

The right focus for your Leadership Development Program

The topic of organizational culture and leadership is extremely complex. Without being able to focus strategy and training, you risk overwhelming leaders and diluting the overall message you are sending throughout your organization. A clear methodology, with the right mix of focus and freedom, is an important first step. Inclusion is the focus area that has the right mix and targets intended outcomes in talent and productivity.

Training at scale

Not all organizations, departments or teams are the same, but having a focused training strategy is pointless if you can’t deploy it at a company-wide scale. Your company does not achieve its intended outcomes if training does not reach/impact all departments, teams, and individuals within a company. This is more relevant for larger companies, but it also applies to organizations of all sizes. Thankfully, technology is providing new opportunities for organizations to train effectively at scale.

Day-to-day application

It seems like just about everyone in 2019 has a busy professional and personal life. It is easy to understand how leaders might find it difficult to remember and apply their training days, not to mention in a way that makes an impact. Finding new ways to reach develop leaders with more timely, consistent and relevant training will be the most important hurdle to achieving future results. Most people will forget more than 80% of what they just heard and learned within 24 hours. No one learns anything that sticks forever in just one session.

Winning over detractors

Even if your organization has a new focus for its leadership training and a means of deploying this training at scale, results won’t happen without the right internal stakeholders’ buy-in. If your company’s top leaders don’t show belief in company training, then the overall workforce cannot follow. Getting the right buy-in is arguably the most crucial step to start with.

Focus on the human side (avoid pushing compliance)

If leadership training comes off as just another compliance tool, you will risk reducing buy-in and subsequent impact. Diversity and inclusion can sometimes be confused with compliance. Developing inclusive leaders breeds better leaders who are happier and more effective in their jobs. Empowering well-intentioned leaders to be better requires meaningful training on inclusion, providing leaders the tools to empower their teams to perform their best.

At the end of the day, the work of diversity and inclusion is aimed at building better workplaces and happier employees. Leadership is the intersection where companies can impact all the complexities that play into making better workplaces. Giving leaders the tools to empower themselves and their teams is a powerful way to change the workplace. It’s important to deepen these discussions whenever possible. Feel free to join our complimentary virtual events as a great way to further dialogue and grow in a community of thought-leadership. We would love to host your insights and answer your questions at my upcoming Q&A Roundtable.

Companies that fail to engage their talent, particularly diverse talent, can experience symptoms ranging from increased attrition to reduced company revenue, poor pulse survey scores, and more. Low employee engagement isn’t a unique challenge. In fact, more than half of employees surveyed report that they aren’t engaged at work. Even worse, disengagement is contagious. In the United States alone, disengaged employees annually cost companies over $500 Billion (that’s billion, with a B). This means that companies are losing money every day because employees aren’t showing up to work fully. Where is the room for improvement and what are some of the potential benefits companies can expect to experience from well executed Employee Engagement tactics.

From lower employee morale to reduced productivity, if employees aren’t engaged it means the company is at risk of losing key talent or having that talent “show up” for work, without gaining the maximum amount of productivity and ideation that happens when employees are invested in their workplace because they have a sense of well-being and belonging.

Companies are at risk but there is room for opportunity

According to employees in the U.S., almost 70% consider themselves anywhere along the axis of “not engaged” to “actively disengaged.” That’s a tremendous loss in terms of productivity and a delay in reaching company business goals.

Employee engagement has room for improvement in most organizations: just 12% of businesses report being happy with current levels of employee engagement. This means that low employee engagement scores can result in leaders being viewed as lacking the strategic team insight that leads to full engagement.

A culture of Diversity and Inclusion makes workplaces better for EVERYONE

Employees’ positive perceptions of D&I practices are positively related to employee engagement for all employees, not just minority groups. Perceptions in this case are derived from the actual ‘policies and practices that make up an organization’s diversity practices’ – the tangible actions taken for diversity. This means companies taking steps to ensure impactful D&I practices are in place, will benefit across all demographics.

When it all boils down, companies with engaged employees achieve an average of 21% higher profitability compared to those with disengaged employees. This means that companies that succeed in engaging their employees have a strategic advance over the competition. There is ample research that can more than validate the fact that engagement drives profits, and that a culture of diversity and inclusion drives engagement.

Our team addresses these topics and more during our open monthly Q&As, as well as during our quarterly webinars. The cost of employee disengagement and D&I as a solution to those costs is a discussion worth expanding whenever possible. Finally, see expanded stats and some of our favorite approaches to empower a culture of Diversity and Inclusion that promotes company-wide engagement on page 18 of our Lead Inclusively Whitepaper.

Diversity and Inclusion can be instrumental in driving business performance. My team continues to expand its research and spread awareness on the business case for D&I, and if you are curious about this research, we invite you to download our Business Case deck to learn more. But that is beyond the scope of this article. Today we’re discussing why Diversity and Inclusion initiatives fail.

The challenge is that achieving meaningful results from your D&I strategies requires strong change management, the appropriate focus, and specific programs that appeal to your organization to build on their own momentum. Even the most well-intentioned organizations with a thorough awareness of D&I can misstep in their approach. Here are three reasons organizations miss the mark with their D&I strategies.

1. Leaders aren’t leading inclusively

Teams that have diversity but lack inclusion perform worse than even homogenous teams. In other words, you are better off doing nothing if your organization intends to attract diverse talent without ensuring its culture is inclusive. Culture is most impacted by leadership. If leadership doesn’t commit to being inclusive, then your organization has no chance of retaining its diverse talent and maintaining productive teams.

2. Employee engagement isn’t the best barometer of your success. 

There is a direct correlation between inclusion, employee engagement, and productivity. Unlike other D&I metrics, employee engagement is already actively tracked by most organizations, which provides a good baseline when tracking the effectiveness of new strategies.

However, engagement doesn’t tell the whole story. Looking at metrics around diverse employees’ attrition and advancement can also only get you so far. That’s why my team focuses on identifying where the talent pipeline is leaking and why. Are you seeing Asian American women fail to reach the director level? Do you even know whether that’s the case in your organization? These are the questions you need to be asking and answering.

3. Relying on “best practices”

The ultimate outcome of an inclusive culture and successful D&I strategy is increased innovation. While it is easy to get caught up in best practices that produce incremental change, companies that want to be the employer of choice are moving toward innovative “next practices”, and more than ever they are using Diversity and Inclusion to do so. My company, for example, is innovating by applying machine learning to automate inclusive behavior coaching for everyone. Work like this is extremely exciting in the opportunity it presents in affecting tangible change that we haven’t seen in quite some time. The most exciting part is my work is only one of many around that is passionate and ready to affect change. The future of our workplaces is more promising than ever.

We would love to discuss this topic with you and answer any of your questions at my open Q&A sessions. Our team also host complimentary quarterly webinars where we go in-depth on a variety of relevant issues. You can learn more, or sign up for updates on both events via our events page.

If you can not, or do not want to attend, we still want to hear your thoughts! Leave us your comments below! What are new innovative ideas you and your colleagues are exploring or using to affect change? Which parts of organizational culture change are you most excited for in the near future? What are other reasons Diversity and Inclusion initiatives fail?