The age of corporate social justice is dawning. With the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion more important than ever, we are beginning to see organizations embrace social activism.
The business case for diversity initiatives is finally waking up to the business case for social justice. According to McKinsey, organizations with the most diverse teams are more likely to be financially superior to those with the least. Diversity increases revenue, sparks innovation, and leads to better decision-making.
The more diversity you have, the more challenging it can be.
Business leaders and diversity advocates have failed to consider an approach to diversity that goes beyond adding diversity and stir. The solution to diversity is to increase the numbers of traditionally underrepresented groups in your workforce.
It is time to stop pretending that diversity programs work when the world is adjusting to the Pandemic. Some of the measures leaders can take to root out bias and subjectivity from the beginning, and instead adopt an approach of "radical objectivity", combining data and human science to ensure that talent and merit win every time.
Inclusion is more than just hitting diversity recruiting.
Inclusive culture is the first step in diversity in the workplace. Many companies get this wrong. The extent of heterogeneity within your workforce is quantitative. Inclusion describes the experiences of different individuals in the workforce and the degree to which they are invited to participate.
It's more than hitting diversity recruiting optics when it comes to delivering on inclusion. Inclusive culture should help to foster a sense of belonging. By using data and insight, forward- thinking organizations can create an environment in which everyone can thrive.
How do they get there?
It begins with the language.
Diversity initiatives are often too late in the employee journey to have a lasting impact. The talent acquisition process needs to be changed in order to engage with prospective employees.
The words you choose to bring your business to life will make a difference. Data analysis and technology can help you understand the messages you are sending.
Are you using gender-coded or inclusive-coded language to attract people who are interested in inclusion? Are you updating your communications regularly to make sure they understand different cultural contexts, not just gender and ethnic but organizational and generational as well?
The language that you use in your marketing is not the only thing that matters. Have you thought about the words used by your recruiters? We use technology that allows organizations to move beyond the basics when it comes to inclusion.
We bury specific questions in our recruitment interviews, the answers to which can be analyzed to understand the genuine values and behaviors of candidates, recruiters and hiring managers. This means that you don't need to rely on simplistic bias checker software, which tends to be based on outdated research with few controls on data integrity.
The best candidates have options. What makes them want to work for you?
Going past preconceptions.
It is important to remember that when it comes to language, it works both ways. We need to move past the idea of how the ideal candidate should speak when we hire someone. That also leads to homogeneity. Training and technology can help with that.
We recently worked with a high-street retailer to find a board director and encountered a candidate from a working-class background. They assumed that they had got to their accomplished position through "grit" and "graft" and lacked the strategic capability required for the new role.
Early on, our linguistic intelligence and human expertise showed that this was not the case and allowed us to counteract the biases at play. We were able to advocate for the individual and design a coaching intervention that raised the profile within the process, showcasing objective potential and ensuring they were given an equitable chance. The individual is in the final stage despite their disadvantage, because they are in the final stage.
Looking where others wouldn't.
Traditional approaches are too static to uncover all the potential that is out there.
A standard executive search process will typically involve a lot of manual desk research to review historical databases that are only up-to-date the day the CV was written. You are at the mercy of the headhunter's black book of acquaintances or a combination of the two. The process is not efficient or equitable.
We use technologies that allow us to identify hidden talent without relying on either approach. The use of our tools has allowed us to quickly deliver a long list of high-priority candidates to a leading fashion brand.
It would take more traditional search processes weeks to develop this potential talent pool. By using technology, we can map candidates quickly and efficiently, and we can independently measure leads to see if they are typical job-seeking behaviors. What are their cultural drivers? Do they have the right leadership qualities?
This isn't just about speed and efficiency, it's about candidates that would usually be overlooked in the search process.
Going beyond cultural fit.
It is worth considering what a truly inclusive approach to talent acquisition looks like. There is a lot of bias in the mindsets of companies that have hired for cultural fit.
By hiring people who fit with the company's goals and values, your workplace will be one in which everyone looks, thinks and acts the same. Organizations must stop trying to mold people to fit their norm.
There is a recent story that always comes to mind. I was working with a multinational retail group to find a group chief digital officer as part of a high-profile board restructure.
The individual we came across had no retail experience. They would have been completely overlooked by the majority of headhunters because of their mindset. On the other hand, this individual had an outstanding career in innovation and digital expertise. They were operating as a digital nomad in central Africa.
They were the perfect person to change a traditional organization because of their technical skills and diverse mindset. They wouldn't have been identified if we'd been looking for someone who was a cultural fit. Companies are more likely to build teams with the diversity of mindset, experience, ethnicities and background that they claim to be if they get past the cultural fit default.
The system needs to be re-wired.
A tick-the-box program doesn't cut it when it comes to taking aholistic view of diversity.
Creating an inclusive culture is more challenging than cultural change. Diversity initiatives are likely to fail if there is not a concerted effort to change organizational culture.
Re-examining your hiring process with a completely objective approach is the easiest way to address this. Companies need to use technology and data to counteract implicit bias and match that with human touch and cultural intelligence. To succeed in diversity, you have to listen, adapt and develop.
