Diversity and equality are important values in our society, but they’re especially crucial in today’s work place. It is the right thing to do from a social responsibility perspective. It is also essential from a business perspective. A company that embraces diversity and equity can create a more inclusive environment for employees of all backgrounds, which leads to better ideas. Different perspectives and life experiences add to any team’s effectiveness. A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that companies with more diverse executive teams are quantitatively more profitable. In order for businesses to compete in a global market, it’s essential that they reflect the diversity of their customers.
When it comes to diversity and equality in the workplace, having these foundation system components are essential. These are really just the starting point though. The successful path to establishing a new culture that truly embraces DEIB as new norm can be found with our understanding of what is required for substantial organizational change efforts in general. As with any substantial change effort, the real challenge is changing the behavior of people. This is especially true as a company moves beyond diversity to achieving real inclusion and belonging. In their book, the Heart of Change, John Kotter and Dan Cohen present a study they did in collaboration with Deloitte Consulting. For this study, they obtained participation from more than 400 people from 130 companies to understand how real change happens in organizations. When implementing change, managers often understandably focus on the strategy, policy, and systems. However, these interviews proved that the change does not become part of the organizations new DNA until it internalized by leaders at every level and the change has aligned to their feelings. Feelings are not something many corporate leaders are comfortable exploring in a work setting. However, real understanding and empathy drives the change more than just policy and systems and helps the change to stick naturally. Once this has occurred, leaders who reflect these values are essential to driving positive change within an organization. They help set the tone for how people should behave and will result in an organization demonstrating mutual respect for all.
By helping leaders reflect on their own behaviors and providing training and education on diversity and equality, we can move from the corporate aspiration of DEIB into real the day-to-day life where the teams of the organization live. This success is really dependent on the emotional intelligence of the leaders to be aware of their own biases, vulnerabilities, and past experiences.
I grew up in a modest middle — class and very white neighborhood an hour north of Seattle. To be honest, I had only truly known two people of color by the time I was out of high school. My parents were a product of their time and, while I loved them very much, they definitely had some significant biases and prejudices that I had to recognize and overcome.
If we want our leaders to be able to understand and empathize with others, we need to help them do this personal reflection. It can be difficult to objectively look at our own biases and prejudices, but it’s essential if we want to create an inclusive workplace. Leaders need a safe space to do this self-reflection, ideally with someone that challenges their perspectives and their ingrained beliefs and thought patterns. Leaders need to understand their own emotions and how they’re impacting their interactions with others.
Many organizations are finding that Leadership Coaching is now a key element of their DEIB implementation efforts that supplement their DEIB training and education programs. In fact, this is a rapidly growing focus for coaching because a coach external to the organization can have the honest discussion, explore the leader’s feelings, and challenge perspectives with an expectation of confidentiality that is hard to achieve with internal conversations.