How Leaders Can Build DEI From the Top-Down
There is no denying that we all want to be seen and feel like we belong, especially in the workplace. Neuroscience suggests that this is because social belonging is an essential human need, hardwired in our DNA. Based on research from the Center For Talent Innovation, workers who truly feel like they belong are more productive, motivated, engaged, and 3.5 times more likely to contribute to their fullest potential. The problem is that although businesses spend roughly 8 billion dollars each year on diversity and inclusion training, they neglect their employees’ need to feel included. In fact, a recent EY survey indicates that more than 40% of respondents reported feeling emotionally and physically isolated in the workplace.
Since leaders have the power to design and create spaces for their employees to thrive and perform well, they also have the ability to foster cultures of inclusion. So how can leaders take the necessary steps so that their workers feel like they truly belong?
To learn about some of the challenges that some leaders may face in meeting their diversity and inclusion goals, and how they can shift their company culture to be more safe and equitable for all, I (virtually) sat down with some amazing panelists for a Consciously Unbiased LinkedIn Live conversation.
We discussed the importance of having courageous conversations about race, ethnicity, and gender, and both the moral and business cases for leaders to take ownership of building belonging in the workplace. Here are some key takeaways from our discussion.
Speak Truth to Power
“People have titles, but so do movies, books, and artwork,” says Susan Long-Walsh | Diversity, Belonging & Inclusion Activist. “Just because people have titles, doesn’t necessarily mean that they actually lead. The first part of being a leader is that you have to have a lot of courage as well as integrity. You also have to speak truth to power. True leaders believe that it does not matter who you look like, where you live, who you love, or what your pedigree is. A leader who exhibits those types of behaviors also understands that having those unique differences at the table will not only enhance you as an individual, but also improve your team, product, and organization.”
Ensure that Your Employees Feel Seen
“You know when you have a manager or a leader who truly sees you,” says Tameiko Davis | Principal Engineer Recruiting. “Leaders who see you: get to know you as a person through conversations, they know enough about you so they know how to help you when something comes up, and they can see you when you need support. I don’t want to be seen as ‘the angry black woman.’ But frankly, if I am, then it is my manager’s responsibility to work with me to help me improve my branding and image. It is an amazing feeling when you have a leader who sees you for the good and sees you for the things that they know you can do. Leaders who put this work in get their employees to continue to show up, see less sick days, and have retention.”
DEI Initiatives Need to be Pushed From the Top-Down
“Creating an inclusive company starts at the top, one leader at a time,” says William Wiggins | Director of HR, The SEIU Benefits Group. We are all leaders in an organization, it’s not just the people who sign the paychecks or the people in a formal leadership position. Initiatives are pushed from the top-down in an organization. If people make diversity a part of their standard work, we would have a much better chance of advancing diversity at our respective organizations. Organizations that are doing a good job of building DEI have someone at the top who is pushing the initiatives and following up. This gives the leadership team the freedom and the permission to think outside the box, recruit outside the box, set up internship programs, and partner with organizations and agencies externally where they can source with diverse candidates.”
Inclusion Needs to Matter
“Inclusion is one of those things that has to matter,” says John Dyer | Non-Employee Talent Retention & Acquisition Expert. “According to the United States Census, by 2043 white people will be the minority in this country. If you can’t look at this as a moral imperative for equality, you have to look at it as a business imperative. Leaders need to promote and create more inclusive company cultures because if they don’t, they are not going to be able to retain talent.”
Harness the Strength in Vulnerability
“Leaders need to recognize, be vulnerable and transparent with what their own biases are, and be willing to share their stories,” says Long-Walsh. “In order to create an inclusive workplace culture, leaders need to start to amplify their voices, because they can provide a more safe space for other people to do it too. By sharing their own personal stories, leaders can help frame someone else’s. They need to humanize themselves. They need to admit what they know and what they don’t know, being afraid that they might say the wrong thing, learning in this journey, and expressing what is important to them. All of these points need to be continuously a part of the conversation.”
Address Inequalities at the Root
“We are not addressing inequities head-on,” says Davis. “Why do we believe women are not as capable? Why do we believe blacks can’t be quarterbacks or coaches in the NFL? Because you don’t think we are smart enough. The root of the problem is that people see things through binaries, ‘I’m smart so you can’t be smart too.’ We have to start addressing things from a different standpoint, not from let’s go recruit these people to this toxic environment, but let’s actually figure out how to clean up our house first. We need to change our cultures to be more inclusive, and ensure that people are not only invited to the event but also welcome to participate.”
Don’t Be Afraid to Have Courageous Conversations
“Employers need to have conversations about diversity and inclusion,” says Wiggins. “Race is not politically incorrect. It’s very difficult to understand where someone is coming from. We have a long list of things around diversity that are considered taboo within an organization. But, we need to be able to have discussions about race, gender identity, ethnicity, etc. We need to be either comfortable or uncomfortable with these types of discussions to progress this initiative. Who says that race is politically incorrect? We talk about everything else. We have that permission to give others permission to ask questions, to talk, to ask about others’ experiences, and to learn from someone else. If not, we are going to stay mired in this muck of trying to do diversity off the ground.”
ERGs Help Build Belonging
“Employee Resource Groups (ERG) can be the lifeblood of inclusion at companies,” says Dyer. “I’m seeing some companies dropping names of their ERG groups in their job descriptions during recruiting because they want to start right off the bat with, ‘before you join us, come learn more about us through our ERG groups.’ Inclusion does not have the popularity that diversity hiring has. There have been a lot of movements towards diversity hiring, but once you bring them into the fold, they don’t feel like they belong. They feel like they’re still invisible and they are not in leadership roles. I think ERGs, if done well, can really change somebody’s life. They changed my life. I had never been open or out in a company until I joined an ERG group in the mid-nineties.”
Clean Up Your Own House before You Invite in Diversity
“Before you start to bring in underrepresented talent, you have to clean up your own house,” says Long-Walsh. “If you are not treating each other with respect and dignity, and you can’t deal with conflict, how are you going to deal with conflict when you are uncomfortable? The person that you are having a conflict with is seen through your biases, and you don’t know how to deal with them because they don’t look, live, and love like you. The conflict just escalates. There is so much that we have to learn about each other because everyone has to work. You will cut back on the cost of having sick employees and turnover if you start to address what is going on once people enter behind those doors. Do not tell people to bring their whole self to work, but leave the following outside before you come in.”
Understand that We All Have Differences as well as Commonalities
“Listen and understand where someone else is coming from,” says Wiggins. “Be willing to have the conversations, do not shy away from them. I encourage everyone to be thoughtful and mindful during these discussions. Understand that we are all different, but we all have similarities too. I grew up in a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence like a lot of my colleagues. I did not grow up in the ghetto. This is an assumption that people make when I tell them I’m from Chicago until we have the conversation. If you witness or experience a microaggression, call it out, not in a mean or hostile way, but have the conversation.”
We can’t be afraid to talk to each other, regardless of how comfortable or uncomfortable it may be. If we don’t talk to each other, we are going to perpetuate the assumptions and the discrimination in our brains. Having discussions about DEI will allow us to grow, connect, and find commonalities with others. There is definitely a lot of work that still needs to be done, but companies that are doing a good job of building DEI from the top down are weaving diversity and inclusion through every layer of their organization, not just through an initiative. The panelists emphasized that leaders of all levels can build belonging in the workplace through educating themselves, retraining their brains to reduce bias, actively listening, and being mindful of peoples’ differences and commonalities.
