Dylan stopped typing. He could tell Pat needed a morale boost. Dylan asked, “Are you worried about how you might take next steps with Aisha?”

Pat responded, “I think I’d like to bring in Amy to pick her brain.” (Dear Reader, see Path 1 to explore what Pat and Dylan did in terms of Aisha’s email.) I’m feeling a little bit like I’ve failed to create change here.

Dylan cleared his throat. As a consultant, he has seen members of other organizations in a similar boat. They want change fast. Dylan delicately began, “Pat, let’s pause for a minute about Aisha. Let’s talk about wins. You just mentioned some great things. I commend you for taking the advice by putting Black History Month into effect and launching employee resource groups (ERGs). It’s important to remember the role leaders have in supporting systemic change. What does that involvement look like?”

Pat looked up and answered, “Well, we received approval from executive management, but they weren’t deeply involved in any change. Do you suggest there’s more that can be done with management?”

Dylan, concerned, continued to explain, “I know throughout our conversations these last few months, we discussed initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, but you have to do more than just have executives’ approval from the start. You need an executive involved in the creation, rollout and continued support of your DEI program.”

Pat suddenly felt overwhelmed, “They haven’t been as involved as we would like them to be and I’m the only one managing and rolling out the program.”

“Ahhh!” Dylan said as a piece of the puzzle fell into place. “That is likely why the adoption and change isn’t taking place at the level you expect. You need to start from the top down. Your leadership team should be fully committed and proactively leading initiatives and not just approving initiatives.”

Pat leaned in and said, “What steps can we take to increase leadership involvement?”

Dylan took a deep breath in. “There are two vital questions you should think about: How can leaders spearhead the change? How can they understand their privilege💡 and the experiences of those who have been marginalized or disadvantaged?

There are many steps to consider, Pat, but for the time being, let’s focus on two potential initiatives to foster the change in your organization. Remember, all organizations are different. Based on our experiences, I think the first option for you to consider is whether this organization needs to dedicate a specific person as the head of diversity. One way some of my other clients have been successful is by hiring a chief diversity officer (CDO) that reports directly to the CEO. This signifies that it’s a fundamental piece of the company’s core foundation. In smaller companies, you may find that part of the CEO’s role is to show the importance and seriousness of the initiative until the organization is large enough to hire a CDO.”

“Whoever is leading the charge must have authority to guarantee change to the dominant culture💡. I recall an organization that I worked with that I can talk about as a great example of an executive’s involvement in leading change. When the CEO was hired, all ten members of the Board of Directors were white men. The CEO championed new board members, including two women and one who is African American. The CEO firmly believed that the board’s new range of voices changed the way the company thought about its people and its business. Although, he would have led the same way with a less diverse board, he might not have been supported in the same way—which could limit his ability to build allyship💡 and undertake the broad structural changes he accomplished.”

Pat replied, “We really need to consider the alignment of our executive team and Board of Directors if we want to ensure DEI progress and cultural change are taking place.”

“Exactly!” said Dylan, “You also want to ensure that leaders build a clear case for change and set concrete goals, prioritized in conjunction with their diverse employees.”

Dylan took another deep breath and continued, “This takes me to my second point. In relation to the company’s diversity goals, there must be authentic support from executive leadership to work closely with senior leaders in developing the strategy itself, building buy-in, securing resources, aligning managers on what the strategy means and what they’re expected to do (and not do). Individual managers should feel supported and be coached on how to adapt and interpret the strategy in a way that works best within the context of their own teams. The executive who simply sent out a meeting invite to Aisha and many others to a Happy Hour event at a bar is a great example of how coaching could have eliminated any confusion – a few extra lines in that invite or a separate email with additional context would have been helpful.”

Pat nodded in agreement.

Dylan went on, “Executive leadership should also partner with HR to create feedback loops and metrics that allow managers to gauge how they are meeting strategic goals. If this structure was in place, the leaders would have better understood a sense of belonging for all employees. In the case of Aisha, this would promote a better platform for inclusion💡.”

With a sigh of relief and a breath of excitement, Pat replied, “Yes, this makes so much sense. I’m going to ensure we set concrete goals involving all levels of our management. I also want to talk with our co-CEOs and confirm they are involved in promoting our DEI initiatives to executive leadership so we can make the appropriate changes needed to ensure our employees feel included and that they belong. Thank you for your continued support, Dylan! Now, let’s figure out how to best respond to Aisha!”

Key considerations:

What would you do next?

Want additional resources to learn more about the topics discussed in this path?

⚙ Are you a TriNet customer? Learn about DEI Training, click here

📖 Read about policies your team would like you to implement. https://hbr.org/2019/02/survey-what-diversity-and-inclusion-policies-do-employees-actually-want

📖 Find out how to properly connect your DEI with a potential crisis. https://hbr.org/2020/05/adapt-your-di-efforts-to-the-reality-of-the-crisis

📖 See a list of words that promote diversity and inclusion. https://www.guidantglobal.com/news/diversity-and-inclusion-terminology-a-guide-to-inclusive-language

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