Aniela Unguresan is the Founder of EDGE Certified Foundation and Founder & CEO EDGE Strategy.
As Chief Executive Officers navigate their companies through this period of angst, they face unyielding pressure from board directors, employees, shareholders and customers to undertake meaningful and sustainable diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) that will benefit the company.
The business case for DE&I is compelling and growing stronger. Despite the evidence, I believe too many companies have been sliding backward because they did not tie DE&I to the company’s core value creation processes, carried out inauthentic programs, cut DE&I efforts, underutilized DE&I metrics and have laid off the people responsible for developing and managing DE&I initiatives.
In 2020, embarking on the DE&I journey seemed to be a reaction to civil unrest and the demand for change. Some CEOs also may have been worried about employees becoming disenfranchised, and an “us versus them” battle dictating the business culture. These were good reasons to act. However, too many CEOs didn’t grasp the power of DE&I, so it wasn’t incorporated into the business strategy. They set off on their DE&I journey hoping for the best.
As the founder of a company devoted to facilitating the growth and sustainable business success through the power of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, I work with organizations across industries and countries to make their work in this area impactful; strengthen their businesses; and attract, retain, develop and motivate the best talents. And as an economist with decades of data-driven experience, I have seen companies that prioritize DE&I outperform their competitors in their potential for innovation, enhance their decision making and problem-solving capabilities and improve their resilience and agility.
Fostering an inclusive culture for all by taking authentic, meaningful and sustainable action on DE&I can provide much more than better risk-adjusted returns. The development and encouragement of diverse thinking can produce better decisions across the range of the business, from product design to logistics to marketing. Positive DE&I ratings will enhance trust among potential and current employees, as well as investors. Innovation can be stimulated and genuine meritocracies can be created.
But getting to reap all these positive benefits of workplace DE&I does not happen automatically but requires the intentional, prioritized and measured involvement of all levels of the organization. CEOs—as the executive responsible for making significant decisions and managing operations and resources—can take various actions to demonstrate that DE&I is a topic that keeps them awake at night as a top strategic business priority and share this responsibility throughout the organization, including:
• Establish a DE&I committee and empower it. CEOs can create a DE&I committee comprising a group of diverse employees across various departments to ensure all voices are heard and included in the strategy. With authority to develop a clear roadmap, milestones and budget, the committee can provide insights, feedback and recommendations on promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in business practices. The committee should be authorized to track and measure progress and adjust the course as required.
• Set realistic but ambitious goals for representation at various organizational levels and for different functions and translate those objectives into hiring, promotion and retention targets for diverse talent.
• Have open and honest conversations with the employees about what the organization is doing to manage pay equity as well as its remediation strategies proactively. Empower line managers to have those conversations with the members of their teams.
• Have a firm stance on not tolerating harassment and discrimination in the workplace, encourage employees to express their concerns without fear of retaliation, and take swift and decisive action when necessary.
• Incorporate DE&I metrics in performance evaluations to hold managers accountable for promoting DE&I by incorporating specific metrics in performance evaluations by their CEOs. The responsibility can encourage managers to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in their teams and hold them responsible for their progress.
I believe we’re at a moment in history where there is a lot at stake for CEOs committed to fostering diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces. We’re witnessing business failures, and some populist politicians wanting to blame DE&I efforts for it. I believe their point of view is a side show as businesses collapse because of many factors, including homogeneous group thinking and excessive risk-taking that might come with it.
The failure to address persistent issues—pay equity, gender diversity and racial equity, for example—in the workplace has effectively sabotaged the journey to a more prosperous future for many instead of for very few only. But with a strong moral compass, CEOs can strategically navigate past the small band of anti-DE&I backers to a harbor that sets their companies on a sustainable growth trajectory.
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