How HR Professionals Can Foster More Inclusive and Innovative Cultures
It’s an honor to be published in IPMA-HR’s November 2020 HR News Publication! Check out the article here: The workforce has become more global, diverse, multicultural, multigenerational, virtual and hyperconnected. As a result, work gets done differently. Also, there is no question that numerous demographic shifts that have occurred over the past decade have disrupted many of our long-standing human resources policies and strategies. The ability of HR leaders to lead their organizations amid these disruptive forces and across differences while fostering more inclusive and innovative work environments in a wide variety of contexts, cultures and complexities will be a key lever for attracting, engaging and retaining top talent. Census data and global workforce studies continue to affirm the following realities: Women make up 51 percent of the global workforce and 60 percent of all degree earners (from associate’s degrees up to doctorates). There are currently five generations in the U.S. workforce. Among the two largest generational cohorts, baby boomers still account for roughly one-third (31 percent) of workers; however, nearly 70 million of the 79 million baby boomers are expected to retire over the next 5-10 years. Aging employees are expected to continue working into and through retirement. Between now and 2050, the portion of people in the workforce who are over the age of 65 is expected to grow by 75 percent. The other largest generational cohort, the millennials, now makes up 50 percent of the workforce. By 2025, millennials’ share of the workforce jumps to 75 percent. By 2017, the oldest members of Generation Z (those born 1996-2010) had entered the workforce. With 7.5 billion people on Earth, 1 in 7 has a disability. In the United States, the minority of today (people of color) will become the majority of tomorrow, making up 54 percent of the workforce by 2030. Of course, there are many other considerations, such as how to be more accommodating and appealing to the LGBTQ+ community, people with various religious beliefs and faiths, our veterans and active duty workers, and many more. We have to consider the diverse needs, expectations, thinking styles, work preferences, communication styles and development needs of a new generation of talent. That includes making changes such as revamping our policies to allow for greater flexibility in work arrangements; upgrading our benefit programs from offering only traditional 401(k) and retirement plans to instituting additional perks such as unlimited vacation time, paying off student loans, offering public transportation passes, gamification, health and wellness programs, onsite daycare, dependent care and long-term care benefits; and much more. It also means expanding our recruiting and selection processes to ensure less-biased decisions are made and our nets are cast wider to attract a more diverse slate of candidates. Additionally, it means offering individual career ladders and unique development opportunities. As HR leaders, we need to know how to navigate this complex and rapidly changing landscape. That means having the right skills and competencies to build more equitable, inclusive and high-performing workplace cultures. Why is this important? Because these kinds of work environments produce higher performance, increase employee engagement, fuel innovation and creativity, increase retention and positively impact the customer service experience. Ultimately, they positively contribute to an organization’s bottom line and result in sustained success. In fact, research cited by Bain & Company revealed that companies that create a winning culture are 3.7 times more likely to be top performers. I’ve had the opportunity to speak to more than 5,000 HR professionals and business leaders around the world over the past year, and these are the kinds of issues that are keeping them up at night. I am often asked, “What is HR’s role in fostering more inclusive and innovative cultures? And what strategies can we implement?” Here are the top 10 tips that I’ve implemented as a former chief diversity officer and HR executive, as well as what I’ve seen bring sustained success in fostering inclusive and innovative workplace cultures. Inclusive cultures afford all talent the opportunity to obtain a seat at the table and to feel a sense of connection and belonging. Make sure that your overperformers are not undervalued—or they will leave. Find the “hidden figures” in your organization who aren’t always the most visible or vocal but who are adding value. Embed diversity and inclusion into your company’s strategic and operating plans, not just the HR strategy. D&I should not be a stand-alone effort or done in a vacuum. Rather, it should be integrated into your organizational DNA. HR must upgrade and digitize. If not, HR will lose the ability to compete and add value because, according to Cisco Systems, nearly 37 billion things are connected right now. Digital transformation—cloud-based HRIS, recruitment solutions, internal communication platforms, workforce engagement—is key for HR’s transformation. Without inclusion, you will not attract top talent. Physical and psychological safety issues will arise, and mental, emotional and physical wellness will suffer, which will lead to complaints, lawsuits, low engagement, high turnover and absenteeism. All of these result in $7 trillion in lost productivity every year, according to Gallup. Think of diversity like an iceberg. Most often, we make 90 percent of our decisions based on the 10 percent of an issue we see. Look at the iceberg accompanying this article. And, yes, we all act according to our biases and make snap decisions within the first 5 seconds. There is so much that makes people unique and diverse that we miss out on because of our blind spots. Learn to take greater risks and get out of your comfort zone. Being risk-averse, rigid and complacent are antithetical to innovating. It’s HR’s strategic role and responsibility to build bench strength and leadership capability inside the organization. HR must also ensure that leaders develop the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) that will be needed in the future. This can be done via workforce planning, succession planning and generating predictive analytics. Stop using stock photos to show visible diversity in your company. Do not try to represent something
DEI Experts List First Steps Toward a More Inclusive Workplace
For direct access to this article, visit: https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/dei-experts-list-first-steps-toward-a-more-inclusive-workplace_o DEI Experts List First Steps Toward a More Inclusive Workplace Achieving a diverse, equitable, and inclusive firm will take time. The process, say three DEI consultants, begins with examining your culture. By SHARON STEED, LILY ZHENG, SHIRLEY DAVIS Read what workforce management consultants Sharon Steed, Lily Zheng, and Shirley Davis advise as initial steps for firms striving to become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Learn Through Listening Sharon Steed, founder, Communilogue, Pittsburgh Many organizations, leaders, and managers are understandably feeling overwhelmed at the moment. We all finally see how painful life can be for certain segments of the population. Several of my clients have expressed their hesitation, even fear, in confronting these topics: What if they say the wrong thing? What if they hurt someone? What if it isn’t enough? The issues we are facing, however, don’t have to be intimidating nonstarters: They are opportunities to foster connection and drive inclusion, and architects are exceptionally equipped to tackle this challenging time in our history within the ranks of their firms. Architects not only understand their clients’ physical needs and wants, but also what is possible for a site, and what needs to happen in order to get it there. Use this same approach to create an inclusive and equitable culture at your firm. The first step is learning through listening: Leaders need to initiate one-on-one conversations with employees about their experiences in their firm. Make sure each individual understands that their opinions matter and will in no way affect their employment. Ask them: Do they feel included? Heard? Like they belong? Listen to their stories without judgment, and try to internalize their struggle. Make the most of what you learn by implementing changes to your hiring processes to increase diversity; using inclusive language to ensure everyone in the office can join every conversation; and elevating existing voices in your ranks who may feel like they have, or have actually, been silenced. These conversations can be challenging and daunting. Bringing in outside help at the beginning of this process is OK. Consultants can facilitate these tough discussions as well as create a safe space for these conversations to flourish and guide your firm in long-term diversity, equity, and inclusion planning. The rawness of the world right now requires those open lines of communication. When you begin to listen as an action, you will confront the brutal truth that your worldview has been very narrow to date. That’s OK: You are learning through listening. Question Everything Lily Zheng, diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant, Lily Zheng Consulting, San Francisco Corporate culture is the implied and unspoken values, beliefs, and behaviors that represent a company’s identity and inform how employees should interact with each other and clients. Culture is embedded within office policies, processes, and expectations. Where does DEI come into this? Most firm cultures are designed, intentionally or unintentionally, to be most comfortable for their leaders, who are overwhelmingly cisgender, heterosexual, college-educated white men. Fostering a culture of inclusion that welcomes women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, working-class people, and other underrepresented minorities requires reimagination from the ground up. Here are the steps your firm must take, and the introspective questions you must ask all employees: 1. (Re)determine your company values, identity, and ethos. “Who” is your company? Who belongs inside it? One powerful way to begin this exercise is to ask: “Who are we not?” Aim high. Should your company be a place for underrepresented minorities to work? Buy from? Why and how should it earn that reputation? 2. Unpack the assumptions at the core of your company and industry. In design, for example, what stylistic approaches are accepted to be best? What is considered “normal” or “standard” within mainstream architecture education? What are the unspoken expectations for architects interacting with each other and their clients? 3. Identify how these assumptions embed themselves in common practices. Do white men primarily interface with clients, even if they’re less experienced than other team members? Does your firm interact with certain clients more than others or pursue certain types of work? What holidays does your firm recognize? What amount of unpaid labor is expected from employees? 4. Explicitly rework assumptions and common practices to align with your ideal company identity. What do design processes, expectations, and policies that support people of all races, genders, incomes, and social identities look like? How can you normalize these new aspects of culture? Sustain Your Culture Transformation Shirley Davis, president and CEO, SDS Global Enterprises, Tampa Bay, Fla. Culture transformation has become a focus for firms that recognize it can make or break their brand reputation among customers and top talent. Culture can be elusive and invisible, yet it affects the productivity, engagement, creativity, and retention of employees, many of whom are demanding that our workplaces create a sense of belonging, be free from harassment, and—at the very least—be more inclusive and equitable. It can also affect bottom-line profits. But changing culture is not easy, nor is it a quick fix, which explains why most efforts either fail or stall. What is the secret to transforming culture in your firm in a way that results in sustained success? From my experience, I can attest that the clients who have succeeded at culture transformation all understood two things: First, you must implement a comprehensive and robust strategy rather than taking a short-term approach; second, you must make it every leader’s responsibility. Here are five steps to get started: Start with a culture audit to identify the current state of issues, challenges, and strengths, as well as opportunities and deficiencies both inside and outside of your firm. Integrate and align inclusive behaviors into your values, policies, and strategic plan to reflect the changing demographics in your talent pool, customer segments, and communities. Replace archaic belief systems that breed power structures through homogeneity, conformity, and hierarchy. Provide education and development for leaders and staff on how to work more inclusively and effectively across differences. Institute accountability systems that
Mastering Your Reinvention During this Pandemic
Are you the master of your own reinvention? Click below to listen as Dr. Davis shares some powerful strategies and tips on how to recover and reinvent yourself to achieve greater success.
CBS Atlanta Small Business Network – Unconscious Bias Interview
Check out this interview with Dr. Davis on Unconscious Bias on Atlanta’s Small Business Network
Want More Board Diversity??
Thank you, BoardSource and Hardy Smith for featuring me in your recent post on board diversity. Read below or check out the original post here: https://blog.boardsource.org/blog/make-board-diversity-work Make Board Diversity Work Posted by Hardy Smith on Aug 27, 2019 2:19:35 PM Adopting a goal to achieve board diversity is one thing. Taking action to achieve that goal is quite another. Despite ongoing encouragement for nonprofit boards to embrace diversity, BoardSource’s Leading with Intent: 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices survey shows that movement toward more diverse boards is just not happening on a broad scale. According to BoardSource’s findings, a majority of board chairs and nonprofit chief executives are dissatisfied with their current levels of board diversity. However, the survey reveals another alarming fact: a high percentage of those expressing dissatisfaction about a lack of board diversity do not consider action to alter the situation a high priority or even a priority at all. Furthermore, of the more than 360 organizations that report having no people of color on their boards, it is disturbing that only 10 percent indicate that “demographics is a high priority in board recruitment.” This is in spite of the fact that 62 percent of those organizations with no people of color on their boards admit, “expanding the board’s racial and ethnic diversity is important for increasing the organization’s ability to advance its mission.” Certainly the sector is sending a mixed message. But actions speak louder than words. And because of that, the message is actually very clear —diversity is not a priority. These organizations are shooting themselves in the foot. This message projects well beyond the present board to prospective board members, members, volunteers, staff, donors, and to the community of individuals being served. The more people see that these organizations ignore the need for diversity, the more that they will drive away individuals they would like — and need — to attract. Furthermore, diversity is beyond having a different face or two on your board. When board members who represent diverse communities see no active progress toward diversity, they first become frustrated by the lack of full-in organizational commitment. Then they become discouraged, and finally they become disengaged from their board service. To prevent your organization from going down this path, you need to do three things: Accept responsibility BoardSource says it best: “As the decision-making body at the highest level of organizational leadership, boards play a critical role in creating an organization that prioritizes, supports, and invests in diversity, inclusion, and equity.” The board sets the tone for the entire organization and whatever it makes a priority will trickle down to the rest of the organization. However diverse (or not) your board is at this moment is the direct result of how your board has operated up to this point. Own it. Take action To assist organizations in moving beyond stated intentions with deliberate action, I reached out to speaker colleague Shirley Davis, Ph.D., who is a recognized global workforce expert and specializes in diversity and inclusion. She advises, “Optics matter. When an individual doesn’t see anyone else that looks like them, it communicates that their values and needs aren’t important.” She adds, “However, any conversation around achieving organizational diversity should not be narrowly focused on just gender and race. True diversity isn’t about quotas.” Davis shares these actions for successfully implementing a goal for achieving board diversity. Recognize there can be unconscious biases that prevent action from being taken. Identify a champion to lead the initiative. Develop a positioning statement that covers what the organization believes and defines what is to be accomplished. Establish goals with measurable outcomes. Evaluate progress being made. Provide training and facilitated discussion that gives your goal a top of mind presence. It is also important to avoid making mistakes that will block successful implementation. Davis identifies these four as especially significant: Not seeing that achieving diversity goals is everyone’s responsibility Not recognizing that there can be diversity but not inclusion Not fostering assimilation so there is a sense of belonging Assuming achieving diversity is a quick thing. It’s a marathon — not a sprint. To create a true culture of diversity, Davis advocates going beyond focus only on the board by “operationalizing” your efforts. Every decision your organization makes should be looked at through a diversity lens. This includes leadership positions, committee involvement, program scheduling, employee hiring, vendor selection, member and volunteer recruitment, and donor acquisition. Further demonstrate your commitment to diversity by ensuring that the public view of your organization, such as through your website and social media activity, includes leadership statements that reflect on various aspects of diversity. As nonprofits take action on their commitment to board diversity and inclusion, following Davis’s advice will help remove a source of frustration among board members who do represent under represented communities. In addition, they will position themselves as much more attractive to individuals representing different races, cultures, genders, and generational groups. Commit to desired change Achieving board representation that is reflective of the community an organization serves is the right thing. But it is also the smart thing — the organization benefits from the diversification of different backgrounds, experiences, opinions, and skill-sets, which are all vitally important qualities for a board that wants to reach higher levels of success. Making board diversity a priority and taking action to achieve it is a responsibility that is squarely on the shoulders of the board. Remember, actions speak louder than words, and those nonprofits talking diversity and not taking intentional action are missing board leadership. The bottom line is that taking the right action is the way to ensure that your organization advances its mission tomorrow and into the future. Does your organization have a goal for increasing diversity and for creating intentional inclusion? What actions are you taking to achieve your goal?
The CandEs Shop Talk Podcast show
Dr. Davis is interviewed by Kevin Grossman, President of Talent Board on The CandEs Shop Talk Podcast show regarding her appearance at the upcoming California HR Conference and her session “Workforce Trends that will Redefine the Workplace, Workers, and Work”:
Brave Girls with Tracy Imm
On this episode of Brave Girls, Tracy Imm speaks with her guide and mentor, Dr. Shirley Davis, also known as The Success Doctor. In this episode Dr. Davis talks about her faith as a foundation and how that has contributed to her positive mindset as she pursues her purpose on earth in this time. She shares her “why” and how she is helping others to step up into their purpose through her story of overcoming obstacles. We also touch on fear and why you need to have faith over fear.