Diversity and Inclusion – what progress have you made?

What has changed in your business in the last 12 months with respect to this huge topic?

Some of you won’t have been impacted as a business to any great extent although as a human being you may well have been affected. Alternatively, you may be a company that has had a lot to think about and a lot to focus on to bring real change or at least help your people though a challenging time focussing on understanding, knowledge and action.

Now this could be easy or uncomfortable for you to focus on but Businesses and Leaders last year committed to making sure things changed, some examples might have been:

• Having group discussions to sharing experiences and understand more
• Break boundaries and actively recruit for diversity
• Learn from high profile people speaking about the subject
• Plan to make your team or business more representative of the population
• You may even have set yourself some goals to achieve the above

Well now if I was to ask you to rate yourself on the progress you have made, the delivery of the goals you promised, the continuous focus on education you talked about, or just simply the type of statements that said, “we want to make this working environment one where everyone feels valued and has great opportunity”, a place where diversity is encouraged and nurtured. How would you score yourself?

If you rated yourself towards the lower end, then how do your people feel about that and what can you do to reenergise this and pick up the pace?

Or if you rated highly then what are the next steps, to keep momentum moving forward?

To help you with either scenario a quick reminder from me of areas you could consider are (this is not an exhaustive list):

Diversity

• Internally what are you doing to be more diverse, what are your recruiting policies and how do you create an environment within as well as externally where people hold your business in high regard as diverse?
• Externally thinking about suppliers’ practices and the companies you deal with, what can they learn from your high standards?
• From a company perspective what is your vision around diversity and inclusion, and are you ensuring top-down leadership systemically develops a diverse and inclusive culture?

Inclusion

• What is your plan to ensure everyone in your Business feels part of it, is equally involved and valued? Bringing a real sense of identity to your people.
• How will you develop the opportunities for people to excel and grow?
• Communication is key and transparency paramount.
• Trust – building trust from Leaders throughout the teams by bringing consistency in the way you lead, act, and react.
• Do you actively develop the habits and behaviours of inclusive workforces?

I have supported businesses in this area and keen to add value to your business or your leadership style to support you create the best business you can – so please get in touch and let us talk.