The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion During Uncertain Times

The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion During Uncertain Times
And what leaders should do about it.
Excellent article by Alissa Carpenter in Entrepreneur Magazine. Her excellent suggestions make me think of our Defeating Unconscious Bias program that actually touches on each of those points.
Having diversity among races, genders, generations, ethnicities and thought within an organization is one thing. But including employees with these experiences in the conversation can help leaders and organizations find the answers to these questions during trying times. If you’re still not convinced, check out these statistics:
- Racial and ethnically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely and gender diverse teams are 5 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.
- Companies with above-average diversity had 19 percent higher innovation revenues.
- Companies with the most ethnically and culturally diverse boards worldwide are 43 percent more likely to experience higher profits.
- Diverse teams (of three or more people) outperform individual decision-makers up to 87 percent of the time.
Making the conscious effort as a leader to make diversity and inclusion a priority during uncertain times is not easy, but here are some ways to get started.
Create partnerships
Be conscious of representative leadership
Keep employee resource groups alive
Call attention to your hiring practices
Limit assumptions
Leading in uncertain times takes a more active communication effort, transparency and a willingness to acknowledge you don’t have all the answers. Employees who already felt underutilized and unappreciated might feel even more separated from leadership and the mission of the organization. This is not the time to push them away, but to bring them in, acknowledge their contribution and provide them a space to be valued and heard. Let’s not forget that the hope is to go back to “normal.” If we are not taking diversity and inclusion seriously now, how will employees feel about it as a priority when they return to the office?
More From Our Blog…
Reclaiming the Water
Why I’m in awe of the Howard University swimming and diving team By Gina Miller When we follow threads back through history, appalling origins or explanations for certain contemporary social issues / racial matters are often discovered. This was my experience when I...
Chances are your hiring process is riddled with bias
Inclusive hiring is the practice of minimizing bias and creating an equitable recruitment, application, interview, selection and offer process for a diverse set of candidates. It’s critical for attracting and retaining a diverse, engaged and innovative talent pool....
DEI Leaders are Burning Out
A recent article in Human Resources Director highlights something that we’ve been hearing a lot about - diversity fatigue. It’s a term from the 90s, but it’s back now and the reasons require serious consideration. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, there was...
The Day the National Guard Raided an HBCU Dorm
A portion of the bullet-ridden, exterior wall of Smith Hall still stands in commemoration at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Khadejeh Nikouyeh/News & ObserverThis is why Black history needs to be taught By Gina Miller, contributing...
Embodying Ethical Leadership
In an age when faith in our institutions—academic, corporate and government—is at an all-time low, it behooves leaders to “do the right thing.” Paraphrasing Charlamagne, “Right action is better than knowledge, but in order to do what is right, we must know what is...
Right Where She Belongs
How Lisette Martinez creates an inclusive culture and a world of opportunity as Jefferson Health’s Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer By Gina Miller The innate desire to belong The year was 1984 in Ypsilanti, Michigan when the world fractured in...
The Accessibility Journey
Accessibility is typically about providing the ability to access a building, a vehicle or a service. In our world of online eLearning courses, accessibility means enabling all learners to engage with a course in the way they need and prefer in order to gain the...
The 21-Day Plan for Disarming Microaggressions Wins Two More Awards
The Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA) has recognized The 21-Day Plan for Disarming Microaggressions as a 2022 Davey Awards Silver Winner in the category of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The Daveys are an international award competition focused...
New! SunShower Now Offers the Most Modern and Flexible Formats To Meet Your Training Needs
Years ago, in a far-off time, SunShower delivered its training programs on VHS tape. All training rooms had tape players, TVs and projectors. Trainers would carry the training tapes, insert them into the machine and hope they wouldn’t be “eaten.” In those days, the...
Maslow’s Hierarchy and the Scientific Connection Between Belonging and Health
Humans have an innate need to belong. In fact, “love and belonging” are featured prominently in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This central model in psychology asserts that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs, and “belonging” (that is, the need to...