Table of contents
Introduction
1. Negative Impacts on Lack of DE&I at the Workplace & Its Solutions
1.1. Communication Problems
1.2. Biases Decision-making
2. Strategies for Promoting DE&I in the Workplace
2.1. Seek Out New Perspectives and Ideas
2.3. Motivate People to Tell Their Stories
3. Social Skills the C-suites Must Have
3.1. Facilitate Inclusive Meetings
3.2. Give Honest Feedback
3.3. Resolve Conflict Fairly
4. Case Study – Lenovo
To Sum Up
Introduction
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) have been a serious topic of discussion in the HR industry, especially at the C-suite level, for decades. Even though we have witnessed strong progress and commitments in entry-level roles across industries, we are still lagging in achieving a true sense of equity. According to Harvard, the American workforce is diverse, with 47% being women and 37% being Asian, Black, or Hispanic/Latino. This creates a good combination of skills, ideas, and experiences that will help the organization better innovate and succeed. In this article, we will run through the challenges, solutions, best practices, and skills that C-suites must have to promote DE&I in their workplace.
1. Negative Impacts on Lack of DE&I at the Workplace & Its Solutions
In modern organizations, workplace diversity is essential to successfully running the company; however, the C-suite might face challenges when implementing unity and harmony among employees due to biases, opinions, or communication issues. Here are some repercussions of the lack of DE&I at the workplace, along with solutions:
1.1. Communication Problems
When you have a diverse organization, communication between teammates can be a challenging task; for many members, English might not be their first language. Language barriers could lead to ineffective communication and difficulty understanding the task. Your teammates might find it tricky to understand each other due to the discrepancy in demographics, which encourages them to use slang or particular types of languages.
Companies with a lack of diversity in the workplace might face communication issues that can lead to obscene language, malpractices, and misunderstandings between co-workers. In some cases, employees may face challenges when it comes to engaging with international professionals who communicate in diverse languages or adhere to distinct cultural norms, including those associated with their cultural heritage. For example, younger employees may use terms and jargon that the older generation is unfamiliar with, which can cause communication issues in the workplace.
Solution:
You can agree on communicating in a common language that is workplace-appropriate to avoid miscommunication. The C-levels and managers, including the HR managers and heads of departments, should provide training courses to help non-Anglophonic employees understand basic conversational English.
1.2. Biases Decision-making
Humans make biased decisions rather than focusing on facts and logic, which is no different in the workplace. Distrust between employees can arise when they doubt each other’s abilities while doing certain tasks.
Solution:
Communicate your company values to your employees and conduct diversity training for them, which can educate them and mitigate any bias. This awareness training will help the employees understand the concept of how to interact with colleagues properly without providing their biased opinions.
Researchers have found that a diverse team at a workplace brings more productivity, engagement, and profit to a company, necessitating this is crucial in light of numerous incidents that have highlighted the harmful consequences of discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, and ethnicity. However, to curb these issues in workplaces, C-suites must come up with plans that will benefit workplace diversity. Let’s look at such plans and strategies below:
2. Strategies for Promoting DE&I in the Workplace
Whether you are a C-suite or a top executive at a startup or manage a well-established business, within a multinational enterprise the usefulness of diversity in the workplace is trending in the business world. However, diversity and inclusiveness take numerous forms, such as culture, gender, race, nationality, and many more. For a better understanding of how to enforce DE&I in the workplace, here are four strategies that will change your business goals:
2.1. Seek Out New Perspectives and Ideas
Ask for help and guidance from your team members, and be open to new perspectives. Employees from different backgrounds and cultures may have different approaches to dealing with business issues. For example, Ernst & Young (EY) believes that having a diverse perspective creates equal opportunities and cultural inclusiveness that helps in making better decisions, increases organizational agility, and stimulates innovations. In EY’s 2021 press release, it was mentioned that the number of women in top executive management positions has increased by 20% and will increase to 50% by 2025.
2.2. Observe Cross-cultural Celebrations
DE&I activities can take numerous forms, but the easiest one would be creating a culturally diverse holiday calendar that encourages employees to actively participate and understand the correct ways to celebrate different traditions. For example, as a DE&I initiative, around 31% of private companies have started celebrating Juneteenth (to honor social justice and equality) after it was recognized as a federal holiday.
2.3. Motivate People to Tell Their Stories
It is important to share experiences and journeys by creating a forum on Slack groups, events, and employee resources to speak on any topic, which will create a sensitive and mature approach to dealing with communication issues. This can simply be implemented by inviting experts to speak on topics around equity and shining a spotlight on their experiences.
For decades, whenever companies wanted to hire a C-level employee, they knew what to look for. However, the scenarios have changed as companies look for diverse, tech-savvy C-suites with softer skills and better knowledge of bringing harmony between employees.
3. Social Skills the C-suites Must Have
When we refer to softer skills for C-suites, it means social skills that can understand the feelings and thoughts of individuals in the company. Harvard has found that these social skills enable proper communication, the exchange of ideas, identifying issues and building and maintaining relationships between different teams. Let us take a look at the trending social skills that C-suites must have:
3.1. Facilitate Inclusive Meetings
Inclusion makes sure that the right individuals are involved in making important decisions or ideas. Thus, you should start the meeting by defining the benefits and objectives to eliminate unnecessary interruptions. To ensure the attendees are listening and understanding the meeting, you can add polling software, chat functions, and discussion forums so that everyone is involved.
3.2. Give Honest Feedback
Feedback should be clear, timely, and specific. You should adjust your feedback style according to the person’s needs and role in the company. For example, women frequently report that they have less clarity about the promotion steps or how to upskill their tasks as this feedback is not properly given, or periodically planned in a one-to-one discussion through a written or verbal format. You can use the STAR method to give positive and developmental feedback to your team members. This approach ensures that it provides accurate feedback about the person’s behavior rather than targeting them with negative reactions and views.
3.3. Resolve Conflict Fairly
Nurturing difference helps employees feel engaged and appreciated, which aids in building commitment, which can contribute to harmony in the workplace. To do this, you and your team should have the “identity and cognitive diversity skill,” which builds a strong foundation for valuing differences across the company.
There are numerous startups and large organizations that have started including DE&I initiatives in their workplaces. Let’s take a look at a few case studies where companies have successfully opted for this program and found good results in employee efficiency.
4. Case Study – Lenovo
Lenovo has introduced a diversity and inclusion program
Lenovo is a multinational IT company that has effortlessly promoted diversity and inclusion (D&I) in its organization. Although the concept of D&I looks different across various programs, they share a common goal: to promote D&I. Calvin Crosslin, chief diversity officer and president of the Lenovo Foundation, said, “Cultural integration was a key part of our success in those early years, and the senior team has, even back then, spent a lot of time thinking about respect for different backgrounds and cultures. Then we wanted to… formalize it for diversity and inclusion globally.” Lenovo’s global D&I initiatives are not just limited to its employees; the company also hires diverse talents across the globe. In 2020, the company received several accolades for categories in Best Places to Work LGBTQ Equality and Bloomberg’s 2020 Gender Equality Index.
To Sum Up
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace can bring positive changes to your organization when implemented properly. Most companies have already taken their initial steps to achieve a work-inclusive environment. However, there can be challenges like incentives, commitments, and clarity, which can be solved with the help of best practices by establishing clear DE&I. Moreover, the C-suites need to be outstanding in social skills to empower and have better engagement with the stakeholders to work together and drive better business outcomes.
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