Building effective teams through diversity and inclusion
Successful Diversity Management Ron Davis
Why is Diversity Important?
- Establishes and builds teamwork
- Contributes to the bottom line
- Increases employee morale, engagement and potential of all employees
- Everyone feels like they “Belong”
How to create a culture supporting diversity
- Conduct a Needs Analysis
- Gain management support & commitment
- Implement education and training
- Instill culture and management changes
- Continuous follow-up and evaluation
Needs Analysis
- Provides relevant information to senior management to gain their support
- Determines workforce and company needs
What should you ask in your Needs Analysis?
1)Find out what employees are concerned about.
2)Determine the needs of the organization.
Does the company have trouble retaining employees who would add to its diversity?
Which, if any, areas of the workforce are being treated inappropriately?
Has the company impressed upon its leaders and managers the benefits that come from managing diversity appropriately?
Did you know that…
Organizations experiencing the greatest success with diversity training are more likely to view diversity as a business issue rather than a socialissue?
Management Commitment & Support
- Task senior leadership with developing vision and goals for a diverse workplace
- Link diversity with the business. Be specific on where issues lie.
- Benchmark best practices. This includes: demographic data, complaints, lawsuits and hiring & retention issues.
Administrative & Management Commitment & Support
- Link Diversity to other organizational issues
+Quality Management
+Career Development
- 100% support and commitment from senior leadership is vital to diversity management success
What is the difference between Education & training?
- Education – building awareness and creating a base of general understanding
- Training – designed to build skills, it targets in on specific issues to develop necessary skills
Education & Training
- Mandatory training across all levels sends a convincing message about the company’s commitment to diversity
- Attendance by managers (along with Team Members) make the most positive impact
- Training MUST be relevant to the needs otherwise more harm than good may occur
Areas of Training
- Diversity and Engagement at Work
- Unconscious Bias
- Workplace Bullying and Diversity
- From Policy to Practice
Culture & Management Systems changes
- Diversity NEEDS to be a way of life, not just a buzz-word
- It is crucial to form a diversity team consisting of non-management members in all areas of the company.
- Management must empower the team to make changes
- Policies and practices need to be reviewed to see how they can incorporate diverse needs
- All employees need to know what their role is in supporting diversity
- Continuous training (including: retention, diversity conflict resolution, diversity performance coaching & career development) must exist in the company
- ALL management MUST “Walk the Talk” for any of this to be effective
Follow-Up & Evaluation
- 3 ways to continue success
1)Establish a committee to track progress
2)periodically administering a survey to gauge results
3)meeting regularly with managers to review efforts
Conclusion
- Diversity management WILL NOT work if there is no true commitment on all levels
- Needs and expectations need to be clearly defined
- Training and follow-thru will get you where you need to be
- Continuously measure your efforts to ensure the initiative is working