Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Your Organization

In recent years, more and more companies are looking to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into their workplaces. This strategy is proven to be successful in creating meaningful and beneficial changes in various work environments and organizations. Several reports have shown that diverse teams can bring innovation, creativity, and engagement to a company.

In a nutshell, successful DEI initiatives can improve organizational performance. Every company can transform the homogenous business sector into a more open, inclusive, and diverse environment. But how can an organization create or increase its DEI initiatives?

The answer to that question may vary from business sector to sector. For some, visible improvements are perfunctory. But for others, significant progress may arrive during or after implementing company-wide endorsements for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Continue reading to have a full understanding of the meaning and purpose of these initiatives.

What is DEI?

Diversity. In a given setting, this refers to the differences in ethnicity, race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious beliefs, socioeconomic class, political beliefs, and other ideologies. From a business standpoint, acceptance and respect for these components mean employing individuals who could bring a unique framework to the job and the company. They can approach problems differently and provide new perspectives to refine business processes.

Equity. Fair and equal access to opportunities is essential to create a diverse and inclusive environment holistically. By recognizing the barriers related to employee recognition and managerial favoritism, employers can better achieve workplace equity. These barriers can also be resolved with transparency, as well as fair promotion and appeal procedures.

Inclusion. This is the act of ensuring that employees feel welcomed and supported by the company. Supportive and collaborative efforts can shape an inclusive workplace where all intolerances, discrimination, and barriers don’t exist. Inclusivity can be achieved through thoughtful discussion and cultural change.

Strategies to promote DEI in the workplace

Working on DEI all at once can be a big challenge, especially for teams with limited resources. But when done right, it can help you build a thriving business with happy and satisfied employees. In promoting DEI in your organization, here are a few efforts you can focus on to start and sustain this initiative:

• Build awareness and manage bias — Before you can create a significant and profitable change in your work environment, understanding bias is a must. Find out what actions reinforce bias and how it affects employees. Encourage employees to analyze their assumptions and biases. After building awareness, you can start with managing biases through cultural humility. Remain respectful and curious about others’ realities, experiences, and cultural differences. You can offer guidance on moving forward by leveraging employee training and technology.
• Make collaboration tools accessible — Another great way to promote better DEI in the workplace is by fostering stronger collaboration. One way to strengthen collaboration is to make digital collaboration tools available. Doing so can standardize access to information and make knowledge resources more accessible to your employees. Such tools reinforce natural collaborative tendencies, making it easier for your employees to connect. For instance, digital tools like the Convene board portal can deliver quick access to meeting materials, streamline administration, and increase team productivity.
• Curate training and development — Many employees see their career progress stall due to unconscious bias and limited access to skills training. You can promote better DEI in the company by providing your employees with corporate training programs. You can curate programs for workplace ethics awareness, creative and innovative thinking, client communication, customer care, managerial and supervisory skills, and change management training.
• Focus on consistency — The above strategies will be for nothing if progress or changes are not monitored. Organizations should continue to assess how their DEI efforts are moving the needle. You can facilitate ongoing feedback to have an idea of how the employees are taking the cultural shift. Setting benchmarks is also helpful for tracking what strategies are working and which ones are failing. If you’re having a hard time getting feedback or opinions from your people, try one-on-one discussions. Harness authentic communication to make employees feel comfortable to speak their minds openly.

Impact of DEI in the Workplace

Companies often pursue DEI as they think it’s the socially responsible move to take. In actuality, DEI transcends affirmative action as it builds a positive and nurturing company culture. A well-implemented policy on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace can cascade externally — creating a positive image of a company to external stakeholders. Listed here are some benefits of prioritizing DEI in different areas of your organization.

• Higher employee satisfaction — The right DEI efforts can provide a quick payout of increased employee satisfaction, retention, and engagement. Employees can feel more respected and empowered, resulting in higher morale and increased productivity. In addition, DEI can reduce conflict between workers and foster better relations.
• Promote wellness — Commitment to DEI can make it easier for employers to provide effective mental health support to their teams. Initiatives that support DEI can deter unconscious bias, microaggressions, and other stressors that impact your employees’ psychological safety. As you deepen their focus on DEI, employees can get the wellness support they need, from health screening tools to counseling services.
• Drive competitive advantage — A recent report found that diverse teams are now more likely to achieve financial outperformance than ever before. When implemented and practiced positively, DEI can help your people feel confident in their roles, driving better productivity and performance. Ultimately, it can lead to higher revenue.
• Improve profitability — DEI is always a prerequisite to building teams capable of better creativity and decision-making. It further promotes innovative products and solutions, and broadens customers and marketing, helping you become a market leader. Research shows that teams who recognize cultural diversity are more likely to see better profits.
• Enhance company reputation — Committing to fair employment practices and ethics encourages great talents to join your company. It also improves how your clients view your organization. With great DEI policies and implementation, your organization’s external relations flourish.

DEI isn’t just something that can be promoted and achieved today. It is a continuous effort of maintaining, updating, and managing throughout the years. Sustainable organizational change requires more impactful DEI strategies. Start on your DEI initiatives today to create a positive impact on your organization and create further multi-faceted successes.

Empower a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace with a collaborative platform made to leave no one behind. Learn more about the Convene board portal.