Nikki Lewallen Gregory asked Rocki Howard, Chief People and Equity Officer at The Mom Project: What does a successful diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging culture look like?
She shared…
Above all, you must define ‘What does DEI mean to my organization?’ What does success mean?” Get clear on what it is for you and your organization. Then…
1. Intentions Aren’t Enough.
“Half of all underrepresented job seekers believe that being from an underrepresented community is a disadvantage in the job search. And I can tell you for sure, as a black woman, I have experienced this and I’ve seen this. So while many of us are batting around the concepts of candidate experience, the data shows our perspective on the experience of diverse candidates is lacking. I understand that the people have good intentions, but we’ve got to move past the intentions to actual impact.”
2. Root Diversity in Your Company’s Core.
“The truth is everyone in an organization owns diversity. The organizations that do it well, tie DEI to their core values. It’s not just something on the wall, people are open to challenge what diversity means and when they see something go wrong, they say something. They’re constantly evolving their goals and they measure them. They’re being transparent about the progress they’re making or not making. They approach it from a heart and head perspective. So they’re helping people in their organization really understand why valuing everybody else is such an important thing. They help bring to life diverse voices and connect them to people who are in the majority. DEI doesn’t belong to underrepresented people, it belongs to us all.”
3. Hold Leaders Accountable.
“We inspect what we expect. And so if you don’t have a way to inspect how your managers are adding to your diversity initiatives, then you can’t expect good outcomes.”
How would you answer the question: What does a successful diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging culture look like?