Diversity and Inclusion Matters

Tactics and Tools to Inspire Equity and Game-Changing Performance

Jason R. Thompson

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781119799542
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Expert guidance and step-by-step instruction for building a successful diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative from scratch

In Diversity and Inclusion Matters: Tactics and Tools to Inspire Equity and Game-Changing Performance, award-winning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) expert Jason R. Thompson delivers a practical and engaging handbook for implementing a DE&I program in your organization. The CAPE technique, developed by the author, gives you a clear blueprint and the tools you'll need to make your diversity program a success.

In this book, you'll learn how to achieve early and significant wins to create the necessary and long term organizational change needed for successful DE&I programs. Find out what data you need to collect, how to analyze it, and choose the right goals for your organization. In addition, the CAPE technique will show your progress and ROI.

You will learn to:

• Manage and lead a diversity council and implement diversity initiatives in the correct order
• Get early buy-in and long-term commitment from a Chief Executive Officer by knowing what to ask for and when
• Set appropriate and realistic expectations for a DE&I program with the executive leadership team

Perfect for diversity and inclusion professionals, human resources leaders, founders, business owners, and executives, Diversity and Inclusion Matters will also earn a place in the libraries of students of human resources, leadership, management, and finance.

Part I
The CAPE Process

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

—James A. Baldwin

Chapter 1
How to Become an Exceptional DE&I Organization: Four Shades of Brown

Four Shades of Brown

When my daughter Piper was in her second year of college, she came to me and said, “Dad, look at this!” Piper put a makeup advertisement under my nose and said, “This makeup company makes twenty shades of makeup for White people and only four shades of brown! This company needs a diversity and inclusion program!” We both laughed, but the reality of this statement hit too close to home. For my daughter, her brown skin is both beautiful and a reminder of the work we need to do.

This experience with my daughter was an example of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), both literally and metaphorically. DE&I work is about more than four shades of brown. The makeup ad provides an entry point to the framework I use to think about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Using the ad, I considered the company that developed the makeup and asked myself some questions related to DE&I.

• Diversity: Were any of the company's employees from non-dominant ethnic groups, genders, or countries? Did anyone working on this ad or product line have brown skin?
• Equity: Did any of the employees of the company realize the disparity in the ad?
• Inclusion: If so, did they believe they could speak up?

I also wondered about the process this company used to make decisions. Was there a group of employees who sat together in a room to approve the ad? Was it possible that a group of employees saw the ad, and everyone agreed that there were only four shades of brown skin? Did they decide that four shades were all that was needed for people with brown skin, but twenty variations were needed for White people? Did they give any thought to the many different cultures in the world and how they use makeup?

DE&I work is about pointing out these types of disparities and developing solutions.

The challenge is not simply to develop an equal number of shades for people with brown skin. Rather, it is to change a company's culture so employees can recognize the disparity and see the opportunity. The more I thought about this experience with my daughter, the more I began to think about the opportunity that DE&I brings to companies. When companies have a great product and start to think there are more than four shades of brown, they expand their perspective and, therefore, their potential for success.

I wanted to do this work because it was a way to let people know there are more than four shades of brown, so to speak. The world is a diverse place full of people with different skin tones, identities, backgrounds, and experiences. Inclusion is about developing a culture that prevents moments like the one my daughter pointed out and about realizing that developing more than four shades of brown is an opportunity to expand a company's customer base.

The Importance of DE&I Now

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become an imperative for nearly every major corporation, educational institution, and government agency in the United States, as well as globally. The many calls for substantial systemic change and protests supporting social justice in the United States require that all organizations and institutions must do more than make pledges – they must install the practices that make real change. To introduce you to your first Jason-ism: Audio must match video.

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JASON-ISM

Audio must match video.

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Matching audio with video is part of the landscape for change to achieve your DE&I goals. It means that the verbal commitments a company makes must be in sync with the company's actions. Words alone aren't enough; they need to be followed up with a financial commitment. An article on the McKinsey & Company website titled “It's a start: Fortune 1000 companies commit $66 billion to racial-equity initiatives”¹ shows that there are now major financial commitments to align with the statements to advance racial equity. This is a great start and points to much-needed change.

As a result of the growing importance of DE&I, the number of job postings for DE&I positions continue to rise globally. As Figure 1.1 shows, the United Kingdom saw an incredible increase of 106% from 2018 to 2019.²

Even more recently, CNBC reported an even greater demand for these positions in the United States, stating, “Demand is rising for chief diversity officers across the U.S., with job postings for diversity and inclusion roles on Glassdoor up 55% since early June 2020 when the conversation around racial tensions – and corporate America's response – took center stage.”³ In early 2021, Bloomberg reported that job postings for chief diversity officers were up 75%.⁴

Figure 1.1 YoY Percent Growth of DE&I Job Postings on Glassdoor.

Source: Redrawn from data from Gilchrist, 2020.

This demand has created an even greater need and urgency for tools, such as the CAPE process. It is a tool you will be able to use for your continued success and benefit from the return on investment that results from it. The upward trend in chief diversity officer position openings is indicative of the importance corporations are putting on the need to be socially responsible and have a diverse workforce.

A Diverse Workforce Will Have Tension

What does it mean to have a diverse workforce? It simply means that your workplace looks like the world we live in, meaning it will share the same tension around politics, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and so on. A company with a good DE&I program is one in which people feel empowered to speak up, in spite of the tension. Even successful DE&I programs have tension because people don't always agree on issues or policies. Sometimes that will make you feel as though you aren't doing a good enough job. Let me provide you with an example of how tension is a necessary part of DE&I.

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JASON-ISM

Good DE&I programs are not without tension. DE&I programs will have tension because inclusive and equitable work cultures create an environment where people can speak up and disagree without retribution. I am more concerned when no one speaks up on contentious issues.

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In 2016, a colleague that was the chief diversity officer at a very large tech company called me and said, “I have a problem, and I need your help. We sent out an email after the presidential election as we knew emotions were running high and people were very concerned about Donald Trump being the president.” My colleague told me that as soon as the email went out, they began receiving emails from African American employees. The employees were questioning why the company had not also sent out an email in support of Black Lives Matter. In exasperation, this particular chief diversity officer said, “I am getting it from all sides. I can't win.”

I could fully appreciate that my colleague felt as though their work were being criticized. Being a chief diversity officer can be very isolating. Many times other executive leaders don't understand this concept and the non-executive employees often have expectations that can't always be met. I did not want to diminish how they were feeling, but I told them, “Your program is working.” The fact that employees were contacting the chief diversity officer meant that they felt empowered to speak up. Inclusion means employees can share their concerns without retribution. It means we can talk openly about sensitive subjects like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, ability, and many other identities and subjects. Tension is a natural part of those conversations, which is why good DE&I programs have tension.

It is not unusual to see something similar after sexual harassment training. People mistakenly think that sexual harassment training will reduce complaints because employees will stop the harassing behavior. While training can reduce occurrences of harassment, we typically see an increase in complaints...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Praise for Diversity and Inclusion Matters
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Preface
• Foreword
• Part I: The CAPE Process
• Part II: Practical Lessons Learned in DE&I Programs
• Part III: Things I Wish I Had Known
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Index
• End User License Agreement