Do you hold your leaders accountable for achieving DEIB goals?
I have been working with organizational leaders on how to build and sustain a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB). As I wrote in “Build a Culture to Foster and Sustain DEIB,” the key lies in making “changes in behavior, each and every day, by each and every individual, at each and every point of the employee experience.”
While organizations are making progress, according to Gartner’s 2021 Leadership Progression and Diversity Survey, it is not at the speed it needs to be. Certainly, each initiative we undertake in our organizations is a step in the right direction; however, organizations need to accelerate the process. Building awareness and tracking organizational metrics are important. After all, “what doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done.” But, as is written, just because it is measured, it doesn’t mean it gets done. What matters most in building and sustaining a culture of DEIB is ensuring leadership accountability and business impact.
Recent conversations with my clients have been steered towards establishing stronger Consequential Accountability. Leaders need to be held accountable for driving DEIB. They can do this by setting diversity goals that are relevant to their business, department, team, region, role, etc., and by making equitable, unbiased, data-driven talent decisions, such as occurs in hiring, promotion, performance management and succession planning. Then, leaders can be measured against those goals, with explicit consequences if they are not reached. Sharing scorecards with peers is noted as a good way to motivate leaders towards accountability.
Building a pipeline of diverse talent through recruiting practices is one thing. Engaging and retaining new and existing talent throughout the organization is another. DEIB goals are as important as any other business goals.
"D&I needs to be something that every single employee
at the company has a stake in."
~ Bo Young Lee, Chief Diversity Officer, Uber
NOTE: Thank you to Gartner for sharing its research in a very informative and thought-provoking webinar on August 16, 2021.
"D&I needs to be something that every single employee
at the company has a stake in."
~ Bo Young Lee, Chief Diversity Officer, Uber
NOTE: Thank you to Gartner for sharing its research in a very informative and thought-provoking webinar. (August 16, 2021)
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