On his last Tuesday Tip, Buhle spoke about one of the common challenges for organisations when it comes to retaining diverse talent. He said the reason that attraction and recruitment schemes don’t lead to retention of diverse talent is two-fold: Firstly, the culture within the organisation not matching the marketing used to attract recruits. Secondly, the tendency to put diverse recruits on endless development programs with no end in sight.
He previously tackled the second reason first and today Buhle delves into the first one:
Creating The Right Culture for Diverse Talent Retention.
Organisations tend to over promise and under deliver when recruiting diverse talent (people of colour, gender, ability etc.) when it comes to the real culture of the organisation.
To succeed in retaining diverse talent, it is important that you take the culture of your organisation seriously. Most companies today claim to be inclusive and diverse in their operations but when it comes to reality they are really far from it.
So how do you create an inclusive culture where diverse candidates from different cultures, races, gender, orientation, abilities, religions and ideologies feel they belong and can contribute? As Verna Myers puts it “Diversity speaks to who is represented in the organization, whereas inclusion speaks to who is respected, expected and integrated into an organization.”
To create inclusive culture:
- Move from Diversity to Inclusion – Don’t just be concerned about having the right diversity (quotas) in the organisation (which is important) but think about and work on the environment. How are women, people of colour, different generations and abilities treated, engaged and promoted in the organisation?
- Deal with Unconscious Bias – Not being aware of the biases in the organisation can lead to unequal treatment, unbalanced pay gaps and promotion unfairness for diverse individuals in the organisation. Doing extensive training and increasing awareness of unconscious bias and its effects is a good start but you also need to have policies and fail-safe mechanisms to combat its effects.
- Foster Belonging – Don’t leave this to chance. Create opportunities for your people to feel and know they are part of a whole. Encourage social interactions across functions, within teams and across-teams. Have organisation-specific rituals that don’t exclude anyone within the organisation but are unique to the members of your organisation. Team pride and a strong sense of belonging go a long way in creating inclusion.
Don’t complicate inclusive culture, simply ask “Are we creating an environment where anyone, regardless of their diversity can be proud to be part of?” and work to make it possible.
Contact the TomorrowToday Global team and ask for Buhle, or one of our team, to come around and discuss how to Create a Winning Culture, and Lead Difference Differently (both offered as keynote presentations or workshops).