Understanding the needs of today's employees and bolstering a diverse workforce goes beyond engagement surveys — it requires a mindset shift around what it means to be a good leader.
This is especially crucial as employers find themselves in unfamiliar territory around DEI and workplace authenticity. Leaders must decide how to balance their role as boss with the ever-present condition of being human — a task that starts with leaders letting their guards down and practicing empathy, says Jyl Feliciano, VP of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at sales enablement company Highspot.
"It's critical that leaders lean into this work with empathy and vulnerability," she says. "If leaders are willing to step in front of their organization and talk about their personal journey — what experiences have shaped their leadership style and philosophy — and then allow others to share thoughts and perspectives, we send those silent signals that the human element is accepted. It breaks down barriers."
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Having open communication with not only employees, but shareholders and customers, will go a long way in making an organization's
"This has to be a holistic approach," she says. "Employees want to know, we have a plan, a level of commitment, we're following through, and they can also be a part of that journey. We need to make sure that the things we're doing on the website match the actual experiences, because those experiences will hold true — they'll hold weight."
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Beyond those efforts, data can play a crucial role in ensuring your DEI efforts are moving in the right direction. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative data and analytics can measure the experiences of people across different identity groups, says Feliciano, and factor in variances that exist within categories that are often lumped together.
"DEI is a new practice for a lot of organizations, and sometimes they don't know where to start and where they're spending their energy." she says. "DEI tools that layer on top of all your people analytics shows us where there are inequities and disparities across the employee lifecycle. Now we can get to those places that are on fire quickly, or we can see where we're knocking it out of the park and reward and encourage, and then leverage those best practices."
Sharing this data with all levels of an organization adds to the transparency of an employer, promotes involvement, and strengthens
"Empower employees to see the data — around your engagement surveys, who we're hiring, who we are
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After learning so much over the past few years, it is now time to see if companies are going to follow through with their commitments, and whether DEI is truly ingrained within the organization, says Feliciano. In the effort to achieve this, it's important to remember that these types of human-centric changes within an organization don't happen right away.
"Oftentimes we think about operational efficiency moving really fast to get the job done, [but] that school of thought does not translate to DEI," she says. "DEI is about moving the head and the heart and people, and it takes time. It's about having a robust, multi-year plan, and it's a journey that you have to approach with love, care, consideration and grace."
