MAXIMISING DIVERSITY THROUGH A CULTURE OF INCLUSION
INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? In an inclusive culture the environment allows people with different backgrounds, characteristics and ways of thinking to work effectively together and to perform to their highest potential.
WHAT WOULD IT FEEL LIKE? In a highly inclusive culture, people feel valued, they see their contributions are welcomed, they are respected and they have a voice.
So, diversity is not the same as inclusivity. Diversity is often focused on increasing numerical representation of minorities in the workforce – so it is quite possible to have a very diverse workforce that isn’t very inclusive.
‘Diversity, or the state of being different, isn’t the same as inclusion. One is a description of what is, while the other describes a style of interaction essential to effective teams and organisations. Bill Crawford, Psychologist Source: Leading Differently
AT EMERGE WE HELP YOU TO STRATEGISE BOTH INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY, BUT WITH A CLEAR FOCUS ON ACHIEVEMENT. 2
A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Source: Quartz at Work
THE BUSINESS CASE The figures are conclusive; there is direct correlation between diversity and company financial performance.
Overall, research shows that the positive correlation in financial performance is driven by more diverse companies being better able to:
McKinsey & Company’s 2018 report “Delivering Through Diversity” reinforced it’s original 2014 research to show:
• Attract the best employees. • Reduce the cost and impact of employee turnover. • Increase employee satisfaction. • Enhance organisational performance through better quality and more creative decision making. • Improve customer orientation and access to market. • Enhance reputation and build a strong employer brand.
• Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their Executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above average profitability than companies in the 4th quartile. • Companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity were 33% more likely to outperform on EBIT margin. • Gender diversity on Executive teams is strongly correlated with profitability and value creation.
A survey by recruiting firm Glassdoor found that 67% of people said a “diverse workforce was an important
factor when evaluating companies and job offers.” The same survey found that more than half of
employees think their employer should be doing more to increase the diversity of its workforce.
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WHY FOCUS ON INCLUSION? A diversity led focus will set minimum standards for age, disability, race, religion, gender and sexual orientation amongst other characteristics to achieve legal compliance. Emerge’s focus on developing an inclusive culture goes beyond legal compliance and seeks to add value to your organisation through approaches that contribute to better leadership, improving employee engagement and overall well–being. Our approach is based on valuing individuals, regardless of identity or background. We believe that every person deserves the opportunity to develop their skills and talents to their full potential. We recognise the need to work in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment, for people to be fairly rewarded and recognised for their work and have a meaningful voice on matters that affect them. Recognising and embracing differences will allow people to bring their whole self to work without fear of recourse. This climate of psychological safety will allow individuals and businesses to thrive and maximise performance. We can work with you to create a culture that maximises the benefits of: • • • •
Helping people grow and learn Enabling people to reach their full potential Boosting engagement and innovation Enhancing employer brand and corporate reputation.
Isn’t it time you took a fresh approach to
increasing engagement and productivity
through an inclusive culture? 4
NARROW OR WIDE FOCUS? But how do you move from a
tick-box, legislative compliance driven approach
to creating an
inclusive organisation?
Here at Emerge, we can see that organisations are increasingly embracing the need for more diverse workforces and the requirements of catering for the range of protected characteristics. We work with your Executive Team, Senior Leaders and HR team to encourage and shape an employee-centred approach to diversity. We believe that to focus only on diversity measures and increasing minority representation carries a very real danger of neglecting the underlying climate of support that inclusion can and will have a positive effect on employee outcomes.
SO, WHAT IS OUR FOCUS AT EMERGE? Our approach is focused on creating a culture of inclusion to allow everyone, regardless of their background, circumstances or individual characteristics to thrive at work. We work with our clients to create great places to work by engaging and inspiring people. We help you build an environment where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential.
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HOW DO WE DO THIS? Emerge will support you in addressing the key factors in your strategy and help you to consider your planned approach to Inclusion and Diversity: 1. Commitment from the top – our expertise in Executive and Board Development to cultivate stronger levels of cohesion, trust and accountability gives you clear purpose, vision and objectives for your strategy. 2. Defined Inclusion and Diversity priorities – we will work with you to identify where you need to focus your efforts through a combination of policy and process. Our diagnostic tools help you to shape a personalised approach that is right for your organisation. 3. Owned Actions – success will happen when everyone commits to their part and this becomes devolved through the leadership within the business and adopted as a way of working by every employee. 4. Tailored to maximise impact – the solutions we create with you will be tailored to meet the varying needs of your different stakeholders – roles, locations and contexts, in a way that works for your business.
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WHAT’S OUR STARTING POINT? Our approach begins with an initial free consultation meeting to discuss how to create a fully inclusive culture. Using our unique diagnostic tool, from these early discussions we can agree a plan that helps you to focus on: • Commitment from the top… supporting senior Leaders to make a public commitment to being inclusive in their approach and model those behaviours. • Diagnosing your current level of inclusivity using our EPIC Engagement tool to give you a clear picture of how your individual managers are currently performing in engaging your employees and making them feel valued, respected and heard. • Utilising a range of tools and solutions to help you engage your employees and build the knowledge and skills to operate inclusively. • Recognising how your policies and processes guide your employees and how your business operates, we will use discovery workshops with the HR team to check and align our approach to reflect the target behaviours and practices. Our skilled and knowledgeable consultants will work with you to develop an integrated plan, identify your target improvement areas and combine “hard” (policy & processes) and “soft” (leadership, people and culture development) interventions to create a coherent strategy and plan that will help sustain the inclusive culture.
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INCLUSION & DIVERSITY COMMITMENT
DEVELOPMENT
Exec Board Focus
Talent Management Solutions
Alignment of vision, values, mission Review of public statements for I&D bias Strategy for I&D Increase minorities in senior positions
Women’s Career Development Centre Succession Planning Strategy Women’s and Men’s Development Internal Coaching Exec Coaching/Group Coaching
Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities
Support Initiatives
Leadership definitions Working groups and projects Diversity balance champions
Re-aligning performance management process
DIAGNOSTIC
Awareness Initiatives
Shared Empowerment Development Programme
ACTION
HM AR KI
G N
MP CO
LIA
RESULTS
RD OA B SH DA
RE
COMMITMENT
Integration of I&D into policies Integration of I&D into selection interviewing Leadership definitions and competencies Training interventions Exit interviews
POLICIES 8
Awareness initiatives
MEASUREMENTS
Policy Integration
G
Parental leave Family friendly Flexi-working Pay alignment Policy Development and Training
P O RT IN
Policies
ENGAGEMENT
DIVERSITY SOLUTION
N CE
BEN C
Measure of I&D Fair and equitable ratings distribution
Lunch & Learn Group Sessions Women’s Networking Groups Mentoring Implementation
Unconscious bias workshops Management briefings Employee briefings Induction and onboarding
Communication
Reporting of diversity MI Mediums; Forums, Podcasts, Videos
Sharing success
Celebrating Inclusivity achievements Networking with other organisations
COMMUNICATION
OUR APPROACH TO PARTNERING REFLECTIVE In-depth exploratory facilitation
FUN & CREATIVE
RELEVANT
Energising & thought provoking to embed the learning
Working together on real, work-related challenges
MEMORABLE
HIGH ENERGY
Insightful and innovative activities that “stick”
Short and highly relevant inputs
TOOLKIT
Provision of tools and techiques for all interventions
To help you decide if you need our help consider your answers to the following questions: • How committed is your Leadership Team to creating an inclusive culture? • Is Culture Development seen as owned by HR or as a shared responsibility across all employees? • How clear is your Inclusion & Diversity strategy? Are the actions prioritised? • How accountable are your Leaders for meeting Inclusion & Diversity goals? • Are you concerned over cynicism about your Inclusion interventions? • Is your plan robust enough to satisfy legal requirements? • Do people see it as a “tick-box” exercise? • Are there behaviours in your workplace that directly contradict an inclusive culture? • Do your employees bring their full self to work …… do you?
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WHAT OUR CLIENTS ARE SAYING…… Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama
We used the EPIC Engagement tool for our leadership team to get feedback from their direct reports. The lens that this gave is invaluable. From abstract discussions about what we might think influenced wider engagement scores we were able to drill down and get some clear feedback on how managers in the business felt – both at a leadership team group level and as individual leaders.
HR Director – Worldwide Logistics Company
We had lots of ideas and enthusiasm but the diagnostic discussion really got us focused and on track with our strategy. It was so much simpler than we had thought once we looked at it through the strategic lenses.’ HR Director – Construction Industry
The Unconscious Bias workshops have really got our people thinking and we hear a lot more conversations around diversity and challenges to how we include our staff now.’ Senior HR Manager Research Organisation
Emerge really helped us to gain clarity on how to achieve an employee-led Inclusion and Diversity intervention – this has led to less cynicism and a far greater engagement with staff. Chief People Officer – Publishing Organisation
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Since we took all of our managers through Anti Bullying and Sexual Harassment training with Emerge we have had far more incidents of people telling others that their behaviour is inappropriate and reporting behaviour that contravenes our values. HR Director - Music Industry
OUR INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY TEAM Emerge has extensive consultancy expertise and a solid track record across all areas of Inclusion and Diversity, with clients in a range of sectors including FMCG, media, publishing, financial services, public services, aerospace, defence, outsourcing and retail management. We see this as a vital strength as it means we are not constrained by the thinking within one discipline or industry – many of our clients are highly creative in the initiatives they implement and we are lucky to be involved in a number of innovative interventions that create more knowledge around the subject of Inclusion and Diversity. As Emerge approaches its 21st year since formation, we take great pride in our extensive experience in delivering multiple programmes across the globe and set the standard with our meticulous attention to detail in managing such projects. With our capacity to be extremely flexible and agile, we execute our plans flawlessly and with the level of precision our clients can continue to be proud of.
Gillian Jones-Williams, Managing Director of Emerge has focused her research on gender parity and diversity over the past 7 years, with a significant focus on delivering women’s development in the UK and the UAE through her signature programme RISE. Gillian has built an experienced and rich team of consultants, both in the UK and the UAE, who are available to support clients develop and grow as individuals and businesses. The range of expertise available includes: • Diagnostic consultations • Strategy workshops • Board engagement • Policy development • Inclusion and Diversity Communication Strategies • EPIC Engagement pulse questionnaire and Immersion Programme • Anti-bullying and Sexual Harassment Training • Unconscious Bias • Gender Parity Interventions • MI Interpretation • Employee life cycle Improvements.
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‌If you are struggling with your strategic plan to tackle Inclusion and Diversity, or simply want to learn more about how we are working with other organisations, then contact us now for an initial free consultation:
+44 (0)1329 820580 www.emergeuk.com info@emergeuk.com