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Making inclusion a reality How are organizations around the world creating more inclusive cultures? Kevin Anselmo and Patrick Woodman report
The business case for diversity and inclusion is now indisputable. According to PwC, 85% of companies with a formal diversity and inclusion strategy reported an improved bottom line. McKinsey has shown that firms in the top quartile for gender and ethnic diversity are likely to financially outperform industry medians. The argument for action has been won, and organizations have made significant strides in trying to improve diversity: by many measures, progress is being made. But have enough organizations become truly inclusive? Leaders cannot settle for an environment where people do not feel welcome, where their voices are not heard and their skills are not fully leveraged. We spoke to a range of leaders around the world, spanning many different roles and industries, and asked: how can leaders create genuinely inclusive cultures? Their insights point to some of the ways organizations can create environments where everyone can thrive.
A systemic approach to inclusion
Claudia Bidwell, global head of people and organization development at Implenia, is forthright about the wrong way to approach inclusion. “I don’t believe in this idea of, ‘Let’s have an inclusion initiative, throw it out there, and then everybody’s going to be inclusive.’ In my experience, that doesn’t work,” she says. Instead, inclusion needs culture, strategy and organization to be in sync. “You can have a Dialogue Q2 2020