7 Actions That Must Be Normalized to Increase Diversity
💥This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter + toolbox sharing best practices for employers seeking to implement effective diversity recruitment programs. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com. | IG: @IncreaseDiversity 💥
News From #TeamJTC:
👉🏾 END OF YEAR SPECIAL: Now through December 31, 2021, we are offering a training bundle. Register of our upcoming Qualified Diversity Recruiter (training program for recruiters) or Qualified Inclusive Leader (training program for hiring managers) and receive 1-year free access to the Increase Diversity Toolbox subscription. Oh! If you register by 12.21.21, use the coupon code EARLY30 to get 30% off.
👉🏾 FREE CHECKLIST | 💥 We have a FREE, downloadable CHECKLIST for leaders called The Platinum Checklist for Hiring Professionals: 10 Immediate Actions Leaders Must STOP Doing in Order to Increase Diversity. Click to download your free copy. 💥
Our vision at Team JTC is to ultimately make diversity recruiting—recruiting. We will know when this vision is reached because there no longer needs to be a business case for diversity recruiting. Diversity recruiting will no longer be viewed as this added activity to recruiting priorities. Diversity recruiting will no longer be marked with the word diversity in order to amplify the message. In other words, we want to live in a world where recruiters, hiring managers, and hiring teams are conditioned to view everyday recruiting practices through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion.
To reach this state where diversity recruiting becomes recruiting, we must normalize certain actions. As I reflect over the many conversations I have had with audiences after workshops and while consulting, here are seven actions—that if normalized—can have a profound effect on increasing workplace diversity:
Action #1: Normalize saying, “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing!” I often hear senior leaders share in one-on-one dialogue that they understand that there IS an initiative to increase diversity, they WANT to support the initiative, but they have no clue what actions they are supposed to take. Leaders have the same struggles as most humans do with releasing perfectionism and not wanting to be the person who gets it wrong out of the gate. Assume that your leaders do not know what to do to increase diversity and provide them training, coaching and support too.
Action #2: Normalize saying exactly what you mean. To avoid saying the wrong thing, the language we use is often so high level, so politically correct, and so generic that your employees (especially recruiters) walk away with a lack of direction. You are losing people in your message. Start using effective language and saying exactly what you mean. This is the difference between saying, “we need to increase diversity,” (in general) and saying, “on our software development team, we are underrepresented in LatinX women, and we need to increase diversity among this population.” See the difference?
Action #3: Normalize identifying workplace policies, practices, and behaviors that drive underrepresentation. For example, a lack of monitoring of the level of diversity among talent pipeline programs, like an internship program, can lead to underrepresentation especially if interns are the first in line to receive full time opportunities. If your workplace is not creating awareness around policies, practices, and behaviors driving underrepresentation, you are only solving a part of the problem. To increase diversity, it is not just about what an organization must start doing, but it is also about what organizations must stop doing.
Action #4: Normalize sharing accountability. The recruiter is not accountable for the level of diversity among those who are hired in your workplace. A recruiter is accountable for the level of diversity among the candidate pool. Recruiters can only be accountable for outcomes within their control. The final decision maker—which is often the hiring manager—is accountable for the level of diversity among new hires because the outcome is within their control. Normalize speaking openly about accountability and ensuring that those who are on the frontlines of this work (i.e., recruiters, hiring managers, and interview teams) know for what they hold accountable in the partnership to increase diversity. As a bonus tip, be sure to measure performance based on accountability.
Action #5: Normalize sourcing in spaces that are overrepresented for untapped populations. Source, engage and build long-term relationships with schools and organizations that are overrepresented in areas you are underrepresented in your workplace. As a former recruiter, I recognize the level of difficulty in breaking free of the conditioning of going to standard spaces to recruit, but if we continue to source in spaces that are overrepresented in areas where we are already overrepresented, the only result is more of the same.
Action #6: Normalize auditing personal networks for diversity. More specifically, take a personal audit of YOUR network. Do the ten individuals you spend most of your time networking with identity similar to you? What about your network’s network? Are the odds high that they identify similarly to you too? If you want to further explore increasing diversity in your personal network, check out our previous article called, How Can I Help My Organization Increase Representation Among Black Women?
Action #7: Normalize calling people in. Increasing diversity requires that we disrupt the bias creating an obstacle course for individuals from underrepresented groups to gain access to our workplace opportunities. Many behaviors of those on the front lines (i.e., recruiters, hiring teams, and hiring managers) are creating this obstacle course and to mitigate, it will require calling people in. The art of calling people in requires that we lead with positive intent and ask more questions before making assumptions and drawing conclusions. It requires that we make a direct connection to the behavior and its impact on the ability to increase diversity. To learn more about calling in individuals, check out our newest guide in our Increase Diversity Toolbox called, The Art of Calling in Hiring Managers.
I’m looking forward to the day when it is all recruiting, and diversity is a standard lens through which we all view hiring. Join me in the comments section and share other actions that must be normalized in order to increase diversity.
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