Part II: How Organizations Can Respond to the Attorneys General’s Letter
This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter series + Increase Diversity Toolbox sharing best practices for employers who want to learn how to… well, increase diversity. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com. | IG: @IncreaseDiversity | Increase Diversity - YouTube
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Increase Diversity™ Summit Experience
When: September 14, 2023 | 11:00 am - 6:00 pm EST
What: Who is Qualified?: A Transformative Journey to Decode Bias in Recruitment and Retention
At this immersive summit, participants will embark on an intentional roadmap, gaining profound insights into how bias subtly infiltrates our recruitment and retention processes. You’ll gain practical tools and techniques to revolutionize your approach to diversity recruitment and retention without causing harm or compromising on excellence. Learn more and register today!
Let's take a step back to the context we discussed in Part-I. The Attorneys General (AGs) of 13 states wrote an open letter to the CEOs of Fortune 100 companies. They warned them not to resort to race-based hiring and promotions, sparking a hot nationwide conversation.
Now, How Can Organizations Respond?
Even in the wake of these letters from the AGs to top companies, you can still focus on increasing diversity, and you can do so without harm. We do this at Team JTC with five fundamental steps. Let me bring you the most favorite thing I use: a hash list.
Step #1: Learn Where You’re Underrepresented: To ensure a legal, moral, and working diversity hiring program that does no harm, first, make the candidate pool well-represented in spaces where there has been historical underrepresentation within your workplace. Companies often falter by sourcing from familiar spaces that are already overrepresented within the organization. Well-representation at the top of the funnel is the most strategic and success-yielding aspect of the diversity initiative. To do so, understanding and attracting talent from the underrepresented workforce is crucial.
Step #2: Be the Employer of Choice: You shouldn't just aim to attract a well-represented candidate pool but also strive to become an employer of choice. But what does it mean to be an "employer of choice"? It's basically about creating a workplace where people are excited to work. And guess what? Your company is already an employer of choice! You heard that right. If folks are applying for your job openings, it means you're definitely attractive to some group of people. But the real question is, who exactly finds your company attractive?
Easy answer! Look at your candidate pools. Are some groups more represented than others? Those are the folks who see your company as a great place to work—they're actively applying for your jobs. Now, when it comes to diversity, the trick isn't to swap out who thinks you're a top choice. Instead, it's about becoming just as attractive to those groups that are underrepresented. Notice the twist there? In other words, it's not about leaving one group out to include another; it's about expanding your appeal so you're an employer of choice for even more people.
Step #3: Acknowledge and Eliminate Bias: Tackle the biases within the interview team head-on. This is where many companies trip, resorting to ineffective and generic unconscious bias training. The interviewers need to be aware of their biases, especially those that influence their perception of a candidate's qualifications, professionalism, and leadership presence. As game-changers, interviewers should be carefully selected, trained, and even assessed for understanding and eliminating interviewing biases.
Step #4: Factor in the Lived Experience Intelligence™ (LEI): People often ask me what makes diverse workplaces perform better. We at JTC believe the secret ingredient to be something we call 'lived experience intelligence', or LEI for short. Essentially, it's all the knowledge, skills, and abilities you gain from your unique life experiences, which can really broaden your perspective.
But here's the catch—we all have different experiences. Real magic only happens when you can actively use those experiences in your daily life. It's like putting your LEI into action. We even have a term for it—'lived experience quotient' or LEQ. LEQ is all about how much you're exercising and applying your LEI in your thoughts and actions.
Now, there's a type of LEQ that's directly tied to an organization's mission—I call it 'relevant LEQ'. By tapping into this, companies can enhance their core competencies, which I believe leads to better performance. However, many organizations haven't quite caught onto this yet.
When it comes to performing DEIB work, specifically hiring people from different backgrounds who are equally talented, LEQ can determine who succeeds in the pragmatic aspect of the job. Instead of just talking about diversity in vague terms, you can pinpoint specific skills and competencies that add real value. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that LEQ should be as valued as work experience and education.
Let me give you an example to answer why. Someone who has traveled extensively might bring a broader global perspective, while an individual who has overcome personal adversity might demonstrate exceptional resilience and problem-solving abilities. Instead of merely focusing on traditional skills like data analysis or coding or even soft skills like communication and teamwork, employers should also pay attention to how a candidate's life experiences could contribute to their team.
When we appreciate and value LEI, we open doors to people who might have been overlooked in traditional recruitment processes. This way, we ensure a more balanced and representative workforce that's equipped to tackle modern challenges in innovative ways. In short, by integrating LEI into your hiring process, you’re acknowledging that valuable skills and insights can come from various life experiences, not just formal education or industry-specific training. This approach could lead to more dynamic, innovative, and diverse teams ready to tackle the ever-evolving challenges of the modern business world.
Step #5: Select the Most Competitive Candidate: Finally, having laid the groundwork with a well-represented candidate pool, an interview team trained to counteract biases, an authentically portrayed and ethically sound company image, and the deployment of Lived Experience Intelligence (LEI) in your processes, the hiring manager can now select the most competitive candidate. As you can see, increasing diversity is not about hiring based on identity or compromising on qualifications. It's about dismantling antiquated expectations and biases that cause valuable candidates to be overlooked because of their identity.
In the midst of the current political tumult, it appears that DEIB initiatives are under fire from all sides—from those resistant to sharing the table, those unsure how to extend invitations, and even from those who practice DEIB on a daily basis. Nevertheless, the core principles of diversity remain untouched by rhetoric or inaction. This is because the guarantee of providing an equal opportunity for everyone at the table stands as the most moral, ethical, and legal principle globally.
That being said, there’s a fine line between a genuine diversity initiative and a discriminatory practice. Recognizing that diversity is not merely a function of race or identity allows you to understand what it takes to truly diversify an organization: ensuring a well-represented candidate pool and selecting the most competitive candidate while tackling biases in each step of the hiring process.
Want actionable, hands-on insight into how you can increase diversity without creating harm in your organization? Join us for Who is Qualified: A Transformative Journey to Decode Bias in Recruitment and Retention on September 14, 2023. In this virtual, live, one-day Increase Diversity™ Summit, participants will gain:
The ability to skillfully analyze the question of Who is Qualified?, examining bias and its manifestation across six key hiring milestones with precision and insight.
A deep understanding of how to leverage the power of Lived Experience Intelligence™, enabling them to uncover and address bias in hiring and retention programs with remarkable effectiveness.
Proficiency in effectively analyzing data to answer crucial questions, such as: Where are we underrepresented? Who gets ahead, left behind, and why? AND what must we start, stop and continue to do to truly impact diversity and retention in our workplace - without harm.
