Читать книгу Hiring for Diversity - Arthur Woods - Страница 13

If we want to increase diversity in our organizations in a sustainable way, we have to abandon old ways of thinking and shift our approach entirely. This begins with stepping back to recognize why most organizations have struggled so immensely to grow their diversity. Most employers have lacked unity or alignment around the issue. They have approached the work with a short-term mindset that has limited the focus to isolated parts of their organizations. They have lacked a sense of shared responsibility in diversity hiring, which has left the work resting on the shoulders of far too few. These challenges combined have collectively stifled the march of diversity and prevented organizations from truly transforming. Here is what we believe must change:

To improve diversity we have to start with inclusion.

If we are serious about increasing representation in our organizations, we have to begin with a unified and inclusive definition of diversity. Many leaders look at diversity through a narrow lens, focusing solely on attributes they believe they can see. But there are visible and invisible aspects of diversity. To accomplish our mission, we can't paint diversity in broad strokes and leave people out. We need to ensure our definition of diversity encompasses all the underrepresented communities we hope to hire.

Next, to grow diversity among our teams, we have to constantly ensure our organizations themselves are places where people feel empowered and included. It's easy to think that driving diversity mainly depends on hiring, but this equality depends on investing in our existing teams and building cultures within our organizations where people feel embraced, supported, and have room to advance. As the civil rights activist Deray McKesson says, “Diversity is bodies. Inclusion is culture.” In other words, diversity is the act of identifying and hiring the right people. Inclusion is about creating a space where those people feel welcome. They are two different concepts, but neither one is sustainable without the other.

We need to reframe diversity hiring as a long-term, strategic priority.

Many leaders see diversity hiring as an urgent but short-term effort, a terrible oversight that has often led efforts to feel more like one-off posturing rather than longterm sustainable change. But if we really see growing diversity in our organizations as a strategic priority, we must acknowledge that change often comes slowly. Just as we would never say that growing revenue is a near-term priority that depends solely on one department, we must never approach diversity hiring as a sprint, or a single team's “project.” We need to pursue the work in a systematic way that persists regardless of short-term wins or losses. To do it right, we need to reframe diversity hiring as a permanent strategic imperative, an ongoing journey.

We have to inspire collective ownership of diversity hiring across our teams.

In most organizations, people see growing diversity as someone else's job. Most employers don't galvanize their full organization around the shared diversity vision in a way that inspires everyone to feel a sense of responsibility. Instead, diversity hiring typically falls on the shoulders of HR and recruiting teams. But if the rest of your team isn't aware of the need, they might not refer underrepresented candidates or consciously address their personal bias when participating in the hiring process. By mobilizing everyone in your organization around diversity hiring, articulating shared goals, and aligning incentives to meet those goals, you unlock the capabilities and involvement of your full team. This helps the work become a collective effort and, most important, one that is ingrained in your organization's culture and values.