True equity in the workplace requires collaboration among leaders

When it comes to implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, it can be easy to approach it with a set-and-forget mindset. These attitudes are hindering progress, however, and ongoing collaboration is what makes a real difference.

Business leaders need to look beyond the trendy initiatives that serve as a way to keep consumers happy and give DEI a seat at the executive table, said Tech Diversity Foundation executive director Luli Adeyemo.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion isn’t an HR initiative. It’s not the responsibility of the HR person. The latest trend is to hire a diversity manager or a practitioner [for] that particular role. There’s been a 71 per cent increase in diversity manager type hires in the last five years,” said Ms Adeyemo.

“What that says is then the responsibility becomes their responsibility. The business feels like it’s done its role in hiring that person, tick, that’s diversity taken care of, and they don’t support it beyond that.”

Ms Adeyemo believes that until organisations see the true benefit these policies bring, progress will be stalled.

“To get this right, everybody from the top down has a role to play. But as a leader, as an executive leadership team, if this isn’t your strategic priority or part of your strategic priority as a business, then your business is failing,” she explained.

“And the importance around that and why it isn’t a strategic priority is because it’s not linked to business outcomes and business metrics. I think when the business can understand how changing the systems to create an organisational structure that is equitable ... So, until you can understand your people, the intersectionality between their roles, then you can’t really have that opportunity for all.”

The attitudes surrounding DEI in the workplace mirror that of past themes, such as sustainability. Understanding the impact DEI will have over the coming years should be recognised early if employers want to gain a competitive edge.

Ms Adeyemo commented: “We’ve been through this with different evolutions through life. I remember back in the early 2000s when everything was about sustainability and green, and there’d be a champion in the business who was the greenie. And then nobody really got it, understood it or cared until the metrics came out around the operational savings and the concept savings you could benefit from as a business by adopting these principles.”

“And then guess what? All of a sudden, it becomes a strategic priority, and the person [who’s] been championing it has a seat at the executive leadership team. And I think this is what’s going to happen with DEI. Until we can measure it in true business terms, it’s never going to become a strategic priority. It’s going to be always something that businesses do when times are good and when times get hard.”

Making the leap to begin championing these initiatives is what needs to start happening. Ms Adeyemo believes the awareness is there, but the action is lacking. As leaders begin to understand the benefits that DEI policy has on business outcomes, this could change.

“Until we can measure this thing in business impact terms, it’s never going to cement its place as a strategic priority … If we can understand who we are as an organisation, then we can be intentional about the programs and the initiatives that we run to create the best work environments, the best opportunities, the best pathways for all, and be able to measure the impact of change in regards to where it matters, bottom line.”

Ms Adeyemo continued: “So I think if that’s your business metric, if you’ve got to answer to shareholders, then you need to be able to equate the diversity or lack of within your organisation to the metrics that matter.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Luli Adeyemo, click below: