By Elise Awwad
November 3, 2021
6 min read
November 3, 2021
6 min read
Creating meaningful change in your team’s diversity in the leadership ranks is an issue we hear from our clients we work with every day. Unfortunately, even when these clients find the right talent for the job it can be difficult to build a plan to elevate that talent.
When you lack diversity within your leadership team it can impact your company—it sets the tone. Non-diverse organizations may see hampered innovation, lower work performance and an impact on their overall bottom line. A McKinsey study found that ethnically-diverse and gender-diverse companies were more profitable. And more than half of workers think their company should be doing more to increase diversity among its workforce.
A study by Gallup reported that 55% of American workers agree that their organization has diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in place. Unfortunately, almost half of the surveyed organizations still do not create a diverse, safe and welcoming environment for their employees.
If your business doesn’t have DEI goals and metrics in place to report on your progress, you should start today. Since it could take some time to build out your policies, you might want to first focus on inclusivity within your company. Reach out to your team in a way they’re comfortable with for sharing feedback and take a pulse on where you stand today. Look at your teams, departments and leaders to see where you have representation and where it’s lacking. Then be a part of the solution, as you frame an open, honest and intentioned plan.
If you already have a plan or are just getting started, consider some of these strategies to help build diverse leadership and let that tone permeate throughout your entire company.
Also, instead of always looking to hire new talent, consider actively promoting your vacancies internally. Offering education opportunities to your existing team can provide underrepresented talent the means they need to feel valued and give them the tools to step into new managerial roles.
Elise Awwad is the Chief Operating Officer of DeVry University. She has oversight of all student operations to ensure a positive and consistent experience for DeVry students and corporate partners.
Awwad leads all admissions functions and student support activities, as well as DeVryWorks, DeVry’s corporate partner department, to provide a student centric journey from inquiry to graduation, creating an innovative model of support rooted in DeVry’s principle of Student Care.