In "Diversity and Inclusion: What Separates the Best from the Rest," Russell Reynolds Associates shares instructive insights from its recent survey of nearly 850 executives worldwide on the level of maturity of their organization's diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts. Key takeaways are that the most advanced organizations - i.e., those that self-classify their organizations as treating D&I as a business and organizational issue that engages all employees (which comprised 15% of respondents overall) - are more likely than less advanced organizations to:
- Set diversity goals for their employees and senior leadership, and hold leaders accountable for reaching them
- Quantify their level of inclusion (via, e.g., surveys), and hold leaders accountable for fostering an inclusive culture
- Hire and develop leaders who exhibit inclusive behaviors such as fostering an environment in which others can safely voice different opinions, and creating collaborative opportunities and leveraging different perspectives
- Invest in governance structures (e.g., Chief D&I officer; diversity committee or council) to support their D&I mandate
- Invest in D&I as a means to better business performance (e.g., to be more innovative and globally competitive) rather than as an end in itself or a compliance-only exercise
This is important because Russell Reynolds' research shows that executives at advanced D&I organizations are ~30% more likely to feel highly loyal, innovative, and well-positioned for top performance compared to other organizations, and that "taking a reactive, check-the-box approach to D&I leads to worse outcomes than doing nothing at all." See the firm's suggested action steps on page 6, which are designed for executives to capitalize on these findings.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!