A more gender-balanced, racially and culturally inclusive, trust-based, cohesive world where remote workers also feel belonging is attainable but we have to work at this and change paradigms.

Now, more than ever is time to re-imagine the way business is conducted around the world. There is increasing corporate awareness about taking the need for equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability more much seriously. These companies see the long-term cascade of potential benefits and positive impacts on their brand reputation, sales and marketing, productivity, profitability, employee well-being, engagement and retention, and the health of the planet.

This calls for creating more diverse, inclusive, and balanced boards of directors and c-suite leadership within corporations.

Organizations need to focus on building longer-term leadership & inclusion strategies, aimed at recruiting and retaining diverse leadership teams, and ensuring that different perspectives, gender, and cultural insights are taken into account, thus fostering cohesive growth.

Leaders leverage and incorporate equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability strategies across all levels of their organizations. Leaders also need to improve overall productivity and profitability using this approach, thus strengthening their long-term strategic position in the marketplace. What doesn’t get measured within an organization doesn’t get done. Corporate leaders need quantitative and qualitative tools to conduct equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability assessments to evaluate progress over time. Organizations need to:

Develop suitable organizational policies with objective measures

Organizations should, of course, be vigilant for bias in their recruitment, development, and promotions policies, procedures, and processes. They should also seek to reinforce the positive positioning of accomplished staff by matching them with senior executive mentors/sponsors. Organizations should play their part in correcting the current biases and gender stereotypes by developing and enforcing policies, procedures and processes through objective performance measures. In so doing, it is really important to constantly examine the organization’s culture for hints of bias, gender stereotype nuances, and enhancing gender, race, and culture-neutral practices that are fully entrenched.

Create a safe place for sharing and communicating

The underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in senior business positions only serves to reinforce the second generation and other biases and, as a consequence, the unfortunate status quo. Given the numerous layers of “bias glass-ceilings” that women and ethnic minorities face in business and, as a result, given the relative lack of senior women and ethnic minorities in business and deal-negotiation roles, a safe place for sharing, communicating, challenging, learning and innovating is to be encouraged.

It is, in turn, really important to frame these re-balancing activities in terms of leadership development for all, rather than as a perception re-calibration exercise. Organizations should build sharing and learning communities in which women and ethnic minorities can safely discuss their situations, compare experiences and support each other in their progress. We need to bring Mindful, Inclusive Leadership to bear on how organizations work towards a new, measurable, cohesiveness that puts these drivers at the heart of brand equity, profitability, and growth. Meanwhile, ask yourself:

• How do organizations embed and maintain the core traits of inclusive leaders - strength, humility, self-awareness, vision, flexibility/curiosity?

• How do organizations build sustainable employee engagement, collaboration, and individual adaptive mindsets to ultimately drive inclusive and cohesive company growth?

• How do organizations establish and build trust and understanding across globalized teams (incorporating global perspectives and ideas) and solidify inter-personal working relationships, leading to inclusive and cohesive growth at the company?

• What are your top five recommended operating principles or simple rules for working towards equity?

• What are your top five recommended action steps for working towards equity?

Simon Haigh

16/1/21