Phyllis Shurn-Hannah
Phyllis Shurn-Hannah is Northeast field services director at the Society for Human Resource Management.
WIIFM—what's in it for me?—may be the most important acronym for boosting commitment to diversity and inclusion in organizations. You need two critical tools to answer that question for your leadership team: data and education.
Diversity and inclusion (D+I) continues to challenge many organizations. To boost your diversity initiatives within your organization, first and foremost you need the support of the senior management team.
Your senior team may ask why diversity is important. The short answer: It helps the organization succeed at a time when the demographics of the U.S are changing dramatically. Consider the data:
Meanwhile, organizations are already feeling the negative impact of the "war for talent," in which it has become much more difficult to find employees with the skills organizations need to stay competitive. If your organization intends to continue to compete and succeed, it will have to attract all available talent to meet its objectives.
Education is the key to winning over your senior management team's support for a substantial D+I program of work. You have to show your senior team the "what's in it for me" (WIIFM) of your initiative.
Data is widely available—from sources like the Society for Human Resource Management and the federal government—that can help you build a business case for your diversity initiative.
Unfortunately, in many organizations, management continues to confuse equal employment opportunity with D+I. They are completely different. Management, employees, and even some HR professionals continue to see diversity as strictly a matter of race, religion, national origin, gender, and other demographic characteristics. But diversity is more than that. It is a mixture of differences and similarities related to each person's values, beliefs, experiences, background, preferences, and behaviors. And "inclusion" refers to ensuring that everyone in your organization has equal access to opportunities and resources. D+I encompasses everyone.
To increase understanding of the power of D+I in organizations, lots of education is still needed. Education includes using metrics to demonstrate the importance of boosting your organization's diversity initiatives. Data is widely available—from sources like the Society for Human Resource Management and the federal government—that can help you build a business case for your diversity initiative. It is no longer a nice thing to embrace D+I—it is essential if your organization wants to remain competitive.
Understanding your organization and your community is critical to developing any organizational initiative, and particularly one focused on diversity and inclusion. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started:
Diversity and inclusion initiatives will look different depending on your organization's goals and needs. Its culture, community, and constituents will dictate your focus. It will take time, and education is key.
D+I isn't something you can put in place and then walk away. It is ongoing work as our demographics and cultures change.