Diversity & Inclusion How to Seek Buy-In From Your Senior Leadership Team

Diversity & Inclusion How to Seek Buy-In From Your Senior Leadership Team Accelerating the path to gender equality in the workplace cant happen without buy-in from your companys leaders.To brainstorm ways to engage senior leadership to advance diversity in the workplace, leaders from Nielsen, IBM, Google, Facebook, PwC, Accenture, Robert Half and Salesforce recently came together at Galvanize 2019, a two-day summit hosted by Fairygodboss.Over 300 attendees gather at Galvanize 2019 in New York CityUnless your senior leadership team is bought in, work is not going to advance as rapidly as you want it to, said Paul Francisco, the Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Workforce Development Programs at State Street . Our leadership is bought in at State Street. They understand the value of this work and that makes our job easier. Today, State Street has 30 employee networks over 70% of which are sponsored by executive vice presidents.Paul Francisco, the Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Workforce Development at State StreetAnd the proof is in the pudding. Across the board, employees value opportunity and fairness, said MeKala Krishnan. According to McKinseys Women in the Workplace report, employees are three times more likely to stay at a company if they perceive the organization to be fair and offer opportunities.Mekala Krishnan, Senior Fellow, McKinsey multinational InstituteCreating a culture of fairness and inclusion starts at the top and companies are starting to hold leaders more accountable for diversity and inclusion initiatives. We need to make senior leaders and managers champions of diversity, Krishnan said. After all, gender equality is not just the right thing to do its the smart thing to do.It has to start with senior leadership, agrees Pamela Lipp-Hendricks, the Head of Talent Management and Diversity at JPMorgan Chase. The impact wont be felt if you dont have senior leadership support.Diversity leaders from Robert Half, Honeywell, IBM, Salesforce a nd Cognizant at Galvanize 2019Diversity cant come off the table when times get hard, warned Annie Jean-Baptiste, Head of Product Inclusion at Google. We have to remember that diversity initiatives will set us up for success in the future, and are never a nice-to-have.So whats the first step to getting your top leaders on board with supporting ERGs and other diversity initiatives? Leaders need to understand the value that an ERG brings to the table, and understand that its much more than networking, said Celeste Warren, the Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence of Merck. ERGs impact business results.Lorna Hagen, Chief People Officer at iHeartMedia takes it one step further. Go to your CEO and shame them into action, she said.Leadership at Accenture.Jimmy Etheredge, Accentures Group Chief Executive of North AmericaJimmy Etheredge, the Group Chief Executive North America at Accenture, believes that true neuschpfung and growth comes from a diverse workfor ce. We put an emphasis on equality because thats the right thing to do, he says. When women rise, we all rise. Thats why in order for our company to grow, we need diversity. Today, Etheredge strongly believes that there are great business reasons to advance diversity, including innovation and company growth.Leadership at Deloitte.Joe Ucuzoglu, the CEO of DeloitteJoe Ucuzoglu, the CEO of Deloitte also believes that a more diverse workforce is critical to business success. I cant reinforce strongly enough how important an inclusive culture is, he said at Galvanize. At Deloitte, the issue is directly connected to our business strategy.As the head of a multinational consulting company, Ucuzoglu knows that in diverse teams lack innovation and growth potential, which is bad for business. He also knows that diversity is what people want. Our people demand an organization that aligns with their values and if they dont see it, theyll leave.Although diversity is integral to Deloittes values, Ucuzoglu believes we still have tremendous work to do. Right now the rate of change isnt acceptable and we need to be willing to call that out.Leadership at Nielsen.David Kenny, CEO and Chief Diversity Officer at NielsenIts not often that you hear a title like CEO and Chief Diversity Officer, but for David Kenny at Nielsen, the two roles are integral to one another.Today, Nielsen is a great example of how to elevate womens ERGs and ensure these communities are active and productive. With nine resource groups total -- Women in Nielsen being the largest -- Kenny quickly established a rule that if you manage people, you must be an active member of an ERG. Managers are then evaluated in their performance reviews based on their participation. This rule has especially opened the eyes of a lot men Kenny said.Today, Kenny, as the head of diversity at the company, is also committed to hiring diverse candidates and has laid out a plan to ensure that more women are being considered for positio ns and promotions at Nielsen. For every position filled at the company, at least two women must be actively considered.Your 2020 Blueprint for Gender Diversity in the Workplace.To help your company accelerate the path towards gender equality, seek buy-in from senior leadership and increase business results, were excited to release our latest resource, Take your diversity investment up a levelBuild your pipeline of qualified female talentEngage male alliesSeek buy-in from the topRethink the future of work