Powering Inclusive Cultures: Why Measurement Matters

Praise for Powering Inclusive Cultures

The book is easy to read and practical. It forces the reader to think about topics in a palatable way while also reassuring them that they are not alone. The stories really give colorful commentary to how organizations are experiencing DEI and seeing their way through. It has thoughtful insight as to how to approach DEI with the data to back it up!

—Tawana Bhagwat, CEO, Organization At Its Best

Leaders know that before embarking on any change, accessing the current situation is a must. The same is true when engaging in organizational or individual advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion. Chris Jones uses straight forward language, relatable stories and clear research-based recommendations that will help you access and then take actions toward achieving your DEI goals.

—Lenora Billings-Harris, Author, Trailblazers: How Top Business Leaders are Accelerating Results through Inclusion and Diversity

Small and medium sized organizations are competing for talent with large organizations. In that competitive world, having an inclusive and welcoming organization is a must have—not a nice to have. Powering Inclusive Cultures is an excellent book to find out what needs doing in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion—and how to do it. Begin with measurement, so you can track your progress. Until then, you don’t know what you don’t know.

—Julie Kratz, Author, Allyship in Action

I read a lot of books on DEI. What I really appreciated about this book are the learning activities which provide some really impactful aha moments. Spoiler alert … did you know that without diverse leadership, People of Color are 24 percent less likely than straight white men to win endorsements for their ideas? I can see using the quizzes in each chapter as a great icebreaker for team meetings!

—LaJuana Warren, CEO Founder, Tapestry

In Powering Inclusive Cultures: Why Measurement Matters, author Chris Jones showcases exemplary leadership by emphasizing the crucial role of statistically sound data and analysis as the foundation for effective diversity and inclusion initiatives. With a comprehensive exploration of various dimensions of diversity, this book provides a practical roadmap for organizations striving to build inclusive cultures that truly empower all individuals.

—Amy C. Waninger, Author, Lead at Any Level

Copyright © 2023 by Christine Jones.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written consent of the author, except as provided by the United States of America copyright law.

Published by Advantage Books, Charleston, South Carolina.

An imprint of Advantage Media.

ADVANTAGE is a registered trademark, and the Advantage colophon is a trademark of Advantage Media Group, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America.

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ISBN: 978-1-64225-560-7 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-64225-559-1 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023911837

Cover design by Lance Buckley.

Layout design by Lance Buckley.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Advantage Media helps busy entrepreneurs, CEOs, and leaders write and publish a book to grow their business and become the authority in their field. Advantage authors comprise an exclusive community of industry professionals, idea-makers, and thought leaders. Do you have a book idea or manuscript for consideration? We would love to hear from you at advantagemedia.com.

Till Jesse och Leila med vilkorslös kärlek.

(To Jesse and Leila, with unconditional love.)

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

Where to Start?

CHAPTER 2

Are You Measuring What Matters?

CHAPTER 3

How Can You Drive Change in Your Organization?

CHAPTER 4

Do All Genders Feel Respected and Heard?

CHAPTER 5

Are People of Color Underrepresented in Your Company?

CHAPTER 6

Are People of All Sexual Orientations Welcome Here?

CHAPTER 7

Are You Providing Accommodations for People with a Disability?

CHAPTER 8

Are You Undervaluing Your Older and Younger Employees?

CHAPTER 9

Where Are All the Veterans?

NOW WHAT?

Final DEI Steps

START, STOP, CONTINUE

APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

—MARK TWAIN

Does This Ring a Bell?

If you’re a CEO or C-suite executive, the idea of measuring diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in your organization may be the stuff of nightmares. I had one executive tell me flat out, No way are we measuring ourselves. It would be awful. That may ring a bell for you. And you may think that bias training is the answer—even though it is rarely the solution.

DEI is a hot topic. The murder of George Floyd and the summer of Black Lives Matter protests brought diversity, equity and inclusion to the forefront. In a survey conducted in October of 2020, 96 percent of CEOs said that DEI was a top priority for them. Additionally, 90 percent put employee recruitment, development, advancement and retention as a strategic goal. As of this writing, executives seem to have cooled a bit in their interest in and commitment to DEI. The importance, however, remains unchanged.

As a CEO or C-suite executive, you have a valuable role in the continuum of DEI progress for your organization. In this book we’ll show you why bias training alone doesn’t work, and we’ll give you tools that will work. This book is not about discrimination—which is already illegal and has been addressed in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rulings and in many other ways. This book is about building resilience and outlines what it takes to move the DEI needle in a positive direction. You’ll learn answers to questions like these:

•What is DEI, and why is it so hard?

•What techniques have proved effective beyond bias training?

•What have other companies done?

You may want to have a pen or pencil handy. The activities in this book will help you create muscle memory and internalize some of the lessons learned.

We also feature case studies from a variety of organizations to demonstrate what does and does not work. Let’s start with an aviation museum.

CASE STUDY: Aviation Museum

If you knew nothing about aviation, you may think that an aviation museum includes the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh and possibly Amelia Earhart. That much is true. One museum’s massive collection of aircraft is the story of male pilots, male astronauts (in the beginning), aircraft and wars. Their collection runs from the birth of flight through experimental aircraft to spaceflight.

However, some people and events were noticeably missing. For example, Ed Dwight was the first Black man to enter the air force training program from which NASA selected astronauts. He was forced to resign from NASA after making it all the way up to Phase II of training because America wasn’t ready for a Black astronaut. There is no mention of him in the museum’s exhibit on the Mercury program training. There are no books, movies or museum exhibits that tell his story.

Where does Ed belong in the history of aviation?

Another issue that concerned the museum was the demographic makeup of their staff and volunteers. They contacted my organization, Spectra Diversity, in 2019 and began with an assessment to collect their demographics and perceptions regarding management, culture and policies and practices and procedures.

Initially they thought they had a race issue. Maybe a gender issue. It turns out they had a generational issue. Their assessment results showed that employees who were twenty-five to thirty-four years old scored significantly lower than their older counterparts on organizational questions.

The assessment also captured responses to open-ended questions:

Do you have suggestions to foster more diversity and inclusion at our museum?

Are there instances of exclusion/noninclusion that you have experienced or witnessed at our museum?

Note that the museum was looking for the positive (ideas for the future) and the negative (examples of exclusion). Spectra Diversity’s assessment, along with the results, enabled the museum to move forward in a positive and more inclusive direction.

Their open-ended responses included:

•Hire diverse populations for fundraising, education, exhibits, docents

•Tell a more inclusive story; the current collection is about things (aircraft, aviation, space)

•Approach wider group of people (underserved youth)

•Examine how different socioeconomic backgrounds affect behavior

•Be willing to be uncomfortable and see privilege

•Hold ourselves accountable for willful ignorance (we are white centric)

•Recognize that People of Color are burdened with the task of educating and guiding the majority.

As a result, the museum has:

•Created a DEI task council

•Conducted diversity and inclusion training for all staff and volunteers

•Revitalized exhibit spaces to be more inclusive of diverse stories

•Improved Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access in all areas

Kudos to the museum for beginning this work before others jumped on the great bandwagon which assembled worldwide after George Floyd’s murder sparked a wave of protests against racial injustice.

The museum acknowledges what all of us should—that the goal of diversity, equity and inclusion is a journey and not a destination.

Their work continues.

Don’t Be Afraid

Big organizations (3M, Target, Microsoft, etc.) have been working on diversity and inclusion (D&I) for decades. They have rooms full of D&I people. They have programs, training and systems in place. Even so—some of them make colossal boo-boos (a Starbucks story to illustrate this point will come later).

But what about small- and medium-size organizations? They may only have an HR person in charge of everything D&I related. They may have drafted an employee who happens to be Black, Asian American or another underrepresented group to oversee diversity and inclusion on top of whatever their regular job may be.

Since the pandemic began, we have witnessed the great resignation—a popular phrase referring to the thirty-three million people who left their jobs since the start of 2021. Considering these numbers, how can small organizations compete with bigger ones? Because compete they must. Since the summer of 2020, those of underrepresented races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientation and abilities have had their eyes opened in a major way. There is no chance of unknitting that sweater or unringing that bell.

Employees everywhere have woken up. Taking a line from the movie Network, I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!

Power versus Empower

The title of this book is intentional. It indicates what we’re hoping you will do: power an inclusive culture at your organization. Powering and empowering are not synonyms, although they are often used interchangeably.

When you’re empowering something (or someone), you’re giving the authority or power to do something. It is a gift. You’re in control of it until you give it away. This book isn’t about empowering anyone. It’s about powering an inclusive culture in your organization.

In contrast, when you’re powering something, you’re supplying energy. Powering is to move with great speed or force. Powering inclusion is generating it or fueling it. This book will show you how to do that. You will learn everything you need to know about powering an inclusive culture in your organization.

Multiple research studies show us the business case and benefits of diversity and inclusion.

This begs the question: What happens to organizations that don’t make diversity, equity and inclusion a priority in their organization?

Citi GPS (Global Perspectives and Solutions) released a report in September of 2020 titled Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps, which speaks to the economic cost of Black inequality in the US.

CONSIDER THIS:

•Closing the Black wage gap could have added $2.7 trillion in income available for consumption or investment.

•Facilitating easy access to higher education for Black students could have increased lifetime incomes $90–$113 billion.

•Improving access to housing credit might have added an additional 770,000 Black homeowners, adding $218 billion in sales and expenditures.

•Providing fair and equitable lending to Black entrepreneurs might have resulted in the creation of an additional $13 trillion in business revenue and potentially created 6.1 million jobs per year.

If these racial gaps were closed today, we could see $5 trillion of additional GDP over the next five years, or an average add of 0.35 percentage points to US GDP growth per year and 0.09 percentage points to global growth per year. I highly recommend the Citi GPS report for further reading.

After the start of COVID-19 and the death of George Floyd, interest in DEI skyrocketed. Culture Amp’s 2022 report, Workplace Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Report: Understanding the DEI Landscape, surveyed 2,100 companies and a total of 1.1 million employees. One of the general trends discovered is that in 2021, 83 percent of employees felt that their company valued diversity, whereas only 72 percent of these same employees felt that their company builds diverse teams.

Not only are organizations failing to walk the talk, but they are also failing to put money where their public-facing mission statement is.

The leadership team can more effectively define diversity and inclusion within the org and purposefully communicate its importance to the team, as many beliefs are implicit instead of explicit. On a personal level, we can better equip managers to support team members who have backgrounds different than their own and equip all team members to work with people different than them.

—Anonymous¹

The time is now.

CEOs, C-suite executives and managers in any size of organization should begin their journey now. It doesn’t have to break the bank to determine

•how you begin,

•where you stand now,

•what you can measure and what the results mean and

•how you can move forward.

This book is about powering your organization forward on the diversity, equity and inclusion journey, even—and especially—when you aren’t sure where to begin.

The Elephant in the Room

If you’ve looked at this book’s cover, you can see that I’m a white woman. Not only that, but I’m a white cisgender baby boomer. As with the aviation museum, I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery, learning and making mistakes, combined with a passion to leave the world a better place than when I entered it. Think of my DEI experience as a learning journey rather than an experience journey.

My journey began with social activism (imagine a long-haired blond hippie, a Vietnam War protester). It moved into empathy when several of my close friends died of AIDS in the 1980s, when we didn’t know what it was, how it was transmitted or whether there would ever be a cure. It continued with decades of letters to the editor, the Women’s March in Washington, DC, in January of 2017 and protesting the separation of families at our southern border in 2018.

It also