Engaging Executive Leaders as D&I Sponsors
Since 2006, the company that I work for has been rated periodically as part of the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The CEI measures the actions that an organization takes to create an inclusive workplace for members of the LGBTQ+ community, looking at policies, benefits offerings, available training, and corporate sponsorship of community organizations. Organizations receive a rating (on a 100 point scale), and for that past 11 years, the company that I work for has not fared well. That first rating (in 2006) was 15 out of 100 points. And we sat at a rating of fifteen until 2013, when our score dropped to 10 out of 100 points.[1]
Over the last year, though, things have changed. Our Benefits team made some key decisions to provide more inclusive healthcare options, including coverage of hormone therapies and gender confirmation surgery for transgender employees and/or transgender members of employees’ immediate families. We added language to our anti-discrimination policies that includes “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. And we began to reach beyond our own organization by sponsoring the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
And while these things were not done for the specific purpose of achieving a higher CEI score, they did allow us to submit an initial self-rating of 80 out of 100 points.[2]
It’s a success story, and one that makes me proud to be a part of the company that work for. We seem to be on the right track, building a more inclusive workplace for employees who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. And while I’m thrilled that we’ve gone from 10 points to 80, I’m now looking at how we close the remaining gap – getting from 80 to 100.
Because the jump from 10 points to 80 was done rather quietly. Benefits decisions were made, and policy text was changed, but that was done without any real fanfare or debate. We’ve made some important changes. But the last 20 points require that we speak up. In order to achieve 100 points, we need to talk openly about LGBTQ+ issues in the workplace, through a combination of leadership training and, potentially, and Employee Resource Group. We need to expand our active sponsorship of the LGBTQ+ communities in the locations where we operate.
To put it another way, we’ve reached the limit of the work that we can do quietly. Forward progress is going to require that we speak up and speak out as an organization. And that will require a different level of executive sponsorship and commitment than what we’ve asked of our executive team so far.
During the last fifteen months, I’ve written about the journey that I’ve been on as a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) practitioner, and the journey that my company has been on as we’ve worked to define and execute a D&I strategy. As with the example of our organization’s CEI rating, we’ve started to do some good things around the world. We’ve created awareness and conversation, and provided development opportunities for employees to adopt skills and best practices in the area of inclusive leadership. And, earlier this year, we were acquired by a company that also believes in a business case for inclusion and diversity. We’re headed in the right direction.
That said, we’re building a culture – not just working on a set of initiatives. Embedding inclusion as part of who we are requires active, visible sponsorship from our executives and senior leaders. This is nothing new. Executive sponsorship has always been foundational for the successful adoption of diversity and inclusion as part of an organization’s identity. I think back to some of the benchmarking that I had an opportunity to do in early 2015. I met with the Chief Diversity Officer of Cummins Inc., in Columbus, IN. And I found out that their D&I journey traced its roots to the mid-1960’s, and the Civil Rights Movement. Their CEO at the time felt a personal passion and connection to the movement, and held leaders in the organization accountable for supporting a culture of inclusion. I met with other organizations, where the CEO’s vision was more market-driven, seeing opportunities for product and service innovation through a commitment to diversity. In all of these instances, though, there was no doubt that the organizations’ D&I efforts were actively supported from the top.
Sponsorship is critical. Without it, a group of committed employees can drive D&I efforts to a certain point. But, to be frank, those efforts are constantly at risk when D&I is not part of the culture, regularly reinforced by senior and executive leadership.
For practitioners seeking to engage leaders as D&I sponsors, there are some really big, important questions to ask of those prospective sponsors…
What is your current understanding of the issues impacting inclusion in our organization?
Are you willing to challenge that understanding by hearing other perspectives?
Why does it matter to you that our workplace is an inclusive space where diverse perspectives are welcomed and affirmed?
What do you see as the business case for inclusion at this time?
What do you want to communicate to our employees about Diversity & Inclusion, through your words and actions?
What do you want to communicate to our customers about Diversity & Inclusion, through your words and actions?
What do you want to communicate to the communities in which we live and work, through your words and actions?
What are you committed to do about it?
Some of these questions may be challenging. Some may need to be handled with care, so as not to alienate a key sponsor. But I think that they’re all important to ask. Hopefully, prospective sponsors are willing and open to learn from others in the organization, or from outside experts. Hopefully, these questions, and leaders’ responses, are the start of a broader, deeper conversation.
And while sponsor commitment is essential, I don’t want to make that commitment sound like a one-way street. Practitioners, like those on D&I Advisory Councils, need to think hard about what executive and senior leader commitment looks like. What do we need to ask, specifically, that our leaders do? What learning opportunities might we provide for them? How do we need for them to support what we’re seeking to do in the organization and the community?
Later this month, the D&I Advisory Council at my company will be meeting, and these questions are going to be a key part of the agenda. We want to move the organization from awareness, into a desire for action. An active coalition of sponsors is going to be critical to our long-term, deeply-embedded D&I success.
And if we’re successful, maybe next year we’ll close the 20 point gap on the CEI questionnaire. Maybe we’ll establish ourselves in the communities where we operate as a company that is committed to diverse hiring and inclusive leadership. Perhaps we’ll further embed D&I within our company culture. It’s all within reach, and highly achievable – through a productive collaboration between practitioners and sponsors.
[1] This drop actually wasn’t because of anything that the company changed. The criteria for ratings shifted to account for larger societal changes, as meeting some criteria became mandated by regulations, or became so commonplace that they no longer warranted any sort of special recognition.
[2] Preliminary ratings are determined through a process that begins with organizations answering an annual questionnaire and providing supporting documents. Final ratings are published by the Human Rights Campaign later in the year, once all questionnaire submissions have been verified.
