Allow Respectful Discussion
This is a crucial step, if employees are being expected to embrace diversity, they need to know what it means – and sometimes that means asking questions or confronting outdated beliefs; if your staff think they’re going to be punished for not understanding or misconceiving something, they’re not going to speak up.
This is a tricky situation, because you don’t want people being offensive and deliberately divisive under the guise of ‘misunderstanding’ but at the same time, if you haven’t provided genuine education on current expectations, meanings, and the impact that some actions can have – then you can’t actively prevent them from occurring in your company culture.
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Implementing Your Plans
Once you’ve laid the groundwork for your Diversity Plan, you need to roll it out across the business – this isn’t as simple as sending an email saying, “These are the new rules, we expect you to follow them.”
You need to make sure the strategy is a good fit, that your teams are receptive and understanding of the changes, and then you need to monitor the results at every stage, implementing new processes and offering training as appropriate.
In order to successfully roll out your plan, you need to:
- Make the plans clear and accessible to employees before you start.
- Set a clear and well-defined timetable for when events are occurring, and when certain actions or behaviours will be in effect from.
- Make sure your managers understand the plans and are actively supporting or championing them – your employees will look to their immediate leaders for appropriate behaviour, and if they don’t see it from their bosses, they’re not going to feel inclined to change how they behave.
- Set up clear lines of communication – let people know they can safely ask questions, and also have an appropriate way to report issues. There should be protections in place for reporting genuine issues, and consequences for abusing the process.
- Review often! You need to develop feasible solutions that are realistic, intentional, and have a genuine (and measurable) impact.
As you grow and develop, your diversity plan will change as well – and the more effort you make to be inclusive, the more results your business will see.