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Questions and Answers on Building a Culture for Diversity

By Jason Weseman, July 18, 2006

I get great emails from readers just like you who are dealing with the struggles of making a diverse workforce a reality. This week, I'm going to dig deep into the mail bag to share some of these questions, as well as my responses. I also have a free conference call coming up on Thursday, August 3rd, where I'll answer more of your real-time questions and show you how to build a proactive diversity pipeline. If you aren't seeing as many top diverse candidates as you would like, I urge you to sign up now. As always, you can send me questions at jason@adlerconcepts.com, and I promise to respond quickly to every inquiry. As you will see, no question is out-of-bounds; let's work together to make it happen! Now, on to your questions.

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Question 1: Your articles use terms such as diversity initiative and business imperative, and talk about all these new efforts that my company needs to undertake to make a diverse workforce a reality. Haven't we had this forever in the form of affirmative action? Isn't the concept of a diversity initiative really a politically correct way of talking about the old quota system?

Answer: When I write about the need to implement a diversity initiative, I'm not approaching it from any kind of altruistic or regulatory slant. Reality dictates that your workforce will be more diverse in the very near future, so I'm trying to give you some insight into how to find and attract more top diverse candidates, and at the same time, how to best manage your company's diverse human resources. Whatever your feelings are about affirmative action, quotas or any of those other terms that may have negative images attached to them, they don't apply here. This isn't about leveling the playing field or giving anyone an extra advantage; it's about maximizing the contributions of all employees.

Question 2: I'm not convinced. I'm still not buying that what you're talking about isn't simply affirmative action in different packaging. Haven't corporations been trying to make their workforces more diverse for a long time now?

Answer: Very soon, the fact that 70% of all new entrants to the workforce will be minorities or women which will make affirmative action an antiquated concept. We are looking at a completely different set of challenges and opportunities; this goes far beyond race and gender. Instead of looking at it in terms of simply trying to diversify our workforce, we need to start considering if our corporate culture provides an environment where top diverse candidates can excel. This is a completely new angle that much of corporate America simply hasn't addressed yet.

Question 3: I am working very hard to make my team more diverse, but I'm just not finding as many applicants that fit our hiring requirements. If I relax these, don't I risk compromising candidate quality?

Answer: This is where Performance-based Hiring and the use of a Performance Profile become so critical. Many diverse candidates will not have traditional experiences or education because they haven't been given equal access to the "network" in the past. To avoid arbitrarily rejecting otherwise capable applicants, you need to use performance and past accomplishments as your assessment factors rather than the completely out-of-date "7 years experience." A Performance Profile opens up the pool to a broader range of candidates because it focuses on what a person will actually do on the job, what success looks like in that role and what the best do differently. By having everyone that interviews the candidate fully understand the job, this allows them to compare what the person has done in the past to what needs to be done in this job. Most importantly, because you are focusing on true performance, you will never compromise on candidate quality.

Question 4: Let's take a step back. When you say refer to diversity, what do you mean? As a manager, what kind of diversity will I see?

Answer: This is a great question and one that I am asked quite a bit. Too often, we think of diversity only in terms of race or gender. While these are certainly a source of diversity, employees differ along many lines. This can include differences with respect to age, education, lifestyle, years within the organization, personality, even where they live. The important thing is that as a manager, you can never assume how employees differ, but must learn this through your interactions with them. The absolute worst thing you can do as a manager is to think that because you have some experience with members of a given group, you know what 'they' are like.

Question 5: Our upper management seems to have no motivation at all to move forward with a diversity initiative. What can be done to make it a priority?

Answer: A successful, sustainable diversity initiative requires an organizational-wide culture shift that won't happen quickly or easily. To make it a corporate imperative, your company must either A) have leaders that are true visionaries B) experience the negative business impact of having other organizations pass you by as they gain the competitive advantages that diversity has to offer. If your company is one that needs proof or a compelling business case to jump on board with a major undertaking such as a diversity initiative, just wait and do nothing. Your competitors that have made a diverse workforce a top priority will make your case for you. When they utilize the new perspectives that diversity has offered them to tap into new markets and more quickly adapt to the changing global economy, hopefully they'll be nice and wave to you as they blow by you.

Question 6: This sounds like a worthy endeavor, but I just don't have the time to deal with diversity right now. Can't I put it off until next quarter?

Answer: Remember that diversity is about tapping the potential of all employees for the benefit of the company. If you really are so busy doing what you feel is best for your company that you don't have the time to work on building a diverse workforce, consider these questions: Are you too busy to make your company more profitable? Are you too busy to give your company a competitive advantage? Are you too busy to help your company to attract and retain more top talent? If you really are so busy "getting results" that you can't devote efforts to building a diverse workforce, you're going to find yourself with a ton of free time very soon as you lose more and more business and profits to your competition.

I'll discuss these questions and many more on our free conference call on August 3rd, so definitely plan to be there. If you want to be more proactive in building your diversity pipeline, you need to know what top diverse candidates look for when they make a move. I'll help you better understand the criteria that is used, and how you can find and attract more top diverse talent, and make it a habit rather than a miracle. Until then, keep the questions coming and best of luck as we all work towards making a diverse workforce a reality!

Again, send me questions at jason@adlerconcepts.com, and I promise to respond quickly to every inquiry.