5 Talent Acquisition Basics that Deliver Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Results

A few months ago, I began meeting with diversity and inclusion leaders at different tech organizations and realized, something is missing! I found that most efforts are too focused on fulfilling a fundamental human need for belongingness. However, in order to truly impact diversity, equity, and inclusion, our efforts must supersede feelings of belonging, and focus on the degree to which employees perceive they are esteemed members of the organization. This perception is driven by experiencing a treatment that satisfies feelings of belonging in a professional sense; such as demographic representation in executive roles, clear opportunity for internal self-advancement and fair pay, to name a few. Sounds familiar?

Given my background driving Talent Acquisition teams (my last role was as an executive for one of Forbes’ Americas Largest Private Companies), I have found ways to influence diversity, equity, and inclusion from a practical, bottom line angle. In full disclosure, I have never called “it” the Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, but rather, the How We Win Strategic Plan.

Here is an overview of 5 core components of the How We Win Strategic Plan, I hope you find them useful:

1.    Strategize

Every organization typically defines priorities for each fiscal year. For the most part, most strategic plans, involve improving some aspect of talent initiatives: higher applicant pool, better qualified, more diverse, etc. Understanding the company’s talent challenges, needs and wants is the most important start. In order to make a plan, first, you need to understand where your department stands – how many applicants do you have per month, week, per position, per department, what kind of applicant, where is the applicant coming from; internal or external, who do you hire and why, review selection notes, look for commonalities, look for inconsistencies, who is getting selected and who is not, what are your retention numbers per month, per 6 months, per 9 months- which department has the highest retention, which manager… which recruiter.

Once you have all of this data, analyze it as it relates to competition, industry standards, company performance and most importantly, enterprise strategic goals. Identify trends, challenges, common denominators, make commitments that address your findings and that you know you can meet. Start with low, attainable commitments.  

2.    Implement

The real impact is the result of the implementation of trackable, consistent and standard practices. Two of the most impactful initiatives driving diversity and inclusion are the internal and external talent selection methodology definition and process standardization. In regard to defining the selection methodology, performance review competencies must be aligned with Job Description requirements and tasks. That alignment should then drive selection interview questions and ratings. The talent selection matrix should be driven by candidate’s selection ratings which should incorporate diverse factors: experience, education, assessments, manager fit, team enhancement, etc. Diversifying your selection methodology to include 6-10 measurable components gives management enough objective data to compare the candidate against the job versus typical informal selection processes where the manager compares the candidate to other candidates and thus risks making a biased selection. The implementation of systems, processes, and practices that minimize subjectivity in the recruitment and selection of talent is by far the most effective way to increase diversity and equity (from a salary, job title, etc. perspective). 

3.    Measure

Measuring results is the only way to understand how or why you reached specific results or how to incrementally improve them. It is also an effective way to make correlations between different initiatives, people leading those initiatives and their results. When team members are accountable for tracking their own efforts, and results, it is more likely for them to create a personal awareness of what is and what is not working.

4.    Communicate

Ensure that your immediate team is aware of how their actions and activities are impacting department and company KPIs and highlight their efforts in periodic emails addressed to executive management. In regard to those being hired or promoted- regardless of demographics, ensure each recruiter is following up on a consistent basis with both, the hiring manager and the employee and that they address questions, concerns, etc. appropriately. Communicating your findings, strategy, initiatives and most importantly, key learnings of your team’s journey will drive advocates your way.

5.    Empower

Most ERG (Employee Resource Group) members express frustration with spending too much time talking about “the problem” and not being able to actually do something about it. Feeling hopeless drives disengagement and thus turnover. The fact is, employees, want to be part of a winning organization but most importantly they want to feel like they themselves are winning. To embrace the “How We Win” behaviors, it is critical that every single advancement, promotion, hire, etc. is showcased and directly correlated to overall company performance. Ensure your internal teams understand their responsibility to such advancement- where do they stand against next level requirements, where can they acquire the new skills, who should they reach out to for mentorship and sponsorship, and most importantly, if they applied for an internal role and did not get the promotion, what do they need to do differently. Once you support people in developing, belonging will no longer be about cultural fit but rather about personal impact. Everyone talks about how difficult it is to change a company's culture- but in my experience, not impossible. Culture change starts with people and Talent Acquisition is the door to consistent and standard practices that keep everyone involved in the hiring and promoting process accountable to selecting the behaviors, talents, experiences, ideas, etc. driving a more diverse and inclusive environment.