Today's thriving organizations require collaborations that bridge differences of race, gender, religion, and other identity characteristics. In the US the 20th century, the inspiration behind many diversity initiatives was due to legal and moral justification to correct pastor's rumination. Diversity initiatives can create higher performing teams that take care of their customers, innovate, and solve problems creatively. When diversity and inclusion are part of your strategy, you improve employee, experience, and performance. Naturally, employees will be more engaged and successful when they can use their unique strengths and skills. An environment of inclusion enhances team members sense of belonging, which is extremely important to building trust in teams. However, discrimination and bias are still very much part of organizational life for women and minorities. This problem has many symptoms including, but not limited to, pay disparities, discrimination, and lack of women and minorities in leadership positions. A recent interview of Karen Twaronite, global diversity and inclusiveness officer at EY, formerly Ernst and Young, says that diversity and inclusion itself are very simple concepts. However, they are made more complicated due to our human nature. Quite often, unconscious bias or hidden beliefs that drive your behavior prevents teams from addressing diversity and inclusion issues effectively. Moving past these biases can be very difficult. Because of negative consequences of biases on team performance, companies like Google, Nike, and Facebook are investing in anti bias training for employees at all levels of the organization. What steps can teams and organizations take to be more inclusive and diverse? The following cases of Nike and UnitedHealth Group are designed to provide live examples of how diversity and inclusion initiatives are implemented within two large organizations. Key aspects of these organizations that promote high performance are; One, organizations and teams need both diversity and inclusion. It's not enough to bring people together with diverse or different backgrounds to achieve high performance. As Donna Brazile acclaimed political strategist says, "Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance." Teams must be intentional about welcoming diverse types of people to the table and figuring out how they can do their boss work together. Two, diversity and inclusion initiatives work best when they are incorporate throughout the organization. Diversity and inclusion efforts can only stay with employees who have the title diversity in their professional job. In addition, women and minorities cannot be solely responsible for taking on and leading this charge. Number three, be accountable to your data. For example; Google and Nike recently published demographic information on their employee base. With this publication, Google has recognized the need to become a more diverse company and to retain people of color more effectively. Nike, on the other hand, has a strong representation of people of color, but less gender diversity in management positions. In these cases, data helps to drive the strategy and growth of diversity initiatives. First, I'll go through the story of how Google went public with their data and how they're using it to develop high performing teams. Next, I'll talk about bank initiatives to show you how the organization incorporates both diversity and inclusion into their global company infrastructure. Then, Derek Newberry will interview Jackie Barton, Vice-President of Human Capital at United Healthcare Community and State, a division of UnitedHealth Group. She will discuss efforts to leverage diversity at UnitedHealthcare in order to help the company grow and connect with a broad range of customers and stakeholders. See you soon.
