What’s Your Approach to Building a Diverse and Inclusive Team?
In the pursuit of a more inclusive workplace, we’ve gathered insights from CEOs and HR professionals on fostering diversity within their teams. From encouraging inclusive sharing sessions to anonymizing resumes to reduce bias, explore the seven key strategies these experts recommend for promoting diversity and inclusion.
- Encourage Inclusive Sharing Sessions
- Recognize Diverse Holidays and Observances
- Hire Internationally for Natural Diversity
- Foster a Safe Space for Perspectives
- Prioritize Diverse Hiring Practices
- Anonymize Resumes to Reduce Bias
- Value Contributions and Personalized Growth
Encourage Inclusive Sharing Sessions
To nurture a diverse and inclusive environment in our team, I’ve taken a simple yet impactful approach—we hold regular sessions where everyone is encouraged to speak up and share their thoughts. The idea is to make sure all voices, from every corner of our company, are heard and valued. It’s a space where we listen eagerly to each other, blending different views to enhance our work.
I’m always there, leading from the front, to show how much we appreciate and learn from these diverse insights. It’s through this practice that we’ve managed to create a workspace that’s not only welcoming but also brimming with creativity and unity.
Valentin Radu, CEO, Founder, Blogger, Speaker, and Podcaster, Omniconvert
Recognize Diverse Holidays and Observances
An effective tactic we see used with many leaders we work with is to recognize all the different holidays and observances their team celebrates.
With substantial amounts of religious and ethnic diversity in the workplace, recognizing observances such as Diwali, Ramadan, Yom Kippur, and Vesak, on top of Christmas and other Christian holidays, is a great way to ensure employees feel welcome and included.
Leaders can go above and beyond by doing their research to gain a better understanding of the significance of these holidays and how they can celebrate with their team.
Hannah Stegen, Co-Founder and Lead Consultant, CultureAlly
Hire Internationally for Natural Diversity
We’ve been an internationally-selling company from day one, and we’ve never really struggled with diversity and inclusion, simply because we tend to hire people from areas around our dual headquarters and also from geographies in which we do business.
This tends to bring in quite a diverse cast of characters, as you might imagine, and provides a functional reason to maintain high diversity and inclusion numbers beyond simple diversity targeting.
It makes the team more adaptable, resilient, and effective, especially when faced with new challenges in new environments with which they don’t have too much experience.
Dragos Badea, CEO, Yarooms
Foster a Safe Space for Perspectives
I try to make sure everyone feels safe to offer their perspective. We respect each other enough to actively listen, engage, and offer respect.
This makes for an inclusive environment where the brightest ideas shine through because our team members aren’t afraid to use their voices.
Kelli Anderson, Career Coach, Texas General Insurance
Prioritize Diverse Hiring Practices
To promote diversity and inclusion among my team members, I prioritize diverse hiring practices. This includes aggressively looking for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, ensuring diverse interview panels, and using inclusive language in job advertisements.
By intentionally expanding our talent pool and providing equal opportunity to all applicants, we build a more inclusive atmosphere that values and celebrates varied perspectives. This step is critical in forming a team that reflects society’s complex tapestry and promotes innovation through diverse experiences and perspectives.
Khunshan Ahmad, CEO, InsideTechWorld
Anonymize Resumes to Reduce Bias
A plethora of research has been conducted regarding unconscious and implicit bias when it comes to resumes, and the findings are simply shocking. Invariably, when the candidate’s name is present on the resume, bias starts to pervade the process, particularly for women and ethnic minority candidates.
Research also shows that implicit bias awareness training almost never mitigates this effect, being far too pervasive and ingrained.
Anonymizing resumes ensures that hiring managers are unaware of the candidate’s ethnicity or gender, protecting the candidate from unintended unconscious bias. This allows hiring managers to screen candidates based on skills and experience alone, giving everyone a fair chance at success.
Chloe Yarwood, HR Manager, Test Partnership
Value Contributions and Personalized Growth
To ensure our team at Reefertilizer is as diverse and inclusive as possible, my strategy includes making sure every member feels their contributions and perspectives are appreciated. I make a conscious effort to bring on board individuals from varied backgrounds during recruitment. We hold regular workshops aimed at appreciating cultural differences, which helps us work better together.
I also offer personalized opportunities for growth and development to suit each team member’s unique talents and goals. I take seriously any feedback on how we can be more inclusive and don’t hesitate to make necessary changes.
Promoting open conversations about diversity is important to understanding and overcoming biases, which, in turn, reinforces our cohesion as a team. My dedication lies in fostering a workspace at Reefertilizer where everyone is genuinely supported and seen as vital to our shared achievements.
Mike Drouin, Co-Founder, Digital Marketing Director, Gardening and Home Improvement Expert, Reefertilizer
