“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose works were known for their vivid colors and emotional impact
“Diversity and inclusion exists when members of an organization act in a manner that recognizes and respects individual similarities and differences such that employees feel they and their work are valued and meaningfully contribute to the mission of the organization.”
StrategyDriven Contributors
A diverse and inclusive work environment can only exist when members of an organization act in a manner that respects employee similarities and differences such that employees feel they and their work are valued and meaningfully contribute to the mission of the organization. It is in this kind of environment that employees become engaged and motivated to contribute the full extent of their knowledge, skills, and experience to the benefit of the organization on a day-to-day basis. Because they feel valued, employees within a diverse and inclusive work environment are less likely to seek employment opportunities elsewhere; subsequently reducing attrition and its associated productivity knowledge, and social cost.[wcm_restrict plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]
Diversity and inclusion is not the forcible redistribution of corporate power and wealth to its unique minority employee classes. Rather, diversity and inclusion seeks equitable distribution of rewards and opportunities to all employees based on their quantifiable contributions to the organization free from the skewing that often takes place because of organizationally held biases. Put another way, the diverse and inclusive organization is a meritocracy where performance is factually assessed against predefined, measurable benchmarks uniformly applied to all employees and equitable rewards are distributed on the basis of the individual’s performance.
In these terms, equality is both easy and difficult to define. As in all accountable organizations, contribution of the individual is assessed against predefined measures cascaded down from the organization’s mission; helping to simplify and quantify and individuals overall contribution to the organization in comparison to that of others. What is more difficult is to equitably reward individuals in a way they find to be of value; value personalized to the individual and equitable in cost to the organization when compared with rewards given to others demonstrating similar performance.
Changing Workforce Demographics and the Definition of Value
But what makes an employee feel valued?
Studies show that what makes us feel valued differs depending on our particular circumstance and background. Often, these studies assess the needs, values, and attitudes of individuals sharing a common background to provide broad insight to what makes members of these groups seek and subsequently make them feel valued. While not perfect, these studies provide a starting point for becoming aware of and understanding individual preferences; awareness and understanding that is becoming increasingly important given the rapidly changing workforce demographic.
Fallacy of the Golden Rule
“Treat others as you would like to be treated.”
The Golden Rule
Wikipedia
Everyone defines value differently. While studies suggest members of a defined demographic find value in similar rewards, individuals within these groups will differ in what they believe is of value. Therefore, while important to recognize general group-related preferences, members of a diverse and inclusive organization must understand what is important to an individual in order to reward him/her in a way that makes that person feel valued.
Thus, the fallacy of the Golden Rule. It assumes others want to be treated in the same manner we do. If we treat others as we would like to be treated, that is in a manner that makes us feel valued, we risk making these individuals feel unappreciated because of omission or worse yet, treating them in a way they find demeaning. Therefore, to ensure our behaviors and organizational systems make individuals feel genuinely and equitably valued for their contributions, we need a new rule.
The Platinum Standard
“Treat others the way they want to be treated.”
The Platinum Rule
Tony Alessandra, PhD
The Platinum Rule lies at the center of a diverse and inclusive work environment. The power of this rule comes from the fact that it demands action be taken to demonstrate an understanding and respect for others’ uniqueness. Following this rule means that individuals are valued based on their contributions and equitably rewarded in ways they find to be of value. When this occurs, individuals feel appreciated and more fully engage with the organization and its value creating work.
Scope of Diversity and Inclusion
When discussing diversity and inclusion several questions tend to naturally arise: To whom does diversity and inclusion apply? What must this program include? When will the organization know it is diverse and inclusive?
Diversity and inclusion involves and applies to all members of an organization; permeating its culture, policies, and programs. While diversity and inclusion encompasses both the Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity programs, these represent legal minimums against which discrimination is judged; not a benchmark for diversity and inclusion excellence. (See Figure 1)
To reach beyond legal minimums and truly maximize the potential of all employees, diverse and inclusive organizations embody a culture of valuing individuals through:
Beyond its own walls, a diverse and inclusive organization will promote their values through activities such as:
Thus, while encompassing the Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity programs, diversity and inclusion is far deeper and richer; representing a broader array of programs and more importantly a mindset, a way of being and behaving, that is embraced by all members of the organization, who in turn understand that being diverse and inclusive is an ever evolving journey, one without an end.
Final Thoughts…
Organizational diversity is often defined in terms of the national workforce. While a convenient standard against which to measure an organization’s diversity, we find the most effective diversity assessments focus on the organization’s demographic as at times those who are members of the national majority will themselves be in the minority within a particular organization. Similarly, inclusiveness applies to all employees; with understanding and respect afforded everyone regardless of their diversity status.
It is the opinion of this author that while diverse and inclusive organizations are not necessarily accountable, highly accountable organizations will always be diverse and inclusive or in the process of becoming more so. Consider an organization of notable size; being large enough to warrant an organization structure where labor is divided into specialized work groups such as departments or divisions. Simple mathematics suggest that organizations of this size cannot be highly accountable without being diverse and inclusive because an organization resisting diversity would incur significantly higher recruitment costs in order to maintain a homogeneous employee set given the increasingly diverse American workforce. These costs would be incurred from the expanded search for qualified employees required as a result of passing over organizationally defined minority candidates. Additionally, failure to equitably recognize and reward organizational minority employees will disenfranchise these individuals; resulting in lower productivity and increased turnover, both of which negatively impact the organization’s bottom line. Such unnecessary costs diminish the organization’s ultimate return to stakeholders; thus relegating it to the realm of the unaccountable.
While it may be easier to measure the cost savings that higher productivity and lower attrition afford the diverse and inclusive organization, I believe an even greater, if less tangible, benefit results from the convergence of the differing experiences, perspectives, and opinions members of these organizations possess. Because members of diverse and inclusive organizations respect and value each other, they tend to work better in teams; ably synthesizing their differing thoughts into a richer, deeper understanding of opportunities and challenges. Communications regarding these circumstances flow and are heard more readily both vertically and horizontally throughout these organizations. Combined with the superior talent earned by high accountability, diverse and inclusive organizations subsequently gain access to opportunities and avoid problems that remain unseen by more homogeneous groups.
Becoming diverse and inclusive is not an exercise that takes place in a day, a week, or even a month but instead evolves over longer periods of time. As organizations increase their level of accountability, they will naturally evolve into a more diverse and inclusive workplace with individuals representing an increasingly wide range of backgrounds assuming more and more positions both vertically and horizontally across the organization.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]
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In March 2010, Fast Company ran a piece entitled “Strategic Planning is Dead, Long Live Strategy Execution,” a few weeks earlier the Wall Street Journal declared that “Strategic Plans Lose Favor.” So is strategic planning another victim of the economic tsunami that has washed over the world?
It is easy to jump on the bandwagon and declare that in today’s volatile and uncertain world strategic planning is irrelevant. Amidst all the talk of flexibility, agility, speed and responsiveness, strategic planning seems oddly out of place. After all how useful can a long-term view of future be when our predictive ability is so poor?
However, before we discard strategy lets back up, maybe the problem is not strategic planning itself but the way in which we apply the technique. As Michael Porter author of numerous books that are essentials in the library of any strategic planner commented: “Strategy is a word that gets used in so many ways with so many meanings that it can end up being meaningless.”
[wcm_restrict]Porter is right. The whole subject of strategy has become too confusing. It seems that everything is strategic; otherwise, it is not really that important. We have become overwhelmed with strategic plans, strategic vision, strategic thinking, strategic insight, strategic management, strategic information, strategic marketing, strategic branding, strategic positioning, and even strategic bombing. Appending strategy or strategic to anything elevates its significance and that of anyone associated with it. “Oh, I’m working on a strategic project,” marks you as a very important person who is going places. Frankly we have lost the plot. Today you can define strategy just about any way you like, and that is a large part of the problem. Here are just a few definitions ranging from the confusing to the merely stupid:
However, none of these make my top three listing of the most absurd definitions of strategy. In best beauty pageant form, here they are in reverse order, with my comments in italics:
Clearly, there is no clarity! Yet strategic planning should be both important and valuable provided it is kept in perspective—strategies are not five-year budgets, obscure aspirational statements that have little grounding in reality, or excuses for each new management team to put its own stamp on an organization. Done right, strategy lays out a direction and focus that guides an organization’s actions. Instead of handicapping management in times of uncertainty, strategy provides a foundation for fast, confident decision-making.
Keeping strategy simple makes it very easy to ask basic questions as ideas, opportunities, or events arise that impact an organization such as: How should we respond to these unforeseen events? What are the implications? At U.S. retailer Target, the question is always, “How does this decision reinforce the brand?” Effective strategies work in both good and bad times. Warren Buffet’s investing strategy has barely changed in fifty years through all manner of economic cycles.
The truth is that very few organizations or managers are truly strategic. When push comes to shove, strategic thinking flies out of the window as the pressure to make budget or hit the quarterly numbers takes over and anything that does not directly contribute to making near-term goals gets ignored. During 2008, billions of dollars worth of strategic plans were tossed out the window. It is interesting that Apple did not abandon its strategy of creating beautiful and innovative products, IBM did not toss its “Smarter Planet” strategy out of the window, and BMW gained share from its luxury rivals even as industry-wide sales slumped.
Unfortunately, for many organizations strategy has many similarities to the excessively complex financial instruments (think—credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations) that were at the heart of the credit crunch. We need to get back to basics: with strategy, if you don’t understand it, you can’t execute it; with a financial instrument, if you don’t understand it, don’t invest in it. Simplicity is key. I like the way General Electric described growth strategies in its 2003 Annual Report, “The best growth strategies take companies to places where only a few can follow.” I understand that, and it provides a test I can apply to any strategy: will it create distance between our competitors and us?
A GE alumnus offered some of the best advice on strategy. Larry Bossidy was Jack Welch’s number two at GE for many years before becoming Chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal and then Honeywell. I had the pleasure of working with him early in his tenure at AlliedSignal during the early 1990s, and his candor and clarity left you in no doubt what he was thinking. In the 2002 book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
I like that; it’s simple and readily understandable. You have a destination in mind, and you’ve worked out a rough direction or route for getting there, but you haven’t necessarily planned out every restroom break or constrained yourself to a single road. You have options to take alternative routes if needed and maybe even change the ultimate destination based upon events along the way.
Building upon this I would add one further dimension—speed. How fast do you want to get there? Strategies that clearly describe a direction, a destination, and a speed provide a solid foundation for planning. For example, the command, “Go west young man,” offers information as to direction but provides little guidance for planning. If I am sitting in New York, will getting to Pittsburgh be good enough, or do I need to go all the way to San Francisco?
If the destination is defined as San Francisco, you now have more information to start building a plan to get there, but you still have a lot of choices—walk, ride a Harley, cruise in a Corvette, or fly on the Learjet. If speed is added to the equation in the form of “head west to San Francisco and try to get there in less than 24 hours,” planning just got a whole lot easier. You can eliminate walking, riding your motorcycle, driving, or catching the train as options since none of these tactics will get you there in time.
Strategic planning is not dead; we just need to get to the basics. In today’s uncertain world remember three key points:
This article is adapted from David Axson’s recently published book The Management Mythbuster
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About the Author
David Axson, author of The Management Mythbuster
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Special Edition 42b – An Interview with Geoff Loftus, author of Lead Like Ike, part 2 of 2 explores the leadership lessons of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the American CEO of D-Day, and how by applying these lessons, business professionals can achieve far greater success in today’s challenging and rapidly evolving business world. During our discussion, Geoff Loftus, author of Lead Like Ike: Ten Business Strategies from the CEO of D-Day
Eisenhower’s criteria for keeping or terminating problematic subordinates and why these provided beneficialAdditional Information
In addition to the invaluable insights Geoff shares in Lead Like Ike
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About the Author
Geoff Loftus is author of Lead Like Ike
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