About 18 months ago, a major Italian company in the Services sector decided to embark with us on a transformative D&I journey. This journey has seen an impressive growth in the strategic importance of managing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies.
The need
When we began, the topic of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy management was not actually framed in any framework. Not that there had not been individual initiatives, e.g., protecting parenting, or training initiatives on Unconscious Bias, or even membership in entities such as Value D, Parks etc.
While there was a strong “sense of responsibility” of the organization on the issue, there was a lack of a team dedicated to these issues, along with economic resources and a strategic framework within which to plan targeted actions, with a multi-year plan, specific year-to-year goals, and a solid commitment.
The path
We then established a “framework” to position these initiatives in a cohesive manner, facilitating the evolution of the organization toward progressive D&I maturity.
The framework rested on a few pillars:
- governance, i.e., the formal governance part of D&I issues, including policy, certification, organization, etc.
- organizational culture, i.e., the awareness of people (from leaders to all people in the organization) on D&I topics and the development of management, interpersonal, and inclusive language skills, going to cover different chapters, including gender (and gender identity, and affective orientations) disabilities, neuro-divergences, ageism (age discrimination),ethnicity background (discrimination by geographic origin or social class), religion physical appearance, etc.
- formal equity, that is, ensuring that the processes (and tools) that guarantee access to opportunities do not include forms of bias. In this sense, also increasingly relevant is the deepening of bias in artificial intelligence tools that support selection processes
- substantive access to opportunity, i.e., the way in which the organization ensures that people can enjoy substantive (de facto) equity in accessing both physically and logically opportunities: access to all workplaces and tools, training opportunities, professional, career and salary opportunities, etc. Intercepting (including through data and measurement) invisible barriers is a key objective of this pillar
- the ecosystem, i.e., how the organization influences (and is influenced by) the ecosystem of suppliers, customers, partners, local communities, employee families, etc. on issues of equity and inclusion
- measurement of phenomena, to move from “feelings” and “opinions” to data and facts to guide conversations, priorities, and decisions.
We then conducted an assessment that allowed us to identify the organization’s level of maturity with respect to the proposed framework. The goal was twofold: not only to share which areas were most “behind,” but also which areas were “too far ahead” to direct a work plan to move forward in a balanced way among the different “pillars” of the proposed framework.
The result: a clear vision as the basis for designing a strategic D&I plan
By introducing a synthetic dashboard from the beginning , we achieved a strong impact: some phenomena emerged clearly, both positively (corrective mechanisms in the recruiting process that allowed to reduce the bias effect) and with respect to areas for improvement (opportunities for higher education with access criteria sometimes not related to merit and opportunity, gender paygap, i, etc.).
The program was intensive and involved many allies and stakeholders:
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- HR management colleagues to improve processes and management choices, welfare to expand health coverage options in a more inclusive manner
- internal communications to host events and workshops on diversity and inclusion issues
- the training team to target workshops and training activities on unconscious bias
- procurement to include scores related to providers’ D&I choices in the bidding criteria
- the innovation to launch a call for ideas through the hackathon format on the key themes of the D&I program
- IT to enable a “digital counter” for feedback and ideas on the topic.
We also benefited from collaboration with partner associations and companies (thanks also to Alexa Pantanella for all the work we did together on inclusive language), sharing practices to minimize mistakes in a field where the risk of public criticism is high.
Through this journey, we have not only witnessed tangible progress, laying the foundation for a clear strategic vision and long-term planning, but we have grown personally and as a team, welcoming different perspectives and expertise. This journey has strengthened our understanding of and sensitivity to previously unfamiliar issues.
Two years later, the results measured by the company are definitely tangible and surprising, repaying all the efforts, obstacles, stumbles and skepticism encountered, especially at the beginning.
The perspective offered by the client on the experience we had together was an insight for us as well: “The architecture of the cultural change project in the D&I theme that you have done actually lays the foundation for building/renewing the sense of belonging, (re) generating the mechanisms of trust between people… In short, you have built the framework with which to weave new forms of relationships. i find it an important prerequisite of your work.”
Thank you to all the people who chose to embark on this journey full of questions, emerging enriched in their souls. And to all those who renew this choice every day, putting the issues of inclusion and equity of access to opportunities at the center of their choices!
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