Our initial approach to diversity, equity and inclusion included a comparison of where our company aligned with the community we serve and a deep dive into the cultural pieces of our company that supported or inhibited progress. With that established, we moved to strategic, intentional, and then tactical plans to approach more inclusion that leveraged the power of diversity.

Areas that we targeted:

  1. Obvious inequality lived in job descriptions, recruiting, and hiring. Posting a job is not equitable. We found that taking a risk, having the confidence, understanding the requirements needed parody.
  2. Gender inequality as it related to confidence was a real barrier for promotion and growth. Women tend to keep their heads down hoping to be noticed, while men asked for promotions.
  3. Recruiting and hiring outside the industry, looking for smart, exceptional people and training them brings diversity and feeds the ever-changing culture. We instituted a company goal around recruiting, reading resumes, interviewing candidates, discussing what we need to hire as a company and driving the entire hiring process. It’s not delegated to HR, it’s a part of our business.
  4. Understanding that young leaders need experience and training and more importantly networking, we are using Vistage to help our young leaders reach conscious competency.

Strategies and tactics we are using:

  1. Tiger Teams for special issues, initiatives and needs. Cross functional, quick action, short term intensity gives diversity to learning, sometimes you can say yes if your commitment is short and specific.
  2. Special Projects give non-leaders a time to lead and experiment with skills to see if they even like the work!
  3. Growing and learning together is key:
    • Snacks – yes, this is a great place to start
    • Holidays – we added international learning here and celebrated accordingly
    • Potlucks – easy and obvious
    • Language – we have a dictionary and know that linguistics and language are part of the cultural foundation, bringing people together
    • Social time is excellent to build networks and relationships – it can be accidental or intentional
  4.  Clear paths for success, money, development, and career opportunities is key.
    • Annual goals with 90-day reviews and real conversations. Everyone wants their goals set so they can focus on them and not have the stress of not knowing if enough is enough.
    • Levels of development are linked to pay and you know exactly where you are and how to get to the next step. It takes the guess work and bias out of the mix. Makes it even, level and understandable to all. It’s brilliant.

Cultura is proud to represent the diverse community of which we are a part. It is our mission to not only create places where people love to work but also places where everyone feels safe, accepted, and respected.