NOVEMBER 2024HR TECH OUTLOOK8In My OpinionCarolyn Butler-Lee, Public Company Officer and VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Cummins, Inc. ByEMPLOYEE SUCCESS & DEI: 3 WAYS TO OPERATIONALIZE YOUR STRATEGY 2. Accountability is in the numbersTo truly be regarded as a business initiative, you need to implement an intentional, systemic, and measurable approach to DEI with proven outcomes. Remember, this is no different than an organization tracking product quality. If quality standards had failed and you were losing consumers or your brand reputation was tarnished, you'd want to immediately understand your baseline and your product ecosystem and develop strategic interventions to improve. Diversity and inclusion metrics are no different.Start by understanding your baseline. Find out where you stand today, then map a strategy for closing those gaps. For example, how much time are leaders at your organization spending with their people? How are systems designed to ensure leaders understand their role in setting clear expectations, coaching talent to succeed, cultivating engagement, and fostering innovation and a growth mindset? Also, how homogenous is your executive team? How does your succession plan support your desire for change, and what does the data show about pay equity, promotional opportunities, performance outcomes, and diversity of talent pipelines? Are disparate experiences across employee demographics reflected in attrition? Are your work environments caring and inclusive spaces where people can bring their authentic selves to work? Do you offer opportunities for employees to connect across the organization because of their shared interests? There are numerous software tools that can help you understand these metrics; note that any use of technology to glean insights such as this must be used with the Employees thriving in the workplace are directly correlated to business success, yet many organizations do not understand, measure, and move the needle on their commitment to employee satisfaction. Fortunately, today, business leaders can intimately and intentionally link business outcomes to employee engagement and diversity--just like they might track progress and gaps in product quality. My approach to igniting change has always been rooted in three core elements: commitment, accountability, and perseverance. 1. Commitment begins and ends with leadershipMany leaders tend to talk about "how" and "why" for change--but they fail to plan. I'm interested in action. That action begins in the boardrooms and C-suites of organizations, creating competitive business advantage through embedding DEI into the culture and business strategies. Carolyn Butler-Lee
< Page 7 | Page 9 >