CATALYST Issue 4 | Page 59

D Catalyst | Diversity W hile most business l e a d e r s now readily acknowledge the moral and commercial impetus behind creating diverse and inclusive organisations, few are wholly succeeding in doing so. “I’d say the business case is proven,” says Paul Modley, director, talent acquisition & diversity and inclusion (D&I) at Alexander Mann Solutions. “People get that it’s the right thing to do. It’s proven commercially that if you bring more diverse people into your business, and have greater diversity of thought, you’ll deliver more profit. But it’s a bit like turning the tanker; this stuff takes time.” To make sustainable progress, b u s i n e s s e s m u st a l i g n t h e i r diversity practices with long-term organisational goals and integrate D&I into every people process – beginning with recruitment. The candidate lens Tarek Dawas, talent acquisition and mobility leader at international law firm Allen & Overy, highlights the key phases of the hiring process – candidate attraction, selection and onboarding – pointing out that D&I practices must be incorporated into each. Initial sourcing should involve being “thoughtful about the words and channels used”, with language in job descriptions and role profiles made as balanced as possible, to appeal to a broad audience. “We look carefully at the language we use,” he explains. “There are tools that help ensure your language is balanced. When we started running our job descriptions through checks, we discovered some were actually slightly more feminine than masculine. That’s interesting to know, because it’s still bias, and has led us to make adjustments.” Neutral language benefits everyone, asserts Nathalie Clavijo, assistant professor of management control at NEOMA Business School in France, arguing that “we have very strong stereotypes around characteristics of gender, when in reality it’s a continuum. “It’s wrong to make strong categories around what is masculine and what is feminine. Not all men are in line with the strong masculine stereotype and, somehow, we’ve made women one homogeneous category. In reality, women are different, one from the other; we’re not educated the same way, we don’t have the same backgrounds, ethnicity, religious beliefs and so on.” While this sounds complex, getting messaging right mostly involves considering wording through the candidate lens. It’s about “taking a step back and having more awareness”, stresses Modley. “When you go to market, think ‘how does this sound? How does it connect with different groups of people?’ It’s about that kind of common-sense approach more than anything else.” Articulating D&I goals As well as casting nets wide to attract a broad range of applicants, targeted efforts can help organisations reach specific demographics. “We go out into the market for some of our clients,” continues Modley. “If they say, ‘we want to recruit more women into our tech team’, we’ll do specific insight-led sourcing to identify senior-level talent in that sector, and start building relationships with those individuals. It means that when the opportunity comes up, the team has relationships with the right people. We’re starting to see a lot of organisations growing those relationships with potential diverse talent.” Clarifying your long-term D&I vision and sharing this with third-party suppliers is key to future-proofing your strategy. “When using search firms and agencies, we hold them to account for the pipeline of people they bring to us,” says Dawas, explaining that preferred suppliers are given a scorecard, listing a number of weighted criteria against which they are measured. “Organisations should be using tried-and-tested methods that have been shown to be impactful in eradicating barriers to inclusion” Issue 4 - 2020 59