How Enspira’s DEIB Essentials are enriching the workforce
As an LGBTQ led business, it was natural for Enspira to aim for NLGCC certification. The National
LGBT Chamber of Commerce is the voice and advocate of the LGBTQ community for businesses,
large and small. It offers scholarships and training and drives diversity supplier initiatives. It aims to
bring a different perspective to the business world, whilst connecting its members, allowing them to
share successes, discuss barriers and build relationships.
Our Executive Search president, Alan Mait, attended the NLGCC conference this year, representing
Enspira among its peers as well as connecting with progressive organizations that are looking for a
different and new experience for their employees. These, often high-profile, companies are eager to
embrace Enspira’s diverse way of thinking and working. They appreciate the value a diverse
workforce brings to their organization’s culture and beyond.
Why does diversity matter?
So, let’s recap briefly. Why does diversity matter?
- Representation – traditional recruiting methods mean that there are pools of undiscovered,
excellent candidates for roles. These pools of talent often have limited access and are less
likely to apply to organizations where they can’t see someone like them or where everyone
seems the same. Welcoming a diverse workforce not only means that organizations can
discover and hire high-caliber recruits, but it will have a domino effect – more candidates
from marginalized groups will apply as they can see they will be welcomed. - Innovation and creativity – people from differing backgrounds, with differing lived
experiences bring differing viewpoints to the table. An organization that ‘sees’ each and
every employee, valuing their individual perspective and importantly, harnessing it will be all
the richer in its innovation and creativity. - Increased Financial Performance – companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic
diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national
industry medians. (McKinsey, “Diversity Matters,” 2015)
For Enspira, however, diversity is just one piece of the workplace culture puzzle. For us, it sits
alongside equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) and this ethos is the common thread through all
that we do.
DEIB in the workplace
Diversity in the workplace is commonplace these days, right? Well, you might think so but at
Enspira, we continue to see organizations with more that do not value the importance of DEIB. The
adage of ‘If it ain’t broke, why fix it?’ rings out loud and clear in such institutions but we believe that
these cultures could be, in fact, broken.
They’re missing out on all the benefits of a workforce which lives and breathes diversity, equity,
inclusion and belonging: all that creativity and innovation; employees feeling seen and valued, and
therefore, happy and productive; economic growth, and the positive knock-on effects of all this and
more, on employees, clients and society.
And although it is a complex topic, small changes can make a big impact. Here are three easy-to-
implement suggestions:
- Download our cultural calendar and consider recognizing a diverse range of holidays and
days of awareness. - Review your employee handbook for inclusive language, gender neutral pronouns and
ensure policies meet the needs of current and future employees. Perhaps create a cross-
sectional focus group to ensure that all groups’ needs are met. - Promote self-education by recommending books, podcasts, and documentaries that explore
DEIB topics and experiences from different perspectives and hold space for employees to
talk about what they’re learning.
Remember that DEIB is an ongoing process, and these suggestions are just a starting point. To
deliver real change, there’s more to do.
The Enspira Approach
Come talk to us. It all starts with those initial conversations. We don’t go into those discussions with
preconceived opinions or an ‘off the shelf’ solution to the change you want to see. We listen. We
build relationships. We want to learn about what it’s like working for your organization, at all levels.
Tell us about your experiences. Share with us the barriers you see. Let’s discuss what parts of the
culture do resonate with you. What works?
Informed, we can work with you to deliver change. A bespoke plan for you based on what we’ve
learnt from you plus our knowledge and expertise. The aim? To implement an end-to-end DEIB
culture. As Leesa Hill, VP, Head of Leader Effectiveness and DEIB at Enspira says, “For DEIB to work,
it has to be built into the employment life cycle of everyone working there. From the job description
using inclusive language, through to interviews, to onboarding, training, appraisals, and on to exit
interviews.”
DEIB Essentials
As humans we all have biases and we will make mistakes. These biases can be conscious or unconscious and may influence our actions – what we say and how we act. The negative impact on employee
retention can be huge – 51% of workers cited not feeling a sense of belonging at work as a reason
for leaving.
Enspira has designed specific training and tools to help to combat this, for senior leadership teams to
learn about DEIB but also to help them learn more about themselves.
The <Inclusive Leader 360°> is a structured way for leaders to receive feedback on their inclusive
behaviors, from those with whom they interact. Leaders receive individualized results as well as
amalgamated team statistics, providing people leaders with insight into how inclusive they are or
their team is as a whole. It can be quite granular with feedback on how a seemingly innocuous
action or word can impact a coworker.
The hope is that the feedback is thought provoking, that it encourages new ways of thinking and a
shift in perspectives. As one leader told us, “Never in my career have I discussed this.”
As we say, ‘We do the work because we’ve done the work’ and Enspira’s leaders have all completed
the Inclusive Behaviors Inventory 360 review. We work and specialize in this field and still, we found
the results to increase our awareness and help drive positive change fascinating. We’re sure you
would too.
Inclusion Bar Raiser (IBR)
The <Inclusion Bar Raiser> is another key component of our DEIB offerings. It provides companies
with the skills and tools to ensure that objectivity is paramount when hiring senior leaders. The IBR
role involves interviewing candidates specifically for inclusive leadership competencies. The Bar
Raiser interviews candidates from a different part of the organization to them. As a result, they can
focus on demonstrated inclusive leadership traits and behaviors of the candidate and aren’t
assessing whether the individual can ‘do’ the job.
This approach is thorough and critical to ensure that a DEIB culture is not compromised through
misjudged recruitment. It is a way to check leaders’ DEIB authenticity, that they are ‘practicing what
they preach’ before contracts are signed.
We are proud of our NLGCC certification and to be at the vanguard of change with our innovative
approach to HR. Diversity in the workplace is here to stay and a cultural shift, large or small, is
achievable with the right tools and support. We encourage you to be the vanguard of change with
us and raise not only your organization’s inclusion bar but its overall cultural bar too.
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Contact us if you’d like to discuss your organizations DEIB or HR needs.
