Invert the Diversity Focus Pyramid

If you look at your Diversity Focus today and find that you are towards the left side of the graphic it means you need to invert the pyramid. Generally, the focus today for many organizations is on compliance and marketing which take over 80 to 90% of the effort. This means that the typically visible elements would be reporting what percent of your workforce is women leaders or the percentage of women in the organization or hiring ratio of one segment of employees as a percentage of your effort. Further, a large effort would go into marketing and branding your diversity effort.

Think of it. The real purpose of diversity was not to comply to some standards or to some mandated numbers but to ensure that diversity helps organization performance become better by not just augmenting but nurturing and then driving inclusion. If we don't have right inclusion focus then the very diversity leverage that we want to achieve will only backfire and we will find people quite as there is not place for them and diversity efforts only drown in the din and hype that surround these programs.

The figure above shows an inverted pyramid should be your focus. 60 to 70% effort should go into efforts to encourage and use diversity to benefit of the organization and only about 20 to 40 % should be an effort towards the marketing and compliance issues.

Business and HR leaders should own and drive these efforts towards diversity focus and define what impact it can bring for the organization.

Till you are convinced where you stand let the quest be ON.... Happy Fulfilment Efforts !!!