Why Organizations Need to Work On Diversity & Break The Ceiling Of Words And Policies
Discussions and decisions moved from the confines of boardrooms and institution hallways to streets and homes.
gettyIn the last year, the pandemic and its impact on workforces globally, as well as incidences of racial discrimination and injustice, have brought the diversity conversation to the forefront in unprecedented and undeniable ways. Discussions and decisions moved from the confines of boardrooms and institution hallways to streets and homes as a vast majority adopted a more active stance.
In the months that followed, people have become increasingly aware and conscious of the need for inclusion. Services, products, sports, advertisements, entertainment outlets, and even children’s books have been reviewed more closely through the diversity lens. Companies have acted with agility to institute new strategies and policies to ensure that diversity conversations do not fade. Inclusiveness has gained ground as criteria for acceptance, respect, support, and followership. TCS’ most recent Global Leadership Study reflected this trend; executives rank diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity second only to innovation among priorities for organizational culture.
But are the actions and ideas enough to bring the change needed to build more inclusive workplaces and a more equitable world?
Thirty years ago, when I started my career in the technology industry, the battle was different. There weren’t many women in the industry, and the numbers dropped further as the years of experience added on. For me, and for many others, the battle was first about establishing a presence—fighting the stereotypes of complacency, the lack of ambition and conflicting priorities, to have a voice in the room, to have an opinion on critical decisions, to be considered for assignments. I felt a bit like a lone warrior, though the words convey a more glamorous picture than its reality.
Today, with over half a million employees, we believe Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a microcosm of and must mirror the societies we operate in. Over the last five decades, with a growing workforce, we have prioritized our focus on the various dimensions of diversity, including age, race, sexual orientation, gender, disability and, more importantly, the diversity of the mind. Our Diversity of the Mind model is built on values that include respect for individuals, learning and sharing, integrity, excellence and leading change. It is linked to the behavioral attributes embedded in the way we work and the work we do. By sharing these across avenues and through virtual connections, we have deepened employee engagement to promote strength, wellbeing, and safety at times of global uncertainty. As a starting point, diversity training and sensitization programs have helped to address bias. However, diversity training programs often address only one dimension of diversity, oversimplifying the multiple identities that make us individuals and are therefore limited in the impact they create.
It is also difficult for a day or two of training to erase deep-rooted ideas and introduce marked shifts in behavior. At TCS, when we looked at an effective strategy, we combined training with coaching and mentorship, increased employee resource group involvement to continue engaging outside of structured programs, and identified opportunities to build an extensive support ecosystem. For example, we launched iExcel, which grooms mid-level women managers for business leadership roles through an immersive curriculum. It is designed to improve problem-solving, learning agility and innovation. The program continues to gain in strength and scale. As we complete a decade, over a third of our participants have taken on mentoring responsibilities, multiplying the program's reach and impact. We analyzed attrition data over a similar timeframe, and not only has it fallen, but the gap in attrition among men and women is almost non-existent.
We closely linked focus on leadership with diversity to encourage progression along the corporate pipeline. It is a critical part of our strategy, ensuring the integration and growth of historically underrepresented groups across all levels of the organization and throughout our operating ecosystem.
The sense of One TCS is of great importance for us. We don’t just want people to come to TCS to work. We want them to be a part of our growth journey. But we also want TCS and their work to be about their own journey - who they are, where they want to be, their priorities, passions and ambitions. It has to work both ways for us to make real impact. Through greater awareness and conscious effort, our intent is to strengthen a workplace culture where individuals can be their full authentic selves, assured in the knowledge that they belong in an organization that respects and values their individuality and offers every Pathfinder the opportunity to realize their full potential and become the best version of themselves, contributing to purpose-led positive outcomes.
I discovered something on a personal level about this early on in my career: at various points in my life, I had subconsciously or unconsciously not been inclusive. But I learned from it. Seek out people who represent different segments and ask them to contribute to decisions. Extend these conversations to include leaders, allies and advocates from the operating ecosystem so that you are bringing in strategies that work in different contexts and learning from others’ experiences. In evaluating the answers over time, five key strategies recurred, ones that resonated not just within our organization but also among executives from the industry.
#1 Beliefs that translate into behaviors
The strongest support and advocacy for diversity is its reflection in the attitude, intent, behavior and actions of leaders, peers and teams. A strong ally network can further this change. At TCS, our Allies of Diversity include professionals and leaders who are bold and fearless in championing equity at every level, across every function and geography, and even our business ecosystem.
Leaders who live the organization’s values and look beyond enforced policies and processes make inclusion an everyday reality.
In one of our recent conversations, Souheil Badran, COO at Northwestern Mutual, shared how his personal experiences deepened his commitment to building a more inclusive world. “When I started my career, someone gave me a suggestion: "You should change your first name from Souheil to Sam to gain an edge." Their advice shocked me. Changing a fundamental part of who I am was a step I refused to take. Instead, I've found that staying true to yourself is the best pathway to success.
As a Lebanese immigrant, I'm excited about the progress that organizations have made to foster diversity and inclusion. Embracing my own experiences has taken me further than changing my name ever could, allowing me to bring a fresh perspective and encouraging others to do the same.
At Northwestern Mutual, I've channeled my experiences to highlight diverse voices through our Employee Resource Groups and initiatives. We're working to drive breakthrough solutions to advance diversity and inclusion and help drive long-term change. Our work is about building a culture of respect, creating connections through mentoring, celebrating our differences, and empowering all of us as leaders.”
#2 Recognizing lived experience and acquired diversity
At TCS, we recognize the value of lived experience and acquired diversity. Lived experiences, including socio-economic background, personal experiences and incidents such as surviving illness or trauma shape a person. Acquired diversity recognizes how working in different countries or with people of different cultures can influence a person’s perspectives. At TCS, we recognize the value of lived experience and acquired diversity in building leaders of the future – Pathfinders who demonstrate empathy, adaptability, strength and resilience. We have instituted several programs to reintegrate and reorient people into the workplace when they return from an extended leave. Often, these are women who continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of their family responsibilities. The intent is to ensure people who have taken a break are not at a disadvantage – we see these breaks as times of learning from life experiences. We want to enable people to continue to broaden their horizons through new and rich experiences. Our approach to leadership development integrates mobility – across businesses, units and geographies – deepening acquired diversity in new ways.
Interestingly, this thinking resonated with what Becky Frankiewicz, President, North America, Manpower Group shared in our recent exchange, “Working moms are superheroes, and the skills we have been honing for years have been put to the test this year. Empathy, check. Resilience, yes. Problem solving, sure thing. Data shows us that employers are valuing soft skills more than ever, and we also know that these skills are more often found in women. When change is the only constant, employers need to value soft skills as a critical performance enabler. I encourage employers to start with why not? Why not assess someone’s skills so they can adapt to a new growth role even if they’ve never done that job before? Why not offer leadership opportunities to those with the necessary soft skills who might not be in traditional leadership pipeline roles?
As I’ve spoken to women who are choosing not to return to the workplace, some are making that choice based on the belief they cannot find an employer that allows them to truly balance. Employers and employees have to embrace options. We have to give ourselves permission to leverage flexibility without guilt and employers have to maintain the understanding that work can be flexible and the lessons from the crisis won’t be forgotten in terms of ability and that those who don’t choose to leverage flexibility are somehow more valuable to the enterprise that those who do.
Data shows us we are heading for a shecession. Let’s turn that into a shesurgence—where companies finally recognize the value in offering flexibility at work and at home, women take their rightful place at every level of business and join or rejoin a workplace with autonomy, flexibility and performance at its heart.”
#3 Diversity beyond the dashboard
What gets measured (and reported) gets done. There is no challenging the truth of that statement. We measure diversity through standard KPIs, we track representation, we rank internal units based on inclusion maturity along various parameters. We continue to look for more robust and comprehensive data to measure and manage representation. But number-driven targets only get us so far. The short-term focus often creates pressure to put in place talent acquisition strategies but fails to address the broader cultural shift needed for retention and advancement. At TCS, we recognize acquired diversity and the critical role it plays in shaping behaviors, attitudes and aptitude. And that is why our leadership focus is intertwined closely with our diversity strategy.
#4 Equity starts with access.
Transparency, visibility and trust go a long way in empowering employees to define their own, often unconventional progression pathways. Access to the right learning and growth opportunities that focus on potential and not just the current role can be the most substantial reinforcement of retention strategies. Often though, a manager’s perception of disruption and biases can prevent employees from moving forward. We have created an internal platform to engage current and future leaders, identified through a robust assessment process to eliminate this deep-rooted dependency. These employees have access to hyper-personalized development and coaching programs. By adopting a democratic, AI-enabled and data-driven approach, we have reduced the reliance on sponsorship – employees can take charge of their careers, chart their progress and apply for positions across the company. It builds a channel for identifying leaders from within the company to enhance equity through access to opportunity.
#5 Boundary-less behavior for exponential impact:
To truly make the shift, dialogue, learning, strategy and execution need to be pervasive, addressing the entire ecosystem of the organization and broader communities. Often, a number-driven lens can prevent stakeholders from having a voice in the conversation, but inclusion needs to extend beyond the enterprise. To translate this vision into reality, we have extended our Allies of Diversity universe to include stakeholders from client and partner organizations – a circle of trust and transparency where we continue to learn from each other and work towards our collective purpose of creating a more inclusive, fair and equal ecosystem.
The diversity agenda must evolve along a continuum, and while we may celebrate the milestones, we know the journey to a more equitable workplace and the world is long. In recognizing this, we have worked on grooming leaders from diverse segments and creating pathways to progression through the right opportunities that enable and empower each person to realize their potential.
Every business is a digital business in the current economy, but every organization is still a people’s organization. To innovate, grow, and explore new ideas, we need to give people the confidence to bring their whole selves to work and feel empowered to voice their views.
As individuals, corporate citizens and citizens of the world, we have the opportunity to support, mentor, advocate, be an ally, and push the boundaries for sustainable and inclusive growth so that every single person stands a fair and equal chance at a better tomorrow.
