According to the results of a soon-to-be-released study by Philanthropy Northwest, the culture of an organization is exactly as important as you might expect when it comes to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among its employees.
In a webinar aired last Thursday, “Commitment from the Top: The Role of CEO Commitment in Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” two participants from the study’s peer-learning cohort, Susan Anderson and Kris Hermanns, used their experiences promoting DEI in the workplace to elaborate on the findings of a year-long qualitative research study in which 33 philanthropic leaders were interviewed in the effort to understand how leadership influences the advancement of DEI in organizational structure.
The study’s findings? Policies and practices are important, but an organizational culture that promotes learning, inquiry, and dialogue is absolutely crucial for those policies to succeed. Issues of racial injustice need to be named and addressed if an organization hopes to move forward in its pursuit of DEI. In order for it to do that, it needs to cultivate an environment where these discussions can be most effectively had.
This is precisely where “commitment from the top” comes in. More than anything else, the webinar emphasized the importance of effective leadership, underscoring the role of CEOs in fostering productive, introspective work environments. In the words of Hermanns, Executive Director of Pride Foundation, modeling the type of environment she wanted to create was “essential” in that regard.
As for how she accomplished that, Hermanns and Anderson both highlighted the importance of sharing personal life experiences and embracing vulnerability as a means of building trust, sharing accountability, and encouraging a process of continuous learning.
Or, as Anderson puts it, “Speak to be understood, and listen to understand.”
For a schedule of future webinars like this one, be sure to visit Philanthropy Northwest’s event page.