How All Managers Can Become Leaders in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

BY Wanly Chen | December 13, 2023

During her time at Uber, Siran Cao knew she had a problem in her workplace when one of her employees had turned down a promotion twice.

The reason, Cao discovered, was the employee’s need to access government childcare benefits, a commonality that a few other workers shared.

“I can’t tell you the number of conversations I had with employees who turned down a promotion because they would lose access to government childcare benefits. Some of those same people take out loans in the summer because they couldn’t access subsidized summer care,” Cao said. “That's not an equitable workplace.”

Now as co-founder and CEO of Mirza, a comprehensive child care solutions software, Cao takes her experiences from previous companies to help build a more equitable workforce for other companies. In From Day One’s Miami conference, Cao and industry leaders sat in conversation with moderator, Paul Bomberger, veteran South Florida business editor, to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies in their workplace.

Lean into Cultural Conversations

The murder of George Floyd caused an outcry for cultural change within America, and as senior vice president of human resources of Telemundo Enterprises & Latin America at NBCUniversal, Ashaki Rucker knew it was a conversation her leaders needed to tap into.

“People had a lot of emotion, frustration, and questions that they wanted the organization to address from George Floyd’s murder. Our company wanted to ensure that we facilitated a collective and consistent message about how we were viewing DEI and also give people the tools to have effective conversations on topics that are sensitive,” Rucker said.

The panelists discussed “How All Managers Can Become Leaders in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” in Miami.

In a continuous learning series called “Meet the Moment,” Rucker says that tapping into difficult cultural conversations can help leaders grow while meeting the needs of the employees.

“Our Meet the Moment sessions are meant to create space for employees to have ongoing conversations about topics that are timely and relevant for the moment,” Rucker said. “The most recent session was about the war in the Middle East. We leaned in heavily to focus on mental health, and provide our employees tools to ensure that they’re taking care of themselves.”

Measure for Success, Not Just Quantity

Following Floyd’s murder, there was a 55% increase in DEI roles. But a recent study showed DEI roles being cut at a higher rate than non-DEI roles, hinting at receding momentum.

From increased employee performance to higher revenue, DEI can offer a strong business value to companies. However, for DEI initiatives to be successful, leaders need to implement an effective strategy that challenges existing work culture, says Stefano Boero, senior vice president of people and culture at technology company, Amadeus IT Group.

“We cannot deny the correlation between diversity and business performance, but some people think that just by increasing the number of diverse employees, the performance or the business is flourishing,” Boero said. “It’s not like that. It takes years and it takes a change in the values or changing the identity of the company.”

Engaging Leadership

In a study by Harvard Business Review, researchers found 97% of HR leaders said their organizations have made changes that improved DEI. However, only 37% of employees agreed that their workplace has made changes to improve DEI.

The stark difference emphasizes not only the importance of leadership buy-in but also the need for a stronger execution of DEI initiatives. To do so, leaders from all levels need to be tapped in, says Zoe Hernandez Wolfe, vice president of talent management and development of healthcare company, Baptist Health.

“At Baptist Health, we want all of our leaders to embrace DEI and we do that by engaging our senior executives from the very top,” Wolfe said. “We found ways to bring in the entire leadership team to embrace DEI, in whatever area they might be passionate about. So if they’re passionate about LGBTQ+ rights or about employees with disabilities, they can hire or mentor those folks.”

While 71% of DEI leaders do believe that leadership is involved in endorsing and advancing DEI initiatives, only 13% of the respondents believe that executive leaders are proactive and visible in those initiatives.

DEI needs to be embedded into the culture and work of leadership to gain greater support, Diane Psaras, executive vice president and chief human resource officer of VITAS Healthcare, said. Psaras highlights the success of a key DEI initiative in her company that leaders participate in.

“We have a dedicated professional as a leader whose efforts are at the forefront of our community engagement within our communities of color, and supporting minority health care professionals as they continue to learn and develop,” Psaras said. “Our leaders go to these engagements to educate and empower those folk and those types of efforts have strengthened our communities, and in turn, our leaders. They’re right in the thick of it, learning firsthand the importance of DEI.”

Wanly Chen is a writer and poet based in New York City.

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