What's your strategy for building a high-performing, diverse executive team?

Creating a performing diverse executive team requires implementing various essential tactics. Begin by giving importance to diversity during the hiring process attracting candidates from backgrounds. Emphasize leadership that values and promotes viewpoints. Utilize recruitment methods, like interviews and diverse hiring committees. Cultivate an environment through training and growth opportunities encouraging open communication and teamwork. Lastly establish diversity objectives. Track progress regularly making changes as necessary to maintain a high performing and diverse team.

Disrupt traditional executive team-building by setting audacious diversity goals that challenge industry norms, creatively redefining success metrics to prioritize a rich tapestry of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. Define diversity goals not just in terms of demographics, but creatively emphasize cognitive diversity, disrupting conventional hiring practices to assemble an executive team that excels in innovative thinking and problem-solving. Strategically embed diversity goals in performance evaluations and executive development programs, fostering a culture that not only attracts diverse talent but actively supports their growth, ensuring a high-performing, inclusive executive team that drives sustainable success.

To build a high-performing, diverse executive team, it is crucial to establish a strategic approach that encompasses attracting, developing, and retaining top talent from diverse backgrounds. Key steps include defining diversity and inclusion goals, implementing diverse recruitment strategies, providing leadership development opportunities, fostering a culture of inclusion, addressing unconscious bias, setting metrics for accountability, and promoting diversity at all levels. I strongly believe by following this strategy, organizations can create a diverse executive team that drives innovation, creativity, and overall business success.

To build a high-performing, diverse executive team, start with a thorough assessment of your current lineup against your diversity goals. Utilize tools and methods to analyze data on team composition, performance, and engagement. Gather insights from employees, customers, and partners to understand perceptions and experiences. Benchmarking against competitors and industry standards offers a clear picture of where you stand. This comprehensive evaluation will highlight gaps, strengths, and opportunities, paving the way for targeted improvements. Such an assessment is not just about numbers but understanding the dynamics and impact of diversity on team performance and organizational success.

Assessing your organization's current state in terms of diversity is a crucial step in building a high-performing, diverse executive team. This assessment offers a reality check against your diversity goals, providing insights into where you stand and what needs to be done to bridge gaps and leverage strengths. Understanding your current state of diversity is essential for several reasons. It enables you to identify gaps in your team's composition and dynamics, uncovering areas where diverse perspectives may be underrepresented. This assessment also highlights the strengths upon which you can build, showcasing areas where diversity is contributing positively to your organization's success.

Creating a rounded leadership group goes beyond talent management strategies. It involves examining each procedure to eliminate prejudices and encourage equity. Based on what I've experienced, clear criteria and inclusive guidance make an impact. They invite a range of viewpoints fueling creativity and advancement. It's not about meeting requirements; it's about appreciating and utilizing outlooks.

As someone involved in sponsoring the Veteran Community, I've seen how diversity extends beyond the visible aspects to encompass a wide array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. The emphasis on creating an environment that promotes respect, collaboration, and continuous learning across different dimensions of diversity is crucial. Providing resources and platforms to allow diverse perspectives to thrive is not just about fairness; it's about enhancing the decision-making, creativity, and effectiveness of the team. Furthermore, the point about fostering a culture of accountability and feedback is key to ensuring that diversity and inclusion efforts are not just symbolic but have a real impact on the organization's fabric.

Fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion is an integral part of building a high-performing, diverse executive team; it's about creating an environment where differences are not just accepted but valued and leveraged for collective success. As a senior leader, demonstrate a genuine commitment to diversity and inclusion; not only verbal endorsements but also actionable steps that reflect this commitment in your leadership practices and organizational policies. Encourage open, respectful communication that values diverse perspectives. Acknowledge and celebrate the diverse backgrounds and experiences of your team members. Promote a culture where employees are encouraged to be allies to each other, where all team members can thrive.

Engaging your stakeholders in your diversity/inclusion efforts is crucial because it builds broader support for initiatives, and their engagement can provide valuable insights, drive commitment and improve the impact of your diversity strategies. Keep stakeholders informed about your goals, the rationale behind them and the progress being made. Actively seek input from them on your diversity initiatives; stakeholder feedback can offer valuable insights and demonstrate that you value their perspectives. Involve stakeholders in developing and refining diversity/inclusion strategies. Showcase successes and address concerns; responsive and thoughtful engagement on can build trust and demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement.

An external coach can be a high value addition to a high-performing, diverse executive team, providing insight and fresh perspective on blind spots, accountability for the team learning and development agenda (regarding DEI capability and/ or performance), and developmental frameworks to support collective evolution. Any such coach should also have a solid grounding in DEI practice in order to effectively support all team members.

In a world where societal norms and business environments are constantly evolving, your approach to diversity must also adapt and grow; embracing continuous learning and improvement is crucial because it allows your org to respond to new challenges and opportunities in diversity and inclusion. This commitment to ongoing learning ensures that your org remains responsive and aligned with best practices in diversity and inclusion. It fosters a culture of adaptability and resilience, ensuring that your diversity efforts remain dynamic and impactful. Additionally, it demonstrates to your team members and stakeholders that your commitment to diversity is not just a one-time initiative but a core value of your leadership and org philosophy.