Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Keynote speaker Devon Harris

While the notion that diversity increases innovation is difficult to prove or quantify, there is research that provides strong evidence to back up this claim.
Researchers culled information from a national survey of 1,800 professionals, 40 case studies, and numerous focus groups and interviews. They divided the participants into two different types diversity: inherent and acquired.

Inherent diversity involves traits you are born with. This includes gender, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation. Acquired diversity speaks to the traits you gain from experience. For example, growing up or working in another country can help you appreciate cultural differences. The same can be said for living in a community that is diverse or where you are in the minority. The family you grew up in could influence your religious and political views in the same way that selling products and services to female consumers can give you gender smarts. The researchers earmarked companies whose leaders exhibit at least three inherent and three acquired diversity traits as having two-dimensional diversity.

Additionally, they correlated diversity in leadership with market outcomes based on the information provided by the respondents. They learnt that companies with 2-D diversity demonstrated a much higher level of innovation and out-performed those who did not have two-dimensional diversity. Employees at these companies were 45% likelier to report that their company’s market share grew over the previous year and were 70% likelier to report that the company captured a new market.
However, 78% of the people in the study worked at companies that lacked 2-Diversity in leadership. The lack of a diverse leadership corps resulted in women being 20% less likely than straight white men to win endorsement for their ideas. Likewise, people of color were 24% less likely and LBGTQ’s were 21% less likely to be supported compared to their straight white male counterparts.

It has been proven time and time again that the lack of a diversity, equity and inclusion practice and policy is very costly to companies. They miss out on crucial market opportunities. It is clear that inherently diverse contributors understand the unmet needs in under-leveraged segments of the market. It has been shown that when at least one member of a team has traits in common with the end user, the entire team better understands that user. A team with a member who shares a client’s ethnicity is 152% likelier than another team to understand that client.

Researchers concluded that 2-D diversity unlocks innovation by creating an environment where “outside the box” ideas are listened to and considered. When leaders in an organization value differences, all employees can find senior people to go bat for competing, compelling ideas and persuade those in charge to approve budgets and other resources to test the merit of those ideas.

While inherent diversity is important, it is only half of the equation. Leaders also need acquired diversity to establish a culture in which all employees feel free to contribute ideas. Researchers identified six behaviors which unlock innovation across the board. These include: empowerment and giving team members decision-making authority, creating a safe environment for new ideas to be proposed, giving actionable feedback; implementing feedback from the team and sharing credit for success. Leaders who are respectful of diverse views and give them equal airtime are nearly twice as likely as others to unleash value-driving insights. Employees in a “speak up” culture are 3.5 times as likely to contribute their full innovative potential.

Change continues to take place at a rapid pace. The rapid advances in technology, the significant impact of the global pandemic as well as fundamental shifts in society have all influenced corporate culture and how we do our jobs. These changes have made it necessary for companies to innovate their diversity, equity, and Inclusion practices and policies.
However, even as companies implement effective, tangible changes to fill in the gaps and move towards a workforce that reflects diversity, equity, and inclusion, Devon Harris believes that employees have an integral role to play in this process as well.

As the marketplace continues to evolve, individual employees can choose to dwell on the injustices and inequities of the past and allow future prospects to be defined by them, or they can remove those chains. Individuals should never stop learning and becoming better skilled. They must also make an effort to develop inclusive habits. At first, these actions may seem inconsequential, however, over time, they will make a huge difference. These include having conversations and making meaningful connections outside of your normal work clique; being aware of your own biases, reconsidering stereotypes and becoming an ally to communities that are different from your own.