Accountability is an important precursor to action

Within the realm of HR, there's often a desire for perfection. After all, policies rolled out to an entire workforce need to be vetted, triple checked, and passed through every filter to make sure they work for everyone. However, in such a turbulent time politically, it's important that companies act FAST to ensure that they're supporting their people during this period.

The most important first action a company can take is to publicly address the areas of concern.  Whether it's gender equality within leadership, inequity in decision-making, or simply a less than needed amount of diversity throughout the organization, make it clear and make it public. Not addressing it doesn't make people forget about it;  all it does it send a message to your marginalized employees that they're not important enough to stick your neck on the line for. By transparently declaring what your problems are (even if you don't fully have a plan in place to address each of them), it holds your organization and your leadership team accountable.

Prioritizing D&I efforts

Over the longer term, it's important to reframe diversity and inclusion within your organization. For a long time, these concepts have been markers of "niceness" and "decency"–indicators that people within the organization are kind and socially responsible. Those days have passed. At this moment in 2020, any organization that does not have a diverse and equitable workforce is a liability. Just as a factory with malfunctioning equipment isn't a safe environment for employees, an organization without effective diversity and inclusion initiatives is similarly unsafe.

Over time, companies who don't prioritize D&I will suffer economically, as well, because nobody wants to do business with a brand or organization that seems callous or ignorant in the face of these issues, as topical as they are. It's important to create solid, clear plans of action on how you're planning on changing your organization. Recently, the CEO of a major US bank tied his compensation directly to achieving diversity goals over the next one or two years.

This is what modern leadership looks like: showing your people that you don't plan on letting this issue slip down on the priority list or become usurped by "more pressing" business goals, you're presenting yourself as a modern organization who is plugged in, socially aware and willing to be agile and make changes to reflect the world we live in today. This gives everyone from your customers to your shareholders confidence in your ability to weather future changes and societal evolutions, and ultimately, those who don't keep up with you will be left behind.

See the RIO of D&I

Looking even further down the road, it's imperative to acknowledge and forecast the value diversity and inclusion has within your organization over time. By having more diverse voices in the room at every level, your company's output is that much richer and more textured. By ensuring equity within leadership and management, you're turning your company into a preferred destination for top talent, and thus, will ultimately prosper from having the best people possible on your teams.

Most valuable, however, the simple incontrovertible fact remains that diverse companies perform better economically, for countless reasons. If economic success is important to you, building the foundation to support it now is critical.

Actions speak louder than words

Finally, avoiding the pitfalls of virtue signaling and performative actions is hugely paramount as you move forward. It's easy for a company to put out a press release committing themselves to diversity, but often, when you look back at their leadership roster a year later, you see no change from the grid of white male faces that have been staring back for decades. What has changed however, in the age of social media, is that your audience will hold you publicly accountable.

Make sure the diversity actions you put in place are tangible and measurable, and make sure you follow through with actions you commit to. If you fall short, address it, and form a plan for how to make up for it. No organization is perfect, and there's a ton of work most companies have to do before having a truly inclusive culture, but giving employees a place to voice anonymous feedback on where you fall short is a mission-critical showcase of how much you actually care about fixing the issues internally, as opposed to just looking good publicly.

For better or for worse, there is no handbook on how to build and foster a diverse and inclusive culture. Every organization's shortcomings are different, but one commonality stands above the rest: companies that take action, even small steps, toward being better and more equitable workplaces will thrive, while the rest will fall into obscurity. By being transparent, open, and holding your teams accountable to true change, you're building a team that reflects the social change we're experiencing as a society, and also showing your audience that you're willing to prioritize what's right over what's easy– which is ultimately the marker of a company worth believing in.

Ali Fazal is senior director at people management platform Hibob.

Read more: 

• 3 'organizational barriers' that cause diversity programs to fail (and 3 ways to overcome them)
• These companies lead the pack in diversity & inclusion for 2020
• 'Us,' not 'them': How to foster 'belonging' in your company during a time of turmoil