How to Build a Diverse Executive Team
Why Diversity Is Important?
Diversity in the tech world has the potential to be a catalyist for innovation. In an industry defined by rapid change diverse leadership brings varied perspectives, fostering creativity and adaptability. Building diverse executive teams is not just a modern gimmick but a strategic imperative for sustained success.
According to a study done by McKinsey in May 2020, that assessed over 1000 large companies; organisations with over 30% women executives outpreformed those with only 10-30%. In addition companies that ranked in the top-quartile for ethnic diversity surpassed counterparts by 36% in profitability. This points to a link between diversity and financial performance.
Ethical implications on the changing landscape
In recent years the Tech industry is undergoing swift advancements particularly in Artificial intelligence. As AI begins to be applied to all sectors of the economy the ethics behind the algorithms is becoming an imminent problem to tackle; diverse teams are crucial to ensure a broad range of ethical perspectives to avoid the horrific outcome of a biased or unethical algorithm.
Barriers To Building Diverse teams
From our own data collection we found 50% of Tech proffesionals believed that unconsious bias was the main barrier to achiving a diverse team; followed by just over 30% of participants believeing that cultural resistance is the main barrier to diverse leadership.
Following on from the poll we put out relating to the biggest barriers to diverse leadership we asked Tech proffessionals what the most effective strategies were to tackle a lack of diverse leadership. Over 50% of participants thought trasparent promotion criteria was the most effective strategy whereas 30% believe that diverse interview panels would be more effective. According to the participants diversity qoutas are the least popular strategy with less than 5% of the vote, however they seem to being implemented by an increasing number of larger public companies (perhaps as a way to demonstrate to shareholders their commitment to DE&I).
Our 3 key ways to diversify executive teams
Using our primary data and expert industry knowledge we have come up with three simple strategies to create the most effective diverse team.
No.1: Build Transparent Promotion Criteria
No.2: Use Diverse Interview Panels
This can help mitigate unconscious biases that may affect hiring decisions. It is also benificial for candidate engagement as it signals that your organisation is committed to building a diverse culture. If there is no one on your team from an underrepresented group, invite someone from a different part of the business onto the panel.
No.3: Establish a Mentorship Programme
Having diverse mentors and role models demonstrates to applicants and employees from underrepresented groups that advancement within the organization is possible. Any initiative should have regular catch-ups and provide guidance, advice, and support to help mentees navigate their career paths.
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