From the top down: DEI in leadership

What counts as diverse, equitable, inclusive leadership?

Senior leadership is often responsible for modelling the values and ideals of an organisation – and when these values reflect DEI perspectives, this can have a ripple effect throughout an organisation. A 2023 McKinsey report found that “companies in the top quartile for board-gender diversity are 27 percent more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile”.

Furthermore, research by the Boston Consulting Group found that belonging and ambition in the workplace are both positively impacted by diverse and DEI-conscious senior leadership. DEI initiatives, modelled and supported by senior leadership, are of phenomenal value to the financial and cultural health of any organisation. However, reaping these rewards requires organisations to know how to “do” DEI in leadership.

So what does DEI look like in a leadership context, and how do we move DEI leadership practices from performative to transformative?

Understanding DEI in leadership

Understanding each component of DEI in a leadership context is essential for implementing DEI effectively. When we talk about diverse leadership, we mean a diversity of identities, characteristics and experiences that inform one’s position and insights as a leader. When we talk about equitable leadership, we mean leadership practices grounded in fairness, justice and the redressing of social inequity within the workplace.

Inclusive leadership facilitates the professional mobility of underrepresented talent and the amplification of a diversity of voices. DEI is not something that leadership “is”; rather, it is what it does. It is an ongoing, reflective process and a cornerstone of a healthy, progressive culture within an organisation.

DEI in a leadership context is about both representation and company practices. Leaders who represent DEI and DEI-conscious leaders are not one and the same; you can represent an underrepresented community within senior leadership but not necessarily be professionally or personally engaged in DEI. You can also be someone whose community is overrepresented in senior leadership who is making strides to implement DEI and open the doors to a broader array of prospective leaders.

Representation is undeniably important, but it doesn’t remove barriers to mobility on the career ladder, nor can it fully transform the practices and culture of an organisation. What this means is that DEI can (and should) involve the efforts and enthusiasm of all workers across all levels of seniority. When equipped with the necessary knowledge and insight, those who are most senior truly can effect the most change.

Diversity in leadership is central to fostering diverse, heterogeneous problem-solving among senior leaders. Bringing together a collective that varies in race, gender, sexuality, physical ability, and socioeconomic and geopolitical background often allows for broader representation and championing of the needs of an organisation’s community and its customer base.

Of course, DEI leadership is about more than protected characteristics. When we talk about diverse leadership, we’re also talking about the tapestry of lived experiences that people bring to their roles. This lived experience can take many forms: even experience working and living outside your home country can bring a unique lived experience to the table. Experiences such as these open the door to increased empathy and more inclusive approaches to work.

As a senior leader, you may be surprised at how elements of your own lived experience can be underrepresented in an arena that is often so homogeneous – not just in terms of gender, race or educational background but also career paths and engagement with other communities and cultures. DEI is and should always be empathy-driven; identifying narratives in your life that facilitate those connections with other communities is fundamental to internalising DEI into your work-based practices.

Implementing and maintaining DEI as a senior leader

If you, as a senior leader, are looking for guidance on where to start with DEI in your organisation, employee resource groups (ERGs) are your greatest asset. ERGs provide an essential window into the friction or frustrations experienced by underrepresented employee communities and often provide a more holistic picture of workplace culture than employee surveys (although the potential anonymity of surveys is also highly valuable when seeking DEI-related insight).

It is also worth acknowledging that employees within ERGs are often workers who are personally moved to enact organisational change, but who do not have the opportunities to make their DEI responsibilities a formal part of their role. This often means that passionate junior workers may take on excessive responsibilities without adequate support or compensation for their efforts.

Senior leadership comes with greater responsibility, but also with greater flexibility and authority. Utilising that flexibility and authority to push DEI forward can help to redress such imbalances. Convening with HR and People teams should be considered an essential step on your DEI journey. As a senior leader, you are a significant asset for employees who are championing DEI initiatives. HR and People teams are very often the “boots on the ground” of DEI implementation; your influence and authority can be a substantial boon to those looking to get important projects and overhauls green-lit.

Naturally, achieving diverse, equitable and inclusive leadership is only half the task. DEI-conscious leadership also requires maintenance for its benefits to be felt in the long term. DEI leadership maintenance, when done correctly, not only benefits other team members but can also establish a reputation for an organisation that attracts more diverse senior talent, thus bolstering the cycle of DEI praxis within leadership.

However, this kind of maintenance involves practising accountability and self-reflection. Holding ourselves and others to account in a DEI-conscious workplace context can take many forms. Integrating DEI-conscious personal development into your objectives and key results (OKRs) and annual goals can help formalise this reflection and progression and integrate the perspectives of others into your accountability practices. Accountability also means speaking up against practices within senior leadership that put diversity, equity and inclusivity at risk.

Undoubtedly, maintaining DEI may mean going against the grain while your workplace culture shifts towards inclusive practices. Nevertheless, the impact of a senior leader who prioritises justice and fairness over an unjust status quo is almost immeasurable – and carving this path ensures others with these values and convictions can move into senior leadership to lead the charge with you.

Diversity, equity and inclusion has, historically, been a praxis that has been advanced from the bottom up. Many communities and organisations have put immense efforts into the cultural transformation we have seen in organisations over the past few decades. When senior leaders open the door to DEI, the rate of that progress increases exponentially. It affords greater legitimacy to the efforts of those championing these issues and expedites the allocation of necessary resources and funds.

Now, these efforts are perhaps more crucial and impactful than ever before. Diversity, equity and inclusion is a matter of dignity in the workplace – and it will always be a matter for senior leadership.