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How to Recruit and Retain Diverse Candidates

By: Simma Lieberman

If there is not enough diversity in your employee base or there is high turnover with certain groups of employees, your organization will not be able to leverage the power of diversity. Building diversity in a company through recruiting and retention is an important step to creating an inclusive workplace. Are your recruiting efforts doing the following? Here are some tips to help build diversity in your organization through recruitment.

- Begin to recruit from middle and high schools. Attend career days and come prepared to discuss the benefits of working for your organization and your industry.

- Identify stereotypes of people who work in your industry and develop strategies for changing perceptions i.e. Firefighting should only be a male occupation.

- Use more inclusive language and visuals in rule books, orientation, and recruiting materials.

- Create cross-cultural and cross gender mentoring programs and provide training for mentors.

- Develop relationships with associations and organizations that are geared toward underrepresented groups.

- Be aware of your own biases and stereotypes and their impact on the environment.

- Create processes to make people who are different from you feel welcome and included in your organization.

- Mentor people who are from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds or gender from you. It will help you become more comfortable with other people and will help your staff grow in their careers.

- Incorporate ideas from other cultures to solve problems and be more innovative.

- Use resources that are already in place and research what other organizations have done to be successful.

- Provide cross-cultural communication training to help staff work better together and serve the client population more effectively.

- Survey and interview staff across demographics to determine their needs in order to create a strategic plan for retention and increased recruitment under represented populations.

- Examine your definition of leadership qualities to include ways in which people who have different thought processes and communication styles can lead. If you have been hierarchical in the past, start learning that people with consensus styles can also be effective leaders.

- Conduct exit interviews and identify patterns and themes if they exist.

- Be willing to change to accommodate and use new ideas and creativity.

- Too many people who own or run restaurants do not know enough about conducting interviewing potential employees. Whether you define your restaurant as fast food, casual dining, or upscale, hiring the wrong person for the job can be expensive. Consider the costs of advertising for candidates, interviewing time, disrupted customer service, training, and severance pay. Select a position in your restaurant, and estimate how much each step of the hiring process costs in terms of time and money. You'll see how important having an interviewing and hiring system is.


Simma Lieberman helps organizations create environments where people can do their best work and be successful. She specializes in Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Dialogues, and Eliminating Fear and Self-doubt. Simma is the co-author with Kate Berardo and George Simons of the book "Putting Diversity to Work." She can be reached at http://www.simmalieberman.com

Visit Her Site: Simma Lieberman Associates


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Diversity in Organizations

By Craig Hickman

Organizations have enormous power to focus efforts on collective goals, objectives, issues, problems, and results, if they so choose. It’s the power of an organization’s convergent effect — people coming together in a planned way to accomplish something mutually beneficial for all involved. That’s the theory of organization.

If organizations exist to unite diverse perspectives, capabilities, and talents in pursuit of common purposes and mutually beneficial results, why do they stifle diversity, seek sameness, discourage individuality, promote conformance, reward uniformity, and punish nonconformity? Because managing diversity is harder than managing uniformity — managing diversity is more challenging, expensive, time consuming, demanding, stressful, and prone to fail.

Managing uniformity requires little more than an authoritarian hierarchy, strict enforcement of procedures and performance standards, command and control management styles, and a conforming workforce — the allure of uniformity lies in its ease of administration, stability and predictability, efficiency of operations, low cost and on-budget performance, minimal volatility with few surprises and quickly conforming culture. However, an abundance of research and experience shows that organizations and work environments with high levels of required uniformity inevitably stifle creativity and innovation, retard initiative-taking, prevent widespread accountability for results, limit freedom to expand and create value, and weaken individual motivation, commitment and fulfillment. A truly diverse organization or work environment, on the other hand, unified through common vision and purpose is healthy, strong, innovative, dynamic, and capable of blending a multiplicity of perspectives, experiences, and abilities, and it is able to weather significant competitive challenges.

An abundance of diversity exists in nature until it’s altered. An untouched acre of ground in Maine, for example, may contain up to 10,000 different varieties of tree and plant life. Such diversity is not only inspiring and beautiful, but also ecologically robust. If you were to level an unharmed acre of ground in Maine, removing all indigenous plant life and then letting it sit untouched, new growth would bring less than 10 percent of the former diversity in terms of tree and plant life. The trees and plants that first gain root in the newly leveled ground would dominate the space, preventing additional diversity from developing. Once removed, diversity rarely returns on its own. The uniformity mandate of the dominant species makes it impossible for diversity to flourish naturally. The lesson for modern organizations and their management teams is obvious: Diversity must be carefully and constantly nurtured, because creating an organization is a lot like leveling ground. Both activities create new space where the initial staffing or first species will attempt to dominate and control diversity. The very act of establishing and staffing an organization begins a process of limiting diversity, unless diversity is genuinely valued and vigilantly nurtured. Diversity by definition is the attempt to bring together competing interests into a single whole, Without constant nourishment, vibrant and productive diversity will eventually fade into ineffective, unfulfilling uniformity. Organizations with high levels of uniformity are ineffective and stagnant — ultimately producing inbred corporate cultures that lack the new perspectives, pioneering capabilities and fresh ideas necessary to survive. That is the curse of uniformity.

Organizations and their management teams often define diversity too narrowly by tolerating, rather than embracing, government guidelines about inclusion of gender, racial, and sexual diversity in the workplace; focusing on the avoidance of legal risks, rather than the benefits of diversity; and doing the minimum necessary, rather than the maximum, to promote diversity. In the end, they promote uniformity rather than diversity, and understand only those customers who are most like their employees.


About The Author

Craig Hickman is the author or coauthor of a dozen books on business and management, among them such bestsellers as Creating Excellence; The Strategy Game; Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader; and The Oz Principle. After receiving his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, he worked in the areas of strategic planning, organizational design, and mergers and acquisitions for Dart Industries and Ernst & Young. In 1985, he founded Management Perspectives Group, a consulting and training firm that helped companies implement the business strategy, corporate culture, and organizational change principles set forth in Creating Excellence and Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader. His clients have included: Proctor & Gamble, American Express, Unilever, AT&T, PepsiCo, Honeywell, Amoco, Nokia, and the U.S. government. He has lectured throughout the world for the U.S. State Department as part of its American Participant Program and is currently CEO of Headwaters Technology Innovation Group, a subsidiary of Headwaters Incorporated (NYSE: HW).


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Hickman

A Passion for Diversity

by: Simma Lieberman

Some people work at their jobs because they have to make a living, and they get to express themselves after work. Some people have careers that they love, and have a hard time not taking home their work with them when they go home. And then there are successful people in the diversity field. They have a passion for diversity and they live their work. Whether or not they take their work home with them, their work is always driven by the values they live every day, and their lives are driven by the values they promote at work.

When organizations began to embrace diversity in the 1980s, many of them thought that diversity training was the answer. They thought that if every employee attended a diversity training class, biases, complaints and lawsuits would disappear and everyone would work together in harmony forever. There were two kinds of people engaged in diversity training, education and organizational development. There were those who thought of it as program or a trend. These people read a few books, took a train-the-trainer class or bought one in the mail and called themselves experts. The second group knew that it was a process, not a one day program and that in order to create change they needed to live it, learn it and continually develop their passion for it. They were cognizant of the need to integrate diversity into the business strategy of any organization and the rest of their lives. They also knew there were no quick fixes—that it took patience, and time—but change was possible.

The first group lost interest and went on to something else but people in the second group are still here helping to create change They’re working to create inclusive environments where all people can do their best work and have their individual skills and talents, recognized, appreciated and utilized.

I wanted to know more about this passion for diversity and where it came from. What drives some individuals to maintain their personal mission, vision and values despite resistance, challenges and nay sayers. I interviewed four people whose passion for diversity is so great it’s like a magnetic force that continues to get stronger and attract everything in its path. These four people are Terry Howard, Director of Diversity for Texas Instruments; Michele Atlas from Workforce Diversity Network; Deb Dagit, Executive Diversity Director at Merck; and, Edgar Quiroz, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at Kaiser Permanente.

I asked all of them, Why did you get involved in diversity? Here are their stories:

Terry Howard, Director of Diversity at Texas Instruments, has a long-standing and personal connection with diversity. “As an African-American male, I’ve been involved in and experienced diversity my entire life. From a career standpoint, I actually got involved in this work by ‘default.’ During the mid 1980s, I managed a group charged with delivering employment and EEO service for AT&T. Our client base was very diverse and that itself heightened my interest in this work. The challenge of fostering awareness of that growing diversity and leveraging it was most intriguing to me. In 1986, I read the Hudson Institute report Workforce 2000. This ignited me and I knew I wanted to help break new ground.”

Terry’s passion and his involvement in diversity continue to grow. He now supports 15 diversity affinity groups at Texas Instruments, as well as the many business level diversity committees and their annual diversity conferences. “In between, I write a monthly internal diversity column and issue periodic diversity tips on the full range of diversity topics, and I speak on diversity and inclusion at meetings and retreats internally and externally .” Recently he founded the Diversity Connection Symposium for Texas Diversity Professionals, a group consisting of representatives from Shell Oil, Price Waterhouse, First American, Intel, Intuit, JC Penny, Delotte and others and delivered talks in France and China. He takes his passion for diversity and inclusion to the community, having participated in a community march against hate. “One of the things I’m most proud of is my role in the successful integration of religion and faith in the workplace amid lots of skepticism.” He said that people were still talking about the standing room only session “When Traditional Religion Meets Sexual Orientation”. When asked what drives him his reply was, “My passion is driven by my curiosity about the far-reaching implications of diversity and getting organizations to see that connection. It never stops.”

Deb Dagit, Executive Director of Diversity for Merck, told me that she had lived months at a time from when she was 11 to 16 in the Shriners Hospital to receive treatment for a bone condition that resulted in fractures and bone deformities. She was there with other children who had bone and burn disabilities from all over the world. “I became close to kids from all over the world who were also living in the hospital for months at a time, cut off from families and "normal" life . I learned what we had in common was more significant than what was different, regardless of our cultural differences."

During the time she spent in public school she was separated from the rest of her class as schools were not required to integrate children with disabilities and therefore there were many restrictions on how she was allowed to attend . She had to sit right next to the teacher’s desk and was not allowed to go to recess or lunch with the other kids. In describing her experiences she says, “Because of how I was treated, I related to other kids who were also seen as needing extra attention from the teacher, whether for behavioral issues or learning challenges . Issues of fairness, respect and inclusion became very important to me as I observed who was singled out and how this caused them to be treated by other members of the class .” After graduation, Dagit tutored people who immigrated from Vietnam after the war. She saw how they struggled to learn the language, culture, and to fit in with other kids.

She explained that there is a disproportionate number of people with disabilities who are veterans and who are from minority backgrounds for a variety of reasons , and that along with diversity issues amongst people with disabilities who come from different backgrounds, there are diversity issues around different types of disabilities. “Some disabilities are more stigmatized than others,” she noted.

Her experiences inspired her to become a diversity leader. She traveled to Washington DC and spoke to lawmakers about the importance of passing the ADA and fought against weakening amendments . “During that time I thought about struggles and victories like Brown vs. the Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act, and the importance of civil rights for all people. This experience also caused her to realize the importance of 'reasonable accommodation' for all employees as a foundation for what are now called 'work environment' initiatives."

“In my first corporate job out of college I was told very matter of factly that I would never get beyond an 8 or 9 dollar and hour entry level job. After about 5-6 years I began to realize that they were serious about this low ceiling, so l left the corporate world for four years and I worked in the non-profit sector primarily on disability issues . As comfortable and engaging as it was to be with my "tribe," I knew that to effect real systemic changes more broadly. it needed to be from the inside out, companies nee d to see diversity and inclusion as important to the success of their business and consistent with the workplace ethics and corporate social responsibility values the espouse. When I re-entered the private sector it was as an executive with senior level responsibility and salary.

Deb says her passion for diversity only continues to grow. She was a founding member of the Conference Board Workforce Council on Diversity 13 years ago . “I have never been around anything else that keeps me stimulated 24 hours a day. I rarely read anything that is not in the field. I have a global vision and I want to help create the kind of world that does not just tolerate differences, but one where people are truly respectful and inclusive of other s, the kind of world that is healthy for our children.”

Edgar Quiroz is the Director of Workforce Diversity at Kaiser Permanente's National Diversity Department. He told me, “I really never sought to get involved with diversity work, diversity work got involved with me.” He grew up in San Francisco in a diverse neighborhood with African-Americans, Asians, Caucasians and Latinos like himself. While attending high school in the 1970s he was active in community student leadership. “I organized youth in under served communities city wide to help them with jobs, careers, and educational enhancement. Not one of my past job descriptions ever included diversity as a duty, but I always managed to weave diversity work into my functions. As a boy, my father and I walked the picket lines with Cesar Chavez in support of the UFW.” He began working at SF General Hospital as a youth outreach worker. “I worked with young people who were homeless, drug and alcohol addicted, prostitutes, battered and abused.

Today Edgar says he is privileged to be the Director of Workforce Diversity for Kaiser Permanente where he has worked for 20 years. During this time he was a founding board member and past president of the Kaiser Permanente Latino Association. “I chose Kaiser Permanente because their social mission on community wellnes, diversity and cultural competency are aligned with my own. My primary three areas of involvement are:

1) Enhance the diversity, cultural competence, skill and performance of our workforce;

2) Provide culturally competent medical care and culturally appropriate service to improve the health and satisfaction of our increasing diversity membership;

3) Grow our membership through effective market segmentation approaches that target specific populations which are the fastest growing segments of our society".

Diversity impacts his personal life every day. His family is bi-racial, and it is important to him that they all know, embrace and celebrate both his Latino culture and the African-American culture. “My passion for diversity has increased to a point that far exceeded any of my expectations. It’s only gotten better and I maintain my lifetime relationships with mentors and colleagues. I love my work, and there is a lot more work to do. As a country we have to pay more attention to populations that have been ignored so more people have access to quality health care. I remain optimistic and hopeful. I am inspired by all others who are also working for change.”

Michelle Atlas began her career in Vocational Rehabilitation in Rochester, New York over 13 years ago. Seven years ago, she was hired by the Rochester Business Alliance to create a new program to provide employment services to people with disabilities. After the first year, she was asked to represent the Rochester Business Alliance at the Workforce Diversity Network, an organization whose mission is to create a nationwide learning network to support organizations in learning more about the benefits of diversity in the workplace, and is expanding to other areas in the USA “I didn’t know a lot about other areas of diversity beyond disability, but as I began to learn about all the other dimensions, diversity and inclusion became so important to me and I kept learning and expanding my knowledge base about every component.” As a representative, Michele got to meet diversity leadership in various kinds of organizations. She learned more about diversity initiatives and issues that organizations were dealing with. “I felt a very strong affinity for this work. I went from being a representative to the Diversity Workforce Network to serving on the board and becoming a part time staff member; working with the Executive director, and coordinating membership and organizing our national conference. I love the spirit of the other people who do this kind of work. My passion comes from being a part of something that is so good for the world at so many levels. I’m excited by other cultures, and I am part of an incredible program called the Mosaic Partnership where leaders in our region are partnered with someone from a different race and participate in group coaching sessions.”

Michelle talked about how crucial it is for people in the health care field to be culturally competent. Besides her part time work with WDN, she consults, coaches and trains people who employ people with disabilities to be more culturally competent. “My learning points have been to honestly assess my own biases and to then be able to help other people assess their own and feel safe. Learning about my own biases has been very liberating and other people I work with have said that it is true for them. If we want to move forward from diversity to inclusion we have to identify our subtle biases and work through them. I hope I never stop learning.”

Although these four individuals are from different industries and came to diversity work from different experiences and backgrounds, they share certain qualities and experiences that contribute to their passion for diversity. From Deb’s voracious reading of diversity books to Michele’s personal involvement with the Mosaic Partnership, we see that these four remarkable individuals have all cultivated lifestyles that support their passion for diversity. They live and breathe diversity—both coming from diverse backgrounds and seeking out diverse interactions and experiences. They have all adopted learning orientations so they can continue to develop their own cultural competence and help others to do the same. Moreover, as we saw with Edgar’s work with underserved communities and Terry’s work with “Traditional Religion Meets Sexual Orientation” in the workplace, the passion of these four diversity leaders is driven by a lot of ‘Cs’: courage, concern, and commitment to diversity initiatives. Be it Terry’s commitment to helping organizations understand the implications of diversity, Deb’s global goals for a better world, Edgar’s views on what this country needs to better meet the health needs of its diverse population, or Michele’s emphasis on breaking down barriers through helping people safely address their own biases, this is truly a visionary group of professionals. Most importantly, their visions are long-term, powerful, and important ones that they consistently move forward a day at a time. These are the kinds of diversity leaders that we need working in organizations of all kinds.

For an organization to successfully leverage the diversity of its organization to improve its performance three concurrent imperatives must be in place. First, diversity must be part of your overall business strategy and, secondly, your organization must move from representation and numbers to inclusion at every level. Finally, you will only be successful if you bring in diversity leaders who not only have knowledge of but a passion for diversity.



About The Author
Simma Lieberman is a consultant and speaker who helps organizations create more profitable cultures. She specializes in Diversity and Inclusion, Gender Communication and Power Living. Contact Simma to help your organization and the people in it be more successful. Simma Lieberman, 1-510-527-0700, Simma@SimmaLieberman.com, www.SimmaLieberman.com.

Diversity in the Workplace: Why Job Applicants Should Care

An article from the College Journal has just caught my eye regarding workplace diversity and the reasons why job seekers should be concerned about it. Writer Laura Stevens quoted Mauricio Velasquez, president and chief executive officer of the Diversity Training Group, a diversity-consulting company in Herndon, Virginia, on the main reason for doing investigative work before sending out your resumes to companies. "An employer's diversity track record should be important to all job candidates," says Velasquez. Good diversity policies will help minorities to advance and improve general working conditions for non-minorities.

However, many of these job applicants have little or no knowledge about researching how well a company handles its diversity training and inclusion programs and how effective its workplace diversity policies are. If you suspect your resume is being rejected because of your ethnicity or foreign sounding name then try these suggestions from Mr. Velasquez:
  • Concentrate on applying only to employers listed at the top of diversity rankings.

  • Seek work at companies that will value your ethnicity and cultural heritage.

  • Start by looking online. Check to see if a company outlines its diversity goals and programs on its Web site.

  • Check rankings. Review surveys and lists of the best diversity employers in the U.S. to determine top companies in this area. This can help you target your job-search efforts, especially if you're experiencing discrimination problems, Velasquez says.

  • Ask to talk with current employees. Speak with them about the environment and culture at their company. Ask them: what is it like to work here? How long have you worked here? Could you describe the company's culture? Ask open-ended questions for better responses, Velasquez says.

  • Network with family, friends and others, suggests Ron Jordan, senior principal director of Carter-White & Shaw LLC, which recruits diverse candidates for law firms. "Most likely, there'll be someone that will be able to give some positive [or negative] feedback about the company as far as diversity is concerned," he says.

  • Research a company's compliance with federal laws. Check to make sure no lawsuits involving civil rights violations have been filed against the company, says Cathy Weiss, senior adviser for WSA Corp., a career-consulting firm in Shawnee, Kan. Start by entering the company's name into a search engine and then a term such as "civil rights violation" or "lawsuit".

Read the complete article at the College Journal.

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