How to Build an Inclusive Culture and Avoid Tokenism
At a recent inclusion webinar, a story about how tokenism can be confused with inclusion was shared. At Company X, the board of directors was looking to make their company more diverse, drive higher productivity, and promote inclusivity to stakeholders and customers. Their strategy was to increase the number of women executives. At the time, the board consisted completely of white men, as did the C-suite of the business. Two women were approached with job offers in the executive suite—the only problem was that these positions were created entirely for the purpose of hiring these women. There was no legitimate need for the positions; they were created with the women’s resumes in mind.
What’s ultimately wrong with that if the inclusion of women is accomplished? The problem is that this is not inclusion—it is tokenism. Let’s define these terms:
Tokenism is the policy or practice of making only a symbolic effort.
Inclusion involves an authentic and genuine effort to make the workplace inclusive of qualified individuals who represent the geography of business operations and the customers whom the business serves.
This inclusion approach was ineffective. Feeling they had no genuine voice or impact on the operations of the executive team, both of the “diverse” female hires resigned. Ultimately, the actions of the board served to worsen the inclusivity of the company, and instead of solving the problem, it suffered further negative consequences.
So what can companies do to authentically increase diversity and inclusion within leadership and the company as a whole? Here are some ways companies can proactively create a diverse leadership team and a diverse and inclusive workplace:
Build a diverse talent pool
A common excuse used for a lack of diversity in the workplace is that there are not enough qualified minorities in professional fields in order to fill positions. This reasoning is not only invalid, it also removes the responsibility to take action to increase diversity and seriously limits an organization’s ability to attract competitive talent. I have heard this complaint time and time again—
“I have a limited amount of time to find a qualified candidate, and waiting for a quota of diverse options is a strain on me.”
Or
“I hire for talent and qualifications, not for race or gender, etc. Isn’t hiring for diversity also racist?”
The answer is no—if you build a talent pool that reaches out strategically to a diverse population, your choice is made among a diverse group of people who are qualified and talented. This may start with human resources and research into where to post jobs and how to phrase required qualifications and job duties to attract diverse talent.
Create specific and dynamic career paths
Once strategies are set up to attract diverse talent, the next step is to develop that talent to be immersive at all levels of the organization. Not only does having defined career paths for all positions help to reduce turnover and retain legacy knowledge, but clearly-defined goals, regular feedback, and training opportunities will ensure that all employees have an equal opportunity to advance their careers, resulting in more diversity in higher levels within the organization. During the process of career pathing, if employees want to be promoted, they can do a gap analysis between their current skill set and the defined competencies required, then work to acquire the requisite proficiency—independent of race, religion, gender, or age. Regularly evaluate career paths to determine if there need be adjustments that both serve the hierarchy and effectiveness of the organization, as well as the needs and goals of employees. Promoting underrepresented employees without need or justification is an example of tokenism and can make the employee question their value—or worse—make other employees question their value. Ensure that every position has an opportunity for advancement and promote from within as much as possible to avoid the unconscious bias that leads to women and minorities being held to higher standards than others.
Proactively avoid tokenism and the marginalization of underrepresented groups
The most harmful result of tokenism is the feeling of underrepresented employees that they are a demographic and statistic only, not individuals with value to the organization. The effect is anathema to the goal of inclusion. In order to avoid this result, organizations need to actively avoid tokenism. One critical step in combating tokenism—and encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion instead—is ensuring that employees aren’t called upon to be the lone representative for their entire group. Avoid putting the onus on one employee to educate others within the organization about their culture, race, or perspectives as representative of others of their group. It is not their responsibility, nor is it appropriate for them to expend energy making others aware or comfortable with their presence and needs. It does the opposite of making them feel included. Instead, provide them with a voice of power to make decisions and provide external opportunities to educate all employees about the diverse perspectives of their fellow employees.